Electrophilic substitution of 1-ethenylcyclopropyl mesylate by 3,3-diethoxypropanal in the presence of palladium(0) (5%) and diethylzinc (2 equivalents) provided 5-cyclopropylidene-1,1-diethoxy-3-hydroxypentane; its nitrone derivatives underwent intramolecular cycloaddition to provide spirocyclopropane isoxazolidines, which then were transformed under thermal or acidic conditions, into octahydropyrindin-4-ones or bicyclic b-lactams with the ethylene phytohormone extrusion, respectively. Use of chiral auxiliaries, i.e, (L)-2-acetoxylactate can lead to enantiomerically enriched heterocycles.It is a matter of common knowledge now, that the cyclopropane ring, which can selectively undergo either ring opening, or ring enlargement or cycloaddition reactions, provides building blocks of unprecedented synthetic potential. 1 It is also known that, when substituted by simple functionalities, natural or synthetic three-membered rings are endowed with a large spectrum of biological activities, allowing consequently the design of new drugs. 2 We have recently reported the ready asymmetric synthesis of cis-fused tricyclic isoxazolidines exo-2 involving regioselective nucleophilic substitution of p-1,1-ethyleneallylpalladium complex 1 by optically active a-amino acids, followed by diastereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of the derived nitrones. Subsequently, the spirocyclopropane isoxazolidines exo-2 have been shown to undergo either thermally induced ring expansion into the pyrrolo[3,4-b]pyridin-4-ones 3, 3-5 or acid induced ring contraction into the b-lactams 4 with concomitant extrusion of ethylene (Scheme 1). 6In order to widen the scope of this new approach towards these biologically important compounds, we have now investigated an alternative access to spirocyclopropane isoxazolidines such as 2 based on the electrophilic substitution of 1,1-ethyleneallylzinc complexes.We have observed that, in the presence of diethylzinc in THF, the p-1,1-ethyleneallylpalladium complex 1, arising from the readily available 1-ethenylcyclopropylsulfonates 5a,b and palladium(0), 7,8,10 underwent through the formation of s-or p-1,1-dimethyleneallylzinc complexes 6, chemo-and regioselective electrophilic addition of aldehydes and ketones. 9 Effectively, substitution of mesylate 5a by 3,3-diethoxypropionaldehyde 7 11 performed in the presence of 5% of palladium(0) [from Pd(OAc) 2 and 2 PPh 3 ] and two equivalents of diethylzinc in THF at room temperature for 3 h, provided 5-cyclopropylidene-1,1-diethoxy-3-hydroxypentane 8, in 63% yield after chromatography (Scheme 2).
Scheme 2O-protection (Ac 2 O, DMAP) of the secondary allylic alcohol 8 and subsequent deacetalisation under acidic conditions (0.2 M H 2 SO 4 , THF) led to the 3-acetoxy-5-cyclopropylidenepentanal 9a (R = Ac) in 72% overall yield. This aldehyde reacted at room temperature with N-methylhydroxylamine hydrochloride in the presence of one equivalent of pyridine in diethyl ether at 0°C to give the corresponding N-methylnitrone 10a which, spontaneously, evolved to a 1:1 mixture of ...