Journal of the American Chemical Society
Journal of the American Chemical Society
5 years ago

Lithium Hexamethyldisilazide-Mediated Enolization of Highly Substituted Aryl Ketones: Structural and Mechanistic Basis of the E/Z Selectivities

Lithium Hexamethyldisilazide-Mediated Enolization of Highly Substituted Aryl Ketones: Structural and Mechanistic Basis of the E/Z Selectivities
Francis Gosselin, Kyle A. Mack, Andrew McClory, David B. Collum, Haiming Zhang
Enolizations of highly substituted acyclic ketones used in the syntheses of tetrasubstituted olefin-based anticancer agents are described. Lithium hexamethyldisilazide (LiHMDS)-mediated enolizations are moderately Z-selective in neat tetrahydrofuran (THF) and E-selective in 2.0 M THF/hexane. The results of NMR spectroscopy show the resulting enolates to be statistically distributed ensembles of E,E-, E,Z-, and Z,Z-enolate dimers with subunits that reflect the selectivities. The results of rate studies trace the preference for E and Z isomers to tetrasolvated- and pentasolvated-monomer-based transition structures, respectively. Enolization using LiHMDS in N,N-dimethylethylamine or triethylamine in toluene affords a 65:1 mixture of LiHMDS–lithium enolate mixed dimers containing E and Z isomers, respectively. Spectroscopic studies show that condition-dependent complexation of ketone to LiHMDS occurs in trialkylamine/toluene. Rate data attribute the high selectivity exclusively to monosolvated-dimer-based transition structures.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b05057

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b05057

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