Acrylic acid derivatives enantioselective hydrogenation

Table 2 Enantioselective hydrogenation of a-acylamino acrylic acid derivatives...

The enantioselective hydrogenation of a,fj- or / ,y-unsaturated acid derivatives and ester substrates including itaconic acids, acrylic acid derivatives, buteno-lides, and dehydrojasmonates, is a practical and efficient methodology for accessing, amongst others, chiral acids, chiral a-hydroxy acids, chiral lactones and chiral amides. These are of particular importance across the pharmaceutical and the flavors and fragrances industries. 

Only limited successful examples of asymmetric hydrogenation of acrylic acids derivatives have included the use of chiral Rh complexes (Scheme 1.17). The diamino phosphine (28) utilizes selective ligation of the amino unit to a Rh center and also exerts electrostatic interaction with a substrate. Its Rh complex catalyzes enantioselective hydrogenation of 2-methylcinnamic acid in 92% optical yield [116], Certain cationic Rh complexes can attain highly enantioselective hydrogenation of trisubstituted acrylic acids [ 1171. 2-(6 -Methoxynaphth-2 -yl)acrylic acid is hydrogenated by an (.S ..S )-BIPNOR- Rh complex in methanol at 4 atm to give (.S)-naproxen with 98% ee but only in 30% yield [26]. 

Another important example of an enantioselective reaction mediated by a chiral catalyst is the hydrogenation of 3-substituted 2-acetamido acrylic acid derivatives. 

The fundamental concepts of enantioselective hydrogenation were introduced in Section 2.5.1 of Part A, and examples of reactions of acrylic acids and the important case of a-acetamido acrylate esters were discussed. The chirality of enantioselective hydrogenation catalysts is usually derived from phosphine ligands. A number of chiral phosphines have been explored in the development of enantioselective hydrogenation catalysts,21 and it has been found that some of the most successful catalysts are derived from chiral 1, l -binaphthyldiphosphines, such as BINAP.22... 

Rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation of acctamido -cinnamic in water was also achieved using pyrphos bound to poly-acrylic acid as ligand.337 Roucoux described some Rh° nanoparticles which function as reusable hydrogenation catalyst for arene derivatives in a biphasic water-liquid system.338... 

A breakthrough in this area came when Dang and Kagan3 synthesized DIOP, a C2 chiral diphosphine obtained from tartaric acid (Fig. 6-1). DIOP-Rh(I) complex catalyzed the enantioselective hydrogenation of a-(acylamino)acrylic acids and esters to produce the corresponding amino acid derivatives with up to 80% ee. These achievements stimulated research on a variety of bidentate chiral diphosphines, and numerous chiral ligands bearing C2 symmetry have been developed as a result (see Fig. 6-1 for examples). 

BINAP-Ru-catalyzed hydrogenation of /3-substituted ( )-/3-(acylamino)acrylates gives /3-amino acid derivatives with a high e.e. (Eq. 2.3) [33]. The Z double-bond isomers that have an intramolecular hydrogen bond between amide and ester groups are more reactive, but are hydrogenated with a poor enantioselectivity. 

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