Unsaturated carbon nucleophilic reactions ring carbons

Sulfur ylides are among the most interesting carbon nucleophiles and their synthetic importance has been recently reviewed.One especially interesting use of these ylides is their application to the synthesis of cyclopropane derivatives using unsaturated oxazolones. For example, stabilized sulfur yhdes react with unsaturated oxazolones 629 via a Michael reaction to give oxazolone spirocyclopropanes 630 as shown in Scheme 7.202 and Table 7.46 (Fig. 7.57), whereas the less stabilized sulfur ylides give ring-opened products 631 as the major compounds (Scheme 7.202). ... 

The 1,3-disconnection we met in Chapter 6 is also effective for carbon nucleophiles (21). The reaction is the Michael addition of carbanions to a,d-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and we may expect Grignard reagents or RLi to do this reaction. We shall look for this disconnection when there is a branch point at the /3 or 7 carbon atoms, and particularly when the bond to be disconnected joins a ring to a chain. Ketone (22) can clearly be made this way. 

The pivotal step associated with our approach to compounds 31-34 was an organocatalysed, enantioselective and intramolecular Michael addition reaction of the nucleophilic C-2 carbon of a pyrrole to an iV-tethered a,p-unsaturated aldehyde residue and thereby estabhshing the required CD-ring system. Full details of the reaction sequence are shown in Scheme 4 and this involves initial reaction of the potassium salt, 35, of pyrrole with butyrolactone (36) to give, after acidic workup, compound 37 (60-90%). Conversion of this last species into the corresponding Weinreb amide 38 (87%) followed by its reaction with ethylmagnesium bromide then afforded the ethyl ketone 39 (95%) that was subjected to standard Homer-Wadsworth-Emmons (HWE) conditions and thereby generating the... 

As diazocarbonyl compounds bearing a substituent other than H on the diazobearing carbon, some cyclic diazoketones were applied to the Pd-mediated polymerization. The a,j3-unsaturated cyclic diazoketone 6 derived from cyclohexenone can be transformed into polymers with a unique structure, where the main chain carbon is one of carbon atoms of a six-membered ring [45] (Scheme 23). In addition, the C=C bond conjugated with C=0 would be directed outward from the main chain, which may render an attack of nucleophiles (1,4-conjugate addition) feasible. As expected, the addition of nucleophiles such as organolithium and sodium salt of diethyl malonate occurred by the reaction with the polymer. 

The intramolecular Michael addition11 of a nucleophilic oxygen to an a,/ -unsaturated ester constitutes an attractive alternative strategy for the synthesis of the pyran nucleus, a strategy that could conceivably be applied to the brevetoxin problem (see Scheme 2). For example, treatment of hydroxy a,/ -unsaturated ester 9 with sodium hydride furnishes an alkoxide ion that induces ring formation by attacking the electrophilic //-carbon of the unsaturated ester moiety. This base-induced intramolecular Michael addition reaction is a reversible process, and it ultimately affords the thermodynamically most stable product 10 (92% yield). 

Figure 5.16 Photoactivation of a phenyl azide group with UV light results in the formation of a short-lived nitrene. Nitrenes may undergo a number of reactions, including insertion into active carbon-hydrogen or nitrogen-hydrogen bonds and addition to points of unsaturation in carbon chains. The most likely route of reaction, however, is to ring-expand to a dehydroazepine intermediate. This group is highly reactive toward nucleophiles, especially amines.

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