Unsaturated Ketones as Acceptors

Kotsuki et al.909 have developed a method to effect the Michael addition of [3-ketoesters with ethyl acrylate in the presence of triflic acid under solvent-free conditions [Eq. (5.335)]. Nonactivated cyclohexanones as Michael donors and a,/3-unsaturated ketones as acceptors are also reactive. The use of menthyl acrylates did not result in any significant asymmetric induction. 

Another interesting feature of the bidentate Lewis acid 49 in organic synthesis is the regio- and stereocontrolled Michael addition of silyl ketene acetals to a,jd-unsaturated ketones as acceptors. Reaction of benzalacetone and silyl ketene acet-... 

TABLE 3.11. a, 3-Unsaturated Ketones as Acceptors in the Aldol Reaction... 

S.2.4.3. oL,p-Unsaturated Ketones as Acceptors. The earliest studies on the organocatalytic asymmetric Michael reactions were reported by the group headed by Wynberg [1,83]. The authors found that natural cinchona alkaloids could effectively promote the Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to a,(3-unsaturated enones. In 2003, Jprgensen and co-workers [84] developed the first highly... 

As an extension of this highly enantioselective Michael addition of silyl nitronates with a, p-unsaturated aldehydes, the reactions with cyclic a,p-unsaturated ketones as a Michael acceptor were also tested (Scheme 9.15). Cyclohexenone and cyclohepte-none were employed as a useful Michael acceptor with various silyl nitronates in the presence of catalyst (R,R)-6c, and gave the corresponding enol silyl ethers 28 with excellent stereoselectivities [30]. 

A similar selective oxidation can be carried out with tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)ihoditun(I) hydride and an a, >unsaturated ketone as hydrogen acceptor, in this case the use of an optically active phosphine provided an enantioselective synthesis, although the levels of asymmetric induction were rather low (Scheme 10). ... 

Michael additions. Despite tremendous efforts spent in achieving catalytic asymmetric Michael additions, effective additives of wide applicability are still quite rare. Interestingly, a polyamine ligand 29 promotes the addition of ketone enolates. With JV-methoxy-N-methyl amides of a,p-unsaturated acids as acceptors, the addition of lithium fS)-(a-methylbenzyl)benzylamide proceeds in a highly diastereo- and enantioselective manner, ascribable to a six-centered transition state in which the conjugated amide adopts an s-cis conformation, ... 

This type of catalyst was also employed by Christmann et al. to promote the asymmetric intramolecular Diels Alder reaction of tethered a,p-unsaturated dialdehydes in the presence of benzoic acid as a co-catalyst through vinylogous enamine activation. The corresponding cycloadducts were obtained in good yields and excellent enantioselectivities of up to 98% ee, as shown in Scheme 6.6. When one of the aldehyde functions was replaced by an a,p-unsaturated ketone as the acceptor, no formal [4 -I- 2] cycloaddition was observed instead, a direct enantioselective vinylogous Michael addition occurred. 

Strategy The overall result of an enamine reaction is the Michael addition of a ketone as donor to an cr,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound as acceptor, yielding a 1,5-dicarbonyl product. The C—C bond made in the Michael addition step is the one between the a- carbon of the ketone donor and the /3 carbon of the unsaturated acceptor. 

The Robinson annulation is a two-step process that combines a Michael reaction with an intramolecular aldol reaction. It takes place between a nucleophilic donor, such as a /3-keto ester, an enamine, or a /3-diketone, and an a,/3-unsaturated ketone acceptor, such as 3-buten-2-one. The product is a substituted 2-cyclohexenone. 

In this example, the /3-diketone 2-methyJ-l,3-cyclopentanedione is used to generate the enolate ion required for Michael reaction and an aryl-substituted a,/3-unsaturated ketone is used as the acceptor. Base-catalyzed Michael reaction between the two partners yields an intermediate triketone, which then cyclizes in an intramolecular aldol condensation to give a Robinson annulation product. Several further transformations are required to complete the synthesis of estrone. 

This has been applied to the cyclization of dihalides [45, 46], nonconjugated, unsaturated ketones [47] and esters [48], oxoalkylpyridinium salts [49], aldehydes and unsaturated nitriles [50], halides, and unsaturated esters [51], The umpoled acceptors, mostly radical anions or carban-ions (see Scheme 1), can also be used in intermolecular reactions such as acylation, alkylation, or carboxylation (Eq. 5). 

With ketone donors, both syn and anti selective reactions are possible. Typically, a,p-unsaturated nitro compounds are used as acceptors. The majority of these reactions are syn selective (Scheme 28) [94, 269, 271, 278, 279, 288-309]. This is a result of favored formation of the (fj-configured enamine and favorable electrostatic interactions between the nitro group and the enamine (Scheme 29) [290, 291, 310]. Of the known anti selective reactions, primary amine-thiourea catalysts such as 158 appear to perform best (Scheme 28) [271, 299, 301]. 

Stetter expanded Umpolung reactivity to include the addition of acyl anion equivalents to a,P-unsaturated acceptors to afford 1,4-dicarbonyls Eq. 5a [57-60]. Utilizing cyanide or thiazolylidene carbenes as catalysts, Stetter showed that a variety of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes act as competent nucleophilic coupling partners with a wide range of a,p-unsaturated ketones, esters, and nitriles [61]. The ability to bring two different electrophilic partners... 

In this case, the 2-aminobenzyl alcohol is oxidized to 2-aminobenz-aldehyde, which undergoes an aldol condensation with the ketone to give an 0, /3-unsaturated ketone. This is followed by cyclodehydratisation to form quinoline. An excess of ketone is necessary to act as a sacrificial hydrogen acceptor. 

The use of dimethylsulphoxonium methylide, as a specific methylene insertion reagent for a, /J-unsaturated ketones and esters, is illustrated by its reaction with ethyl crotonate in dimethylformamide solution to form (39) (Expt 7.16).12 The sulphur ylide initially attacks the /J-carbon of the conjugated system (Michael acceptor site), and this is followed by cyclisation and loss of dimethyl sulphoxide. 

Changing the anchoring atom from oxygen to carbon does not change the initial photochemistry of the unsaturated ketones. The rates of the subsequent thermal electrocyclic rearrangements are, however, changed substantially. The tri-fluoroacetyl substituent was chosen to maintain as strong a donor-acceptor interaction in the bicyclooctadienes as possible, as well as to maintain a lowest triplet. 

For satisfactory diemo- and stereoselectivity, most catalytic, direct cross-aldol methods are limited to the use of non enolizable (aromatic, a-tert-alkyl) or kineti-cally non enolizable (highly branched, ,/funsaturated) aldehydes as acceptor carbonyls. With aromatic aldehydes, however, enantioselectivity is sometimes moderate, and the dehydration side-product may be important. With regard to the donor counterpart, the best suited pronucleophile substrates for these reactions are symmetric ketones (acetone) and ketones with only one site amenable for enolization (acetophenones). With symmetric cyclic or acyclic ketones superior to acetone, syn/anti mixtures of variable composition are obtained [8b, 11, 19a]. Of particularly broad scope is the reaction of N-propionylthiazolidinethiones with aldehydes, which regularly gives high enantioselectivity of the syn aldol adduct of aromatic, a,fi-unsaturated, branched, and unbranched aldehydes [13]. 

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