Aldehydes activation, selective

The addition of an enolsilane to an aldehyde, commonly referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction, is readily promoted by Lewis acids and has been the subject of intense interest in the field of chiral Lewis acid catalysis. Copper-based Lewis acids have been applied to this process in an attempt to generate polyacetate and polypropionate synthons for natural product synthesis. Although the considerable Lewis acidity of many of these complexes is more than sufficient to activate a broad range of aldehydes, high selectivities have been observed predominantly with substrates capable of two-point coordination to the metal. Of these, benzy-loxyacetaldehyde and pyruvate esters have been most successful. 

In screening a library of these molecules with a variety of metal ions, it was found that the ligand in the absence of added metal was more active than the metal complexes tested. Three libraries were synthesized where sequential changes were made in the structures contained in each library. Ultimately, ligand 64, with a thiourea linker, was found to catalyze the Strecker reaction between benzaldehyde and HCN in 91% ee (Scheme 8). This system also catalyzed the addition of HCN to aliphatic aldehydes with selectivities of > 80% ee. 

The selectivity of the ammoxidation of molecules like toluene and xylene is much higher than that of the oxidation of these compounds to aldehydes. The selectivity difference is more pronounced here than in case of propene. The initial selectivities of the propene oxidation and ammoxidation are practically the same, and the selectivity difference is mainly due to the high stability of acrylonitrile compared with acrolein. For aromatic (amm)oxidation, however, the initial selectivities also differ. Apparently, ammonia interacts with the catalyst in such a way that the activity for oxidation of the aromatic nucleus is reduced. 

Thiamine-catalyzed transformations are reversible, thus TV,/V-dialkyl hydrazones were selected as alternative acyl anion equivalents that were reported to react with electrophiles without acidic activation.41 One especially reactive example, formaldehyde hydrazone resin 13, was constructed from polymer-supported hydrazines and was employed in the first polymer-supported, uncatalyzed acyl anion additions (Fig. 8).38 As test substrates, nitroalkenes (as Michael acceptors) and activated aldehydes were selected. Reactivity of these acyl anion equivalents depended critically not only on the nature of the starting hydrazine, but also on the protocol for hydrazine formation. 

Many studies, mainly by spectroscopic methods and calculation, have been devoted to the conformational behavior of the Inoue catalyst 1 (and 2) and its interactions with HCN and the substrate aldehydes [26, 34—36]. As noted originally by Inoue et al., however, the diketopiperazine 1 does not have catalytic activity and selectivity in homogeneous solution, i.e. in molecular dispersion. Instead, the diketopiperazine 1 is a heterogeneous catalyst - the active/selective state is a gel which forms, for example, in benzene or toluene, or just a suspension (e.g. in ether). As a consequence, catalyst performance is strongly influenced by the amorphous or crystalline character of the diketopiperazine from which the gel is formed. The best performance was achieved when amorphous materials were employed. The latter can... 

Mukaiyama and co-workers developed a chiral Lewis acid complex 15 consisting of tin (II) triflate and a chiral diamine. An aldol reaction of enol silyl ether 16 and octanal is promoted by 15 to give 17 in a highly diastereo-and enantioselective manner. The enantioface of the aldehyde is selectively activated by coordination with 15. This method is similar to method 3, in that an aldehyde-chiral Lewis acid complex can be regarded as a chiral electrophile. An advantage of method 4 over method 3 is the possible catalytic use of a chiral Lewis acid. In the reaction of Scheme 3.6, 20 mol% of 15 effects the aldol reaction in 76% yield with excellent selectivity.9... 

Imines and their derivatives could be used in an analogous way to aldehydes, ketones, or their derivatives this subject has been reviewed [79]. A competition experiment between an aldimine and the corresponding aldehyde in the addition to an enol silyl ether under titanium catalysis revealed that the former is less reactive than the latter (Eq. 14) [80]. In other words, TiCU works as a selective aldehyde activator, enabling chemoselective aldol reaction in the presence of the corresponding imine. (A,0)-Acetals could be considered as the equivalent of imines, because they react with enol silyl ethers in the presence of a titanium salt to give /5-amino carbonyl compounds, as shown in Eqs (15) [81] and (16) [79,82]. 

Chiral amino alcohols can be prepared by reaction of chiral epoxides with amines. Enantiopure (25, 3.R)-2,3-epoxy-3-phenylpropanol anchored to Merrifield resin has been used for ring-opening with secondary amines in the presence of lithium perchlorate to afford polymer-supported chiral amino alcohols 47 (Eq. 18) [56], By analogy, (2i ,35)-3-(cis-2,6-dimethylpiperidino)-3-phenyl-l,2-propanediol has been anchored to a 2-chlorotrityl chloride resin (48). Although this polymer had high catalytic activity in the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes, the selectivity of the corresponding monomeric catalyst was higher (97 % ee) in the same reaction. 

Organic bases such as tetraalkylammonium hydroxides, tertiary amines, and phosphines [46,49,52-54] were employed as additives to improve the activity and selectivity of platinum catalysts in the oxidation of L-sorbose to 2-keto-L-gulonic acid (2-KLG). Rate acceleration was attributed to a beneficial effect of the amine on the hydration of the intermediate aldehyde. The selectivity enhancement obtained with hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) was attributed to a steric effect involving a complex between HMTA and L-sorbose via hydrogen bonding [52] (see Section 9.3.3.2). 

Chemoselective reactions with organozincs. The aldehyde group of a keto aldehyde is selectively activated by TiCL to engage in reaction with Mc2Zn (in con-... 

Borane reduces esters very slowly and ketones or aldehydes are selectively reduced in the presence of esters. The most widely used application of borane is for the selective reduction of carboxylic acids, even in the presence of halides, esters, nitriles, and ketones.200 since LiAlH4 reduces both acids and esters and NaBH4 does not reduce acids (and often reduces esters with difficulty), borane is the reagent of choice for selective reduction of carboxylic acids in the presence of an ester group. The reduction occurs without racemization of adjacent chiral centers, as in the borane reduction of (-)-malic acid to generate (5)-l,2,4-butanetriol in 92% yield.201 Seki and Kondo s reduction of the acid moiety in 173 to alcohol 174 (in a synthesis of orally active carbapenams), without reduction of the benzylthio or ester groups also demonstrates this selectivity.202 Borane can reduce imides to give an amine.203 Borane also reduces epoxides at the less hindered carbon when mixed with catalytic amounts of sodium borohydride.204... 

A highly diastereoselective anti aldol addition utilizing a variety of N-glycolyloxazolidinethiones has been developed by Crimmins. Enolization of an Atglycolyoxazlidinethione with titanium(IV) chloride and (-)-sparteine followed by the addition of an aldehyde activated with additional TiCU resulted in highly anti-selective aldol additions, typically with no observable syn isomers. 

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