Stereoselective Addition of Grignard Reagents to Alkenes

L-Leucine t-butyl ester is a highly effective chiral auxiliary for the diastereoselective and enantioselective additions of Grignard reagents to cyclo-alkene carboxaldehydes as their imines (Scheme 46). Of particular interest are the stereoselectivities observed on alkylation of the resulting chiral enolates. 

Ab initio calculations also confirm that the use of an allyl magnesium alkoxide in place of the alcohol functionality will lead to high or complete stereoselectivity (138). When homoallylic alcohols are used, the Kanemasa protocol afforded the respective isoxazolines with poor stereoselectivity ( 55 45) in the case of terminal alkenes, but with very high diastereoselectivity (up to 96 4) in the reaction of cis-1,2-disubstituted olefins (136). Extension of this concept to the reaction of a-silyl allyl alcohols also proved feasible and produced the syn (threo) adducts as nearly pure diastereomers (>94 6) (137). Thus, the normal stereoselectivity of the cycloaddition to the Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts (anti > syn, see above) can be reversed by prior addition of a Grignard reagent (176,177). Both this reversal... 

The acid or base elimination of a diastereoisomerically pure p-hydroxysilane, 1, (the Peterson olefination reaction4) provides one of the very best methods for the stereoselective formation of alkenes. Either the E- or Z-isomer may be prepared with excellent geometric selectivity from a single precursor (Scheme 1). The widespread use of the Peterson olefination reaction in synthesis has been limited, however, by the fact that there are few experimentally simple methods available for the formation of diastereoisomerically pure p-hydroxysilanes.56 One reliable route is the Cram controlled addition of nucleophiles to a-silyl ketones,6 but such an approach is complicated by difficulties in the preparation of (a-silylalkyl)lithium species or the corresponding Grignard reagents. These difficulties have been resolved by the development of a simple method for the preparation and reductive acylation of (a-chloroalkyl)silanes.7... 

In addition to Ni and Pd catalysts, Li2CuCU is also an effective catalyst for the coupling of alkenyl iodides with Grignard reagents. Since the stereochemistry of alkenyl iodides is also retained, the coupling reactions are useful for the stereoselective synthesis of disubstituted alkenes, - trisubstituted al-kenes, allylsilanes, allyl alcohols and tetrasubstituted alkenes (equations 25-29). ... 

---