Carbon-Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions of Zinc Homoenolate of Esters. A Novel Three-Carbon Nucleophile with General Synthetic Utility

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00260a018

In the presence of suitable catalysts and additives, the zinc homoenolate of alkyl propionate and its congeners undergo a variety of carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions, e.g., addition onto carbonyl compounds, allylation, arylation, vinylation, and acylation, to produce diverse kinds of alkanoates and cyclopropane derivatives.The moderately reactive zinc homoenolate exhibited a very high degree of chemoselectivity in these reactions.Me3SiCl has been found to greatly accelerate 1,2- or 1,4-addition and the allylation reaction of the zinc reagent.