Reaction of carbanions generated from arylmethylphosphonates with cyclic enones. Regio- and stereoselectivity of addition
α-Lithiated benzylphosphonate esters, XC6H4CH(Li)PO3Et2, add regioselectively to cyclohex-2-enone at the carbonyl group; higher reaction temperatures lead to the reversal to the starting materials, and not to the 1,4-addition. Relative configuration of the C(1) and Cα centers in the 1,2-adducts was determined from the 13C NMR spectra. For 2-methylcyclohex-2-enone the regioselectivity of the addition is decreased. The lithioderivative of diethyl 1-naphthylmethylphosphonate, C10H7CH(Li)PO3Et2, shows reverse regioselectivity yielding the 1,4-, but not the 1,2- addition product. The crystal and molecular structure of that 1,4-adduct has been determined and demonstrates that the conformation about the C(1)-Cα bond is close to that existing in solution, deduced from the value of the 1H NMR 3JHH vicinal coupling constant of the H(1)-C(1)-Cα-H hydrogens. The same conformation was also confirmed as the most stable by molecular modeling. Key words: α-lithiated arylmethylphosphonates, 1,2- vs. 1,4-addition to cyclic enones, steric effects of the cyclohex-2-enone, molecular structure and molecular modelling of the 1,4-adduct of 1-naphthylmethylphosphonate to cyclohex-2-enone.