Author

Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Lepore, Salvatore D.

Abstract

The present dissertation research is largely focused on the methods to synthesize highly substituted allene derivatives from alkynes in conjugation with carbonyl-containing functional groups. A key aspect of this research involves methylcyclopentadienylmanganese dicarbonyl (MMD), an inexpensive and air-stable organometallic auxiliary linked to alkynyl carbonyls via an η2-bond. This auxiliary influences bond formation to achieve enhanced stereoselectivity without itself undergoing any chemical transformation. Chapter 1 accounts various examples of such transition metal auxiliaries including MMD. Typically conjugated alkynyl carbonyls do not isomerize to thermodynamically less favored allenes. However, with the MMD auxiliary in place, alkynyl carbonyl compounds undergo facile 1,3-proton shifts in the presence of a mild base to produce allene isomers. Although allenyl aldehydes are important building blocks, we note that direct methods to prepare them nonracemically are not known. Chapter 2 describes the development of a new cinchonine-based phase transfer catalyst to access non-racemic allenyl aldehydes from MMD-complexed alkynyl aldehydes. With the manganese auxiliary in place, nonracemic allenyl aldehydes were obtained in a weakly basic biphasic reaction system via enantioselective protonation conditions. Chapter 3 describes the second use of the MMD auxiliary to direct nucleophilic addition reactions to allenyl aldehydes for the preparation of 2,3-allenols diastereoselectively. In the absence of the MMD auxiliary, nucleophilic reactions to the carbonyl group of axially chiral allenyl aldehydes is poorly diastereoselective, which is a long-standing problem. We observed that, in addition to leading to non-racemic allenyl aldehydes, the MMD auxiliary could also be used to improve diastereoselectivity in carbonyl additions due to its proximal position on the 2,3-bond of the allenyl aldehyde. Chapter 4 describes the use of allenyl esters as metathesis quenching agents. It was observed that the addition of an allenyl ester after a metathesis reaction was complete; facilitate the removal of most ruthenium metal impurities using simple silica chromatographic purification.

Extent

171 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00004918

Format

pdf

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