Titanium tetrachloride reactions with carbonyl compounds

Silyl enol ethers undergo reaction with carbonyl compounds promoted by Lewis acids, but especially titanium tetrachloride. The reaction is thought to proceed via a titanium chelate which inhibits the reverse aldol process and the regiochemical integrity of the starting silyl enol ether is retained (Scheme 102).373... 

Mukaiyama, T., Banno, K., Narasaka, K. New cross-aldol reactions. Reactions of silyl enol ethers with carbonyl compounds activated by titanium tetrachloride. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1974, 96, 7503-7509. 

This procedure illustrates a general method for the preparation of crossed aldols. The aldol reaction between various silyl enol ethers and carbonyl compounds proceeds smoothly according to the same procedure (see Table I). Sllyl enol ethers react with aldehydes at -78°C, and with ketones near 0°C. Note that the aldol reaction of sllyl enol ethers with ketones affords good yields of crossed aldols which are generally difficult to prepare using lithium or boron enolates. Lewis acids such as tin tetrachloride and boron trifluoride etherate also promote the reaction however, titanium tetrachloride is generally the most effective catalyst. 

As previously mentioned, 1-alkynyltrialkylborates (18) have become increasingly important in the formation of carbon-carbon bonds via attack of electrophiles. However, such complexes cannot react with simple Qc,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds such as methyl vinyl ketone, because of their weak electrophilicity. Recently it was ascertained that ,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds react with 18 via a Michael-type reaction in the presence of titanium tetrachloride, and the usual alkaline hydrogen peroxide oxidation leads to the synthesis of 5-dicarbonyl compounds... 

The isolation of the initial aldol products from the condensation of the enolates of carbene complexes and carbonyl compounds is possible if the carbonyl compound is pretreated with a Lewis acid. As indicated in equation (9), the scope of the aldol reaction can also be extended to ketones and enolizable aldehydes by this procedure. The condensations with ketones were most successful when boron trifluoride etherate was employed, and for aldehydes, the Lewis acid of choice is titanium tetrachloride. The carbonyl compound is pretreated with a stoichiometric amount of the Lewis acid and to this is added a solution of the anion generated from the caibene complex. An excess of the carbonyl-Lewis acid complex (2-10 equiv.) is employed however, above 2 equiv. only small improvements in the overall yield are realized. 

The direct selenoacetalization of carbonyl compounds by selenols is by far the shortest and most convenient route to selenoacetals. The reaction is usually carried out at 20 C with zinc chloride (0.5 equiv. versus the carbonyl con x>und) and delivers rapidly (<3 h) and in reasonably good yields methyl and phenyl selenoacetals derived from aliphatic aldehydes and ketones and cyclic ketones (Scheme 69). Selenoacetalization is more difficult to achieve with hindered ketones, such as adamantanone and diisopropyl ketone, and with hindered aromatic carbtmyl compounds. In these cases the reaction is best achieved with titanium tetrachloride instead of zinc chloride and is often limited to the methylseleno derivatives (Scheme 78). Tris(methylseleno)borane offers the advantage of not requiring an acid catalyst and is particularly useful for the selenoacetalization of acid labQe aldehydes such as citronellal (Scheme 70, e). 

A standard method for enamines synthesis from carbonyl compounds is to heat the parent aldehyde or ketone and a secondary amine in benzene or toluene and to remove the eliminated water by azeotropic distillation. However, this method fails with methyl ketone substrates which are prone to self-condensation imder these conditions. These difficulties could be overcome by a procedure using anhydrous titanium tetrachloride as water scavenger.[6] In the original procedure, titanium tetrachloride was added dropwise to a cold solution of the ketone and the amine, followed by prolonged stirring at room temperature. It was later found that the reaction time could be considerably shortened by a modified procedure, in which the... 

The reaction of trimethylsilylallenes with aldehydes and ketones in the presence of titanium tetrachloride provides a regiocontrolled route to homopropargylic alcohols of a variety of substitution types. Thus, the addition of 1-alkyl-substituted trimethylsilylallenes to carbonyl compounds furnishes the desired alkynes directly, whereas reactions involving allenylsilanes initially produce mixtures of alkynes... 

The Mukaiyama version of the aldol reaction is well known a carbonyl-titanium tetrachloride complex reacts with a trimethylsilyl enol ether. Under these conditions there is no titanium enolate involved. Another procedure has been reported a trimethylsilyl enol ether reacts with titanium tetrachloride to give the titanium enolate addition of the carbonyl compound generates the aldol product (although with slightly lower diastereoselectivity than with Mukaiyama s procedure). (Z)-Enolsilanes from acyclic ketones react rapidly and stereospecifically with TiCU to form (Z)-configured CbTi enolates, while the ( )-isomers react slowly to afford low yields of mixtures of ( )- and (Z)-Cl3Ti enolates (Scheme 41). 

Titanium tetrachloride is a moisture-sensitive, highly flammable liquid reacting violently with water (34). It is a strong Lewis acid capable of promoting Diels-Alder reactions (35) and induces the addition of silyl enol ethers and allyl silanes to carbonyl compounds and derivatives (34r-36). It is a less commonly used catalyst in Friedel-Crafts reactions but very useful for the acylation of activated alkenes and in the Fries rearrangement. 

In agreement with the results obtained with the titanium alkoxide, titanium tetrachloride converts the 6-substituted alkene orthoester 49 into the expected cyclohexanone 48 in 88% yield, and Grignard reagents promote the carbocy-clization reaction and then react with the carbonyl functions of the products. In this way compound 49, on treatment with phenylmagnesium bromide, affords the diphenyl product 50 that has both of the phenyl groups equatorial (Scheme 11) [46]. 

---