Aldol reactions 1,3-diaxial interactions

Aldol reactions of boron enolates are frequently more diastereoselective than aldol reactions of, for example, lithium or aluminium enolates. This is partly ascribed to the relatively short boron-oxygen bond length (B-O = 1.36-1.47 A, Li-0 = 1.92-2.00 A, Al-0 = 1.92 A) which exacerbates the unfavourable 1,3-diaxial interactions that occur between the boron substituent... 

Fig. 13.48. anti-Selectivity of the aldol addition with a Heathcock lithium enolate including a mechanistic explanation. The Zimmerman-Traxler transition state Cis destabilized by a 1,3-diaxial interaction, while the Zimmerman-Traxler transition state B does not suffer from such a disadvantage. The reaction thus occurs exclusively via transition state B. 

The aldehyde substrates may be used as racemic mixtures in many cases, as the aldolase catalyzed reactions can concomitantly accomplish kinetic resolution. For example, when DHAP was combined with d- and L-glyceraldehyde in the presence of FDP aldolase, the reaction proceeded 20 times faster with the D-enantiomer. Fuc 1-P aldolase and Rha 1-P aldolase show kinetic preferences (greater than 19/1) for the L-enantiomer of 2-hydroxy-aldehydes. Alternatively, these reactions may be allowed to equilibrate to the more thermodynamically favored products. This thermodynamic approach is particularly useful when the aldol products can cyclize to the pyranose form. Since the reaction is reversible under thermodynamic conditions, the product with the fewest 1,3-diaxial interactions will predominate. This was demonstrated in the formation of 5-deoxy-5-methyl-fructose-l-phosphate as a minor product (Scheme 5.5).20a 25 The major product, which is thermodynamically more stable, arises from the kinetically less reaction acceptor. 

The observed stereoselectivity in the Evans aldol reaction can be explained by the ZImmerman-Traxler transition state model. There are eight possible transition states, four of which would lead to the anti aldol product. These, however, are disfavored due to the presence of unfavorable 1,3-diaxial interactions (not depicted below). The possible transition states leading to the syn aldol product are shown below. The preferred transition state leading to the product is transition state A, where the dipoles of the enolate oxygen and the carbonyl group are opposed, and there is the least number of unfavored steric interactions. 

The following examples show how open and closed transition states may be invoked by the choice of the reaction type. For instance, aldol-type addition normally proceeds via a closed transition state because the metal ion is shifted from the enolate oxygen to the carbonyl oxygen in an ene-like mechanism ( Zimmerman-Traxler transition state 9). The crucial interactions in the Zimmerman-Traxler transition state 16 are those between the 1,3-diaxially oriented substituents around the chair-like structure. R2 adopts the location shown, thus R3 avoids the 1,3-interaction and assumes an equatorial position. Therefore, the diastereomeric ratio depends mainly on the ( )/(Z) configuration of the enolate. Whereas (Z)-enolates 13 afford syn-config-urated enantiomers, 17 and 18, the corresponding ( )-enolates 14 lead to anti-configurated adducts 19 and 20 10. 

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