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Silyl enol ether

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Silyl enol ethers in organic chemistry are a class of organic compounds that share a common functional group composed of an enolate bonded through its oxygen terminus to an organosilicon group.

Contents

Silyl enol ethers are important intermediates in organic synthesis.

Organic synthesis

  • Trimethylsilyl enol ethers can be prepared from ketones in presence of a strong base and trimethylsilyl chloride or a weak base and trimethylsilyl triflate.
  • Silyl enol ether can form by capturing any enolate formed in a nucleophilic conjugate addition.
  • A rather exotic way to generate silyl enol ethers is via the Brook rearrangement of appropriate substrates.
  • Organic reactions

    Silyl enol ethers react as nucleophiles in:

  • Mukaiyama aldol addition
  • Michael reactions
  • Alkylations
  • Haloketone formation with halogens
  • Acyloin formation by organic oxidation with an electrophilic source of oxygen such as an oxaziridine or mCPBA
  • Saegusa–Ito oxidation

    In the Saegusa–Ito oxidation certain silyl enol ethers are oxidized to enones with palladium(II) acetate. In the original publication equal amounts of palladium and 1,4-benzoquinone are used to achieve the reaction with the benzoquinone acting as a co-oxidant. The intermediate is an oxo-allylpalladium complex.

    In one application, a dienone is synthesized in two steps from a cyclohexanone:

    Ring contraction

    Cyclic silyl enol ethers have been demonstrated to be viable substrates for regiocontrolled one-carbon ring contractions. These reactions employ electron-deficient sulfonyl azides, which undergo chemoselective, uncatalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition to the silyl enol ether, followed by loss of dinitrogen, and alkyl migration to give ring-contracted products in good yield. These reactions may be directed by substrate stereochemistry, giving rise to stereoselective ring-contracted product formation.

    Ketene silyl acetals

    Ketene silyl acetals are related compounds formally derived from ketenes and acetals with general structure R-C=C(OSiR3)(OR').

    References

    Silyl enol ether Wikipedia