Aldol amino acid imines

The aldol reaction of an enolate or enolate equivalent with an imine is referred to as the Mannich-type reaction. Asymmetric Mannich-type reactions provide useful routes for the synthesis of enantiomerically enriched p-amino acid derivatives, which are versatile chiral building blocks for the synthesis of nitrogen-containing biologically important compounds [23]. Despite the enormous progress made in asymmetric aldol reactions [24], the corresponding asymmet-... 

The catalytic cycles are, however, different in the reaction sequence for formation of the enamines which are key intermediates in these aldol reactions. With the type I aldolase a primary amino function of the enzyme is used for direct formation of a neutral imine (Ha) whereas starting from L-proline enamine synthesis proceeds via a positive iminium system (lib) (Scheme 6.23). In this respect, investigations by List et al. on the dependence of the catalytic potential on the type of amino acid are of particular interest. In these studies it has been shown that for catalytic activity the presence of a pyrrolidine ring (in L-proline (S)-37) and the carboxylic acid group is required [69]. 

High anti-diastereoselectivity is observed for several aromatic imines for ortho-substituted aromatic imines the two newly formed stereocenters are created with almost absolute stereocontrol. Aliphatic imines can also be used as substrates and the reaction is readily performed on the gram scale with as little as 0.25 mol% catalyst loading. Furthermore, the Mannich adducts are readily transformed to protected a-hydroxy-/8-amino acids in high yield. The absolute stereochemistry of the Mannich adducts revealed that Et2Zn-linked complex 3 affords Mannich and aldol adducts with the same absolute configuration (2 R). However, the diastereoselectiv-ity of the amino alcohol derivatives is anti, which is opposite to the syn-l,2-diol aldol products. Hence, the electrophiles approach the re face of the zinc enolate in the Mannich reactions and the si face in the aldol reactions. The anti selectivity is... 

Scheme 2.1 The enamine catalytic cycle. An enamine derived from an amine- or amino acid-catalyst can react with a variety of electrophiles. The aldehyde and ketone reactants that form enamines and act as nucleophiles are often described as donors . Aldehyde and imine reactants that serve as electrophiles are described as acceptors for aldol and Mannich reactions, respectively. Ketones also serve as acceptors for aldol reactions.

On the basis of these results, we have developed the first method for the enantiose-lective synthesis of chiral /3-amino acid esters from achiral imines and ketene silyl acetals using BLA 28. The enantioselectivity of the aldol-type reaction is dramatically increased by using sterically bulky A-substituents. Condensation of the imine derived from benzhydrylamine occurs with high enantioselectivity (90 % ee) (Eq. 80). Furthermore, the best result (96 % ee) is achieved by use of a 1 1 (v/v) mixture of toluene and dichloromethane as solvents. Thus, excellent enantioselectivity (95 % ee or better) has been achieved in reactions of aromatic aldehyde-derived imines... 

The examples outlined in this chapter show that carbohydrates are efficient stereodifferentiating auxiliaries, which offer possibilities for stereochemical discrimination in a wide variety of chemical reactions. Interesting chiral products are accessible, including chiral carbo- and heterocycles, a- and 3-amino acid derivatives, 3-lactams, branched carbonyl compounds and amines. Owing to the immense material published since the time of the earlier review articles on carbohydrates in asymmetric synthesis [9,10], the examples discussed in this chapter necessarily focused on the use of carbohydrates as auxiliaries covalently linked to and cleavable from the substrate. Given the scope of this chapter, a discussion of other interesting asymmetric reactions has not been permitted — for example, reactions in which carbohydrate-derived Lewis acids, such as cyclopentadienyl titanium carbohydrate complexes, exhibit stereocontrol in aldol reactions [180]. Similarly, processes in which in situ glycosylation induces reactivity and stereodifferentiation — for example, in Mannich reactions of imines [181] — have also been excluded from this discussion. 

Which electrophile is lost from the amino acid residue is, of course, controlled by the enzyme. One way this may occur is by the enzyme binding the PLP imine so that the electrophile is in close proximity to a suitable or base to aid abstraction and also so that the a orbital of the bond to be broken is periplanar with the p r acceptor system, i.e. orthogonal to the plane of the pyridine ring (XXXI). Maximal orbital overlap, stereoelectronic control, will lower the activation energy for the reaction. Aldol-type reactions can also occur with PLP as in the laboratory the key to making carbon-carbon bonds is the formation of a stabilised carbanion. Proton abstraction from the initially formed imine gives a masked carbanion which can nucleophili-... 

A stereoselective synthesis of 6-amino acid derivatives by an aldol-type condensation of tin(II) carboxylic thioester enolates with imines has been reported (Scheme 90) the method was used to synthesize an intermediate of the carbapenem antibiotic... 

Another approach to the synthesis of p hydroxy-a-amino acids is by aldol reaction of imines derived from amino adds. The benzophenone imine of glycine (7.102) undergoes highly enantioselective aldol addition with a range of aliphatic aldehydes, including (7.71) xmder phase-transfer conditions in the presence of the bromide salt of phase-transfer catalyst (7.103). A similar transformation is catalysed, in low to moderate ee, by the bimetallic catalysts developed by Shibasaki and CO workers. ... 

The mechanism of the amino acid-catalyzed Mannich reactions is depicted in Scheme 4.14. Accordingly, the ketone or aldehyde donor reacts with the amino acid to give an enamine. Next, the preformed or in situ- generated imine reacts with the enamine to give after hydrolysis the enantiomerically enriched Mannich product, and the catalytic cycle can be repeated. It is important to bear in mind that N-Chz-, N- Boc-, or A-benzoyl-protected imines are water-sensitive. Thus, they can hydrolyze and thereby decrease the yield of the transformation. Moreover, in the case of cross-Mannich-type addition with aldehydes as nucleophiles the catalytic self-aldolization pathway can compete with the desired pathway and lead to nonlinear effects [63]. 

In addition to the studies mentioned above, chiral alcohols have been used as H-bonding catalysts in a vinylogous aldol reaction of Chan s diene with aldehydes [73], in an enantioselective Strecker reaction [74], and in the enantioselective addition of aza-enamines to imines [75]. Taddol has also found use as a memory of chirality enhancer in the stereoselective synthesis of (i-lactams from amino acid derivatives [76, 77]. 

Imines also serve as electrophiles for the imino-aldol reaction to produce aminocarbonyl compounds that are important synthetic precursors of yff-amino acids, ji-amino alcohols, and y lactams. Accordingly, various types of catalytic asymmetric Mannich-type reactions have been studied and invented with chiral Lewis acid catalysts like 13 14 containing Fe, Cu, Zn, Zr, Ag, or or organocatalysts... 

Addition of Phosphorus Nucleophiles to Imines As the Pudovik and the Abramov reactions constitute phosphorus analogs of the aldol reaction, there is also a phosphorus equivalent for the Mannich reaction, namely, the Kabachnik-Fields reaction (see Scheme 47.7). In this process, phosphorus nucleophiles add to imines to produce a-aminophosphonate derivatives, which can be considered amino acid analogs. These compounds by themselves, or when incorporated into short peptides, find applications as enzyme inhibitors or as antibacterial and antifungal agents. However, in only a few instances were optically pure derivatives prepared for biological and pharmaceutical applications. Examples include the synthesis of antibiotic ala-fosfalin 82, penicillopepsin 83, and HIV protease... 

Following immediately the initial efforts on primary amino acids catalyzed aldol reactions, the application of primary amine acid in Mannich reaction has also been attempted. Cordova reported that simple primary amino acids and their derivatives could catalyze the asymmetric Mannich reactions of ketones with comparable results to those obtained in the catalysis of proline[28]. Later, Barbas [29] and Lu [30] independently reported that L-Trp or 0-protected L-Thr could catalyze anti-selective asymmetric Mannich reactions of a-hydroxyacetones with eiflier preformed or in-situ generated imines. The preference of anii-diastereoselectivity was ascribed to the formation of a Z-enamine, with the assistance of an intramolecular H-bond (Scheme 5.15). 

Some chiral phase-transfer catalysts can also promote enantioselective aldol and Mannich condensations of glycine imine donors with aldehyde and imine acceptors. These reactions provide important tools for the asymmetric constmction of P-hydroxy-a-amino acid and a,p-diamino acid derivatives, which are extremely interesting chiral units in the synthesis of pharmaceutical and natural products. For... 

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