Identification of a four-center intermediate in a Grignard addition reaction to a P-S bond

The reaction between tert-butylmagnesium chloride (or tert-pentylmagnesium chloride) and the particular phosphorus-sulfur bond of a benzothiadiphospholic system showed, for the first time, evidence of formation of intermediates with a four-center structure. The possibility, for the phosphorus atom, to have very stable hypervalent coordinations makes it possible to observe its hypervalent states during the course of a reaction. The benzothiadiphosphole, with its bicyclic folded structure, further stabilizes the hypervalent coordinations thus making the intermediates sufficiently stable to be detected during the course of the reaction by ³¹P NMR spectroscopy, which revealed the nature and the stability of the species involved in this reaction, carried out also using other Grignard reagents.     

Stereoselective synthesis of isoindolinones and tert-butyl sulfoxides

A reaction of Grignard reagents with an optically pure N-sulfinylimine derived from methyl 2-formylbenzoate yields enantioenriched isoindolinones and tert-butyl sulfoxides. The products are formed by the addition of the nucleophile to N-sulfinylimine followed by cyclization to form N-tert-butylsulfinylisoindolinone, which readily undergoes substitution with a second equivalent of Grignard reagent. The reaction can be carried out in dichloromethane at room temperature or at elevated temperatures without any loss of stereoselectivity. The use of nucleophiles other than Grignard reagents has also been investigated.     

NBS-mediated synthesis of β-keto sulfones from benzyl alcohols and sodium arenesulfinates

An efficient synthetic route towards the synthesis of β-keto sulfones has been developed from secondary benzyl alcohols using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS). The present protocol utilizes NBS as oxidant as well as brominating agent, readily accessible benzyl alcohols and sodium arenesulfinates as the sulfonylating reagent under mild conditions. The control experiments revealed that the reaction proceeds via oxidation of alcohol to ketone, α-bromination of ketone and nucleophilic substitution by sodium arenesulfinate. Furthermore, the efficiency of the methodology was tested with a gram scale reaction and also shown the synthetic utility.     

The unusual 1,4-chelation-controlled nucleophilic addition to aldehydes with high stereoselectivity. A systematic study of stereoselectivity in the addition reaction of carbon nucleophiles to cis-substituted cyclopropanecarbaldehydes

The addition reaction of carbon nucleophiles to cis-substituted cyclopropanecarbaldehydes was systematically investigated. Ab initio calculations of model cyclopropanecarbaldehydes suggested that the bisected s-cis and s-trans conformers are the only two minimum energy conformers, which are stabilized due to the π-donating stereoelectronic effect of the cyclopropane ring. The experimental results of a series of substrates, that is, cyclopropanecarbaldehydes 1-5 bearing a cis-(tert-butyldiphenylsilyloxy)methyl group, a cis-benzyloxymethyl group, a cis-(p-methoxybenzyloxy)methyl group, cis-N,N-diethylcarbamoyl and trans-phenyl groups, and cis-(tert-butyldiphenylsilyloxy)methyl and trans-phenyl groups, respectively, showed that highly anti-selective Grignard additions could be realized. It turned out that it occurred via an unusual 7-membered 1,4-chelation-controlled pathway. Highly stereoselective Grignard addition via the chelation-controlled pathway occurred even in the reaction of the usually non-chelating silyl ether-type substrate 5. The results have great importance because the 1,4-chelation-controlled stereoselective addition reactions can indeed be realized. Under non-chelation conditions, the syn-products were produced with moderate stereoselectivity, which are likely to be formed via the bisected s-cis conformation-like transition state stabilized by the characteristic orbital interaction. These reactions, especially the chelation-controlled reaction, should be useful because of their t stereoselectivity and stereochemical predictability.     

Transition-metal chloride mediated addition reaction of diorganomagnesium to easily enolizable ketones

An alkylation to an easily enolizable ketone, such as β-tetralone, is difficult to perform with Grignard reagent (RMgX) or with diorganomagnesium (R₂Mg), because a deprotonation to form a magnesium enolate occurs predominantly. To avoid the prior enolization, a complex reagent of a transition-metal salt and R₂Mg was examined: A combination of R₂Mg with iron(II) chloride (FeCl₂) or ytterbium(III) chloride (YbCl₃) gave a complex reagent that can realize a nucleophilic reaction to β-tetralone prior to the enolization. A combination of RMgX with these metal salts is inferior to a combination of R₂Mg with them to obtain the nucleophilic complex reagent.     

Asymmetric addition reactions of Grignard reagents to chiral 2-trifluoromethyl tert-butyl (Ellman) sulfinimine-ethanol adducts

The addition of Grignard reagents to chiral trifluoromethyl tert-butyl sulfinimine-ethanol adducts affords protected trifluoromethylamines in high yields with good to excellent diastereoselectivities. The stereochemical outcome of the addition is opposite to that expected via a chelation controlled transition state.     

Reaction of poly(vinyl chloride) with magnesium and grignard reagents

Reaction of poly(vinyl chloride) with magnesium under various conditions was attempted, but poly(vinyl chloride) did not react with magnesium. The reactions of poly(vinyl chloride) with benzylmagnesium chloride and allylmagnesium chloride as Grignard reagents were carried out in tetrahydrofuran at reflux temperature. It was found that the chlorine atoms in the poly(vinyl chloride) were replaced by benzyl and allyl groups by the coupling reaction, and a small amount of Grignard reagent of poly(vinyl chloride) was formed by the magnesium–halogen exchange reaction. The extent of the substitution increased with increasing reaction time and concentration of the Grignard reagent.     

Michael addition reactions of acetoacetates and malonates with acrylates in water under strongly alkaline conditions

Michael addition reactions of acetoacetates and malonates with acrylates in a 5 M KOH aqueous solution without using any other catalysts are described. When they are either tert-butyl or benzyl esters, the reaction proceeded very rapidly to afford moderate to high yields of the corresponding bis-Michael adducts that are unexpectedly stable under these conditions.     

Kinetics of pseudoliving free-radical copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate by the reversible addition fragmentation chain-transfer mechanism

The kinetics of copolymerization of styrene with methyl methacrylate in the presence of tert-butyl dithiobenzoate as a reversible addition fragmentation chain-transfer agent has been studied. Formation of radical intermediates has been investigated. In a wide range of monomer mixture compositions, the kinetic features of pseudoliving radical copolymerization of this monomer pair in the presence of both a low-molecular-mass reversible addition fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) agent and a polymer RAFT agent being formed are close to the corresponding features of the homopolymerization of styrene.     

Influence of catalytic system composition on formation of adamantane containing ketones

The preparation of non-symmetrical ketones by the reaction of acyl chlorides and the corresponding Grignard reagents in the presence of catalytic amounts of metal halides is described. The composition of catalyst has a great influence on the yield of the required ketone as well as on side product formation. For each catalytic system, the yield of ketone and the number of side products changes with the time of addition of the Grignard reagent. We examined the influence of both factors in our model reaction of adamantane-1-carbonyl chloride with ethylmagnesium bromide and discussed the possible mechanisms from this point of view. We have found ZnCl₂, MnCl₂, AlCl₃ and CuCl to be active catalytic components and developed very efficient, cheap and fast methods for the preparation of alkyl adamantyl ketones. The procedure was also tested for the synthesis of other alkyl aryl ketones.     

A facile and catalytic method for selective deprotection of tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers with copper(II) bromide

Copper(II) bromide is found to be a simple and efficient catalyst for selective deprotection of tert-butyldimethylsilyl ethers of alcohols/phenols at ambient temperature. Various labile functional groups such as ketal, alkene, ketone, OTBDPS, OTHP and allyl and benzyl ethers are found to be compatible under the reaction conditions.     

Some new aspects of conjugate addition of grignard and alkyllithium reagents to vinylsilanes

A structure and reactivity relationship has been determined on the reaction of isopropyl and n-butyl Grignard reagents and n-butyllithium with vinyl-(alkoxy)silanes and (amino)silanes. The addition to the vinyl group has been analyzed in terms of the nucleophile HOMO-vinyl group LUMO interaction.     

ZrCl4 as a mild and efficient catalyst for the one-pot conversion of TBS and THP ethers to acetates

A mild, efficient and chemoselective method has been developed for the direct transformation of tert-butyldimethylsilyl and tetrahydropyranyl protected alcohols into the corresponding acetates with acetic anhydride and zirconium(IV) chloride as the catalyst in acetonitrile, in a one-pot reaction with high yields and short reaction times. This method has been applied to a variety of substrates.     

Air-assisted addition of grignard reagents to olefins. A simple protocol for a three-component coupling process yielding alcohols

Silylmethyl, tertiary-alkyl, alkenyl, and aryl Grignard reagents underwent intermolecular addition to olefins, such as styrenes, conjugated dienes, and enynes under an air atmosphere to give homologated alcohols. For example, (trimethylsilyl)methylmagnesium chloride and alpha-methylstyrene in ether at room temperature under dry air directly furnished 2-phenyl-4-(trimethylsilyl)-2-butanol in good yield. As the Grignard addition to olefins under argon with rigorous exclusion of O2 did not proceed at all, the above reaction should involve a radical mechanism: an alkyl radical generated by the aerial oxidation of the Grignard reagent adds to olefin, which is followed by oxygenation. Representative examples of this transformation, where products were obtained in good to excellent diastereo- or regioselectivity, are also disclosed.     

Reaction of polyepichlorohydrin with magnesium and grignard reagents

The reaction of polyepichlorohydrin with magnesium in tetrahydrofuran at reflux temperature was studied in the hope of obtaining a polymeric Grignard reagent. The polymeric Grignard reagent could not be obtained, but dechlorination occurred. It was confirmed that the Grignard reagent of polyepichlorohydrin was formed as an intermediate during the dechlorination. The reactions of polyepichlorohydrin with Grignard reagents were carried out in tetrahydrofuran at reflux temperature. Benzylmagnesium chloride and allylmagnesium chloride were used as Grignard reagents. It was found that the chlorine atom in polyepichlorohydrin can be replaced by benzyl and allyl groups. The extent of the substitution increased with increasing concentration of Grignard reagent. Dechlorination and scission of the ether linkage occurred simultaneously as side reactions.     

Cationic polymerization with boron halides. IV. Elucidation and control of initiation and termination by the help of model experiments

The proposition that BCl₃-coinitiated olefin (isobutylene, styrene) polymerizations terminate by chlorination has been corroborated by model experiments. Key experiments showed that under simulated polymerization conditions neither tert-butyl chloride nor 2-chloro-2,4,4-trimethylpentane reacts with BCl₃; that H₂O/BCl₃ + 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene (TMP) produce 2-chloro-2,4,4-trimethylpentane; and that H₂O/BCl₃ + isobutylene gives rise to tert-butyl chloride. Extended model studies demonstrated that certain alkyl and benzyl chlorides produce carbenium ions in the presence of BCl₃ and that TMP can readily be alkenylated by using 1-substituted allyl chlorides in conjunction with BCl₃. These experiments led to the discovery that olefin polymerizations may be initiated by suitable allyl or benzyl chlorides and BCl₃. Accordingly, polymerizations of isobutylene have been carried out with RCl/BCl₃, where R is allyl or benzyl. These experiments suggest that both controlled initiation and termination, i.e., initiation by alkenylation and termination by chlorination, can be achieved with the allyl chloride/BCl₃ initiator system opening new avenues toward the synthesis of asymmetric telechelic polymers.     

1,4-Addition of an aryllithium reagent to diethyl ketomalonate. Scalable synthesis of ethyl 1-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran-1-carboxylate

While optimizing the synthesis of pharmaceutical building block 3 [ethyl 1-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-dihydroisobenzofuran-1-carboxylate], we encountered an unusual addition of an aryllithium reagent to the ketone oxygen atom of diethyl ketomalonate. Compound 3 was ultimately prepared on a large scale by a two-step sequence involving (1) annulation of a functionalized Grignard reagent with diethyl ketomalonate and (2) selective mono-reduction of a geminal diester using lithium tri-tert-butoxyaluminum hydride.     

A new strategy for the synthesis of 4,6-di-tert-butyl-2,2-dipentyl-2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranol (BO-653), a potent antiatherogenic antioxidant

An efficient alternative route to 4,6-di-tert-butyl-2,2-dipentyl-2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranol (BO-653), a potent antiatherogenic antioxidant, has been developed by the application of the base-promoted dienone-phenol rearrangement reaction. A decisive effect of MgBr₂ in the reaction of Grignard reagents is also described.     

Synthesis of N-alkoxy-substituted 2H-benzimidazoles

Treatment of 2-nitro-N-(2-methyl-1-propen-1-yl)benzenamines with potassium tert-butoxide in tert-butanol followed by the addition of an electrophile affords N-alkoxy-2H-benzimidazoles. Electrophiles including methyl iodide, allylic bromides, propargylic bromides, benzyl bromide, and acetyl chloride gave good to excellent yields of product while 1-iodo- and 2-iodo-butane afforded very low yields.     

Synthesis of modified Weinreb amides: N-tert-butoxy-N-methylamides as effective acylating agents

An efficient preparation of N-methyl-O-tert-butylhydroxylamine hydrochloride has been settled, which allowed the synthesis of modified Weinreb amides. Nucleophilic addition of organolithium and Grignard reagents on these N-tert-butoxy-N-methylamides afforded efficiently the corresponding ketones and reduction with DIBAL furnished the corresponding aldehydes in good yields up to 97%.