A stereospecific access to allylic systems using rhodium(II)-vinyl carbenoid insertion into Si-H, O-H, and N-H bonds

Rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of alpha-vinyldiazoesters in the presence of silanes, alcohols, ethers, amines, and thiols have been shown to produce the corresponding alpha-silyl, alpha-hydroxy, alpha-alkoxy, alpha-amino, and alpha-thioalkoxy esters in generally good yield with a complete retention of the stereochemistry of the double bond of the diazo precursor. An extension of the process in homochiral series has also been devised using either a chiral auxiliary attached to the ester function or achiral alpha-vinyldiazoesters and Doyle's chiral catalyst Rh-2(MEPY)(4). In the former approach, pantolactone as chiral auxiliary gave diastereoselectivities of up to 70%, while the second approach produced the desired allylsilane with ee as high as 72%. On the other hand, Rh-2(MEPY)(4)-catalyzed insertion into the O-H bond of water led to poor or no enantioselectivity in good agreement with recent literature reports.