Intramolecular Michael reactions of aliphatic aldehyde enolates generated by imidazolium carbenes

Due to the high reactivity of the formyl group under either basic or acidic reaction conditions required for the direct generation of aldehyde enolates, intramolecular Michael additions of aldehyde enolates to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds have been underexplored for the stereoselective synthesis of carbocyclic compounds. The intramolecular Michael reaction of aldehyde enolates generated by imidazolium carbenes was explored for the synthesis of cyclopentane aldehydes. The imidazolium carbenes were used as Brønsted bases to directly generate the aldehydes enolates.