Aldehydes racemization

Hydratropa aldehyde racemizes quickly even at room temperature (8). No reliable data have been found in the literature on the correlation between optical purity and rotatory power for this compound. We have estimated for the optically pure (R) -hydratropa aldehyde, [< ]D25 —238° (maximum value), by correlation to ( + )(R)-hydratropa alcohol via ( —) (R) -l-ethoxy-2-phenylpropane (9). 

Despite the fact that enzymatic aldol reactions are becoming useful in synthetic carbohydrate chemistry, the preparation of aldehyde substrates containing chiral centers remains a problem. Many a-substituted aldehydes racemize in aqueous solution, which would result in the production of a diastereomeric mixture, which is not always readily separable. 

Polymer (46) with SnCl2 catalyzed hydroformylation of styrene in a mixture of benzene and triethyl orthoformate in 98% ee, but only 22% conversion was attained in 10 d (Scheme 18), compared with 98% ee and 100% conversion in < 150 h using the soluble analogue of (46). The triethyl orthoformate converted the product aldehyde to an enantiomerically stable acetal, whereas the aldehyde racemized slowly under reaction conditions. Since the reaction proceeds much faster in benzene than in triethyl orthoformate, polymer (46) might be used in a flow reactor with benzene as solvent, continuous separation of aldehyde, and recycling of the styrene. 

Measurement of Enantiomeric Excess and Configurational Stability The chiral aldehydes produced can be rather sensitive to racemization. Therefore, extended reaction times should only be considered if aldehyde racemization has been ruled out, or indeed as a test to investigate this by measuring cc-value as a function of time. Some modern chiral gas chromatography (GC) columns are suitable for measurement on the crude aldehyde reaction mixture. Chiral high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is rarely suitable for analysis on the aldehydes. In some cases, aldehydes are readily purified by column... 

The 9 — 15 fragment was prepared by a similar route. Once again Sharpless kinetic resolution method was applied, but in the opposite sense, i.e., at 29% conversion a mixture of the racemic olefin educt with the virtually pure epoxide stereoisomer was obtained. On acid-catalysed epoxide opening and lactonization the stereocentre C-12 was inverted, and the pure dihydroxy lactone was isolated. This was methylated, protected as the acetonide, reduced to the lactol, protected by Wittig olefination and silylation, and finally ozonolysed to give the desired aldehyde. 

If the a carbon atom of an aldehyde or a ketone is a chnality center its stereo chemical integrity is lost on enolization Enolization of optically active sec butyl phenyl ketone leads to its racemization by way of the achiral enol form... 

Original Synthesis. The first attempted synthesis of i7-biotin in 1945 afforded racemic biotin (Fig. I). In this synthetic pathway, L-cysteine [52-90-4] (2) was converted to the methyl ester [5472-74-2] (3). An intramolecular Dieckmaim condensation, during which stereochemical integrity was lost, was followed by decarboxylation to afford the thiophanone [57752-72-4] (4). Aldol condensation of the thiophanone with the aldehyde ester [6026-86-4]... 

Although alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) also catalyze the oxidation of aldehydes to the corresponding acids, the rate of this reaction is significantly lower. The systems that combine ADH and aldehyde dehydrogenases (EC 1.2.1.5) (AldDH) are much more efficient. For example, HLAD catalyzes the enantioselective oxidation of a number of racemic 1,2-diols to L-a-hydroxy aldehydes which are further converted to L-a-hydroxy acids by AldDH (166). 

The use of enzymes for the hydrolysis of acylals is effective, and in the case of racemic derivatives some enantioenrichment of the aldehyde is possible. ... 

The (racemic) tmns disulfoxide of 1,3-dithiolane 59 is readily deprotonated at C2 by lithium hexamethyldisilazide, and the resulting anion reacts with aldehydes at -78°C with moderate to excellent diastereoselectivity to give mainly the products 60, although subsequent cleavage of these to give the a-hydroxyaldehydes was not described (97JOC1139). 

By treatment of a racemic mixture of an aldehyde or ketone that contains a chiral center—e.g. 2-phenylpropanal 9—with an achiral Grignard reagent, four stereoisomeric products can be obtained the diastereomers 10 and 11 and the respective enantiomer of each. 

A variety of methods for the asymmetric syntheses of aziridine-2-carboxylates have been developed. They can be generally classified into eight categories based on the key ring-forming transformation and starting materials employed (i) cyclization of hydroxy amino esters, (ii) cyclization of hydroxy azido esters, (iii) cyclization of a-halo- and ot-sulfonyloxy-(3-amino esters, (iv) aziridination of ot, 3-unsaturated esters, (v) aziridination of imines, (vi) aziridination of aldehydes, (vii) 2-carboxylation of aziridines, and (viii) resolution of racemic aziridine-2-carboxylates. 

The major limitation of asymmetric sulfur ylide epoxidations is that only aromatic vinylepoxides can be formed efficiently and with high selectivity. When an aliphatic aldehyde is allowed to react with a semistabilized or nonstabilized sulfur ylide, poor diastereoselectivities and yields are observed, due to problems in controlling the ylide conformation and competing ylide rearrangement reactions [71]. However, some racemic, aliphatic vinylepoxides have been successfully formed by sulfur ylide epoxidations, although varying diastereoselectivities were observed [78-80],... 

Since the addition of dialkylzinc reagents to aldehydes can be performed enantioselectively in the presence of a chiral amino alcohol catalyst, such as (-)-(1S,2/ )-Ar,A -dibutylnorephedrine (see Section 1.3.1.7.1.), this reaction is suitable for the kinetic resolution of racemic aldehydes127 and/or the enantioselective synthesis of optically active alcohols with two stereogenic centers starting from racemic aldehydes128 129. Thus, addition of diethylzinc to racemic 2-phenylpropanal in the presence of (-)-(lS,2/ )-Ar,W-dibutylnorephedrine gave a 75 25 mixture of the diastereomeric alcohols syn-4 and anti-4 with 65% ee and 93% ee, respectively, and 60% total yield. In the case of the syn-diastereomer, the (2.S, 3S)-enantiomer predominated, whereas with the twtf-diastereomer, the (2f ,3S)-enantiomer was formed preferentially. 

The addition of an achiral organometallic reagent (R M) to a chiral carbonyl compound 1 (see Section 1.3.1.1.) leads to a mixture of diastercomers 2 (syn/anti) which can be either racemic, or enantiomerically enriched or pure, depending on whether the substrates are race-mates or pure enantiomers. This section incorporates only those reactions starting from optically pure a-amino aldehydes, however, optical purity of the starting material has not been demonstrated in all cases. 

An analogous stereochemical outcome was observed when the ethylation of racemic 2-phenyl-propanal was catalyzed by (-)-(/ )-l-(diisopropylamino)-3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol36. The reaction was run to 70% conversion and again the ratio of syn- to anff-diastercomers was 3 1. In this case, however, the 7 -configurated aldehyde was predominantly consumed and both enantiomers of the aldehyde were predominantly alkylated from the Re-side. The optical purity of the unreacted (S)-2-phenylpropanal was 85.7% ee. 

Pitfalls are encountered when allowing chiral nonracemic aldehydes to react with chiral, but racemic, reagents having a stereogenic center at the metal-bearing carbon atom, since its chiral induction usually overrides that of the substrate leading to mixtures of two diastereomers in essentially equal amounts26,27 (Sections D.1.3.3.1.4.1., D.1.3.3.3.3.3.2. and D.1.3.3.3.8.2.3.1.). 

When using enantiomerically enriched aldehydes, precautions should be taken in order to avoid their racemization prior to addition. It is recommended not to use reagents of high... 

The addition reaction requires the presence of 4 equivalents of HMPA, thus partial racemization of optically active aldehydes under these basic conditions is anticipated. Unfortunately, the addition of magnesium bromide, zinc chloride or cadmium iodide reverses the regioselectivity11 ... 

It is interesting to speculate that asymmetric induction may be the consequence of the exo anomeric effect, a stereoelectronic effect that favors the conformation 5 that places the aglycone O-C bond antiperiplanar to the pyran C(1) —C(2) bond7fi. Related asymmetric induction has also been observed in aldehyde addition reactions of the related, but racemic, pinacol (Z)-y-(tetrahydropyranyloxy)allylboronate49. As indicated in the examples above, however, the level of diastereoselectivity is modest and the only application in asymmetric synthesis is Wuts exo-brevicomin synthesis75. 

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