Unsaturated alcohols cyclic, synthesis

The enantioselective reduction of unsaturated alcohol derivatives has been applied to the synthesis of several biologically active compounds (Scheme 24.12). Warfarin (123, R=H) is an important anticoagulant that is normally prescribed as the racemate, despite the enantiomers having dissimilar pharmacological profiles. One of the earliest reported uses of DuPhos was in the development of a chiral switch for this bioactive molecule, facilitating the preparation of (R)- and (S)-warfarin [184]. Although attempted reduction of the parent hydroxycoumarin 122 (R=H) led to formation of an unreactive cyclic hemiketal, hydrogenation of the sodium salt proceeded smoothly with Rh-Et-DuPhos in 86-89% ee. 

A transition metal catalyzed synthesis of ethers by carbene insertion into the O—bond has been reported. Not only saturated but also unsaturated alcohols can be utilized in this catalytic process. ° Intermolecular and intramolecular oxirane ring opening reactions by alkoxides and phenoxides also provide efficient and stereospecific preparations of acyclic and cyclic ethers. The procedures have been surveyed in detail. ... 

Sulfonyl carbanions are even more stable than sulfinyl carbanions and are consequently of greater significance in synthesis. They can be alkylated and acylated at the a-carbon atom using organolithium bases, and cyclic sulfones can be formed by intramolecular alkylation, (see Chapter 10, p. 202). Sulfonyl carbanions (73) also react with terminal epoxides, and this reaction is applicable for the synthesis of unsaturated alcohols (74) (Scheme 33). 

Olah et al. reported the triflic acid-catalyzed isobutene-iso-butylene alkylation, modified with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) or water. They found that the best alkylation conditions were at an acid strength of about//q = —10.7, giving a calculated research octane number (RON) of 89.1 (TfOH/TFA) and91.3 (TfOH/HaO). Triflic acid-modified zeohtes can be used for the gas phase synthesis of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and the mechanism of activity enhancement by triflic acid modification appears to be related to the formation of extra-lattice Al rather than the direct presence of triflic acid. A thermally stable solid catalyst prepared from amorphous silica gel and triflic acid has also been reported. The obtained material was found to be an active catalyst in the alkylation of isobutylene with n-butenes to yield high-octane gasoline components. A similar study has been carried out with triflic acid-functionalized mesoporous Zr-TMS catalysts. Triflic acid-catalyzed carbonylation, direct coupling reactions, and formylation of toluene have also been reported. Tritlic acid also promotes transalkylation and adaman-tylation of arenes in ionic liquids. Triflic acid-mediated reactions of methylenecyclopropanes with nitriles have also been investigated to provide [3 + 2] cycloaddition products as well as Ritter products. Tritlic acid also catalyzes cyclization of unsaturated alcohols to cyclic ethers. ... 

The catalytic method was extended to a series of different unsaturated alcohols in order to investigate the scope of the reaction. More specifically, only substrates leading upon protonation to the formation of tertiary carbocations turned out to be suitable substrates for the reaction. In all cases, the synthesis of a wide range of differently substituted tetrahydropyran and oxepane derivatives was achieved under mild experimental conditions within up to 6 days, with only 10 mol% of the supramolecular capsule as catalyst, while in the presence of the ammonium competitive guest the reactions were sluggish. For all substrates, the hydroalkoxylation always showed the formation of the cyclic product corresponding to the Markovnikov addition to the unsaturated double bond. 

Intramolecular additions of alcohols or amines to olefins are recognized as useful methods to provide heterocyclic compounds. Kozmin and Zhang have achieved a gold-catalyzed synthesis of heterobicyclic alkenes by double cyclization of alcohols or sulfonamides which have a 1,5-enyne moiety [175]. As a typical example, unsaturated alcohol (95) is smoothly converted to 6-oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane (96) in 90% yield using a 5 mol% of AuCls catalyst (Scheme 18.34). Cyclic ethers are also available from homopropargylic ethers with pendant alcohols through gold-catalyzed... 

Hydroalkoxylation. The cycloisomerization of unactivated unsaturated alcohols has been achieved using Al(OTf)3 (eq Reaction with unsaturated oximes also led to 1,2-oxaza heterocycles with five-, six-, and seven-membered rings. This catalyst provided a straightforward route to cyclic ethers with a Markovnikov-type regioselectivity. Notably, these conditions were used for efficient synthesis of olfactory-active rose oxide derivatives. Mechanistic studies showed that Al(OTf)3 coordinates to the oxygen atom of the alcohol, leading to strong acidification of the hydroxyl proton. Intermolecular hydroalkoxylation with methanol has also been reported. ... 

As an extension of this work, the same authors explored such methodology for the synthesis of 2,6-disubstituted dihydropyrans using secondary homopropargylic alcohols (Scheme 10, route E). Surprisingly, the treatment of pent-4-yn-2-ol and 3-methylbutanal in the presence of FeCls led to unsaturated ( )-(3-hydroxyketone and ( )-a,p-unsaturated ketone in 2.5 1 ratio and 65% yield, without any trace of the expected Prins-type cyclic product (Scheme 22) [36]. To test the anion influence in this coupling, FeCE and FeBrs were used in a comparative study for the reaction of pent-4-yn-2-ol (R = R" = H, = Me) and several aldehydes. A range of aldehydes except for benzaldehyde was transformed into unsaturated (3-hydroxy-ketones in moderate to good yields. 

The synthetic utility of the carbonylation of zirconacycles was further enhanced by the development of a pair of selective procedures producing either ketones or alcohols [30] and has been extensively applied to the synthesis of cyclic ketones and alcohols, most extensively by Negishi [22—27,29—33,65,87,131—134], as detailed below in Section I.4.3.3.4. The preparation of unsaturated aldehydes by carbonylation with CO is not very satisfactory. The use of isonitriles in place of CO, however, has provided a useful alternative [135], and this has been applied to the synthesis of curacin A [125]. Another interesting variation is the cyanation of alkenes [136]. Further developments and a critical comparison with carbonylation using CO will be necessary before the isonitrile reaction can become widely useful. The relevant results are shown in Scheme 1.35. 

Hydroformylation of unsaturated amines offer a convenient synthetic access to cyclic AT.O-hemiacetals. If performed in the presence of alcohols or orthoesters AT,O-acetals are formed. With additional N-nucleophiles N,N-acetals are obtained. These compounds are synthetically attractive building blocks and were therefore used as a key step in the synthesis of various natural products [27,35]. Thus the synthesis of (+)-prosopinine starting from enantiopure (T)-scrinc leads to a cyclic N,O-acetal functionality with the required functionality for the attachment of the side chain (Scheme 6) [36]. 

Asymmetric reduction of a,fi-enon s. This combination of reagents (1 1) in conjunction with N-cthylaniline (2 equivalents) reduces alkyl aryl ketones to alcohols with high stereoselectivity.1 Under these conditions 2,/1-unsaturated ketones arc reduced to optically active (S)-allylic alcohols. Optical yields of 80 98% have been reported for open-chain enones. Reduction of cyclic enones is somewhat less efficient. The method was used to reduce 1 to 2, which has been used as an intermediate in an anthracyclinone synthesis.2... 

The synthesis of succinic acid derivatives, /3-alkoxy esters, and a,j3-unsaturated esters from olefins by palladium catalyzed carbonylation reactions in alcohol have been reported (24, 25, 26, 27), but full experimental details of the syntheses are incomplete and in most cases the yields of yS-alkoxy ester and diester products are low. A similar reaction employing stoichiometric amounts of palladium (II) has also been reported (28). In order to explore the scope of this reaction for the syntheses of yS-alkoxy esters and succinic acid derivatives, representative cyclic and acyclic olefins were carbonylated under these same conditions (Table I). The reactions were carried out in methanol at room temperature using catalytic amounts of palladium (II) chloride and stoichiometric amounts of copper (II) chloride under 2 atm of carbon monoxide. The methoxypalladation reaction of 1-pentene affords a good conversion (55% ) of olefin to methyl 3-methoxyhexanoate, the product of Markov-nikov addition. In the carbonylation of other 1-olefins, f3-methoxy methyl esters were obtained in high yields however, substitution of a methyl group on the double bond reduced the yield of ester markedly. For example, the carbonylation of 2-methyl-l-butene afforded < 10% yield of methyl 3-methyl-3-methoxypentanoate. This suggests that unsubstituted 1-olefins may be preferentially carbonylated in the presence of substituted 1-olefins or internal olefins. The reactivities of the olefins fall in the order RCH =CHo ]> ci -RCH=CHR > trans-RCH =CHR >... 

The transition metal-catalyzed addition of alcohols to unsaturated systems has not been widely investigated. Reports on addition of alcohols to 1,3-diene [24] or allene [25] have appeared but have very limited scope. We recently reported the palladium/benzoic acid-catalyzed inter- and intramolecular addition of alcohols to alkynes in which various acyclic and cyclic allylic ethers are produced [26], The Pd-catalyzed addition of alcohols to alkylidenecyclopropanes proceeds smoothly providing a powerful tool for synthesis of allylic ethers [27a]. An intramolecular version of the hydroalkoxylation has been demonstrated in which the phenol-tethered alkylidenecyclopropanes undergo facile cyclization to give exomethylene products [27b],... 

A chiral complex of (1), L1A1H4, and A/-ethylaniline (molar ratio, 1 1 2) reduces aryl alkyl ketones to optically active alcohols in high ee. a, -Unsaturated ketones are reduced enantioselectively to afford optically active (S)-allylic alcohols with 80-98% ee. An intermediate in an anthracyclinone synthesis is prepared in 92% ee by the enantioselective reduction of a cyclic a,p-unsaturated ketone (eq 2). ... 

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