Stereoselective reactions alcohol dehydration

In addition to being regioselective alcohol dehydrations are stereoselective A stereo selective reaction is one m which a single starting material can yield two or more stereoisomeric products but gives one of them m greater amounts than any other Alcohol dehydrations tend to produce the more stable stereoisomer of an alkene Dehydration of 3 pentanol for example yields a mixture of trans 2 pentene and cis 2 pentene m which the more stable trans stereoisomer predominates... 

The second stereochemical aspect of alkene hydrogenation concerns its stereoselectivity. A stereoselective reaction is one in which a single starting material can give two or more stereoisomeric products but yields one of them in greater amounts than the other (or even to the exclusion of the other). Recall from Section 5.11 that the acid-catalyzed dehydration of alcohols is stereoselective in that it favors the formation of the more stable stereochemistry of the alkene double bond. In catalytic hydrogenation, stereoselectivity... 

In addition to the synthetic applications related to the stereoselective or stereospecific syntheses of various systems, especially natural products, described in the previous subsection, a number of general synthetic uses of the reversible [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic sulfoxides are presented below. Several investigators110-113 have employed the allylic sulfenate-to-sulfoxide equilibrium in combination with the syn elimination of the latter as a method for the synthesis of conjugated dienes. For example, Reich and coworkers110,111 have reported a detailed study on the conversion of allylic alcohols to 1,3-dienes by sequential sulfenate sulfoxide rearrangement and syn elimination of the sulfoxide. This method of mild and efficient 1,4-dehydration of allylic alcohols has also been shown to proceed with overall cis stereochemistry in cyclic systems, as illustrated by equation 25. The reaction of trans-46 proceeds almost instantaneously at room temperature, while that of the cis-alcohol is much slower. This method has been subsequently applied for the synthesis of several natural products, such as the stereoselective transformation of the allylic alcohol 48 into the sex pheromone of the Red Bollworm Moth (49)112 and the conversion of isocodeine (50) into 6-demethoxythebaine (51)113. 

The steric effects may be more pronounced in heterogeneous catalysts than in homogeneous reactions in solution. The rigid, solid surface restricts the approach of the reactants to the active centers and interaction between the reactants. The steric requirements are quite stringent when a two-point adsorption is necessary and when, in consequence, the internal motion of the adsorbed molecules is limited. In this way, the stereoselectivity of some heterogeneous catalytic reactions, for example, the hydrogenation of alkenes on metals (5) or the dehydration of alcohols on alumina and thoria (9), have been explained. 

In preparation for the eventual removal of the undesired oxygen function at C-10 of 313 via a Birch reduction, the phenol 313 was phosphorylated with diethyl phosphorochloridate in the presence of triethylamine to give 314, which underwent stereoselective reduction with sodium borohydride with concomitant N-deacylation to deliver the amino alcohol 315. N-Methylation of 315 by the Eschweiler-Clarke protocol using formaldehyde and formic acid followed by ammonolysis of the ester group and acetylation of the C-2 hydroxyl function afforded 316. Dehydration of the amide moiety in 316 with phosphorus oxychloride and subsequent reaction of the resulting amino nitrile 317 with LiAlH4 furnished 318, which underwent reduction with sodium in liquid ammonia to provide unnatural (+)-galanthamine. 

Dehydration. Although early studies of dehydration of tertiary alcohols were shown to involve an anti-elimination, little use of this stereoselectivity has been applied to preparation of (E)- or (Z)-alkenes. This reaction is useful for preparation of (E)- and (Z)- A22- or A23-sterols, and in combination with svn-hydroboration of alkenes for isomerization of trisubstituted steroidal alkenes.1... 

The addition of hydrazoic acid to alkenes is generally catalyzed by Lewis acids and proceeds through the formation of intermediate carbocations1-4. The reaction can also be performed with alcohols, precursors of alkenes by dehydration, and enol ethers4. The addition is generally not stereoselective with simple alkenes, and only moderately stereoselective with substituted 1-phenylcyclohexenes and -cyclohexanols104-105, but a few examples of diastereoselective addition to steroidal alkenes have been reported. 

The synthesis of stereodefined acyclic alkenes via 3-elimination reactions—such as (1) dehydration of alcohols, (2) base-induced eliminations of alkyl halides or sulfonates (tosyl or mesyl esters), and (3) Hofmann eliminations of quaternary ammonium salts—often suffers from a lack of regio- and stereoselectivity, producing mixtures of isomeric alkenes. 

The reaction of nitrile oxides prepared in situ by dehydration of aliphatic nitro compounds with triethylamine and phenyl isocyanate with allylic alcohols proceeds with low stereocontrol to give a predominance of the /-product. Allyl ethers as the dipolarophiles can lead to high excesses of the y-cycloadducts, with the stereoselection increasing with increasing bulkiness of the alkyl residue at the stereocenter. 

The synthesis of the C29-C43 EF segment 479 is summarized in Scheme 68. Methylation of 467 under Prater s conditions stereoselectively afforded 2,3-anti compound 468 (dr = 5-8 1). After TES protection followed by thioester reduction, aldol reaction of the resulting aldehyde with thioketene acetal afforded a-alcohol 469 under Felkin-Anh selectivity. TES deprotection and silver-mediated lactonization followed by TES protection and lactone reduction gave lactol 470. Dehydration, debenzylation, and oxidation furnished aldehyde 471, which was transformed to benzotriazolyl amide 472. 

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