Cleavage of Carbon-Carbon σ-Bonds of Four-Membered Rings

This article reviews synthetic transformations involving cleavage of a carbon-carbon bond of a four-membered ring, with a particular focus on the examples reported during the period from 2011 to the end of 2019. Most significant is the progress of catalytic reactions involving oxidative addition of carbon-carbon bonds onto transition metals or β-carbon elimination of transition metal alkoxides. When they are looked at from synthetic perspectives, they offer unique and efficient methods to build complex natural products and structures that are difficult to construct by conventional methods. On the other hand, β-scission of radical intermediates has also attracted increasing attention as an alternative elementary step to cleave carbon-carbon bonds. Its site-selectivity is often complementary to that of transition metal-catalyzed reactions. In addition, Lewis acid-mediated and thermally induced ring-opening of cyclobutanone derivatives has garnered renewed attention. On the whole, these examples demonstrate unique synthetic potentials of structurally strained four-membered ring compounds for the construction of organic skeletons.

Lewis Base-Catalyzed Enantioselective Conjugate Reduction of β,β-Disubstituted α,β-Unsaturated Ketones with Trichlorosilane: E/Z-Isomerization, Regioselectivity, and Synthetic Applications

The chiral bisphosphine dioxide-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate reduction of acyclic β,β-disubstituted α,β-unsaturated ketones with trichlorosilane affords saturated ketones having a stereogenic carbon center at the carbonyl β-position with high enantioselectivities. Because the E/Z-isomerizations of enone substrates occur concomitantly, reduction products with the same absolute configurations are obtained from either (E)- or (Z)-enones. Conjugate reduction is accelerated in the presence of an electron-rich aryl group at the β-position of the enone owing to its carbocation-stabilizing ability. Computational studies were also conducted in order to elucidate the origin of the observed enantioselectivity. The regio- and enantioselective reductions of dienones were realized and applied to the syntheses of ar-turmerone, turmeronol A, mutisianthol, and jungianol, which are optically active sesquiterpenes.

Cyclobutanes in catalysis

The exploitation of ring strain as a driving force to facilitate chemical reactions is a well-appreciated principle in organic chemistry. The most prominent and most frequently used compound classes in this respect are oxiranes and cyclopropanes. For rather a long time, cyclobutanes lagged behind these three-membered-ring compounds in their development as reactive substrates, but during the past decade an increasing number of useful reactions of four-membered-ring substrates have emerged. This Minireview examines corresponding catalytic reactions ranging from Lewis or Brønsted acid catalyzed processes to enzymatic reactions. The main focus is placed on transition-metal-catalyzed C-C bond-insertion and β-carbon-elimination processes, which enable exciting downstream reactions that deliver versatile building blocks.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Diarylation of Oxalates Using Arylboron Compounds

Dialkyl oxalates undergo selective diarylation on one of their carbonyl carbons upon treatment with arylboron reagents in the presence of a rhodium catalyst to give the corresponding alpha-hydroxydiarylacetates. Under similar conditions, the arylation of benzoylformate and benzil also proceeds efficiently.

Formation of carbocycles through sequential carborhodation triggered by addition of organoborons

This article highlights recent developments in the formation of carbocycles via multiple carborhodation steps triggered by the rhodium-catalysed intermolecular addition of organoborons. Various types of cascade reactions have been developed to demonstrate that multiple carborhodation steps can precede potentially competing processes such as protonolysis.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Cascade Reaction of 1,6-Enynes Involving Addition, Cyclization, and β-Oxygen Elimination

The reaction of arylboronic acids with 1,6-enynes that contain an allylic ether moiety is catalyzed by a rhodium(I) complex to produce cyclopentanes with a tetrasubstituted exo olefin and a pendant vinyl group. The reaction is initiated by the regioselective addition of an arylrhodium(I) species to the carbon-carbon triple bond of the 1,6-enyne. The resulting alkenylrhodium(I) compound subsequently undergoes intramolecular carborhodation of the allylic double bond in a 5-exo-trig mode. Beta elimination of the methoxy group affords the cyclization product and the catalytically active methoxorhodium(I) species. The use of alkyl Grignard reagents instead of arylboronic acids as organometallic nucleophiles was also examined.

Enantioselective C−C Bond Cleavage Creating Chiral Quaternary Carbon Centers

[Structure: see text] A chiral all-carbon benzylic quaternary carbon center is created by the asymmetric intramolecular addition/ring-opening reaction of a boryl-substituted cyclobutanone, which involves enantioselective beta-carbon elimination from a symmetrical rhodium cyclobutanolate. The asymmetric reaction was successfully applied to a synthesis of sesquiterpene, (-)-alpha-herbertenol.