Influence of Alkoxyalkyl Substituents in the Regioselective Lithiation of the Benzene Ring

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo00169a007

The concomitant presence of an alkoxyalkyl group (α-alkoxyalkyl, α- or β-dialkoxyalkyl) and of an alkoxy group in the relative positions 1 and 3 in a benzene ring generally permits an easy lithiation of position 2 by proton-metal exchange with n-butyllithium; the only aromatic compound tested, bearing a β-alkoxyalkyl group, gave, however, extensive decomposition in the metalation step.Reaction of the metalated species with an electrophile (such as carbon dioxide or ethyl chloroformate) leads to the corresponding substituted products in good to excellent yields.The following transformations are described: 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl α-ethoxyethyl ether (1) into 6,7-dimethoxyphthalide (15); 3,4-(methylenedioxy)benzyl α-ethoxyethyl ether (2) into 6,7-(methylenedioxy)phthalide (16); 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl methyl ether (3) into ethyl 2-(methoxymethyl)-5,6-dimethoxybenzoate (18) and into ethyl 2-(chloromethyl)-5,6-dimethoxybenzoate (20); 3,4-(methylenedioxy)benzyl methyl ether (4) into ethyl 2-(methoxymethyl)-5,6-(methylenedioxy)benzoate (19) and into ethyl 2-(chloromethyl)-5,6-(methylenedioxy)benzoate (21); 3,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde dimethyl acetal (5) into 5,6-dimethoxyphthalaldehydic acid (22); 3,4-(methylenedioxy)benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal (6) into 5,6-(methylenedioxy)phthalaldehydic acid (23); (3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal (7) into ethyl 2-(2,2-dimethoxyethyl)-5,6-dimethoxybenzoate (25); 3,4,4'-trimethoxydeoxybenzoin ethylene acetal (10) into 2-(ethoxycarbonyl)-3,4,4'-trimethoxydeoxybenzoin (26); 4,3',4'-trimethoxydeoxybenzoin ethylene acetal (11) into 2'-(ethoxycarbonyl)-4,3',4'-trimethoxydeoxybenzoin (27); 3,4,3',4'-tetramethoxydeoxybenzoin ethylene acetal (12) into a mixture of 3-(3,4-dimethoxybenzylidene)-6,7-dimethoxyphthalide (28) and 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-7,8-dimethoxyisocoumarin (29).The dioxole ring of methylenedioxy-substituted benzenes is sometimes unstable under these metalation conditions, and partial decomposition usually causes the yields to be lower than those in the case of the corresponding methoxy-substituted benzenes.Many of the products listed above, which have been already prepared by other methods, are more conveniently obtained by the present approach.