Synlett 2006(12): 1883-1886  
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-947348
LETTER
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Indium(III) Salt Promoted Intramolecular Addition of Allylsilanes to Unactivated Alkynes

Katsukiyo Miura*a, Naoki Fujisawaa, Sayaka Toyoharaa, Akira Hosomi*b
a Department of Chemistry, 21st Century COE, Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, and CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
Fax: +81(29)8536503; e-Mail: miura@chem.tsukuba.ac.jp;
b Faculty of University Evaluation and Research, National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8587, Japan
e-Mail: hosomi@chem.tsukuba.ac.jp;
Further Information

Publication History

Received 22 April 2006
Publication Date:
24 July 2006 (online)

Abstract

In the presence of a stoichiometric or catalytic amount of a Lewis acidic indium(III) salt, allylsilanes reacted intramolecularly with unactivated terminal alkynes to give cyclized products in good to high yields. The fact that the reaction proceeded in a trans-addition mode suggests a reaction mechanism via electrophilic activation of the triple bond by the indium salt.

    References and Notes

  • 1a Miura K. Hosomi A. In Main Group Metals in Organic Synthesis   Vol. 2:  Yamamoto H. Oshima K. Wiley-VCH; Weinheim Germany: 2004.  Chap. 10. p.409 
  • 1b Hosomi A. Acc. Chem. Res.  1988,  21:  200 
  • For Lewis acid promoted allylsilylations of alkynes and alkenes, see:
  • 2a Yamamoto Y. Asao N. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.  2000,  73:  1071 
  • 2b Jung IN. Yoo BR. Synlett  1999,  519 
  • 3 Yamaguchi M. Sotokawa T. Hirama M. Chem. Commun.  1997,  743 
  • 4 Miura K. Saito H. Nakagawa T. Hondo T. Tateiwa J. Sonoda M. Hosomi A. J. Org. Chem.  1998,  63:  5740 
  • 5a Fernández-Rivas C. Méndez M. Echavarren AM. J. Am. Chem. Soc.  2000,  122:  1221 
  • 5b Fernández-Rivas C. Méndez M. Nieto-Oberhuber C. Echavarren AM. J. Org. Chem.  2002,  67:  5197 
  • 5c Méndez M. Echavarren AM. Eur. J. Org. Chem.  2002,  15 
  • 6 Miura K. Fujisawa N. Hosomi A. J. Org. Chem.  2004,  69:  2427 
  • 7a Fugami K. Oshima K. Utimoto K. Nozaki H. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.  1987,  60:  2509 
  • 7b

    The original method, in which CuCN was not used, resulted in low reproducibility. Use of the copper catalyst achieved high yield of the desired adduct with good reproducibility.

  • 8 The competitive desilylation is attributable to higher nucleophilicity of the methallylsilane moiety. See: Hagen G. Mayr H. J. Am. Chem. Soc.  1991,  113:  4954 
  • 9a

    The formation of Me3SiOTf is expected in the In(OTf)3-promoted reaction (Scheme [3] ). A strong Brønsted acid generated by reaction of In(OTf)3 or Me3SiOTf with adventitious water [e.g., TfOH, H2O·In(OTf)3] would cause the competitive desilylation. In the case of InCl3, its moderate Lewis acidity and water-tolerance may suppress the generation of a strong Brønsted acid causing the desilylation, see ref. 9b. Me3SiCl, a by-product, can be a source of HCl, which has enough ability to desilylate allylsilanes. However, hydrolysis of Me3SiCl is expected to be slower than that of Me3SiOTf, a strong Lewis acid. The slow generation of HCl from Me3SiCl may allow the efficient cyclization of 1e with InCl3.

  • 9b Babu SA. Synlett  2002,  531 
  • For synthetic reactions involving electrophilic activation of alkynes by an indium salt, see:
  • 10a Tsuchimoto T. Maeda T. Shirakawa E. Kawakami Y. Chem. Commun.  2000,  1573 
  • 10b Tsuchimoto T. Hatanaka K. Shirakawa E. Kawakami Y. Chem. Commun.  2003,  2454 
  • 10c Tsuchimoto T. Matsubayashi M. Kaneko M. Shirakawa E. Kawakami Y. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.  2005,  44:  1336 
  • 10d Sakai N. Annaka K. Konakahara T. Org. Lett.  2004,  6:  1527 
  • 10e Takita R. Fukuta Y. Tsuji R. Ohshima T. Shibasaki M. Org. Lett.  2005,  7:  1363 
11

In the InCl3-promoted reaction of allylstannanes (Scheme [1] and ref. 6), a similar vinylindium species survived under almost the same conditions, and could be deuterated with good D-content. The present InCl3-promoted reaction should form Me3SiCl as well as the cyclized products. Me3SiCl is more sensitive toward hydrolysis than Bu3SnCl, a by-product of the reaction of allylstannanes. HCl generated from Me3SiCl and adventitious water may cause the in situ protonation of vinylindium 4.

12

We tried the In(OTf)3-promoted reaction of 1a using CaH2 (1 equiv) as a dehydration agent; however, treatment of the reaction mixture with DCl-D2O resulted in low D-content (<5%) of 2a.