Selective Reactions of Alkenes

Abstract

Fabio Doctorovich of the Universidad de Buenos Aires reported (J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 5379) that hydroxylamine in the presence of an Fe catalyst reduced alkenes such as 1, but not ketones or esters. Erick Carreira of ETH Zürich developed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 5758) mild conditions for the hydrochlorination of mono-, di- and trisubstituted alkenes. Ramgopal Bhattacharyya of Jadavpur University established (Tetrahedron Lett. 2008, 49, 6205) a simple Mo-catalyzed protocol for alkene epoxidation. Nitro alkenes are of increasing importance as acceptors for enantioselective organocatalyzed carbon-carbon bond formation. Matthias Beller of the Universität Rostock found (Adv. Synth. Cat. 2008, 350, 2493) that an alkene such as 7 was readily converted to the corresponding nitroalkene 8 by exposure to of NO gas. The reaction could also be effected with NaNO2/HOAC. Two complementary protocols for Rh-catalyzed alkene hydroformylation have been reported. Xumu Zhang of Rutgers University devised (Organic Lett. 2008, 10, 3469) a ligand system that cleanly migrated the alkene of 9, then terminally hydroformylated the resulting monosubstituted alkene, to give 10. Kian L. Tan of Boston College designed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 9210) a ligand such that the hydroformylation of the internal alkene of 11 was directed to the end of the alkene proximal to the directing OH, delivering 12. Several other methods for the functionalizing homologation of alkenes have been put forward. Chul-Ho Jun of Yonsei University assembled (J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 5598) a Rh catalyst that effected the oxidative acylation of a terminal alkene 13 with a primary benzylic alcohol, to give the ketone 14. For now, this approach is limited to less expensive alkenes, as the alkene, used in excess, is the reductant in the reaction. The other procedures outlined here require only stoichiometric alkene. Yasuhiro Shiraishi of Osaka University devised (Organic Lett. 2008, 10, 3117) a simple photoprocess for adding acetone to a terminal alkene 13 to give the methyl ketone 14, in what is presumably a free radical reaction.