Aldehydes Henry reaction, stereoselectivity

Henry reactions of readily accessible 1-deoxy-l-nitroaldoses (e.g., 1) with a variety of aldehydes proceed with a high degree of stereoselection. The crude products are hydrolyzed with loss of the nitro group to generate higher ketoses8. 

Ooi has recently reported application of chiral P-spiro tetraaminophosphonium salt 37 as a catalyst for the highly enantio- and diasterioselective direct Henry reaction of a variety of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes with nitroalkanes (Scheme 5.51) [92]. Addihon of the strong base KO Bu generates in situ the corresponding catalyhcally active triaminoiminophosphorane base A. Ensuing formation of a doubly hydrogen-bonded ion pair B positions the nitronate for stereoselective addition to the aldehyde. This catalyst system bears many similarities to guanidine base catalysis. 

The amines 3 reported by Morao and Cossio also constitute neutral dendritic catalysts without metal sites they consist of a simple amine core functionalised with Frechet dendrons (Fig. 6.44) [74]. Such amines can catalyse the nitroaldol or Henry reaction [75] between aromatic aldehydes and nitroalkanes. Whereas neither the yield nor the stereoselectivity (syn/anti 1 1) of the reaction of p-nitro-benzaldehyde with nitroethane was found to change on use of different generations of dendritic catalysts, a distinctly negative dendritic effect was observed in the reaction of benzaldehyde with 3-nitro-l-propanol. Catalysts 3 a and 3 b gave... 

The Henry reaction or the nitroaldol is a classical reaction where the a-anion of an alkyinitro compound reacts with an aldehyde or ketone to form a p-nitroalcohol adduct. Over the decades, the Henry reaction has been used to synthesize natural products and pharmaceutical intermediates. In addition, asyimnetric catalysis has allowed this venerable reaction to contribute to a plethora of stereoselective aldol condensations. Reviews (a) Ballini, R. Bosica, G. Fiorini, D. Palmieri, A. Front. Nat. Prod. Chem. 2005, 1, 37-41. (b) Ono, N. In The Nitro Group in Organic Synthesis Wiley-VCH Weinheim, 2001 Chapter 3 The Nitro-Aldol (Henry) Reaction, pp. 30-69. (c) Luzzio, F. A. Tetrahedron 2001, 57, 915-945. 

First encouraging results for a stereoselective synthesis in general were reported by Seebach in 1982, who investigated the syn/anti-diastereoselectivity starting from achiral aldehydes and nitroalkanes [4,5]. Barrett et al. examined the influence of nonchiral Lewis acids on the syn/anti diastereoselectivity [6]. Stoichiometric amounts of an enantiomerically pure aldehyde were used in a di-astereoselective reaction with 3-nitropropionate by Hanessian et al. [7]. However, an approach to enantioselective synthesis of nitroalcohols via the route of the asymmetric Henry reaction could not be carried out until almost one hundred years after the discovery of the nitroaldol reaction. 

Henry reaction In the presence of Nal bromonitromethane condenses with aldehydes in THE. The usefulness of the process is noted in the stereoselective assemblage of the anti,anti-isomer of l-bromo-2-hydroxy-3-dibenzylamino-l-nitrobutane. 

Miscellaneous. An asymmetric Henry reaction involving combination of an aldehyde with a silyl nitronate, catalyzed by Cu(OTf)2 in the presence of TBAT and a chiral BOX ligand, gives the nitroaldol products in moderate yield and stereoselectivity. TBAT is effective in triggering desilylation of certain functionalized silyloximes, resulting in concomitant cyclization and nitrone formation (eq 9) ... 

The enantioselective Henry reaction with ketones is challenging, owing to the attenuated reactivity of the ketone carbonyl group compared to the aldehyde carbonyl moiety and the high tendency of tertiary nitro-aldol adducts to undergo a retro-addition reaction under basic conditions [15], Stereoselective construction of... 

The area of reactions of phosphate derivatives has been dominated by highly stereoselective reactions in which the latter were used as chiral catalysts or achiral reagents. Among this group of reactions, it is worthy to note several asymmetric reactions ring opening of w 50-aziridinium and episulfonium ions, addition of alcohols to imines, 1,3-dipolar addition of aldehydes, amino esters and dipolarophiles, protonation of silyl enol ethers, epoxidation of a,p-unsaturated aldehydes, aza-ene-type reactions as well as asymmetric versions of named reactions Mannich, Friedel-Crafts, Kabachnik-Fields, aza-Darzens and aza-Henry. 

Finally, Han, Huang, and Peng reported a multicomponent cascade reaction for the synthesis of the spirooxindole pyranone scaffold [38]. The reaction started with the addition of aliphatic aldehydes 15 to nitrostyrenes 64 catalyzed by chiral secondary amine catalyst I. Next, the resulting adduct reacted with A-benzyl isatin (54b) by a Henry-hemiacetal formation cascade followed by pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) oxidation to afford the corresponding spirooxindoles 70 in good yields and stereoselectivities (Scheme 10.24). 

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