Sodium acetylide reduction

Both sodium acetylide in xylene (Air Reduction Corporation) and lithium acetylide-ethylenediamine complex (Foote Mineral Co.) are now commercially available, and have been used successfully for the ethynylation of 17-keto steroids. 

We see from these examples that many of the carbon nucleophiles we encountered in Chapter 10 are also nucleophiles toward aldehydes and ketones (cf. Reactions 10-104-10-108 and 10-110). As we saw in Chapter 10, the initial products in many of these cases can be converted by relatively simple procedures (hydrolysis, reduction, decarboxylation, etc.) to various other products. In the reaction with terminal acetylenes, sodium acetylides are the most common reagents (when they are used, the reaction is often called the Nef reaction), but lithium, magnesium, and other metallic acetylides have also been used. A particularly convenient reagent is lithium acetylide-ethylenediamine complex, a stable, free-flowing powder that is commercially available. Alternatively, the substrate may be treated with the alkyne itself in the presence of a base, so that the acetylide is generated in situ. This procedure is called the Favorskii reaction, not to be confused with the Favorskii rearrangement (18-7). ... 

U) furcnatinn of sodium acetylide (2> alkylation with l-bromvbut ne to yield 1 hn ne <3) reduction of 1-hexyne using the Lindlar catalyst to give l-hexene (4> hydnd>orotiofVV>xidation of l hexenc to give l hexanvl. 

C-Labelled dotriacontane has been used to study the retention of tobacco smoke in the respiratory system of smoke-exposed laboratory animals. High-resolution autoradiography studies within the respiratory tract needed tritium-labelled dotriacontane (34) with a specific activity of 0.5 Cimmol" This compound has been prepared by synthesizing the diacetylene 35 and by its reduction to dotriacontane-15,15,16,16,17,17,18,18- H, 34 (equation 48). Sodium acetylide with myristyl bromide yielded hexadec-l-yne 36. Oxidative coupling of 36 using cupric acetate gave the diyne 35 which, upon reduction with tritium gas in the presence of Adams catalyst, yielded 34, with the specific activity of 0.50 Ci mmol as required. 

The synthesis of enynes is of interest in the chemistry of certain natural products. Terminal enynes occur in several natural products such as histrionicotoxin and laurencin, and the internal enyne unit is found along with polyacetylenes and allenes in natural products from Compositae and Umbelliferae. Both internal Z-and. E-enynes are also useful as precursors to stereochemically define d dienes on their partial reduction. A group from Phillips-Duphar has described an efficient synthesis of the functionalized enyne (95), which serves as the C5 synthon for the convergent synthesis of vitamin A. The l,3-dichloro-2-ether (94) is dechlorinated, substituted, and isomerized in one step on reaction with two molar equivalents of sodium acetylide in liquid ammonia, giving (95) with an E Z ratio... 

Now, let s draw out the forward scheme. Acetylene is reduced to ethylene using H2 and Lindlar s catalyst. HBr addition, followed by Sn2 substitution with an acetylide nucleophile (made by deprotonation of acetylene with sodium amide) gives 1-butyne. Reduction to 1-butene with H2 and Lindlar s catalyst followed by anrt-Markovnikov addition of HBr in the presence of peroxide produces 1-bromobutane. A substitution reaction with sodium acetylide gives 1-... 

Now let s draw the forward scheme. The 3° alcohol is converted to 2-methylpropene using strong acid. Anti-Markovnikov addition of HBr (with peroxides) produces l-bromo-2-methylpropane. Subsequent reaction with sodium acetylide (produced from the 1° alcohol by dehydration, bromination and double elimation/deprotonation as shown) produces 4-methyl-1-pentyne. Deprotonation with sodium amide followed by reaction with 1-bromopentane (made from the 2° alcohol by tosylation, elimination and anfi -Markovnikov addition) yields 2-methyl-4-decyne. Reduction using sodium in liquid ammonia produces the E alkene. Ozonolysis followed by treatment with dimethylsulfide produces an equimolar ratio of the two products, 3-methylbutanal and hexanal. 

Now let s draw the forward scheme. 1,1-Dibromopentane is converted to 1-pentyne by reaction with excess sodium amide (to afford double elimination followed by deprotonation of the resulting alkyne), followed by aqueous woikup to protonate the terminal aUcynide. 1-Pentyne is converted to the aldehyde via hydroboration/oxidation. Subsequent reaction with sodium acetylide, followed by aqueous woikup, produces an alcohol. Reduction with H2 and Lindlar s catalyst converts the alkyne group to an alkene group. Ozonolysis converts the alkene to an aldehyde. Reaction with concentrated acid allows for elimination of the alcohol, producing the target compound. 

Now let s draw the forward scheme. The starting material, -l,ll-dibromo-l-undecene, is treated with sodium acetylide to produce a terminal alkyne. Deprotonation with sodium amide, followed by treatment with a second equivalent of -l,ll-dibromo-l-undecene gives the internal alkyne. Reduction of the alkyne with H2 and Lindlar s catalyst affords the cis alkene. Further treatment with two equivalents of magnesium yields the bis-vinyl Grignard, which reacts with two equivalents of the aldehyde. Aqueous workup produces the target molecule, duryne. 

Terminal alkynes are only reduced in the presence of proton donors, e.g. ammonium sulfate, because the acetylide anion does not take up further electrons. If, however, an internal C—C triple bond is to be hydrogenated without any reduction of terminal, it is advisable to add sodium amide to the alkyne solution Hrst. On catalytic hydrogenation the less hindered triple bonds are reduced first (N.A. Dobson, 1955, 1961). 

Since the substitution reaction succeeded so well with olefins, the obvious extension to acetylenes was tried. Of course, only terminal acetylenes could be used if an acetylenic product was to be formed. This reaction has been found to occur but probably not by a mechanism analogous to the reaction of olefins (43,44). It was found that the more acidic acetylene phenylacetylene reacted with bromobenzene in the presence of triethylamine and a bisphos-phine-palladium complex to form diphenylacetylene, while the less acidic acetylene, 1-hexyne did not react appreciably under the same conditions. The reaction did occur when the more basic amine piperidine was used instead of triethylamine, however (43). Both reactions occur with sodium methoxide as the base (44). It therefore appears that the acetylide anion is reacting with the catalyst and that a reductive elimination of the disubstituted acetylene is... 

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