Stereoelectronic effects ketones

Steric and stereoelectronic effects control the direction of approach of an electrophile to the enolate. Electrophiles approach from the least hindered side of the enolate. Numerous examples of such effects have been observed. In ketone and ester enolates that are exocyclic to a conformationally biased cyclohexane ring there is a slight... 

Acyclic Ketones. The stereochemistry of the reduction of acyclic aldehydes and ketones is a function of the substitution on the adjacent carbon atom and can be predicted on the basis of the Felkin conformational model of the TS,63 which is based on a combination of steric and stereoelectronic effects. 

Stereoelectronic effects should also play an important role in the nucleophilic 1,4-additions of anions to conjugated systems. These effects should therefore influence the Michael reaction as well as the hydrocyanation of a,6-unsaturated ketones. Studies on these reactions provided evidence that the kinetically controlled addition of a nucleophile to a cyclohexenone derivative is indeed subject to stereoelectronic effects. 

Interestingly, the hydrocyanation of 4-t-butylcyclohexenone gave, as the kinetic product, not the cis (124) but the trans cyanoketone 123. We have seen that there is good evidence that stereoelectronic effects play an important role in the hydrocyanation of conjugated ketones. Consequently, this result can be explained by the above steric argument on the basis of which the formation of the cis isomer 124 is disfavored. 

A report of House, Respess and Whitesides (47) showed that the reaction of lithium dimethyl cuprate with the unsaturated ketone 135 gave exclusively the ketone J36 having the methyl trans to the t-butyl group. In this case where the double-bond is exocyclic, stereoelectronic effects allow equal attack from either face. Thus, the exclusive formation of 136 must be due to steric reasons only, the equatorial approach being favored. 

In a probe for the presence of stereoelectronic effects in nucleophilic addition to 12 sterically unbiased ketones, calculations have identified subtle bond length differences in the C-Nu bond of the diastereomeric alcohol products, where Nu- = H-or Me-.304 The calculated differences are weak (<1%) but consistent the bond is longer in the major product, acting as a fossil record of the TS. Using microscopic reversibility, the easier bond to cleave (the longer one) is the easier to form. The effect bears comparison with the kinetic anomeric effect in sugars, where such bond length differences in calculation are borne out in X-ray crystal structures. 

The reaction of endocyclic enamines with a,p-unsaturated ketones to afford cu-fused hydroindolones or hydroquinolones constitutes a complementary and highly useful annulation sequence developed extensively by Stevens and coworicers, see the reaction of (5) to give (6) in Scheme 7. ° The importance of stereoelectronic effects is highlighted in the reaction of (7) with methyl vinyl ketone, which provided only the alkylated product (8) and none of the expected ci5-hydroindolone (9)." The failure of intermediate (8) to cyclize in this case was attributed to nonbonded interactions between the aryl group and the side chain. This destabilizing allylic interaction s disfavors formation of conformer (10), the intermediate required for antiperiplanar addition of the enol nucleophile (Scheme 8). Cyclization via the alternate conformation would require a double boat-like transition state. 

While the primary and secondary stereoelectronic effects have been invoked to rationalize products,21 there have been reports in series of polycyclic ketones in which regiochemistry of migration was not explained by these effects.22... 

Early examples of this reaction involved cyclizations of 4-substituted phenols tethered to alkyl sulfonates and halides [3]. CycMzalions involving carbonyl electrophiles (aldehydes, ketones) and imines have been reported as well, but esters are not sufiSciently electrophilic to react [2]. Subsequent studies established that the facility of these so-called Ai-n cyclizations was strongly affected by the size of the newly formed ring in the order 3>5>6 >4. Since the vast majority of alkylative dearomatizations involve intramolecular cyclizations (thereby avoiding competitive 0-aDcylation reactions), stereoelectronic effects operative in the transition states (resembling the TS of an Sjj2 reaction) are crucially important. These sometimes subtle effects can result in differential reactivity of structurally similar substrates [4]. 

The preparation of ketones and ester from (3-dicarbonyl enolates has largely been supplanted by procedures based on selective enolate formation. These procedures permit direct alkylation of ketone and ester enolates and avoid the hydrolysis and decarboxylation of keto ester intermediates. The development of conditions for stoichiometric formation of both kinetically and thermodynamically controlled enolates has permitted the extensive use of enolate alkylation reactions in multistep synthesis of complex molecules. One aspect of the alkylation reaction that is crucial in many cases is the stereoselectivity. The alkylation has a stereoelectronic preference for approach of the electrophile perpendicular to the plane of the enolate, because the tt electrons are involved in bond formation. A major factor in determining the stereoselectivity of ketone enolate alkylations is the difference in steric hindrance on the two faces of the enolate. The electrophile approaches from the less hindered of the two faces and the degree of stereoselectivity depends on the steric differentiation. Numerous examples of such effects have been observed.51 In ketone and ester enolates that are exocyclic to a conformationally biased cyclohexane ring there is a small preference for... 

The synthesis of NH- and Af-vinylpyrroles from ketones (ketoximes) and acetylenes has stimulated physicochemical and theoretical studies of ketoximes as well as pyrroles and N-vinylpyrroles. The easy access to diversely substituted representatives of pyrrole series made it possible to systematically examine the structural effect on their reactivity and spectral properties. This section is a concise account on the research related to NH- and N-vinylpyrroles originated from the reaction of ketones with acetylenes along with investigation of stereoelectronic properties of intermediate ketoximes. 

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