Published as part of the Cluster Modern Heterocycle Synthesis and Functionalization
Abstract
The ability of maleate half-ester salts to serve as electrophilic partners in 1,4-conjugate addition reactions with control of regioselectivity has previously been explored in only a limited context with soft nucleophiles. We have demonstrated that benzylic anions of picolines, as well as enolates of ketones, esters, and nitriles, react with lithium 4-(tert-butoxy)-4-oxobutenoate in a completely regioselective manner. This new method was applied to an expedient two-step process for preparing a key azaindanone intermediate for the clinical-candidate drug MK-8666.
Key words
lithium butoxyoxobutenoate - maleate half esters - 1,4-addition - azaindanones