Silicon asymmetric reaction with electrophiles

Lewis acid promoted reactions of silicon enolates, /.e., silyl enol ethers and ketene silyl acetals with various electrophiles have yielded a wealth of novel and selective synthetic methods. This combination of reagents has been used in the past to perform such reactions as aldol-condensations with aldehydes and acetals, imine-condensations, conjugate additions to a,P-enones, alkylations, electrophilic aminations, and Diels-Alder/cyclocondensations. Our own interest in this field has involved the use of titanium tetrachloride to promote the reaction of ketene silyl acetals with non-activated imines as an efficient route to P-lactams. This reaction has been applied to the asymmetric synthesis of P-lactams via a chiral imine-titanium tetrachloride template. We have also found that both ketene silyl acetals and vinylketene silyl acetals oxidativelly dimerize or cross-couple, in the presence of titanium tetrachloride to conveniently yield various diesters . Our present study concerns reactions of vinylketene silyl acetals with non-activated imines and vinylimines promoted by titanium and zirconium tetrachlorides. 

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