Zirconium enolate

Considerable efforts have been devoted to the stereoselective introduction of a /(-methyl function in intermediates for the synthesis of 1 jS-methylcarbapenems. While the trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate catalyzed reaction of a 4-acetoxyazetidinone derivative with ketene acetals shows no selectivity, ketene thioacetals lead to stereoselective formation of the a-methyl isomer108. The zirconium enolate, however, shows high /(-methyl selectivity. 

Note also the stereochemistry. In some cases, two new stereogenic centers are formed. The hydroxyl group and any C(2) substituent on the enolate can be in a syn or anti relationship. For many aldol addition reactions, the stereochemical outcome of the reaction can be predicted and analyzed on the basis of the detailed mechanism of the reaction. Entry 1 is a mixed ketone-aldehyde aldol addition carried out by kinetic formation of the less-substituted ketone enolate. Entries 2 to 4 are similar reactions but with more highly substituted reactants. Entries 5 and 6 involve boron enolates, which are discussed in Section 2.1.2.2. Entry 7 shows the formation of a boron enolate of an amide reactions of this type are considered in Section 2.1.3. Entries 8 to 10 show titanium, tin, and zirconium enolates and are discussed in Section 2.1.2.3. 

Zirconium enolates can also prepared by reaction of lithium enolates with (Cp)2ZrCl2, and they act as nucleophiles in aldol addition reactions.34... 

A comparison of the anti.syn diastereoselectivity of the lithium, dibutylboron, and (Cp)2Zr enolates of 3-methyl-2-hexanone with benzaldehyde has been reported.34d The order of stereoselectivity is Bu2B > (Cp)2Zr > Li. These results suggest that the reactions of the zirconium enolates proceed through a cyclic TS. 

A similar method has been described by Badia and co-workers who used chiral amides derived from pseudoephe-drine.139 Moreover, a zirconium-mediated Claisen-aldol tandem reaction of an a,cr-dialkylated ester with several aldehydes has been reported (Scheme 39).140 After the initial Claisen condensation, zirconium enolate intermediate 92 reacts with various types of aldehydes through aldol-type reaction and subsequent lactonization, providing the corresponding pyran-2,4-diones. 

Additionally, various zirconium-assisted aldol condensations between different types of zirconium enolates and aldehydes have been reported.141-145... 

Finally, Lipshutz and co-workers developed catalytic copper(i)-assisted polyfunctionalizations of zirconacyclopen-tenes of type 93 by trapping the intermediary zirconium enolates 94 with an aldehyde to form the corresponding 2,3-disubstituted cyclopentanones 95 (Scheme 40).146... 

Zirconium enolates of various carbonyl compounds have also been investigated for Mannich-type reactions with different electrophiles. According to Shibasaki s method,148 the coupling reaction between a 3-acetoxy-4-alkyl-/3-lactam and the in r(/ -generated zirconium enolate 96 of a cyclohexanone derivative was realized as a key step during the total synthesis of an anitibiotic (Scheme 42).117,149... 

As with the above pyrrolidine, proline-type chiral auxiliaries also show different behaviors toward zirconium or lithium enolate mediated aldol reactions. Evans found that lithium enolates derived from prolinol amides exhibit excellent diastereofacial selectivities in alkylation reactions (see Section 2.2.32), while the lithium enolates of proline amides are unsuccessful in aldol condensations. Effective chiral reagents were zirconium enolates, which can be obtained from the corresponding lithium enolates via metal exchange with Cp2ZrCl2. For example, excellent levels of asymmetric induction in the aldol process with synj anti selectivity of 96-98% and diastereofacial selectivity of 50-200 116a can be achieved in the Zr-enolate-mediated aldol reaction (see Scheme 3-10). 

Aldol reactions of 1 and 2 can be used to obtain any one of the four possible stereoisomers of a,3-dihydroxy esters.3 Thus 1 reacts with aldehydes to provide (2S)-aldols, and 2 reacts to provide (2R)-aldols. The syn/anti ratio of the aldols can be controlled by the choice of the enolate counterion. Thus lithium or magnesium enolates provide mainly an/i-aldols, whereas 5yn-aldols predominate with zirconium enolates. Ethanolysis of the purified adducts yields the optically pure a,p-dihydroxy esters without epimerization with recovery of 8-phenylmenthol. 

Earlier studies had demonstrated that such enolates would participate in aldol condensations with aldehydes however, the stereochemical aspects of the reaction were not investigated (68). For the cases summarized in Table 25, the zirconium enolates were prepared from the corresponding lithium enolates (eq. [54]). Control experiments indicated that no alteration in enolate geometry accompanies this ligand exchange process, and that the product ratio is kinetically controlled (35). From the cases illustrated, both ( )-enolates (entries A-E) and (Z)-enolates (entries F-H) exhibit predominant kinetic erythro diastereoselection. Although a detailed explanation of these observations is clearly speculative, certain aspects of a probable... 

Kinetically Controlled Aldol Condensations of Zirconium Enolates with Benzaldehyde... 

It should also be noted that there is a strong conformational bias for only one of the product chelate conformers. For example, erythro chelate D should be strongly disfavored by both 1,3-diaxial Rj L and CH3 Xq steric control elements. Consequently, it is assumed that the transition states leading to either adduct will reflect this conformational bias. Further support for these projections stems from the observations that the chiral acetate enolates derived from 149a exhibit only poor diastereoface selection. In these cases the developing Rj CH3 interaction leading to diastereomer A is absent. Similar transition state allylic strain considerations also appear to be important with the zirconium enolates, which are discussed below. 

Aldol condensation of aldehydes with chiral zirconium enolates. This reaction can exhibit high levels of em/iw-diastcrcosclection. Thus the zirconium enolate of the propanamidc 1, reacts with aldehydes to afford predominately a single aldol diaslercomer (2) in 96 98% cc. The enolate reacts with both (R)- and (S)-aldchydcs to form comparable levels of ervl/iro-selection. Thus enolate chirality suppresses the influence of chirality of the aldehyde.4... 

Mechanistically, the addition of a nickel(I) species to an ot,0-enone generates a nickel(QI) enolate (137) which undergoes transmetallation with an alkenylzirconium (132) and reductive elimination of nickel(I) to afford a zirconium enolate (139).63b... 

The application of achiral cationic zirconocene compounds for methyl methacrylate polymerisation, e.g. a mixture of [Cp 2ZrMe(THF)]+[BPh4] and Cp 2ZrMe2 in methylene chloride solution, leads to the formation of syndio-tactic poly(methyl methacrylate). The species responsible for propagation are believed to be the bimetallic ones, involving cationic zirconium enolate and neutral zirconocene, which facilitates the process. Propagation is postulated to occur via the Michael reaction between the coordinating monomer and the cationic enolate [537] ... 

Nucleophiles such as enolates or substituted allylmetal compounds are known to react with prochiral aldehydes and ketones to form mixtures of threo or erythro adducts. In case of aldehydes, high degrees of diastereoselection have been achieved 48 91,108). In the following three Sections, reactions of titanium and zirconium enolates as well as allyl derivatives are presented. 

Michael additions of organotitanium or zirconium reagents remain to be explored systematically. Recently, Stork described an interesting stereoselective intramolecular Michael addition in which zirconium enolates appear to be involved113). In another Michael type process, methyltitanium triisopropoxide 6 was added enantioselectively to a chiral a, p-unsaturated sulfoxide, but CH3MgCl was more efficient114). 

P-Hydroxy esters. 4 The lithium enolate of ethyl-N-methoxyacetimidate (2) reacts with (S)-( — )-l to provide (R)-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)-ethyI-N-methoxyacetimidate (3). The enolate of 3 reacts with an aldehyde to give the adducts 4, which are converted by desulfuration and hydrolysis into P-hydroxy acids (5). The stereochemical outcome depends on the experimental conditions. The reaction of the lithium enolate of 3 with benzaldehyde under thermodynamic control gives (S)-5 in 75% ee. Use of the zinc enolate also gives (S)-5, in 86% ee, but use of zirconium enolate, obtained by addition of Cp2ZrCl2 to the lithium enolate, results in (R)-5 in 88% ee. 

For these complexes, the rate of carbonylation increases rapidly with increasing tr-alkyl character. Thus, (5-cis-butadiene)ZrCp2 (5a) is carbony-lated 2.5 times faster than the zirconocene complex of 1,2,5,6-tetramethyl-3,4-bis(methylene)tricyclo[3.1.0.0 ] hexane (51) (ambient temperature and 1 bar CO pressure) taken as a standard. Introduction of methyl groups at the internal carbon centers C2/C3 of the diene chain increases the carbonylation rate by a factor of 5 with phenyl groups at these positions increasing the rate by a factor of 250 (Table VIII). The organometallic reaction products have yet to be isolated or completely identified. Ultimately, zirconium enolate complexes (20) are probably formed in these... 

The Michael addition of organometallic nucleophiles to enones in the presence of copper(I) salts produces enolates which on treatment with phenylselenenyl bromide give a-seleno ketones. For example, the reaction of the zirconium enolate of 15 with a mixture of phenylselenenyl bromide and diphenyl diselenide affords a mixture of diastereomeric (2R)- and (2V)-phenylse-leno)cyclopentanones 16 in 50% and 31 % isolated yield, respectively12. The analogous reaction with phenylselenenyl chloride gives only the tram-isomer in 27% yield formation of the cw-product is not observed12. 

Copper(I)-catalysed conjugate additions to zirconocene are supposed to have zirconium enolates as intermediates, which can be oxidized with A-halosuccinimides (equation 45)" . 

Another example of zirconium enolate oxidation is the facile reaction of the enolate 63 with molecnlar oxygen to give a mixtnre of a-hydroxy ketone 64 and hydroperoxide 65 (equation 46)" . 

Electrochemical studies have been also devoted to zirconium enolates All complexes undergo one-electron oxidation followed by the usual path to the corresponding... 

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