Aldol reaction, aqueous media

Lewis-Acid Catalyzed. Recently, various Lewis acids have been examined as catalyst for the aldol reaction. In the presence of complexes of zinc with aminoesters or aminoalcohols, the dehydration can be avoided and the aldol addition becomes essentially quantitative (Eq. 8.97).245 A microporous coordination polymer obtained by treating anthracene- is (resorcinol) with La(0/Pr)3 possesses catalytic activity for ketone enolization and aldol reactions in pure water at neutral pH.246 The La network is stable against hydrolysis and maintains microporosity and reversible substrate binding that mimicked an enzyme. Zn complexes of proline, lysine, and arginine were found to be efficient catalysts for the aldol addition of p-nitrobenzaldehyde and acetone in an aqueous medium to give quantitative yields and the enantiomeric excesses were up to 56% with 5 mol% of the catalysts at room temperature.247... 

Wittig-Homer reaction with 1,4- and 1,5-dialdehydes.1 Reaction of these aldehydes with 1 equiv. of a Wittig-Horner phosphonate in an aqueous medium with K2C03 as base is accompanied by an intramolecular aldolization to provide five- or six-membered cycloalkenols. 

The required aldehyde precursor 186 was obtained by a Sn(II)-catalyzed asymmetric aldol reaction [90]. It was then mixed in one pot with o-methoxy aniline 187 and enol ether 188 to afford the key /7-amino ketone 189 in a 2 1 diastereomeric ratio through a Mannich-type three-component reaction. This reaction was performed in an aqueous medium and the use of a surfactant such as dodecyl sulfate (DS) was essential. The diastereomeric mixture 189 was treated with HF and the... 

A recent notable finding in this field is Mukaiyama aldol reactions in aqueous medium (THF H20 = 9 1) catalyzed by metal salts. Lewis acids based on Fe(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II), and those of some main group metals and lanthanides are stable in water. Remarkably, the aldol reaction shown in Sch. 29 occurs more rapidly than the hydrolysis of the silyl enol ether [137]. In the presence of surfactants (dodecyl sulfates or dodecane sulfonate salts), reactions of thioketene silyl acetals with benzaldehyde can be performed in water [138]. 

The same group described the Yb(OTf)3 catalyzed Mukaiyama aldol reaction of aldehyde 43 with silyl enol ether 435 in an aqueous medium [161] (O Scheme 88). This results in the formation of two non-separable diastereomeric aldols 436 and 437 in a 95% combined yield. Finally, NaBH4 reduction leads to isolation of pure 440 and a mixture of 438 and 439. 

Related to the aldolization reaction is the Mannich reaction, which proceeds readily in water [193]. Allylsilanes [194] and allylstannanes [131] were also shown to add to iminium salts under Mannich-like conditions. As for the Mukaiyama reaction, the reaction between a vinyl ether with iminium salts was catalyzed by ytterbium triflate in a water/THF mixture. The Henry reaction which can be performed in an aqueous medium has been made more efficient in the presence of surfactants. The nitroaldol products were obtained in 65 -95 % yields [195]. 

The Mukaiyama reaction is an aldol-type reaction between a silyl enol ether and an aldehyde in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of titanium chloride. The reaction, which displays a negative volume of activation, could be performed without acidic promoter under high pressure [58]. In this case, the major product is the syn hydroxy ketone, not as for the TiCl4-promoted reactions which lead mostly to the anti addition product. Since the syn or anti selectivity is the result of two transition states with different activation volumes (AV n < AVfnti), it was of great interest to investigate the aldol reaction in water. Indeed, the reaction of the silyl enol ether of cyclohexanone with benzaldehyde in aqueous medium was shown to proceed without any catalyst and under atmospheric pressure, with the same syn... 

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]. 

Sinou and co-workers [73] studied the influence of different surfactants on the palladium-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation of l,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate with dimethyl malonate in presence of potassium carbonate as base and non-water-soluble chiral ligands. Best results in activity and enatioselectivity (> 90% ee) were observed with 2,2 -bis(diphenylphosphino)-l,l -binaphthyl (BINAP) as ligand and cetyltrimethylammonium hydrogen sulfate as surfactant in aqueous medium. Water-stable Lewis acids as catalysts for aldol reactions were developed by Kobayashi and co-workers [74]. An acceleration of the reaction was indicated in presence of SDS as anionic surfactants. An additional promotion could be observed by combination of Lewis acid and surfactant (LASCs = Lewis acid-surfactant-combined catalysts) as shown in Eq. (3). Surfactant the anion of dodecanesulfonic acid. 

To extend the operation period of prolinamide-derived IL-supported catalysts, bis-amides 58a-e were synthesised from (25, 4R)-4-hydro yproline and various diamines. C2-Symmetric compounds 58c-e bearing p-phenyle-nediamine, l,2-diaminocyclohexane or 1,2-diphenyl ethylenedia-mine ° structural units exhibited excellent catalytic performance in asymmetric cross-aldol reactions between ketones 8 and aldehydes 9 in the aqueous medium and could be recycled 15 times without any decrease of activity or loss of enantiocontrol. Furthermore, bis-amide 58e efficiently catalysed aldol reactions of acetone with a-ketoesters 62 to afford a-hydrojqr-y-ketoesters 63 in a nearly quantitative yield, yet with moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 10.14). 

In 2013, the Rahman group studied the application of various polar tripeptides for the direct aldol reaction of substituted aromatic aldehydes and aliphatic ketones in an aqueous medium. In the course of their investigations histidine-containing peptide 35 showed the best results for the aldol reactions due to stabilising hydrogen bonding of the side chains of the peptide catalyst (Scheme 13.22b). This catalytic system could be further extended to aldoketoreductase-based mimetic octapeptides for the preparation of chiral p-hydro)yketones in excellent yield and diastereoselectivity and good enantioselectivity. ... 

The group of Moutevelis-Minakakis reported in 2014 the preparation and application of a series of tripeptides containing proline, phenylalanine and tert-butyl esters of different amino acids (see 36, Scheme 13.22c) for the asymmetric aldol reaction of aromatic aldehydes and various substituted ketones in both aqueous and organic medium. The authors assume in the proposed transition-state model, besides the well-known enamine activation, a stabilisation of the aldehyde via hydrogen-bond interactions of the two amide protons of the tripeptide with the carbonyl group of the aldehyde. The desired adducts were isolated in good to excellent yields and with very good diastereoselectivities and enantioselectivities. ... 

Scheme 19.68 Polymer-supported pyrrolidine-thiourea catalysed direct aldol reaction in aqueous medium.

Scheme 19.29 One-pot synthesis of 1,3-diols based on combination of organocatalytic aldol reaction and alcohol dehydrogenase-catalyzed reduction with both reactions running in aqueous medium.

As mentioned above, rare earth triflates, Cu(OTf)2, and AgOTf were foimd to act as Lewis acids in aqueous media. It would be of great importance to know which factors are key to the success of organic reactions in water. To address this issue, 1-15 metal chlorides, perchlorates, and triflates were screened in the aldol reaction of benzaldehyde with the silyl enol ether inwater-THF(l 9) (Scheme 3.13). This screening revealed that not only Sc(III), Y(lll), and Ln(III) but also Fe(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) worked as Lewis acids in this medium to afford the desired aldol adducts in high yields. 

In an intramolecular case, it was shown that, in an aqueous medium, the nature of the acidic or basic catalyst had a dramatic effect on the outcome of the aldolisation (Denmark and Lee, 1992). Acid-induced aldol condensation of ketoaldehyde 1 provided the syn hydroxyketone 2, while the anti isomer 3 arose from base-catalyzed reactions ... 

The aqueous medium influences not only the reaction rate but also the stereoselection of the aldol addition. One significant example [13] is the intramolecular cyclization of ketoaldehyde depicted in Scheme 7.2. In organic solvents there is a preference for syn or anti adduct depending on the presence of coordinating cations (K, Na, Li, MgBr ) or a complexing agent such as... 

A Michael reaction coupled with aldol-type condensation has been used in the one-pot synthesis of allylrethrone (Scheme 7.7), an important component of an insecticidal pyrethroid [32]. The conjugative addition of 5-nitro-l-pentene to methyl vinyl ketone is catalyzed by AI2O3 and occurs in the absence of solvent. An intramolecular aldol-type condensation is then carried out in alkaline aqueous medium after the conversion of the nitro group into a carbonyl by the Nef reaction. 

L-Threonine-derived catalysts were demonstrated to be remarkably effective for the direct aldol reaction. Lu et al. investigated the potential of serine and threonine analogs in the direct asymmetric aldol reaction in aqueous medium [28]. While L-serine and L-threonine were found to be ineffective, sUylated threonine and serine derivatives were wonderful catalysts for the direct aldol reaction of cyclohexanone and aromatic aldehydes in the presence of water, affording the aldol adducts in excellent yields and with nearly perfect enantioselectivities. L-Serine-derived 9a was inferior to the corresponding threonine-based catalysts. The reaction could be extended to hydroxyacetone, and sy -diols were obtained with very good enantioselectivities (Scheme 3.6). Subsequently, Teo and coworkers also employed silylated serine catalysts for the same reaction [29]. Very recently, Cordova et al. [30] reported a co-catalyst system consisting of 8a and l,3-bis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]thiourea, and applied such catalytic pairs to the direct aldol reaction between ketones and aromatic aldehydes both cyclic and acycUc ketones were found to be suitable substrates. 

The O-TMS-diphenylprolinol 103/BzOH catalytic system is also applicable as an organocatalyst of Michael reactions of nitroalkanes with a, i-enals in aqueous medium [117]. However, functionalized task-specific ionic liquids incorporated in the chiral-pyrrolidine unit, apart from being very efficient and versatile organo-catalysts of Michael and some other asymmetric reactions, show much worse behavior in asymmetric aldol reactions, where their performance is inferior to IL-supported catalysts bearing the a-amino acid fragment [118]. 

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