Synthesis carbocations

The formal carbanions and carbocations used as units in synthesis are called donor synthons and acceptor synthons. They are derived from reagents with functional groups. 

Alkene synthesis via alcohol dehydration is complicated by carbocation rearrangements A less stable carbocation can rearrange to a more sta ble one by an alkyl group migration or by a hydride shift opening the possibility for alkene formation from two different carbocations... 

Cycloahphatic amine synthesis routes may be described as distinct synthetic methods, though practice often combines, or hybridi2es, the steps that occur amination of cycloalkanols, reductive amination of cycHc ketones, ring reduction of cycloalkenylarnines, nitrile addition to ahcycHc carbocations, reduction of cyanocycloalkanes to aminomethylcycloalkanes, and reduction of nitrocycloalkanes or cycHc ketoximes. 

Other, removable cation-stabilizing auxiliaries have been investigated for polyene cyclizations. For example, a sdyl-assisted carbocation cyclization has been used in an efficient total synthesis of lanosterol. The key step, treatment of (257) with methyl aluminum chloride in methylene chloride at —78° C, followed by acylation and chromatographic separation, affords (258) in 55% yield (two steps). When this cyclization was attempted on similar compounds that did not contain the C7P-silicon substituent, no tetracycHc products were observed. Steroid (258) is converted to lanosterol (77) in three additional chemical steps (225). 

In the case of NH2OH with a sharp difference in the nucleophilicity of the two functions, the primary amino group reacts with the carbocation C-1 center. For example, the reaction of l-alkylaminoalk-l-en-3-ynes with hydroxylamine leads to selective synthesis of alkylisoxazoles (69ZOR1179). A preparative value of this method is evident because the use of dicarbonyl compounds as starting materials for the synthesis of alkylisoxazoles results in a mixture of isomers. 

Ethers with a tertiary, benzylic, or allylic group cleave by an S l or FI mechanism because these substrates can produce stable intermediate carbocations. These reactions are often fast and take place at moderate temperatures. fcrf-Butyl ethers, for example, react by an El mechanism on treatment with trifluoroacetic acid at 0 °C. We ll see in Section 26.7 that the reaction is often used in the laboratory synthesis of peptides. 

The key features of Pirrung s synthesis of isocomene are outlined retrosynthetically in Scheme 1. Working one step back from 1 gives the tertiary carbocation intermediate 2. The intermediacy of 2 should be brief, for it should readily participate in an Ei-type reaction, in the forward sense, to give isocomene (1). Inspired by the observation that bicyclo[3.3.0] frameworks can be accessed from bicyclo[4.2.0] frameworks through cyclobutyl carbinyl cation rear-... 

The remarkable thermal stability of the di-ferf-butyl-substituted thiepin 6, due to steric screening, has been demonstrated by its synthesis in an analogous manner to the carbocation rearrangement which provides dibenzothiepins. Under acidic conditions, methanesulfonic acid was eliminated from Ihiopyran 5 to give the thiepin via cationic rearrangement.18... 

Carboxylic acids can be converted by anodic oxidation into radicals and/or carbo-cations. The procedure is simple, an undivided beaker-type cell to perform the reaction, current control, and usually methanol as solvent is sufficient. A scale up is fairly easy and the yields are generally good. The pathway towards either radicals or carbocations can be efficiently controlled by the reaction conditions (electrode material, solvent, additives) and the structure of the carboxylic acids. A broad variety of starting compounds is easily and inexpensively available from natural and petrochemical sources, or by highly developed procedures for the synthesis of carboxylic acids. 

In the course of the salt synthesis, it was found that a hydrocarbon [3-2], which was formed by an unfavourable cation-anion combination reaction, dissociates into the original carbocation and carbanion in a polar aprotic solvent (Okamoto et ai, 1985) (1). This was the first example of ionic dissociation of the carbon-carbon a bond in genuine hydrocarbons, although a few cases of heterolytic dissociation of carbon-carbon tr bonds had been reported by Arnett (Arnett et al., 1983 Troughton et al., 1984 Arnett and Molter, 1985) for compounds bearing cyano and nitro groups, e.g. [4-6] and [5-6] as in (2). 

The Stability of hydrocarbon ions is discovered intuitively by observing whether the hydrocarbon ion can be isolated as a salt, for example, a sodium salt of the carbanion or a tetrafluoroborate salt of the carbocation. Conversely, a single hydrocarbon ion produced in the gas phase is obviously an unstable and short-lived species. Thus, many of the aliphatic carbocations in the gas phase are merely observable species but are not usable for synthesis. 

Considering the long saga of hydrocarbon chemistry, it is surprising that two new classes of hydrocarbon - ionically dissociative hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon salts - have been discovered in the last decade. The syntheses of authentic samples as analytically pure solids have revealed the very existence of such novel hydrocarbons in an unquestionable way, but the investigation of their basic features is just in the inchoate stage. The search for such novel hydrocarbons depends primarily on the synthesis and examination of highly stabilized hydrocarbon cations and anions. As mentioned above, until now such elaboration has been concentrated on the carbocation side, and examination of the carbanion moiety has only just started. 

Schleyer s Lewis acid-catalyzed rearrangement method, which is based on diamondoid thermodynamic stability during carbocation rearrangements, has had little or no success in synthesizing diamondoids beyond triamantane. In recent years, outstanding successes have been achieved in the synthesis of adamantane and other lower molecular weight diamondoids [42 9]. Some new methods have been developed and the yield has been increased to 60%. 

Due to their demanding synthesis, diamondoids are helpful models to study structure-activity relationships in carbocations and radicals, to develop empirical computational methods for hydrocarbons, and to investigate orientational disorders in molecular crystals as well [5,32]. 

Carbocations are highly reactive species that can be used for C-C bond formation. One driver for using continuous micro chemical processing is to employ also unstable cations, which are not amenable to batch synthesis because they decompose before they can actually be used [66, 67]. 

Addition of a proton occurs to give the more-substituted carbocation, so addition is regioselective and in accord with Markovnikov s rule. A more detailed discussion of the reaction mechanism is given in Section 6.2 of Part A. Owing to the strongly acidic and rather vigorous conditions required to effect hydration of most alkenes, these conditions are applicable only to molecules that have no acid-sensitive functional groups. The reaction is occasionally applied to the synthesis of tertiary alcohols. 

There are, however, serious problems that must be overcome in the application of this reaction to synthesis. The product is a new carbocation that can react further. Repetitive addition to alkene molecules leads to polymerization. Indeed, this is the mechanism of acid-catalyzed polymerization of alkenes. There is also the possibility of rearrangement. A key requirement for adapting the reaction of carbocations with alkenes to the synthesis of small molecules is control of the reactivity of the newly formed carbocation intermediate. Synthetically useful carbocation-alkene reactions require a suitable termination step. We have already encountered one successful strategy in the reaction of alkenyl and allylic silanes and stannanes with electrophilic carbon (see Chapter 9). In those reactions, the silyl or stannyl substituent is eliminated and a stable alkene is formed. The increased reactivity of the silyl- and stannyl-substituted alkenes is also favorable to the synthetic utility of carbocation-alkene reactions because the reactants are more nucleophilic than the product alkenes. 

Carbocations, as we learned in Chapter 4 of Part A, can readily rearrange to more stable isomers. To be useful in synthesis, such reactions must be controlled and predictable. This goal can be achieved on the basis of substituent effects and stereoelectronic factors. Among the most important rearrangements in synthesis are those directed by oxygen substituents, which can provide predictable outcomes on the basis of electronic and stereoelectronic factors. 

Chapter 10 considers the role of reactive intermediates—carbocations, carbenes, and radicals—in synthesis. The carbocation reactions covered include the carbonyl-ene reaction, polyolefin cyclization, and carbocation rearrangements. In the carbene section, addition (cyclopropanation) and insertion reactions are emphasized. Recent development of catalysts that provide both selectivity and enantioselectivity are discussed, and both intermolecular and intramolecular (cyclization) addition reactions of radicals are dealt with. The use of atom transfer steps and tandem sequences in synthesis is also illustrated. 

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