Alkenes triethylsilane

A catalyst, usually acid, is required to promote chemoselective and regioselective reduction under mild conditions. A variety of organosilanes can be used, but triethylsilane ia the presence of trifiuoroacetic acid is the most frequendy reported. Use of this reagent enables reduction of alkenes to alkanes. Branched alkenes are reduced more readily than unbranched ones. Selective hydrogenation of branched dienes is also possible. 

Because of Us high polarity and low nucleophilicity, a trifluoroacetic acid medium is usually used for the investigation of such carbocationic processes as solvolysis, protonation of alkenes, skeletal rearrangements, and hydride shifts [22-24] It also has been used for several synthetically useful reachons, such as electrophilic aromatic substitution [25], reductions [26, 27], and oxidations [28] Trifluoroacetic acid is a good medium for the nitration of aromatic compounds Nitration of benzene or toluene with sodium nitrate in trifluoroacetic acid is almost quantitative after 4 h at room temperature [25] Under these conditions, toluene gives the usual mixture of mononitrotoluenes in an o m p ratio of 61 6 2 6 35 8 A trifluoroacetic acid medium can be used for the reduction of acids, ketones, and alcohols with sodium borohydnde [26] or triethylsilane [27] Diary Iketones are smoothly reduced by sodium borohydnde in trifluoroacetic acid to diarylmethanes (equation 13)... 

The most common reaction conditions for alkene reductions use excess tri-fluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane either neat202 204 or in an inert solvent such as nitrobenzene,134 2-nitropropane,205 carbon tetrachloride,206 chloroform,207 or dichloromethane.127,164 Reaction temperatures from —78° to well over 100° are reported. Ambient or ice-bath temperatures are most commonly used, but variations of these conditions abound. 

The triethylsilane/trifluoroacetic acid reagent system reduces alkenes to alkanes in poor to excellent yields depending largely on the ability of the alkene to form carbocations upon protonation. Under these conditions the more substituted olefins are reduced in better yields and styrene double bonds are reduced in high yields.127,202,207,221-228 The reduction of 1,2-dimethylcyclohexene with this reagent gives a mixture of cis- and trans- 1,2-dimethylcyclohexane.229 The formation of the trifluoroacetate esters is a side reaction.205,230... 

Monosubstituted Alkenes. Simple unbranched terminal alkenes that have only alkyl substituents, such as 1-hexene,2031-octene,209 or ally Icy clohexane230 do not undergo reduction in the presence of organosilicon hydrides and strong acids, even under extreme conditions.1,2 For example, when 1-hexene is heated in a sealed ampoule at 140° for 10 hours with triethylsilane and excess trifluoroacetic acid, only a trace of hexane is detected.203 A somewhat surprising exception to this pattern is the formation of ethylcyclohexane in 20% yield upon treatment of vinylcyclohexane with trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane.230 Protonation of the terminal carbon is thought to initiate a 1,2-hydride shift that leads to the formation of the tertiary 1-ethyl-1-cyclohexyl cation.230... 

Alkenes with a 1,1-disubstitution pattern form tertiary carbocations upon treatment with a Brpnsted acid. Consequently, such compounds are often easily reduced (Eq. 72). An example of this is the formation of 2-methylpentane in 93% yield after only 5 minutes when a dichloromethane solution of 2-methyl-1-pentene and 1.4 equivalents of triethylsilane is treated with 1.4 equivalents of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid at —75°.216 Similar treatment of 2,3-dimethyl-l-butene gives a 96% yield of 2,3-dimethylbutane.216... 

Trisubstituted Alkenes. With very few exceptions, trisubstituted alkenes that are exposed to Brpnsted acids and organosilicon hydrides rapidly undergo ionic hydrogenations to give reduced products in high yields. This is best illustrated by the broad variety of reaction conditions under which the benchmark compound 1-methylcyclohexene is reduced to methylcyclohexane.134 146,192 202 203 207-210 214 234 When 1-methylcyclohexene is reduced with one equivalent of deuterated triethylsilane and two equivalents of trifluoroacetic acid at 50°, methylcyclohexane-... 

Exceptions to the generally facile ionic hydrogenation of trisubstituted alkenes include the resistance of both 2-methyl-1-nitropropene (R = NO2) and 3,3-dimeth-ylacrylic acid (R = CO2H) to the action of a mixture of triethylsilane and excess trifluoroacetic acid at 50° (Eq. 85).234 The failure to undergo reduction is clearly related to the unfavorable effects caused by the electron-withdrawing substituents on the energies of the required carbocation intermediates. 

Under certain conditions, the trifluoroacetic acid catalyzed reduction of ketones can result in reductive esterification to form the trifluoroacetate of the alcohol. These reactions are usually accompanied by the formation of side products, which can include the alcohol, alkenes resulting from dehydration, ethers, and methylene compounds from over-reduction.68,70,207,208,313,386 These mixtures may be converted into alcohol products if hydrolysis is employed as part of the reaction workup. An example is the reduction of cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol in 74% yield when treated with a two-fold excess of both trifluoroacetic acid and triethylsilane for 24 hours at 55° and followed by hydrolytic workup (Eq. 205).203... 

A range of aromatic alkenes and acrylic acid derivatives have been converted into benzyl alcohols and a-hydroxyalkanoic acids in good yields by a reductive oxidation process. This reaction is accomplished by reaction with oxygen and triethylsilane with a cobalt(II) catalyst, followed by treatment with trialkyl phosphites (equation 30)154. The aromatic olefins may also be converted into the corresponding acetophenone in a modified procedure where the trialkyl phosphite is removed155. In a similar reaction 2,4-alkadienoic acids are converted into 4-oxo-2-alkenoic acids156. 

The mechanism for this palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction comprises the initial oxidative addition of the electrophile 37 to the palladium(O) catalyst followed by transmetallation of triethylsilane to yield the corresponding bis(organo)palladium(II) complex 39, which then undergoes reductive elimination to form the alkene 40 and to regenerate the palladium(O) catalyst. 

Reductive decomplexation/ Although the common practice for removal of the hexacarbonyldicobalt residue from alkyne complexes involves mild oxidants, it is also possible to convert the complexes to free (Z)-alkenes with BUjSnH. If triethylsilane is used the decomplexation is followed by in situ hydrosilylation. 

Isayama has reported an elegant procedure for the hydration of alkenes with molecular oxygen and triethylsilane catalyzed by a cobalt(II) complex followed by a reductive treatment with Na2S203 [41]. The reaction is efficient with terminal alkenes and a,/9-unsaturated esters. The radical nature of this reaction is ques-... 

The chemistry of )9-(thiocarbonyloxy)alkyl radicals stands in complete contrast to that of the (acyloxy)alkyl radicals, with elimination, while not the rule, being the norm [I]. The difference between the acyloxy and thiocarbonyloxy series is likely a consequence of the much weaker thiocarbonyl bond and the related higher stability of sulfur-centered radicals. The method has been developed in combination with the Barton deoxygenation method (Volume 1, Chapter 1.6) as a means of converting a vicinal diol, via the dixanthate, into an alkene (Scheme 33) [60-62]. Tributyltin hydride has been the reagent of choice for this reaction but it may also be conducted with the triethylsilane/benzoyl peroxide couple [63] and, doubtless, tris(trimethylsilyl)silane. 

Silane hydrides can be used for the reduction of carbonyls and alkenes. Reaction of methylcyclohexene with a mixture of triethylsilane (EtsSiH) and trifluoroacetic acid (CF3CO2H) reduced the alkene moiety to give methylcyclohexane in 72% yield. 2 Under the same conditions, however, 1-pentene was not reduced. More commonly, this reagent is used for reduction of conjugated carbonyls, probably via formation of a silyl enolate (secs. 9.2, 9.3.B) as in the reduction of cyclohexenone to cyclohexanone in 85% yield with Ph2SiH2. Addition of transition metals such as ZnCl2, or copper salts to the silane facilitates the reduc-tion,594 as in the conversion of 576 to 577 in 96% yield. ... 

Triphenylsilyl ethers are typically prepared by the reaction of the alcohol with triphenylsilyl chloride (mp 92-94 °C) and imidazole in DMF at room temperature. The dehydrogenative silylation of alcohols can be accomplished with as little as 2 mol% of the commercial Lewis acid tris(pentaf1uorophenyl)borane and a silane such as triphenylsilane or triethylsilane [Scheme 4.98]. Primary, secondary, tertiary and phenolic hydroxyls participate whereas alkenes, alkynes, alkyl halides, nitro compounds, methyl and benzyl ethers, esters and lactones are inert under the conditions. The stability of ether functions depends on the substrate. Thus, tetrahydrofurans appear to be inert whereas epoxides undergo ring cleavage. 1,2- and 1,3-Diols can also be converted to their silylene counterparts as illustrated by the conversion 983 98.4. Hindered silanes such as tri-... 

Benzyl esters, ethers and carbamates can be deprotected in the presence of other easily reducible groups by treatment of the substrate with palladium(ll) acetate and triethylamine in the presence of triethylsilane. Competing reduction of bromoarenes, cyclopropanes or alkenes is not observed [Scheme 643)... 

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