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Peterson olefination from α-silyl aldehydes

Abstract

A procedure for the stereoselective synthesis of substituted alkenes from α-silyl aldehydes, via the Peterson reaction, is described. The protocol for the preparation of α-silyl aldehydes is also included. Organometallic addition to the α-silyl aldehyde gives erythro-β-hydroxysilanes in high yields (85–90%), which undergo elimination on treatment with potassium hydride (KH) or boron trifluoride to afford respectively Z- o E-alkenes (87–90%). The method described has been carried out using α-silyl aldehydes bearing the tert-butyldiphenylsilyl group. This bulky group increases the stability of the silyl aldehyde, enhances the stereoselectivity of the formation of the β-hydroxysilanes and favors the stereocontrol of the elimination step, thus providing high yields of stereo-defined alkenes. Here we describe a two-step protocol for the synthesis of Z-1-phenyl-1-hexene from 2-tert-butyldiphenylsilyl-2-phenylethanal and n-butyllithium, followed by elimination of the resulting (1S*,2R*)-1-tert-butyldiphenylsilyl-1-phenylhexan-2-ol with KH. The total time for the synthesis, purification and isolation of the alkene is 2 days.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the “Junta de Castilla y León” and the Ministry of Science of Spain for financial support. We also thank the Laboratory of Technical Instrumentation of the University of Valladolid for spectroscopic analyses.

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Correspondence to Francisco J Pulido.

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Pulido, F., Barbero, A. Peterson olefination from α-silyl aldehydes. Nat Protoc 1, 2068–2074 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.321

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