An asymmetric synthesis of the oxetane-containing norbornanone 23 and its coupling to trans-1-propenyllithium to give 24 are reported, in tandem with the preparation of the related alcohols 28 and 30. All three divinyl carbinols undergo anionic oxy-Cope rearrangement very rapidly at low temperature. Quenching of 24(-)K(+) and 28(-)K(+) under these conditions with water or various aqueous salt solutions results in protonation of the alkoxides. If these reaction mixtures are poured instead onto cold (0 degrees C) silica gel, their sigmatropically related ketones are isolated in very good yield. Whereas the 24(-)K(+) <--(-->) 25(-)K(+) equilibrium pair is not reactive to molecular oxygen, 30(-)K(+) is directly converted into an a-hydroperoxy ketone under comparable conditions. These and additional observations are rationalized in the context of atropisomerism involving conversion of oxygen-up enolates, formed reversibly under kinetically controlled conditions, into their thermodynamically favored, more reactive oxygen-down conformers.
An asymmetric synthesis of the oxetane-containing norbornanone 23 and its coupling to trans-1-propenyllithium to give 24 are reported, in tandem with the preparation of the related alcohols 28 and 30. All three divinyl carbinols undergo anionic oxy-Cope rearrangement very rapidly at low temperature. Quenching of 24(-)K(+) and 28(-)K(+) under these conditions with water or various aqueous salt solutions results in protonation of the alkoxides. If these reaction mixtures are poured instead onto cold (0 degrees C) silica gel, their sigmatropically related ketones are isolated in very good yield. Whereas the 24(-)K(+) <--(-->) 25(-)K(+) equilibrium pair is not reactive to molecular oxygen, 30(-)K(+) is directly converted into an a-hydroperoxy ketone under comparable conditions. These and additional observations are rationalized in the context of atropisomerism involving conversion of oxygen-up enolates, formed reversibly under kinetically controlled conditions, into their thermodynamically favored, more reactive oxygen-down conformers.