Sigmatropic rearrangements stereoselective synthesis

In addition to the synthetic applications related to the stereoselective or stereospecific syntheses of various systems, especially natural products, described in the previous subsection, a number of general synthetic uses of the reversible [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic sulfoxides are presented below. Several investigators110-113 have employed the allylic sulfenate-to-sulfoxide equilibrium in combination with the syn elimination of the latter as a method for the synthesis of conjugated dienes. For example, Reich and coworkers110,111 have reported a detailed study on the conversion of allylic alcohols to 1,3-dienes by sequential sulfenate sulfoxide rearrangement and syn elimination of the sulfoxide. This method of mild and efficient 1,4-dehydration of allylic alcohols has also been shown to proceed with overall cis stereochemistry in cyclic systems, as illustrated by equation 25. The reaction of trans-46 proceeds almost instantaneously at room temperature, while that of the cis-alcohol is much slower. This method has been subsequently applied for the synthesis of several natural products, such as the stereoselective transformation of the allylic alcohol 48 into the sex pheromone of the Red Bollworm Moth (49)112 and the conversion of isocodeine (50) into 6-demethoxythebaine (51)113. 

Neier and coworkers have used a domino Diels-Alder/Ireland-Claisen process for the synthesis of (rac)-juvabione 4-46 and (rac)-epijuvabione [15]. Since neither the Diels-Alder reaction of the acetal 4-44 and methyl acrylate nor the sigmatropic rearrangement seemed to be stereoselective, these authors obtained the cyclohexene derivative 4-45 as a mixture of three diastereomers (Scheme 4.9). 

We have expanded our collection of stereoselective reactions even more in the making of alkenes by the Wittig reaction (chapter 15), from acetylenes (chapter 16), by thermodynamic control in enone synthesis (chapters 18 and 19) and in sigmatropic rearrangements (chapter 35). We have seen that such E- or Z-alkenes can be transformed into three-dimensional stereochemistry by the Diels-Alder reaction (chapter 17), by electrophilic addition (chapters 23 and 30), by carbene insertion (chapter 30) and by cycloadditions to make four-membered rings (chapters 32 and 33). 

H. Frauenrath, Formation of C-C Bonds by [3,3] Sigmatropic Rearrangements, in Stereoselective Synthesis (Houben-Weyl) 4th ed., 1996, (G. Helmchen, R. W. Hoffmann, J. Mulzer, E. Schaumann, Eds.), 1996, Vol. E21 (Workbench Edition), 6, 3301—3756, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart. 

Still etal have reported a highly stereoselective synthesis of the alcohol ( 4) which has been previously converted into the Cis Cecropia Juvenile Hormone (Scheme 3). The key step in this synthesis involves the recently described [2,3] sigmatropic rearrangement of the dilithio dianion derived from (13). Full details of the previously reported Ci and Cig Cecropia Juvenile Hormone syntheses have been published."... 

In the stereoselective synthesis of ( + ) and (-)-litsenolideC, (l)17-18 oxidation and subsequent sigmatropic rearrangement of an a-substituted allylic selenide, in which the double bond was incorporated in a lactone ring, were used for the construction of the stereogenic center bearing the hydroxy group and the exocyclic Z double bond. 

This technology has been apphed as part of the total synthesis of myx-alamide A (Scheme 56) [139]. The stereoselective aldol reaction between aldehyde 218 and the propionate 219 dehvered, after reduction, protection, and acylation, ester 220 as a single isomer. After -silyl ketene acetal formation a [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement accompanied by 1,3-chirality transfer took place. This, together with the uniform prochirality at the double bonds of the... 

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