Aldol condensation enantioselectivity

Ir Catalyst, ester aldol condensation, enantioselective 6 Jatrophatrione synthesis 24... 

A series of chiral binaphthyl ligands in combination with AlMe3 has been used for the cycloaddition reaction of enamide aldehydes with Danishefsky s diene for the enantioselective synthesis of a chiral amino dihydroxy molecule [15]. The cycloaddition reaction, which was found to proceed via a Mukaiyama aldol condensation followed by a cyclization, gives the cycloaddition product in up to 60% yield and 78% ee. 

Chiral salen chromium and cobalt complexes have been shown by Jacobsen et al. to catalyze an enantioselective cycloaddition reaction of carbonyl compounds with dienes [22]. The cycloaddition reaction of different aldehydes 1 containing aromatic, aliphatic, and conjugated substituents with Danishefsky s diene 2a catalyzed by the chiral salen-chromium(III) complexes 14a,b proceeds in up to 98% yield and with moderate to high ee (Scheme 4.14). It was found that the presence of oven-dried powdered 4 A molecular sieves led to increased yield and enantioselectivity. The lowest ee (62% ee, catalyst 14b) was obtained for hexanal and the highest (93% ee, catalyst 14a) was obtained for cyclohexyl aldehyde. The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction was investigated in terms of a traditional cycloaddition, or formation of the cycloaddition product via a Mukaiyama aldol-reaction path. In the presence of the chiral salen-chromium(III) catalyst system NMR spectroscopy of the crude reaction mixture of the reaction of benzaldehyde with Danishefsky s diene revealed the exclusive presence of the cycloaddition-pathway product. The Mukaiyama aldol condensation product was prepared independently and subjected to the conditions of the chiral salen-chromium(III)-catalyzed reactions. No detectable cycloaddition product could be observed. These results point towards a [2-i-4]-cydoaddition mechanism. 

Since the first reported directed aldol condensation using lithiated imines1. few methods concerning the diastereo- and enantioselectivity of their addition to aldehydes and ketones have been published. 

Reaction of aldehydes and 2 equivalents of ketone in the presence of 5 mol% of (R)-BaBM gives good yield of aldol product (77-99%) with moderate enan-tioselectivity (54-70% ee) after a 2-day reaction (Scheme 3-36 and Table 3-9). Although the enantioselectivity is not very high, this is one of the first examples of direct aldol condensation using barium catalyst as the promoter. 

Moreover, this two-step equivalent of an aldol condensation can proceed with high enantioselectivity in the presence of a chiral auxiliary. Thus reaction of the enolate of chiral silyl ketene acetal (5) with isobutyryl chloride gives 6 in 89% yield and 94% ee after reduction of the intermediate. 

Several examples exist of the application of chiral natural N-compounds in base-catalyzed reactions. Thus, L-proline and cinchona alkaloids have been applied [35] in enantioselective aldol condensations and Michael addition. Techniques are available to heterogenize natural N-bases, such as ephedrine, by covalent binding to mesoporous ordered silica materials [36]. 

The ultimate goal of designing highly enantioselective aldol condensations demands that all stereochemical aspects of the bond construction process be kinetically controlled. Over the past 5 years, this objective has stimulated a great deal of research, and a wealth of new information is now becoming available on the important kinetic stereochemical control elements and possible transition state geometries for this reaction. 

The first chapter in this volume is a particularly timely one given the recent surge of activity in natural product synthesis based upon stereocontrolled Aldol Condensations. D. A. Evans, one of the principal protagonists in this effort, and his associates, J. V. Nelson and T. R. Taber, have surveyed the several modem variants of the Aldol Condensation and discuss models to rationalize the experimental results, particularly with respect to stereochemistry, in a chapter entitled Stereoselective Aldol Condensations. The authors examine Aldol diastereoselection under thermodynamic and kinetic control as well as enantioselection in Aldol Condensations involving chiral reactants. 

A further step towards improved selectivity in aldol condensations is found in the work of David A. Evans. The work of Evans [3a] [14] is based in some early observations from Meyers laboratory [15] and the fact that boron enolates may be readily prepared under mild conditions from ketones and dialkylboron triflates [16]. Detailed investigations with Al-propionylpyrrolidine (31) indicate that the enolisation process (LDA, THE) affords the enolate 32 with at least 97% (Z>diastereoselection (Scheme 9.8). Finally, the observation that the inclusion of potential chelating centres enhance aldol diastereoselection led Evans to study the boron enolates 34 of A(-acyl-2-oxazolidones (33), which allow not only great diastereoselectivity (favouring the 5yn-isomer) in aldol condensations, but offer a possible solution to the problem of enantioselective total syntheses (with selectivities greater than 98%) of complex organic molecules (see below, 9.3.2), by using a recyclisable chiral auxiliary. 

Finally, another possibility is to design enantioselective syntheses by using external chiral auxiliaries either in catalytic or in stoichiometric quantities [21], Since these strategies are nowadays of great interest in organic synthesis, we will consider here some of the most recent results achieved in enantioselective aldol condensations, as well as in the asymmetric epoxidation and hydroxylation of olefmic double bonds. 

Enantioselective aldol condensations Chiral enolates. "Simple asymmetric induction"... 

The chiral A/ -propionyl-2-oxazolidones (32 and 38) are also useful chiral auxiliaries in the enantioselective a-alkylation of carbonyl compounds, and it is interesting to observe that the sense of chirality transfer in the lithium enolate alkylation is opposite to that observed in the aldol condensation with boron enolates. Thus, whereas the lithium enolate of 37 (see Scheme 9.13) reacts with benzyl bromide to give predominantly the (2/ )-isomer 43a (ratio 43a 43b = 99.2 0.8), the dibutylboron enolate reacts with benzaldehyde to give the (3R, 25) aldol 44a (ratio 44a 44b = 99.7 0.3). The resultant (2R) and (25)-3-phenylpropionic acid derivatives obtained from the hydrolysis of the corresponding oxazolidinones indicated the compounds to be optically pure substances. 

Scope and limitations of enantioselective aldol condensations. Recent advances... 

Although in the recent years the stereochemical control of aldol condensations has reached a level of efficiency which allows enantioselective syntheses of very complex compounds containing many asymmetric centres, the situation is still far from what one would consider "ideal". In the first place, the requirement of a substituent at the a-position of the enolate in order to achieve good stereoselection is a limitation which, however, can be overcome by using temporary bulky groups (such as alkylthio ethers, for instance). On the other hand, the ( )-enolates, which are necessary for the preparation of 2,3-anti aldols, are not so easily prepared as the (Z)-enolates and furthermore, they do not show selectivities as good as in the case of the (Z)-enolates. Finally, although elements other than boron -such as zirconium [30] and titanium [31]- have been also used succesfully much work remains to be done in the area of catalysis. In this context, the work of Mukaiyama and Kobayashi [32a,b,c] on asymmetric aldol reactions of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes promoted by tributyltin fluoride and a chiral diamine coordinated to tin(II) triflate... 

Tandem 1,4-addition to cycloalkenones constitutes an extremely versatile and elegant methodology for the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted cycloalkanones, as is evident from its application in areas such as prostaglandin synthesis. Noyori et al. have reported the use of organozinc reagents in copper-catalyzed tandem additions [64]. The zinc enolate resulting from the catalytic enantioselective 1,4-addition of Et2Zn to cyclohexenone reacts readily with an aldehyde in a subsequent aldol condensation. 

The proline-mediated intramolecular aldol condensation of dialdehyde substrates was also reported by List in 2003, affording enantioselective synthesis of cyclic p-hydroxy aldehydes via a 6-e ofexo-aldolization reaction (Scheme 11.7d). 

Trost s group reported direct catalytic enantioselective aldol reaction of unmodified ketones using dinuclear Zn complex 21 [Eq. (13.10)]. This reaction is noteworthy because products from linear aliphatic aldehydes were also obtained in reasonable chemical yields and enantioselectivity, in addition to secondary and tertiary alkyl-substituted aldehydes. Primary alkyl-substituted aldehydes are normally problematic substrates for direct aldol reaction because self-aldol condensation of the aldehydes complicates the reaction. Bifunctional Zn catalysis 22 was proposed, in which one Zn atom acts as a Lewis acid to activate an aldehyde and the other Zn-alkoxide acts as a Bronsted base to generate a Zn-enolate. The... 

The preceding reactions illustrate control of stereochemistry by aldehyde substituents. Substantial effort has also been devoted to use of chiral auxiliaries and chiral catalysts to effect enantioselective aldol reactions.71 72 Avery useful approach for enantioselective aldol condensations has been based on the oxazolidinones 1-3, which are readily available in enantiomerically pure form. 

The syntheses in Schemes 13.36 and 13.37 illustrate the use of chiral auxiliaries in enantioselective synthesis. Step A in Scheme 13.36 establishes the configuration at the carbon which becomes C-4 in the product. This is an enolate alkylation in which the steric effect of the oxazolinone substituents directs the approach of the alkylating group. Step C also uses the oxazolidinone structure. In this case, the enolborinate is formed and condensed with the aldehyde intermediate. This stereoselective aldol condensation establishes the configuration at C-2 and C-3. The configuration at the final stereocenter is established by the hydroboration in step D. The selectivity for the desired stereoisomer is 85 15. Stereoselectivity in the same sense has been observed for a number of other 2-methyl-alkenes in which the remainder of the alkene constitutes a relatively bulky 135... 

Another way to approach the enantioselective construction of carbocycles is to start with a readily-available carbohydrate. Gloria Rassu of the Insituto di Chimica Biomolecolare del CNR, Sassari, and Giovanni Casiraghi of the University di Parma report (J. Org. Chem. 68 5881, 2003) that the lactone 8 undergoes smooth aldol condensation to give the highly-substituted, and... 

Having identified the (+)-stereoisomer as the biologically active isomer, several independent enantioselective syntheses of this stereoisomer were developed. The initial synthesis developed in discovery chemistry employed the diastereoselective aldol condensation pioneered by Braun as the key component. Thus, treatment of aldehyde 13 from the racemic synthesis with the magnesium enolate of (5)-(+)-2-acetoxy-l,l,2-triphenylethanol at -70 °C, afforded 17 in 60% yield as a 97 3 mixture of the / ,5 5,5-diastereomers by HPLC (Scheme 3). Ester exchange employing sodium methoxide provided the methyl ester in quantitative yield. Reaction of this ester with three equivalents of lithio-f-butylacetate at -40 °C afforded the nearly enantiomerically pure r-butyl ester analog of racemic 14 in 75% yield. 

Enantioselective aldol condensation. Masamtinc et al. have prepared optically pure /Miydroxy-a-methyl carboxylic acids by aldol condensation with the (S)- and (RHsomers of the ethyl ketone I, prepared in three steps from commercially available (S)- and (R>mandelic acid. For example, (SH is converted into the (Z)-boron cnolatc (2), which condenses with propionaldehyde to form a single aldol... 

S. Masamune, S. A. Ali, D. L. Snitman, and D. S. Garvey, Highly stereoselective aldol condensation using an enantioselective chiral enolate, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 79 557 (1980). 

On the basis of a catalytic system previously developed by the same group, Nicholls and collaborators [51] reported the preparation of an imprinted polymer for enantioselective formation of a C-C bond with properties of a metallo-enzyme aldolase type II. Polymers were imprinted using the two enantiomers of a 1,3-diketone, the (l.S, 35,45)-(75), and the corresponding (l/ ,3/ ,4/ )-(75), together with two 4-vinyl-pyridine held in place by a Co(II). The cross-aldol condensation... 

Use of the boron azaenolate 3, prepared from achiral 2-ethyl-4,4-dimethyloxazoline and the chiral boryl triflate, undergoes aldol condensation to give mainly threo-fi-hydroxy esters with enantioselectivity of about 80% (equation II). 

Enanantioselective aldol reactions. Divalent tin enolates of aldehydes and aryl ketones generated with tin(II) triflate undergo aldol condensation with aldehydes to form aldols.2 The reaction is highly enantioselective if conducted in the presence of chiral diamines derived from (S)-proline, such as l.3... 

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