Silyl ketene acetals, aldolization

Lewis acid promoted condensation of silyl ketene acetals (ester enolate equiv.) with aldehydes proceeds via "open" transition state to give anti aldols starting from either E- or Z- enolates. 

A reaction related to the aldol involves treatment of a ketone with a silyl ketene acetal R2C= C(OSiMe3)OR in the presence of TiCl4 to give 27. The silyl ketene acetal can be considered a preformed enolate that give an aldol product, and when... 

The enolates of other carbonyl compounds can be used in mixed aldol reactions. Extensive use has been made of the enolates of esters, thiol esters, amides, and imides, including several that serve as chiral auxiliaries. The methods for formation of these enolates are similar to those for ketones. Lithium, boron, titanium, and tin derivatives have all been widely used. The silyl ethers of ester enolates, which are called silyl ketene acetals, show reactivity that is analogous to silyl enol ethers and are covalent equivalents of ester enolates. The silyl thioketene acetal derivatives of thiol esters are also useful. The reactions of these enolate equivalents are discussed in Section 2.1.4. 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals, and similar enolate equivalents,48 Silyl enol ethers are not sufficiently nucleophilic to react directly with aldehydes or ketones. However, Lewis acids cause reaction to occur by coordination at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

Aldol additions of silyl enol ethers and silyl ketene acetals can be catalyzed by (Cp)2Zr2+ species including [(Cp)2ZrO-/-liu 1 and (Cp)2Zr(03SCF3)2.58... 

The synthesis of Baccatin HI shown in Scheme 13.57, which was completed by a group led by the Japanese chemist Teruaki Mukaiyama, takes a different approach for the previous syntheses. Much of the stereochemistry was built into the B-ring by a series of acyclic aldol additions in Steps A through D. A silyl ketene acetal derivative... 

Dialkyl(trimethylsilyl)phosphines undergo 1,4-addition to a,/3-unsaturated ketones and esters to give phosphine-substituted silyl enol ethers and silyl ketene acetals, respectively. A three-component coupling reaction of a silylphosphine, activated alkenes, and aldehydes in the presence of a catalytic amount of GsF affords an aldol product (Scheme 76).290 291... 

Silyloxy)alkenes were first reported by Mukaiyama as the requisite latent enolate equivalent to react with aldehydes in the presence of Lewis acid activators. This process is now referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction (Scheme 3-12). In the presence of Lewis acid, anti-aldol condensation products can be obtained in most cases via the reaction of aldehydes and silyl ketene acetals generated from propionates under kinetic control. 

Another chiral auxiliary for controlling the absolute stereochemistry in Mukaiyama aldol reactions of chiral silyl ketene acetals has been derived from TV-methyl ephedrine.18 This has been successfully applied to the enantioselec-tive synthesis of various natural products19 such as a-methyl-/ -hydroxy esters (ee 91-94%),18,20 a-methyl-/Miydroxy aldehydes (91% ee),21 a-hydrazino and a-amino acids (78-91% ee),22 a-methyl-d-oxoesters (72-75% ee),20b cis- and trans-l1-lactams (70-96% ee),23 and carbapenem antibiotics.24... 

Besides their application in asymmetric alkylation, sultams can also be used as good chiral auxiliaries for asymmetric aldol reactions, and a / -product can be obtained with good selectivity. As can be seen in Scheme 3-14, reaction of the propionates derived from chiral auxiliary R -OH with LICA in THF affords the lithium enolates. Subsequent reaction with TBSC1 furnishes the 0-silyl ketene acetals 31, 33, and 35 with good yields.31 Upon reaction with TiCU complexes of an aldehyde, product /i-hydroxy carboxylates 32, 34, and 36 are obtained with high diastereoselectivity and good yield. Products from direct aldol reaction of the lithium enolate without conversion to the corresponding silyl ethers show no stereoselectivity.32... 

The isomerization of an O-silyl ketene acetal to a C-silyl ester is catalyzed by a cationic zirconocene—alkoxide complex [92], This catalysis was observed as a side reaction in the zirconocene-catalyzed Mukaiyama aldol reactions and has not yet found synthetic use. The solvent-free bis(triflate) [Cp2Zr(OTf)2] also catalyzes the reaction in nitromethane (no reaction in dichloromethane), but in this case there may be competitive catalysis by TMSOTf (cf. the above discussion of the catalysis of the Mukaiyama aldol reaction) [91] (Scheme 8.51). 

Moreover, this two-step equivalent of an aldol condensation can proceed with high enantioselectivity in the presence of a chiral auxiliary. Thus reaction of the enolate of chiral silyl ketene acetal (5) with isobutyryl chloride gives 6 in 89% yield and 94% ee after reduction of the intermediate. 

Silyloxy esters.l Silyl ketene acetals are known to undergo aldol condensation with carbonyl compounds in the presence of TiCl4 (12,268) to afford (3-silyloxy esters. The same products can be obtained in a one-step reaction of an a,p-unsaturated ester with trimethylsilane and a carbonyl compound in the presence of RhCl3H20. 

Carreira et al. used their experience in the addition of simple silyl ketene acetals to aldehydes under Lewis acid catalysis [15]. In these experiments their 2-amino-2 -hydroxy-l,rbinaphthyl-derived catalyst (19) was used to provide aldol products with very high enantioselectivity (Scheme 8, Table 7). 

Denmark utilized chiral base promoted hypervalent silicon Lewis acids for several highly enantioselective carbon-carbon bond forming reactions [92-98]. In these reactions, a stoichiometric quantity of silicon tetrachloride as achiral weak Lewis acid component and only catalytic amount of chiral Lewis base were used. The chiral Lewis acid species desired for the transformations was generated in situ. The phosphoramide 35 catalyzed the cross aldolization of aromatic aldehydes as well as aliphatic aldehydes with a silyl ketene acetal (Scheme 26) [93] with good yield and high enantioselectivity and diastereoselectivity. 

It was found that benzaldehyde reacts with E and Z configured silyl ketene acetals to furnish identical aldol products [93] with high enantioselectivity. Neither diastere-oselectivity nor enantioselectivity were affected by double bond geometry of the silyl ketene acetal. This is an evidence for an acyclic transition state (Scheme 27). 

Scheme 27 Cross aldolization with trisubstituted silyl ketene acetals...

The undefined mechanism of the aldol-type Mukaiyama and Sakurai allylation reactions arose the discussion and interest in mechanistic studies [143-145]. The proposed mechanism was proved to proceed through the catalytic activation of the aldehyde and its interaction with the silyl ketene acetal or allylsilane producing the intermediate. From that point the investigation is complicated with two possible pathways that lead either to the release of TMS triflate salt and its electrophihc attack on the trityl group in the intermediate or to the intramolecular transfer of the TMS group to the aldolate position resulting in the evolution of the trityl catalyst and the formation of the product (Scheme 51). On this divergence, series of experimental and spectroscopic studies were conducted. 

Aldol condensation of a-amino silyl ketene acetals (l).10 2-Dibenzylami-noketene trimethylsilyl acetals (1) react with aldehydes premixed with TiCl4 to give a-amino-p-hydroxy carboxylic esters (2) with moderate to high syn-selectivity. Surprisingly, TiCl4-catalyzed reaction of 1 with a chiral a-alkoxy aldehyde proceeds with low asymmetric induction. 

Cu(II) and Sn(II) Bisoxazolinc Complexes. Evans has prepared and studied a family of Cu(II) complexes prepared from bisoxazoline ligands [8]. Utilizing these complexes a number of different addition reactions can be successfully conducted on pyruvate, benzyloxyacetalde-hyde, and glyoxylates. Whereas the focus of the work in the context of aldol addition reactions has been on the use of silyl ketene acetals (vide infra), the addition of ketone-derived enoxy silanes 8a-b with methyl pyruvate has been examined (Eq. 8B2.1). The additions of 8a-b proceed in the presence of 10 mol % Cu(II) catalyst at -78°C in CH2Cl2, affording adducts of acetophenone 9a and acetone 9b with 99% and 93% ee, respectively. 

The Evans Cu(II)- and Sn(II)-catalyzed processes are unique in their ability to mediate aldol additions to pyruvate. Thus, the process provides convenient access to tertiary a-hydroxy esters, a class of chiral compounds not otherwise readily accessed with known methods in asymmetric catalysis. The process has been extended further to include a-dike-tone 101 (Eqs. 8B2.22 and 8B2.23). It is remarkable that the Cu(II) and Sn(II) complexes display enzyme-like group selectivity, as the complexes can differentiate between ethyl and methyl groups in the addition of thiopropionate-derived Z-silyl ketene acetal to 101. As discussed above, either syn or anti diastereomers may be prepared by selection of the Cu(II) or Sn(II) catalyst, respectively. 

Aldol reactions of aldehydes with cycloakanones were performed in ionic liquids and catalyzed by FeCl3-6H20 [32]. Mukaiyama aldol reactions of silylenol ethers with aldehydes can be carried out in aqueous media however, among several Lewis acidic catalysts investigated, iron compounds were not the optimal ones [33], If silyl ketene acetals are applied as carbon nucleophiles in Mukaiyama aldol reactions, cationic Fe(II) complexes give good results. As catalysts, CpFe(CO)2Cl [34] and [CpFe(dppe) (acetone)] BF4 [35] [dppe = l,2-bis(diphenylphosphano)ethane] were applied (Scheme 8.8). No diastereomeric ratio was reported for product 26a. 

Scheme 8.8 Mukaiyama aldol reactions of silyl ketene acetals with aldehydes.

Catalytic, enantioselective addition of silyl ketene acetals to aldehydes has been carried out using a variant of bifunctional catalysis Lewis base activation of Lewis acids.145 The weakly acidic SiCU has been activated with a strongly basic phor-phoramide (the latter chiral), to form a chiral Lewis acid in situ. It has also been extended to vinylogous aldol reactions of silyl dienol ethers derived from esters. 

Hydrogen bond-promoted asymmetric aldol reactions and related processes represent an emerging facet of asymmetric proton-catalyzed reactions, with the first examples appearing in 2005. Nonetheless, given their importance, these reactions have been the subject of investigation in several laboratories, and numerous advances have already been recorded. The substrate scope of such reactions already encompasses the use of enamines, silyl ketene acetals and vinylogous silyl ketene acetals as nucleophiles, and nitrosobenzene and aldehydes as electrophiles. 

Intramolecular Mukaiyama aldol condensation.5 The silyl ketene acetal 1 cyclizes to the tetrahydrofuran 2 in 32% yield on exposure to TiCl4 (1 equiv.) in CH2C12 at 0°. The product is convertible into 3, an analog of cycloleucine. 

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