THF ring opening

For a bulky substituted cyclopentadienyl group, such as CsMes and CsMeaR (R = Et, Pr, SiMes), tris(cyclopentadienyl) lanthanide complexes cannot be prepared via the above metathesis reaction because of the steric hindrance. The reaction of anhydrous LnCls with three equivalents of alkali metal pentamethylcyclopentadienyl in THF (tetrahydrofuran) led to the THF ring-opened product (Equation 8.4) [8]. 

Yamamoto and Saito reported that the kinetically controlled generation of the more substituted enolate of unsyimnetrical dialkyl ketones can be realized by the combined use of ATPH and LDA [175]. Precomplexation of ATPH with 2-methyl-cyclohexanone (175) at -78 °C in toluene was followed by treatment with LDA in THF, and the mixture was stirred for 1 h. Subsequent treatment with methyl trifluoro-methanesulfonate (MeOTf) furnished 2,2-dimethylcyclohexanone (177) and 2,6-dimethylcyclohexanone (176) in the ratio 32 1 (53 % isolated yield). Use of ter/-butyl-dimethylsilyl triflate (TBSOTf) in place of alkyl triflates in this alkylation system produced siloxybutylated product 178 as a result of THF ring-opening alkylation occurred similarly at the more hindered a-carbon of the unsymmetrical ketone 175 (Sch. 136) [176]. 

THF ring opening. Pivaloyl chloride and acetyl chloride induce ring opening of 2-substituted tetrahydrofurans in different fashions. The Sn2 pathway is favored in the reaction with r-BuCOCl. 

Tamm and coworkers [98] overcame the tendency for this FLP to form the abnormal NHC-borane adduct through the C4 carbon by using a saturated analog of the NHC. The same hydrogen activation and THF ring-opening reactions were observed for the imidazolidin-2-ylidene as shown in Scheme 15.6. 

Scheme 15.6 THF ring-opening reaction by an FLP of SitBu and tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (Ar = pentafluorophenyl) [98].

The polymerizations of tetrahydrofuran [1693-74-9] (THF) and of oxetane [503-30-0] (OX) are classic examples of cationic ring-opening polymerizations. Under ideal conditions, the polymerization of the five-membered tetrahydrofuran ring is a reversible equiUbtium polymerization, whereas the polymerization of the strained four-membered oxetane ring is irreversible (1,2). 

THF) at room temperature (Scheme 18) (95T8605). The proposed mechanism for this conversion involves the abstraction of H3 by basic attack of NaH to give an enolate anion, which, via ring opening, affords the 2(5//)-furanone 61 by a straightforward intramolecular nucleophilic acyl substitution (Scheme 18) (95T8605). 

The cationic ring opening polymerization of oxolane (THF) or of N-substituted aziridines can be initiated by oxocarbenium salts [42]. The methacrylic ester unsaturation is insensitive to cationic sites, and polyoxolanes (poly-THF) macromonomers are obtained in good yields. 

A related palladium(O)-catalyzed epimerization of y-aziridinyl-a,P-enoates 244 was also reported by Ibuka, Ohno, Fujii, and coworkers (Scheme 2.60) [43]. Treatment of either isomer of 244 with a catalytic amount of Pd(PPh3)4 in THF yielded an equilibrated mixture in which the isomer 246 with the desired configuration predominated (246 other isomers = 85 15 to 94 6). In most cases the isomer 246 could be easily separated from the diastereomeric mixture by a simple recrystallization, and the organocopper-mediated ring-opening reaction of 246 directly afforded L,L-type (E)-alkene dipeptide isosteres 243. 

A direct application of the ring-opening reaction of an epoxide by a metal enolate amide for the synthesis of a complex molecule can be found in the synthesis of the trisubstituted cyclopentane core of brefeldin A (Scheme 8.35) [68a]. For this purpose, treatment of epoxy amide 137 with excess KH in THF gave a smooth cyclization to amide 138, which was subsequently converted into the natural product. No base/solvent combination that would effect cyclization of the corresponding aldehyde or ester could be found. 

Ring-opening products derived from primary amines are attractive precursors for the preparation of (3-lactams [57]. With methylmagnesium bromide as the base, diamino esters 33 cyclized readily in THF and stereospecifically generated anti-3-amino- 3-lactams 34 (Table 12.15). 

Sulfone 411 gave the ring-opened product upon treatment with a catalytic amount of LDA in THF-HMPA, whereas treatment of 412 with t-BuOK in DMF resulted in ringopening and elimination of a sulfinate anion454. 

The significant potential of the ruthenium complex 65 was further underlined in the catalytic asymmetric ring-opening/cross metathesis of the cyclic alkene 70 (Scheme 44). This transformation is catalyzed by 5% mol of 65 at room temperature, in air, and with undistilled and nondegassed THF to deliver the corresponding diene 71 in 96% ee and 66% isolated yield. In standard conditions (distilled and degassed THF), the alkene 70 reacts in 75 min to give the diene in 95% ee and 76% yield, with only 0.5 mol % of catalyst. 

In a related reaction, the Danishefsky diene 1434 cyclizes with ethyl pyruvate 1435 in the presence of catalytic amounts of the asymmetric Lewis acid catalyst 1436, at -72 °C in THF, to give the Diels-Alder adduct 1437, in 85% yield and 91% ee, and the ring-opened product 1438, which cyclizes, however, with triflic acid to give 1437 [11] (Scheme 9.9). 

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