Silanes reaction with alkenes

Rhodium(I) and ruthenium(II) complexes containing NHCs have been applied in hydrosilylation reactions with alkenes, alkynes, and ketones. Rhodium(I) complexes with imidazolidin-2-ylidene ligands such as [RhCl( j -cod)(NHC)], [RhCl(PPh3)2(NHC)], and [RhCl(CO)(PPh3)(NHC)] have been reported to lead to highly selective anti-Markovnikov addition of silanes to terminal olefins [Eq. 

An important example in this context is the hydrosilation reaction [121]. Hydrosilation is the formal addition of a silane to an alkene in presence of a hydrosilation catalyst. This reaction has numerous applications e.g., with a suitable catalyst, an enantioselective hydrosilation is possible [122] and also hydrosilation and double hydrosilation of alkines [123] are known. 

A great number of articles related to the mechanism of this reaction has been published. It can be considered as certain that the silanes react with the platinum center by an oxidative addition to the metal with formation of a silylplatinum hydride and subsequent transfer of the silyl group to the coordinated alkene. 

There are, however, serious problems that must be overcome in the application of this reaction to synthesis. The product is a new carbocation that can react further. Repetitive addition to alkene molecules leads to polymerization. Indeed, this is the mechanism of acid-catalyzed polymerization of alkenes. There is also the possibility of rearrangement. A key requirement for adapting the reaction of carbocations with alkenes to the synthesis of small molecules is control of the reactivity of the newly formed carbocation intermediate. Synthetically useful carbocation-alkene reactions require a suitable termination step. We have already encountered one successful strategy in the reaction of alkenyl and allylic silanes and stannanes with electrophilic carbon (see Chapter 9). In those reactions, the silyl or stannyl substituent is eliminated and a stable alkene is formed. The increased reactivity of the silyl- and stannyl-substituted alkenes is also favorable to the synthetic utility of carbocation-alkene reactions because the reactants are more nucleophilic than the product alkenes. 

A one-pot reaction between a tryptophan ester, benzotriazole, and 2,5-dimethoxytetrahydrofuran in acetic acid gives the diastereomeric benzotriazolyl tetracycles, 349, in good yield. Substitution of the benzotriazole by reaction with silyl enol ethers and boron trifluoride etherate gives the corresponding ketones 350 and 351, and reaction with allylsilanes gives the corresponding alkenes 352 and 353. If the boron trifluoride etherate is added to the mixture before the silane, elimination of benzotriazole from 349 is also observed (Scheme 83) <1999T3489>. 

However, most asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrile oxides with alkenes are carried out without Lewis acids as catalysts using either chiral alkenes or chiral auxiliary compounds (with achiral alkenes). Diverse chiral alkenes are in use, such as camphor-derived chiral N-acryloylhydrazide (195), C2-symmetric l,3-diacryloyl-2,2-dimethyl-4,5-diphenylimidazolidine, chiral 3-acryloyl-2,2-dimethyl-4-phenyloxazolidine (196, 197), sugar-based ethenyl ethers (198), acrylic esters (199, 200), C-bonded vinyl-substituted sugar (201), chirally modified vinylboronic ester derived from D-( + )-mannitol (202), (l/ )-menthyl vinyl ether (203), chiral derivatives of vinylacetic acid (204), ( )-l-ethoxy-3-fluoroalkyl-3-hydroxy-4-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)but-1 -enes (205), enantiopure Y-oxygenated-a,P-unsaturated phenyl sulfones (206), chiral (a-oxyallyl)silanes (207), and (S )-but-3-ene-1,2-diol derivatives (208). As a chiral auxiliary, diisopropyl (i ,i )-tartrate (209, 210) has been very popular. 

The intramolecular addition of carbon nucleophiles to alkenes has received comparatively little attention relative to heterocyclization reactions. The first examples of Pd-catalyzed oxidative carbocyclization reactions were described by Backvall and coworkers [164-166]. Conjugaled dienes with appended al-lyl silane and stabilized carbanion nucleophiles undergo 1,4-carbochlorination (Eq. 36) and carboacetoxylation (Eq. 37), respectively. The former reaction employs BQ as the stoichiometric oxidant, whereas the latter uses O2. The authors do not describe efforts to use molecular oxygen in the reaction with allyl silanes however, BQ was cited as being imsuccessful in the reaction with stabihzed car-banions. Benzoquinone is known to activate Ti-allyl-Pd intermediates toward nucleophilic attack (see below. Sect. 4.4). In the absence of BQ, -hydride eUm-ination occurs to form diene 43 in competition with attack of acetate on the intermediate jr-allyl-Pd" species to form the 1,4-addition product 44. 

K. J. Kulicke and B. Giese, Hydtosilylation and cyclization reactions of alkenes and ketones with tris(trimethylsilyl)silane, Synlett. p. 91 (1990). 

The free-radical construction of C—C bonds either inter- or intramolecularly using a hydride as mediator is of great importance in chemical synthesis. The propagation steps for the intermolecular version are shown in Scheme 2. For a successful outcome, it is important (i) that the R sSi radical reacts faster with RZ (the precursor of radical R ) than with the alkene and (ii) that the alkyl radical reacts faster with alkene (to form the adduct radical) than with the silane. In other words, for a synthetically useful radical chain reaction, the intermediates must be disciplined. Therefore, in a synthetic plan one is faced with the task of considering kinetic data or substituent influence on the selectivity of radicals. The reader should note that the hydrogen donation step controls the radical sequence and, often, the concentration of silane provides the variable by which the products distribution can be influenced. 

Most examples in the literature on hydrosilylation with iron complexes as catalyst concern Fe(CO)5 or related iron carbonyl compounds [41]. The first use of iron pentacarbonyl was reported for the reaction of silicon hydrides with alkenes at 100-140 °C to form saturated and unsaturated silanes according to Scheme 4.20 [42, 43]. 

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