Ethers, diallyl Wittig rearrangement

Hauser noted that diallyl ether (8) also undergoes Wittig rearrangement upon base treatment and suggested that product formation could involve either a 1,2-shift or a cyclic mechanism (equation 3). Later studies by Schdllkopf and Makisumi with substituted allylic ethers (10,11 and 14-16 equations 4 and 5) pointed to a cyclic (SnO mechanism a process allowed by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules. The diastereoselectivity of the reaction was not determined in these cases, but Schollkopf subsequently found that benzyl rrans-crotyl ether (20 equation 6) affords mainly the anti products upon rearrangement of ether (20) with BuLi in THF. Rautenstrauch observed a 1 1 mixture of syn and anti products upon rearrangement of ether (20) in the presence of TMEDA, whereas the cis isomer (23) gave only the syn product (22 equation 7). ... 

Table 11 2,3-Wittig Rearrangement of Unsymmetrical Diallylic Ethers...

Scheme 9 Envelope transition states for 2,3-Wittig rearrangements of diallylic ethers leading to diastereomeric and enantiomeric products...

The l,5-dien-3-ols produced by 2,3-Wittig rearrangement of diallylic ethers can serve as pivotal intermediates for further elaboration through tandem or sequential 3,3-sigmatropic reactions. " The three sequences examined to date are summarized in Scheme 10. 

Allylation of the 2,3-Wittig products (167) leads to diallylic ethers (171) in which one of the allylic double bonds is part of a 1,5-diene system. These ethers undergo 3,3-oxy-Cope rearrangement to afford vinyl allyl ethers (170), which rearrange in situ by a 3,3-Claisen process to yield the ( )-dienals (169). Some typical results are summarized in Table 14. The cyclopentanols (175) were shown to arise from aldehydes (169) by an intramolecular thermal ene reaction. ... 

Other common all-suprafacial [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangements are the Mislow reaction 6.11 —> 6.12, and the anionic 2,3-Wittig rearrangement 6.110 —> 6.111 of the anions made from diallyl ethers by treatment with... 

The importance of the base used in the [2,3]-Wittig reaction is made clear by the work of Mitchell and coworkers who have reported the rearrangements of silyl- and stannyl-substituted diallyl ethers. They found that the use of LDA on such substrates (38, 41, 43) leads to [2,3]-Wittig reaction while employing lithium diethylamide can result in an allyl-vinyl ether rearrangement instead. 

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