LETTER
Selective Cleavage and Decarboxylation of b-Keto Esters
1869
Scanlon, M.; Watson, A. A.; Smythe, M. L. J. Org. Chem.
1999, 64, 3095.
(6) Chemoselective deprotection of TMSE esters besides benzyl
esters (representative examples): (a) Cuenoud, B.;
Schepartz, A. Tetrahedron 1991, 47, 2535. (b) Dietrich, A.;
Wrobel, J. Tetrahedron Lett. 1993, 34, 3543.
4.2 mmol, 1.1 equiv) was added within 5 min. The mixture
was stirred at 80 °C for 3.5 h. Evaporation of the solvent
under reduced pressure and flash chromatography on SiO2
(see ref. 15; eluent: cyclohexane–EtOAc, 15:1) provided a
mixture of the two tautomers of 2-(trimethylsilyl)ethyl
4-(4-phenylphenyl)-3-oxobutanoate (7a; 1.324 g, 94%) as a
faintly yellow oil. 1H NMR (400.1 MHz, CDCl3; 90:10
mixture of keto and enol tautomer): d = 0.06 [s, Si(CH3)3
(7a)], 0.06 [s, Si(CH3)3 (enol-7a)], 1.02 [mc, 2¢-H2 (7a and
enol-7a)], 3.43 [s, 4-H2 (7a)], 3.56 [s, 4-H2 (enol-7a)], 3.90
[s, 2-H2 (7a)], 4.25 [mc, 1¢-H2 (7a and enol-7a)], 4.99 [mc, 2-
H (enol-7a)], 7.27–7.61 [m, Ar-H (7a and enol-7a)], 12.23
[s, 3-OH (enol-7a)]. Anal. Calcd (%) for C21H26O3Si
(354.5): C, 71.15; H, 7.39. Found: C, 70.90; H, 7.40.
(17) Reaction conditions were gleaned from a protocol by:
Hogan, F.; Herald, D. L.; Petit, G. R. J. Org. Chem. 2003, 69,
4019.
(c) Sundaramoorthi, R.; Siedem, C.; Vu, C. B.; Dalgarno, D.
C.; Laird, E. C.; Botfield, M. C.; Combs, A. B.; Adams, S.
E.; Yuan, R. W.; Weigele, M.; Narula, S. S. Bioorg. Med.
Chem. Lett. 2001, 11, 1665. (d) Venturi, F.; Venturi, C.;
Liguori, F.; Cacciarini, M.; Montalbano, M.; Nativi, C.
J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 6153.
(7) Kramer, R. Dissertation; Universität Freiburg: Germany,
2007, 279–280.
(8) Tricotet, T.; Brückner, R. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 1069.
(9) After treatment with Bu4N+F–·3H2O, any such experiment
could ‘rightfully’ (i. e., in the absence of side reactions)
deliver a mixture of up to four components, namely the
unconsumed b-keto esters and the resulting ketones. We
distinguished them by 1H NMR spectroscopy (ref. 10) and
quantified their relative amounts by integration of non-
superimposed resonances. In addition, we determined the
absolute amounts (i. e., absolute yields) of these species by
weighing the respective mixture. Thereupon, the mole
fraction of each component, its molecular weight, and the
gram amount of the mixture allowed for the yields listed in
Tables 3– 6 to be calculated.
(18) General Procedure for the Execution of the Competition
Experiments Listed in Tables 3–6
At 0 °C Bu4N+F–·3H2O (47 mg, 0.15 mmol, 0.75 equiv) in
THF (0.5 mL) was added dropwise to a mixture of one of the
b-keto(TMSE esters) 7a–c (0.20 mmol) and another b-keto
ester 9a–c to 12a-c (0.20 mmol) in THF (1.5 mL). The
resulting mixture was stirred at 50 °C until conversion was
complete as judged by TLC. Brine (1.5 mL), H2O (3 mL),
and t-BuOMe (3 mL) were added. Extraction with t-BuOMe
(3 × 3 mL), drying of the combined extracts with Na2SO4,
evaporation of the solvent under reduced pressure, and flash
chromatography on SiO2 (ref. 15; eluent: cyclohexane–
EtOAc) furnished a mixture of unreacted b-keto ester(s) and
newly formed ketone(s) devoid of any byproducts. The yield
of each component was determined as described in refs. 9
and 19.
(10) As remote and modest as the aryl group variation in the
resulting ketones 8a–c vs. 13a–c may appear, the chemical
shift effect accompanying it sufficed for differentiating,
among others, the following resonances: d3-H3 = 2.20 in 8a
vs. 2.15 in 13a; d3-H = 2.51 in 8b vs. 2.47 in 13b; d1-H
=
2
2
3.78 in 8c vs. 3.74 in 13c. The b-keto esters were
distinguished from the ketone(s) by their alkoxy resonances.
(11) Felpin, F.-X.; Ayad, T.; Mitra, S. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2006,
2679.
(19) The mole fractions of the b-keto ester and ketone
constituents of each mixture isolated from one of the
experiments summarized in Tables 3– 6 were inferred from
the integral ratios over the following 1H NMR resonances
(300 MHz, CDCl3): 7a: d = 4.22 (mc, 1¢-H2); 7b: d = 4.20
(mc, 1¢-H2); 7c: d = 4.21 (mc, 1¢H2); 8a: d = 2.20 (s, 3-H3);
8b: d = 2.51 (q, J3,4 = 7.2 Hz, 3-H2); 8c: d = 3.78 (s, 1-H2);
9a: d = 3.64 (s, 1¢-H3); 9b,c: d = 3.70 (s, 1¢-H3); 10a–c:
d = 1.46 [s, 1¢-(CH3)3]; 11a: d = 4.61 (ddd, J1¢,2¢ = 5.8 Hz,
4J1¢,3¢(E) = 4J1¢,3¢(Z) = 1.4 Hz, 1¢-H2); 11b,c: d = 4.60 (ddd,
(12) (a) Miyaura, N.; Suzuki, A. Chem. Rev. 1995, 95, 2457.
(b) Kotha, S.; Lahiri, K.; Kashinath, D. Tetrahedron 2002,
58, 9633. (c) Chemler, S. R.; Trauner, D.; Danishefsky, S. J.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40, 4544; Angew. Chem. 2001,
113, 4676. (d) Miyaura, N. In Metal-Catalyzed Cross-
Coupling Reactions, 2nd ed.; de Meijere, A.; Diederich, F.,
Eds.; Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, 2004, 41–124. (e) Bellina,
F.; Carpita, A.; Rossi, R. Synthesis 2004, 2419.
J
1¢,2¢ = 5.8 Hz, 4J1¢,3¢(E) = 4J1¢,3¢(Z) = 1.4 Hz, 1¢-H2); 12a,c:
(13) Gala, D.; Stamford, A.; Jenkins, J.; Kugelman, M. Org.
Process Res. Dev. 1997, 1, 163.
d = 5.15 (s, 1¢-H2); 12b: d = 5.14 (s, 1¢-H2); 13a: d = 2.15 (s,
3-H3); 13b: d = 2.47 (q, J3,4 = 7.3 Hz, 3-H2); 13c: d = 3.74 (s,
1-H2). The b-keto ester signals compiled above coincide for
the respective keto and enol tautomers if the substitution
pattern a is realized and for compound 10b; the enol
resonances corresponding to the signals specified for keto
tautomers 7b, 9b, 11b, and 12c are shifted downfield by 0.06
ppm.
(14) All new compounds gave satisfactory 1H NMR and 13
C
NMR spectra and provided correct combustion analyses (C
and H 0.4%).
(15) Still, W. C.; Kahn, M.; Mitra, A. J. Org. Chem. 1978, 43,
2923.
(16) The crude acylation product 18 (1.3 g, 3.8 mmol) was
dissolved in toluene (10 mL). Alcohol 1 (0.60 mL, 0.50 g,
Synlett 2008, No. 12, 1865–1869 © Thieme Stuttgart · New York