Zinc enolates

T. A. Spencer, R. W. Britton and D. S. Watt, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 89, 5727, (1967). These authors have shown that zinc enolates of cholestanone are formed from 2- and 4-bromocholestanones and zinc in dimethyl sulfoxide. 

Darzens reactions between the chiral imine 52 and a-halo enolates 53 for the preparation of nonracemic aziridine-2-carboxylic esters 54 (Scheme 3.17) were studied by Fujisawa and co-workers [61], It is interesting to note that the lithium enolate afforded (2K,3S)-aziridirie (2i ,3S)-54 as the sole product, whereas the zinc enolate give rise to the isomer (2S,3i )-54. The a-halogen did not seem to affect the stereoselectivity. 

Tin(Il) shows considerable affinity towards nitrogen, therefore is expected to activate the imino group. The diastereoselective addition of tin(II) enolates derived from thioesters 1 to x-imino-esters 2 is reported12. This reaction proceeds smoothly to afford. vi w-/j-amino acid derivatives 3 (d.r. 95 5) in good yields. Lithium, magnesium, and zinc enolates do not react while titanium enolates give the adducts in low yield with preferential formation of the anti-isomer. 

The diastereoselectivity of the zinc iodide catalyzed reaction of the azetidinone I with the trimethylsilyl enolate derivatives of the chiral 3-(l-oxopropyI)oxazolidinones 6 was considerably lower (about 60 40), although independent generation of the zinc enolate, via exchange of the lithium enolate with zinc bromide, afforded the /9-Iactam carboximide derivatives in a ratio (RIS) 80 20177. 

The enolate geometry can be controlled, in the case of esters, by the addition of HMPA without HMPA the enolate has predominantly the. E-geometry, while with HMPA mainly Z-geometry is observed. Similar additions with magnesium and zinc enolates are observed24"32 373 374. 

The addition of (Z)-3-(alkylamino)-2-butenoic acid esters to nitroalkenes derived from open-chain sugars gave a 50 50 mixture of diastereomeric products 32. The reaction of chiral 2-sub-stituted l-(2-nitroethenyl)pyrrolidines with zinc enolates of 3-substituted tetrahydro-2//-pyran-2-oncs in 1,2-dimethoxyethane at — 78 °C afforded the corresponding 3,3-disubstituted products in 82-96% ee via an addition-elimination process33. The stereochemical course of the reaction was determined by chemical correlation of (S)-( )-3-ethyltetrahydro-3-(2-ni-troethenyl)-2//-pyran-2-one with ( + )-quebrachamine. 

A similar study has been reported using l-nitro-2-[(S,S)-2-phenylpropylsulfinyl]-l-cyclo-hexene and zinc enolates of tetrahydro-2(3//)-pyridinones34. 

Scheme 2.23 provides some examples of conjugate addition reactions. Entry 1 illustrates the tendency for reaction to proceed through the more stable enolate. Entries 2 to 5 are typical examples of addition of doubly stabilized enolates to electrophilic alkenes. Entries 6 to 8 are cases of addition of nitroalkanes. Nitroalkanes are comparable in acidity to (i-ketocslcrs (see Table 1.1) and are often excellent nucleophiles for conjugate addition. Note that in Entry 8 fluoride ion is used as the base. Entry 9 is a case of adding a zinc enolate (Reformatsky reagent) to a nitroalkene. Entry 10 shows an enamine as the carbon nucleophile. All of these reactions were done under equilibrating conditions. 

The Reformatsky reaction is a classical reaction in which metallic zinc, an a-haloester, and a carbonyl compound react to give a (i-hydroxyester.162 The zinc and a-haloester react to form an organozinc reagent. Because the carboxylate group can stabilize the carbanionic center, the product is essentially the zinc enolate of the dehalogenated ester.163 The enolate effects nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl group. 

Scheme 7.5 gives some examples of the Reformatsky reaction. Zinc enolates prepared from a-haloketones can be used as nucleophiles in mixed aldol condensations (see Section 2.1.3). Entry 7 is an example. This type of reaction can be conducted in the presence of the Lewis acid diethylaluminum chloride, in which case addition occurs at -20° C.171... 

Scheme 7.5. Addition of Zinc Enolates to Carbonyl Compounds the... 

Arylations have also been extended to zinc enolates of esters (Reformatsky reagents).178... 

They have developed direct asymmetric synthesis of quaternary carbon centers via addition-elimination process. The reactions of chiral nitroenamines with zinc enolates of a-substituted-8-lactones afford a,a-disubstituted-6-lactones with a high ee through addition-elimination process, in which (5)-(+)-2-(methoxy methy l)pyrrolidine (SMP) is used as a chiral leaving group (Eq. 4.96).119 Application of this method to other substrates such as a-substituted ketones, esters, and amides has failed to yield high ee. 

The addition of carbonyl compounds towards lithiated 1-siloxy-substituted allenes does not proceed in the manner described above for alkoxyallenes. Tius and co-work-ers found that treatment of 1-siloxy-substituted allene 67 with tert-butyllithium and subsequent addition of aldehydes or ketones led to the formation of ,/i-unsaturated acyl silanes 70 (Scheme 8.19) [66]. This simple and convenient method starts with the usual lithiation of allene 67 at C-l but is followed by a migration of the silyl group from oxygen to C-l, thus forming the lithium enolate 69, which finally adds to the carbonyl species. Transmetalation of the lithiated intermediate 69 to the corresponding zinc enolate provided better access to acylsilanes derived from enolizable aldehydes. For reactions of 69 with ketones, transmetalation to a magnesium species seems to afford optimal results. 

In a frequently cited investigation, House studied the condensations of a variety of metal enolates with aldehydes under conditions of thermodynamic control (14). In the cyclohexanone enolate-benzaldehyde condensation (eq. [5]), it was observed that the zinc enolate (14°C, 5 min) afforded a 5 1 ratio of aldol adducts 5T and... 

The influence of temperature on aldol diastereoselection has been noted in several instances. The condensation of zinc enolates 85a to... 

Scheme 3.48. Sulfonamide/CuX-catalyzed addition of dialkylzinc reagents to 2-enones and subsequent trapping of the zinc enolates [199a-bj.

Tandem 1,4-addition to cycloalkenones constitutes an extremely versatile and elegant methodology for the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted cycloalkanones, as is evident from its application in areas such as prostaglandin synthesis. Noyori et al. have reported the use of organozinc reagents in copper-catalyzed tandem additions [64]. The zinc enolate resulting from the catalytic enantioselective 1,4-addition of Et2Zn to cyclohexenone reacts readily with an aldehyde in a subsequent aldol condensation. 

The method involves a regioselective, trans-diastereoselective, and enantioselective three-component coupling, as shown in Scheme 7.26. In this case, the zinc enolate resulting from the 1,4-addition is trapped in a palladium-catalyzed allyla-tion [64] to afford trans-2,3-disubstituted cyclohexanone 96. Subsequent palladium-catalyzed Wacker oxidation [82] yields the methylketone 97, which in the presence of t-BuOK undergoes an aldol cyclization. This catalytic sequence provides the 5,6-(98) and 5,7- (99) annulated structures with ees of 96%. 

A chair-like amino-zinc-enolate transition state has been used to explain how substituents on the ring affect the diastereoselective and enantioselective formation of polysubstituted pyrrolidines during intramolecular amino-zinc-enolate carbometalla-tion reactions. ... 

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