Aldol nitroaldol reaction

The Henry (nitroaldol) reaction was reported under very mild reaction conditions, in aqueous media using a stoichiometric amount of a nitroalkane and an aldehyde, in NaOH 0.025 M and in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC1) as cationic surfactant (Eq. 8.94) 240 Good to excellent yields of (i-nitroalkanol are obtained. Under these conditions several functionalities are preserved, and side-reactions such as retro-aldol reaction or dehydration of 2-nitroalcohols are avoided. 

Aldol and Related Condensations As an elegant extension of the PTC-alkylation reaction, quaternary ammonium catalysts have been efficiently utilized in asymmetric aldol (Scheme 11.17a)" and nitroaldol reactions (Scheme ll.lTb) for the constmction of optically active p-hydroxy-a-amino acids. In most cases, Mukaiyama-aldol-type reactions were performed, in which the coupling of sUyl enol ethers with aldehydes was catalyzed by chiral ammonium fluoride salts, thus avoiding the need of additional bases, and allowing the reaction to be performed under homogeneous conditions. " It is important to note that salts derived from cinchona alkaloids provided preferentially iyw-diastereomers, while Maruoka s catalysts afforded awh-diastereomers. 

Chromium carbene complexes, 82 Methyl acrylate, 183 (2R,4R)-Pentanediol, 237 Titanium(IV) chloride, 304 Nitroaldols Nitromethane, 199 Intramolecular reactions Methyl acrylate, 183 Other aldol-type reactions Bis(2-pyridinethiolato)tin(II), 40 Alkoxycarbonylation (see Carboalkoxy-lation)... 

Cerium(IV) ammonium nitrate, 67 Trifluoroacetyl nitrate, 324 Nitroaldol reaction (see Aldol-type reactions)... 

Modified Aldol Reactions - Vinylogous Aldol, Nitroaldol, and Nitrone Aldol Reactions... 

The asymmetric catalytic nitroaldol reaction, also known as the asymmetric Henry reaction, is another example of an aldol-related synthesis of high general interest. In this reaction nitromethane (or a related nitroalkane) reacts in the presence of a chiral catalyst with an aldehyde, forming optically active / -nitro alcohols [122], The / -nitro alcohols are valuable intermediates in the synthesis of a broad variety of chiral building blocks, e.g. / -amino alcohols. A highly efficient asymmetric catalytic nitroaldol reaction has been developed by the Shibasaki group, who used multifunctional lanthanoid-based complexes as chiral catalysts [122-125],... 

Aldol and Nitroaldol Reactions (Preparation of Chiral Quaternary Ammonium Fluorides)... 

Nitroalkanes having an a-hydrogen atom undergo aldol-type condensation with aldehydes and ketones in the presence of a base to give p-hydroxy nitro compounds or nitroethylene compounds. The reaction is known as the Henry reaction " or nitroaldol reaction. 

For example, an effective procedure for the synthesis of LLB (where LL = lanthanum and lithium) is treatment of LaCls 7H2O with 2.7 mol equiv. BINOL dilithium salt, and NaO-t-Bu (0.3 mol equiv.) in THF at 50 °C for 50 h. Another efficient procedure for the preparation of LLB starts from La(0-/-Pr)3 [54], the exposure of which to 3 mol equiv. BINOL in THF is followed by addition of butyllithium (3 mol equiv.) at 0 C. It is worthy of note that heterobimetallic asymmetric complexes which include LLB are stable in organic solvents such as THF, CH2CI2 and toluene which contain small amounts of water, and are also insensitive to oxygen. These heterobimetallic complexes can, by choice of suitable rare earth and alkali metals, be used to promote a variety of efficient asymmetric reactions, for example nitroaldol, aldol, Michael, nitro-Mannich-type, hydrophosphonylation, hydrophosphination, protonation and Diels-Alder reactions. A catalytic asymmetric nitroaldol reaction, a direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction, and a catalytic asymmetric nitro-Mannich-type reaction are discussed in detail below. 

Having developed an efficient catalytic asymmetric nitroaldol reaction, we next applied our attention to a direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction. The aldol reaction is generally regarded as one of the most powerful carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. The development of a range of catalytic asymmetric aldol-type reactions has proven to be a valuable contribution to asymmetric synthesis. In all these catalytic asymmetric aldol-type reactions, however, preconversion of the ketone moiety to a more reactive speeies such as an enol silyl ether, enol methyl ether or ketene silyl... 

The basic character of lanthanide alkoxides such as Lu3(Of-Bu)9 seem to effect aldol, cyanosilylation, aldol, and Michael reactions [111]. Complexes 2 and 22, abbreviated as LnMB (Ln = lanthanide, M = alkali metal, B = BR IOL) [112] were thoroughly studied in the catalytic, asymmetric nitroaldol reaction (Henry reaction eq. (10)) [113]. 

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. 

The use of these materials in a range of reactions [isomerization of alkenes and alkynes, C—C bond formation, aldol condensation, Knoevenagel condensation, nitroaldol reactions, Michael addition, conjugate addition of alcohols, nucleophilic addition of phenylacetylene, nucleophilic ring opening of epoxides, oxidation reactions, Si—C bond formation, Pudovik reaction (P—C bond formation) and synthesis ofheterocycles] have been discussed in detail by Ono [248], as well as in the other cited reviews. We will thus discuss here only selected examples. 

The Henry reaction is an aldol-type reaction between a nitroalkane and an aldehyde in the presence of a base. Since basic reagents are also catalysts for the aldol condensation, the nitroaldol reactions must be strictly controlled. An interesting alternative lies in the use of surfactants to perform the reaction in an aqueous medium [63], The Reformatsky reaction, which involves a-haloketones and aldehydes, can be mediated by zinc, tin or indium in water in the latter case the proportion of undesirable reduction products could be strongly reduced [64]. 

In conclusion, chiral heterobimetallic lanthanoid compexes LnMB, which were recently developed by Shibasaki et al., are highly efficient catalysts in stereoselective synthesis. This new and innovative type of chiral catalyst contains a Lewis acid as well as a Bronsted base moiety and shows a similar mechanistic effect as observed in enzyme chemistry. A broad variety of asymmetric transformations were carried out using this catalysts, including asymmetric C-C bond formations like the nitroaldol reaction, direct aldol reaction, Michael addition and Diels-Alder reaction, as well as C-0 bond formations (epoxidation of enones). Thereupon, asymmetric C-P bond formation can also be realized as has been successfully shown in case of the asymmetric hydrophosphonylation of aldehydes and imines. It is noteworthy that all above-mentioned reactions proceed with high stereoselectivity, resulting in the formation of the desired optically active products in high to excellent optical purity. 

The standard aldol reaction involves the addition of an enolate to a ketone or an aldehyde. However, there are related processes and this chapter includes subsections on the isocyanide aldol, nitroaldol and Morita-Baylis-Hillmami reaction. In addition there are reactions involving additions of enolates to the C=N group and a large subsection is devoted to a discussion of the catalytic asynmietric Mamiich reaction. As well as these mechanistically related processes, the carbonyl-ene reaction is also discussed here. Whilst the mechanism of the carbonyl-ene reaction is different from the aldol reaction, the synthetic result is rather similar, and perhaps fits most comfortably into this chapter. 

Some of the catalyst systems used in the asymmetric aldol reaction are also effective in related reactions. Thus, bifunctional catalysts and L-prohne-based organocatalysts have been used to good effect in the nitroaldol reaction and Mannich reaction. The latter process is also effectively catalysed by enantiomeri-cally pure Bronsted acids. Furthermore, much recent progress has been made in the development of a catalytic asymmetric Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction using Lewis/Bronsted acid catalysts and bifunctional catalysts. 

Catalytic asymmetric nitroaldol reaction. In the presence of this alkoxide, a-chloro ketones or nitro alkanes undergo aldol reactions (equation 1 and 11). 

---