Stereoisomeric enolates

When the aldol reaction is carried Wt under thermodynamic conditions, the product selectivity is often not as high as under kinetic conditions. All the regioisomeric and stereoisomeric enolates may participate as nucleophiles. The adducts can return to reactants, and so the difference in stability of the stereoisomeric anti and syn products will determine the product composition. 

The effect of HMPA on the reactivity of cyclopentanone enolate has been examined.44 This enolate is primarily a dimer, even in the presence of excess HMPA, but the reactivity increases by a factor of 7500 for a tenfold excess of HMPA at -50° C. The kinetics of the reaction with CH3I are consistent with the dimer being the active nucleophile. It should be kept in mind that the reactivity of regio- and stereoisomeric enolates may be different and the alkylation product ratio may not reflect the enolate composition. This issue was studied with 2-heptanone.45 Although kinetic deprotonation in THF favors the 1-enolate, a nearly equal mixture of C(l) and C(3) alkylation was observed. The inclusion of HMPA improved the C(l) selectivity to 11 1 and also markedly accelerated the rate of the reaction. These results are presumably due to increased reactivity and less competition from enolate isomerization in the presence of HMPA. 

The preference for chairlike TSs has been confirmed by using deuterium-labeled enolates prepared from the corresponding silyl enol ethers. The ratio of the location of the deuterium corresponds closely to the ratio of the stereoisomeric enolates for several aldehydes.4... 

The general trend is that boron enolates parallel lithium enolates in their stereoselectivity but show enhanced stereoselectivity. There also are some advantages in terms of access to both stereoisomeric enol derivatives. Another important characteristic of boron enolates is that they are not subject to internal chelation. The tetracoordinate dialkylboron in the cyclic TS is not able to accept additional ligands, so there is no tendency to form a chelated TS when the aldehyde or enolate carries a donor substituent. Table 2.2 gives some typical data for boron enolates and shows the strong correspondence between enolate configuration and product stereochemistry. 

The general trend then is that boron enolates parallel lithium enolates in their stereoselectivity but show enhanced stereoselectivity. They also have the advantage of providing access to both stereoisomeric enol derivatives. Table 2.3 gives a compilation of some of the data on stereoselectivity of aldol reactions with boron enolates. 

We found that the stereoisomeric lithium (94) or sodium (95) enolates showed precisely the same stereoisomerism. Benzoylation of the enolates (XI) and (XII) gave the appropriate stereoisomeric benzoates. Hence, the enolates are not subject to steric isomerization under these conditions. Consequently, no C-metallic derivative of the ketone species is involved, otherwise it would function as an intermediate, allowing the stereoisomeric enolates to isomerize to an equilibrated mixture. Indeed, if a tetramethyl-ammonium salt whose cation cannot form any covalent bond with oxygen is... 

In addition to regiochemistry, acyclic carbonyl compounds can produce two possible stereoisomeric enolates, E or Z, as shown above. Steric interactions determine the favored enolate stereochemistry. Under reversible conditions, Z enolates are more stable than E as they minimize steric interactions, especially if R is large. Z enolates are also usually favored under irreversible conditions in polar aprotic solvents like HMPA that complex cations well and break up ion pairing, effectively reducing the bulk around the oxygen anion. Under irreversible conditions in ether solvents, the E enolate is often favored because the steric size of the base/cation aggregate around the oxygen dominates, especially if R is smaller, as with esters. 

Assuming that a carbonyl compound 1 with a substituent Y (which may be either a heteroatomic substituent or an alkyl group) forms enolate 2 exclusively, and that the aldehyde 3 functions as the only carbonyl-active component12, four stereoisomeric products 4a, 4b, 5a, 5 b may result. 

The enolates derived from cyclic ketones are necessarily /(-isomers. The enolate of cyclohexanone reacts with benzaldehyde to give both possible stereoisomeric products. The stereoselectivity is about 5 1 in favor of the anti isomer under optimum... 

For many ketones, stereoisomeric as well as regioisomeric enolates can be formed, as is illustrated by entries 6, 7, and 8 of Scheme 1.3. The stereoselectivity of enolate formation, under conditions of either kinetic or thermodynamic control, can also be controlled to some extent. We will return to this topic in more detail in Chapter 2. 

Because the aldol reaction is reversible, it is possible to adjust reaction conditions so that the two stereoisomeric aldol products equilibrate. This can be done in the case of lithium enolates by keeping the reaction mixture at room temperature until the product composition reaches equilibrium. This has been done, for example, for the product from the reaction of the enolate of ethyl /-butyl ketone and benzaldehyde. 

Enoate 3-substitution and 3-disubstitution cause a decrease in the rate of the initial conjugate addition step of the reaction sequence that is directly related to the steric bulk of the substituent.103,105 Equation (24) provides a representative case in the a-alkylation of enoates by means of conjugate amination-enol-ate alkylation followed by dehydroamination.106 When 3-substitution results in stereoisomeric ( )- and (Z)-alkenoate substrates, tandem difunctionalization typically proceeds with greater facility for ( )-isomers.64103 Obviously, when the double bond of the ester is part of a medium-sized ring, an ( )-alke-noate geometry is mandated in such cases, tandem vicinal difunctionalization proceeds with uniformly excellent results (equation 25).25... 

The stereoisomeric features of the intermediates and of the product of this reaction should be noted. Thus the silyl enol ether (14) can only have the (El-configuration. The product (16) has two chiral sites ( ) and the aldol is therefore a mixture of erythro/threo ketols in this case the ratio is 23 69. 

Stereochemical integrity may also be lost when the reaction of a stereoisomer occurs via an intermediate which retains a stereogenic element, but whose bonding permits interconversion of stereoisomers faster than its conversion of stereoisomeric products. [2 + 21-Cycloaddition of TCNE and cis-propenyl methyl ether [30] yields cis- and trans-adducts, 22 in Scheme 9.13, in ratios which depend on the solvent (84 16 in favour of the cis-adduct in acetonitrile). The dipolar 23 was proposed as an intermediate. The initial bonding destroys the double bond character between Cl and C2 of the enol ether reactant, and the much... 

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