Tebbe carbonyl olefination

Recently, Nicolaou and coworkers have devised a novel, one-pot strategy for the direct transformation of acyclic olefinic esters to cyclic enol ethers [34]. Unlike the molybdenum alkylidene 1 (see Sect. 3.2), initial reaction between the Tebbe reagent 93 and an olefinic ester results in rapid carbonyl olefination to afford a diene intermediate. Subsequent heating initiates RCM to afford the desired cyclic product (Scheme 17). 

An alternative approach involves a two-step procedure, in which carbonyl olefination, using the Tebbe reagent 93, generates an acyclic enol ether-olefin (Scheme 16). In this case, subsequent RCM using molybdenum alkylidene 1 proceeds to give cyclic enol ethers. An efficient, one-pot carbonyl olefination-RCM approach has been developed by Nicolaou et al. for the formation of cyclic enol... 

Table 3.10. Carbonyl olefination with Tebbe-type titanium reagents.

On the other hand, isolable transition-metal-bound cyclopropyl systems can also be used in coupling reactions. Thus bis(cyclopentadienyl)bis(cyclopropyl)titanium reacted, in a Tebbe-type transformation, with carbonyl compounds to give methylenecyclopropanes 3 and with alkynes to form vinylcyclopropanes 4 via carbonyl olefination. ... 

Tebbe found that titanocene complexes promoted olefin metathesis in addition to carbonyl olefination. Despite the fact that these complexes have low activity, they proved to be excellent model systems. For example, the Tebbe complex exchanges methylene units with a labeled terminal methylene at a slow rate that can be easily monitored (Eq. 4.6) [54]. This exchange is the essential transformation of olefin metathesis. When reactions with olefins are performed in the presence of a Lewis base, the intermediate titanium metallacycle can be isolated and even structurally characterized (Eq. 4.7) [61] These derivatives were not only the first metathesis-active metallacyclobutane complexes ever isolated, but they were also the first metallacyclobutanes isolated from the cycloaddition of a metal-carbene complex with an olefin. These metallacycles participate in all the reactions expected of olefin metathesis catalysts, especially exchange with olefins... 

The utility of the Tebbe type complex in carbonyl olefination is discussed in Chapter 4. The bridged complex may be regarded as a special type of a carbene complex where the Cp2Ti=CH2 unit is masked by interaction with the AlMe2Cl entity. Formation of the Tebbe s complex suggests the occurrence of a-hydrogen elimination in the preparation of the Ziegler-Natta and Kaminsky type olefin polymerization catalysts from titanium chlorides and methylaluminum compounds. 

A few years later, Tebbe and co-workers found that the methylene-bridged metallacycle 3, which has become known as the Tebbe reagent, is useful for the methylenation of ketones and aldehydes [5]. Titanocene-methylidene 4, the active species of this olefination, also transforms carboxylic acid derivatives into heteroatom-substituted olefins. Because the carbene complex 4 is much less basic than conventional olefination reagents such as phosphorus ylides, it can be employed for the olefination of carbonyl compounds possessing highly acidic a-protons or of highly hindered ketones, and has become an indispensable tool in organic synthesis. Various methods for the preparation of titaniumcarbonyl olefination. This chapter focuses on the use of metal-carbene complexes and some related species in carbonyl olefination (Scheme 4.2). 

I 4 Carbonyl Olefination Utilizing Metal Carbene Complexes Tab. 4.1. Methylenation of ketones with the Tebbe reagent 3. 

Carbonyl Olefination with Titanocene-Methylidene and Related Reagents 157 Tab. 4.4. Methylenation of amides, imides, and thiol esters with the Tebbe reagent 3. 

Scheme 4.49. Preparation of zirconium analogues of the Tebbe reagent and their use for carbonyl olefination.

Iyer and Rainier followed up on the gambieric acid studies (Scheme 3.57) to show that oxepines can generally be formed using titanium ethylidenes. One example is given in Scheme 3.59 [65]. In contrast to Nicolaou s Tebbe reagent protocol, evidence is suggestive of an olefin metathesis, carbonyl-olefination cychzation mechanism [63a,b,f], [64d], [66].Subsequently, this reaction has been used by the Rainier... 

Many other organometaUic compounds also react with carbonyl groups. Lithium alkyls and aryls add to the ester carbonyl group to give either an alcohol or an olefin. Lithium dimethyl cuprate has been used to prepare ketones from esters (41). Tebbe s reagent, Cp2TiCH2AlCl(CH2)2, where Cp = clyclopentadienyl, and other metal carbene complexes can convert the C=0 of esters to C=CR2 (42,43). 

Although the molybdenum and ruthenium complexes 1-3 have gained widespread popularity as initiators of RCM, the cydopentadienyl titanium derivative 93 (Tebbe reagent) [28,29] can also be used to promote olefin metathesis processes (Scheme 13) [28]. In a stoichiometric sense, 93 can be also used to promote the conversion of carbonyls into olefins [28b, 29]. Both transformations are thought to proceed via the reactive titanocene methylidene 94, which is released from the Tebbe reagent 93 on treatment with base. Subsequent reaction of 94 with olefins produces metallacyclobutanes 95 and 97. Isolation of these adducts, and extensive kinetic and labeling studies, have aided in the eluddation of the mechanism of metathesis processes [28]. 

Tandem carbonyl olefmation—olefm metathesis utilizing the Tebbe reagent or dimethyl-titanocene is employed for the direct conversion of olefmic esters to six- and seven-mem-bered cyclic enol ethers. Titanocene-methylidene initially reacts with the ester carbonyl of 11 to form the vinyl ether 12. The ensuing productive olefm metathesis between titano-cene methylidene and the cis-1,2 -disubstituted double bond in the same molecule produces the alkylidene-titanocene 13. Ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM) of the latter affords the cyclic vinyl ether 14 (Scheme 14.8) [18]. This sequence of reactions is useful for the construction of the complex cyclic polyether frameworks of maitotoxin [19]. 

Transformation of a carbonyl compound to the corresponding cjco-olefin using Tebbe s reagent. 

The so-called Tebbe reagent 272 reacts with carbonyl compounds to form olefinic products 139a>, a reaction which is of particular synthetic value in case of esters (Equation 87) 139b). 

The active species in the Tebbe olefination is believed to be the nucleophilic (Schrock-type) titanocene methylidene, which is formed from the Tebbe reagent upon coordination of the aluminum with a Lewis base (e.g., pyridine). This methylidene in its uncomplexed form, however, has never been isolated or observed spectroscopically owing to its extreme reactivity. The same intermediate can also be generated by other means." The titanocene methylidene reacts with the carbonyl group to form an oxatitanacyclobutane intermediate that breaks down to titanocene oxide and the desired methenylated compound (alkene). The driving force is the formation of the very strong titanium-oxygen bond. 

Tebbe olefination One-carbon homologation of carbonyl compounds to afford the corresponding 1,1-disubstituted alkenes. 454... 

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