Stereoisomers addition reactions with alkenes

Addition reactions with alkenes to form cyclopropanes are the most studied reactions of carbenes, both from the point of view of understanding mechanisms and for synthetic applications. A concerted mechanism is possible for singlet carbenes. As a result, the stereochemistry present in the alkene is retained in the cyclopropane. With triplet carbenes, an intermediate 1,3-diradical is involved. Closure to cyclopropane requires spin inversion. The rate of spin inversion is slow relative to rotation about single bonds, so mixtures of the two possible stereoisomers are obtained from either alkene stereoisomer. 

Two-laser two-photon results revealed photoisomerization of the cation E,E-11 to its stereoisomer Z,E-11, which undergoes thermal reversion with a lifetime of 3.5 ps at room temperature. Absolute rate constants for reaction of styrene, 4-methylstyrene, 4-methoxystyrene and /i-methyl-4-methoxystyrene radical cation with a series of alkanes, dienes and enol ethers are measured by Laser flash photolysis [208]. The addition reactions are sensitive to steric and electronic effects on both the radical cation and the alkene or diene. Reactivity of radical cations follows the general trend of 4-H > 4-CH3 > 4-CH3O > 4-CH30-jff-CH3, while the effect of alkyl substitution on the relative reactivity of alkenes toward styrene radical cations may be summarized as 1,2-dialkyl < 2-alkyl < trialkyl < 2,2-dialkyl < tetraalkyl. 

Addition to alkenes. DCU adds almost quantitatively to the double bonds of styrene1 and traw-stilbene1 in an anti-Markownikoff manner to give /3-chloro-N-chlorocarbamates which are reduced by aqueous sodium bisulfite or sulfite to /3-chlorocarbamates. With straight-chain terminal olefins yields of /3-chlorocarbamates are 60-80%. Disubstituted alkenes yield a mixture of stereoisomers. The reaction of DCU with cyclohexene gave the products indicated ... 

In Chapter 4 we saw that when an alkene reacts with an electrophilic reagent such as HBr, the major product of the addition reaction is the one obtained by adding the electrophile (H ) to the sp carbon bonded to the greater number of hydrogens and adding the nucleophile (Br ) to the other sp carbon. For example, the major product obtained from the reaction of propene with HBr is 2-bromo-propane. This particular product does not have stereoisomers because it does not have an asymmetric carbon. Therefore, we do not have to be concerned with the stereochemistry of this reaction. 

Enol ethers are more reactive toward formaldehyde and MesAl than simple alkenes. Reaction with dihydropyran gives a 75% yield of a 92 8 mixture of 33 and 34 (See Figure 10). The major product is again formed by cis addition of hydroxymethyl and methyl groups. Quite different results are obtained with acyclic enol ethers. 20 Reaction of ethyl propenyl ether, as a 78 22 cis-trans mixture, with 2 equivalents of paraformaldehyde and 2 equivalents of MesAl at 0 in CH2CI2 gives a 65% yield of an 18 1 mixture of threo- and c yr/ir< -3-ethoxy-2-meAyl-l-butanol (37 and 38). Identical results are obtained from either pure stereoisomer of ethyl propenyl ether. 

Synthesis of a chiral compormd from an achiral compound requires a prochiral substrate that is selectively transformed into one of the possible stereoisomers. Important prochiral substrates are, for example, alkenes with two different substituents at one of the two C-atoms forming the double bond. Electrophilic addition of a substitutent different from the three existing ones (the two different ones above and the double bond) creates a fourth different substituent and, thus, an asymmetric carbon atom. Another class of important prochiral substrates is carbonyl compounds, which form asymmetric compounds in nucleophilic addition reactions. As exemplified in Scheme 2.2.13, prochiral compounds are characterized by a plane of symmetry that divides the molecule into two enantiotopic halves that behave like mirror images. The side from which the fourth substituent is introduced determines which enantiomer is formed. In cases where the prochiral molecule already contains a center of chirality, the plane of symmetry in the prochiral molecules creates two diastereotopic halves. By introducing the additional substituent diasterom-ers are formed. 

If dichlorocarbene is generated in the presence of an alkene, addition to the double bond occurs and a dichlorocyclopropane is formed. As the reaction of dichlorocarbene with ds-2-pentene demonstrates, the addition is stereospecific, meaning that only a single stereoisomer is formed as product. Starting from a cis alkene, for instance, only cis-disubstituted cyclopropane is produced starting from a trans alkene, only trans-disubstituted cyclopropane is produced. 

When an alkyl or aryl ketone, or an aryl aldehyde, reacts with an alkyl-substituted ethylene, or with an electron-rich alkene such as a vinyl ether, the mechanism involves attack by the (n,n triplet state of the ketone on ground-state alkene to generate a 1,4-biradical that subsequently cyclizes. The orientation of addition is in keeping with this proposal, since the major product is formed by way of the more stable of the possible biradicals, as seen for benzophenone and 2-melhylpropene (4.64). As would be expected for a triplet-state reaction, the stereoselectivity is low, and benzophenone gives the same mixture of stereoisomers when it reacts with either trans or... 

Figure 10-9 Representation of the course of enzyme-induced hydration of fumaric acid (trans-butenedioic acid) to give L-malic acid (L-2-hydroxy-butanedioic acid). If the enzyme complexes with either—C02H (carboxyl) group of fumaric acid, and then adds OH from its right hand and H from its left, the proper stereoisomer (l) is produced by antarafacial addition to the double bond. At least three particular points of contact must occur between enzyme and substrate to provide the observed stereospecificity of the addition. Thus, if the enzyme functions equally well with the alkenic hydrogen or the carboxyl toward its mouth (as shown in the drawing) the reaction still will give antarafacial addition, but o,L-malic acid will be the product.

Reactions which are apparently stereospecific occur in the nucleophilic displacement of vinylic iodide [31] in the electron-deficient alkenes E- and Z-24 shown in Scheme 9.14. With ethanolic toluenethiolate, the sole detectable product from the reaction of -24 is -25. However, -25 is also the sole detectable product from the reaction of Z-24. This stereoconvergence demands that the stereoisomers react through a common intermediate, and it was reasonably suggested that initial nucleophilic addition of the thiolate anion yields a resonance-stabilised carbanion (26) whose stereoisomerisation, again by rotation about a carbon-carbon single bond, is much faster than the loss of iodide to yield the substitution product ( fy). 

Dipolar cycloaddition of alkenes with carbonyl ylides generated in situ is a versatile method for tetrahydrofuran synthesis. The synthetic potential of such transformations has been reviewed <2005JOM(690)5533, 2003BMI6-253>. In addition, the stereoselective [3 + 2] annulation of allyl silanes has become a reliable protocol for the synthesis of tetrahydrofurans as demonstrated in several total syntheses . Such a [3 + 2] annulation, for example, affords the tetrahydrofuran product 11 as a single stereoisomer (Scheme 15) <2002OL2945>. Lanthanide salts serve as efficient Lewis acid catalysts in similar [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions . 

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