Aldols acetate aldol equivalents

The first asymmetric total synthesis of xestodecalactone B and C was recently accomplished in 10 steps with an overall yield of 22%. The key step involves the use of Evans aldol reaction to establish the C-9 configuration. Initial attempts to use an N-acetyloxazolidinone boryl enolate afforded the corresponding aldol product as a nearly 1 1 ratio of diastereomers. A switch to the boryl enolate of thiomethylacetyloxazo-lidinone 68, which is an acetate aldol equivalent, generated the product 69 with high diastereoselectivity (92% de). Subsequent desulfiuization with n-BuaSnH and AIBN was required to remove the thiol functionality. 

Chiral alcohol 73 was synthesized using the Evans aldol reaction and provided the syn-selective aldol adduct (95 5) in 52% yield in the haloacetyl aldol reaction during the total synthesis of (-)-clavosolide B. The chlorine atom was removed by treatment of Zn/NH4C1 in methanol, providing an additional example of an acetate aldol equivalent. 

Reagent 88 also ranks among the most highly enantioselective chiral acetate aldol enolate equivalents (a) Braun, M. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1987, 26, 24, and literature cited therein, (b) Masamune, S. Sato, T. Kim, B. M. Wollmann, T. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986,... 

Unlike a-substituted dibutylboryl imide enolates that provide for a highly stereoselective transformation, boron enolates derived from acetyloxazolidinones gave a statistical mixture of aldol adducts under the same reaction conditions. Acetate enolate equivalents may be obtained from enolates bearing a removable ot-substituent. For example, thiomethyl-, thioethyl- and haloacetyloxazolidinones can be used for highly selective boron-mediated aldol reactions. ... 

Highly diastereoselective aldol reactions with camphor-based acetate enolate equivalents have been reported. ... 

We decided to investigate the E wis aldol reaction (54,55) of the chiral a-hydroxy acetic anion equivalent 47 with the A -Cbz imine of trifluoropyruvate 33. Screening of several enolates and reaction conditions revealed that titanium enolate of the oxazolidinone 47, prepared with 1 equiv. ofTiCU and l.l equiv. of/-Pr2NEt, reacts with excellent stereocontrol affording the "Evans" syn diastereomer 48, in 88% isolated yield, having the correct stereochemistry to be used as intermediate for the synthesis of the targeted 2-Tfm-sphingolipids. 

We now tum our attention to the C21-C28 fragment 158. Our retrosynthetic analysis of 158 (see Scheme 42) identifies an expedient synthetic pathway that features the union of two chiral pool derived building blocks (161+162) through an Evans asymmetric aldol reaction. Aldehyde 162, the projected electrophile for the aldol reaction, can be crafted in enantiomerically pure form from commercially available 1,3,4,6-di-O-benzylidene-D-mannitol (183) (see Scheme 45). As anticipated, the two free hydroxyls in the latter substance are methylated smoothly upon exposure to several equivalents each of sodium hydride and methyl iodide. Tetraol 184 can then be revealed after hydrogenolysis of both benzylidene acetals. With four free hydroxyl groups, compound 184 could conceivably present differentiation problems nevertheless, it is possible to selectively protect the two primary hydroxyl groups in 184 in... 

The enolates of other carbonyl compounds can be used in mixed aldol reactions. Extensive use has been made of the enolates of esters, thiol esters, amides, and imides, including several that serve as chiral auxiliaries. The methods for formation of these enolates are similar to those for ketones. Lithium, boron, titanium, and tin derivatives have all been widely used. The silyl ethers of ester enolates, which are called silyl ketene acetals, show reactivity that is analogous to silyl enol ethers and are covalent equivalents of ester enolates. The silyl thioketene acetal derivatives of thiol esters are also useful. The reactions of these enolate equivalents are discussed in Section 2.1.4. 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals, and similar enolate equivalents,48 Silyl enol ethers are not sufficiently nucleophilic to react directly with aldehydes or ketones. However, Lewis acids cause reaction to occur by coordination at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction can provide access to a variety of (3-hydroxy carbonyl compounds and use of acetals as reactants can provide (3-alkoxy derivatives. The issues of stereoselectivity are the same as those in the aldol addition reaction, but the tendency toward acyclic rather than cyclic TSs reduces the influence of the E- or Z-configuration of the enolate equivalent on the stereoselectivity. 

Silyloxy)alkenes were first reported by Mukaiyama as the requisite latent enolate equivalent to react with aldehydes in the presence of Lewis acid activators. This process is now referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction (Scheme 3-12). In the presence of Lewis acid, anti-aldol condensation products can be obtained in most cases via the reaction of aldehydes and silyl ketene acetals generated from propionates under kinetic control. 

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. 

These first examples of the catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction not only provided first results that could be utilized for such transformations but also highlighted the problems that had to be overcome in further elaborations of this general method. It was shown that truly catalytic systems were required to perform an enantioselective and diastereoselective vinylogous aldol reaction, and it became obvious that y-substituted dienolates that serve as propionate-acetate equivalents provide an additional challenge for diastereoselective additions. To date, the latter problem has only been solved for diastereoselective additions under Lewis acid catalysis (vide infra) (Scheme 4, Table 3). 

The chiral enolate-imine addition methodology was examined in detail (Thiruvengadam et al., 1999). Enolate formation proceeds to completion within an hour at temperatures from — 30 to 0°C with either 1 equiv. TiCl4 or TiClaO-iPr (preformed or prepared in the presence of substrate by addition of TiCl4 and followed by a third of an equivalent Ti(0-iPr)4 and two equivalents of a tertiary amine base). Unlike the aldol process with the same titanium enolate, the nature of the tertiary amine base had no effect on the diaster-eoselectivity. The diastereoselectivity is maximized by careful control of the internal temperature to below — 20°C during the imine addition (2 equiv.) as well as during the acetic acid quench. The purity of the crude 2-amino carboxamide derivatives (17a or... 

The effect of the basicity of aldol condensation catalysts on their activity was thoroughly investigated by Malinowski et al. [372—379]. The observed linear dependence of the rate coefficients of several condensation reactions on the amount of sodium hydroxide contained in silica gel (Figs. 12 and 13) supported the view that the basic properties of this type of catalyst were actually the cause of its catalytic activity, though the alkali-free catalyst was not completely inactive. The amphoteric nature of the catalysis by silica gel, which can act also as an acid catalyst, was demonstrated [380]. By a stepwise addition of sodium acetate to a HN03-pretreated silica gel catalyst the original activity for acetaldehyde self-condensation was decreased to a minimum (when an equivalent amount of the base was added) by further addition of sodium acetate, the activity increased again because of the transition to a base... 

The base One equivalent, at least, of a base relative to the aryl halide must be present to achieve the alkene substitution catalytically. Most often a tertiary amine is employed. Secondary amines also appear to be suitable but primary amines usually are not. The base strength of the amine is important since only quite basic amines such as triethylamine work well. Acetate salts, carbonates and bicarbonates also are suitable bases but solubility may cause difficulties in some instances. The addition of a phase transfer agent such as a quaternary ammonium salt has often solved this problem. The inorganic bases, of course, may cause other problems such as ester hydrolysis, aldol condensations and other undesired side reactions. 

To make the DERA-catalyzed process commercially attractive, improvements were required in catalyst load, reaction time, and volumetric productivity. We undertook an enzyme discovery program, using a combination of activity- and sequence-based screening, and discovered 15 DERAs that are active in the previously mentioned process. Several of these enzymes had improved catalyst load relative to the benchmark DERA from E. coli. In the first step of our process, our new DERA enzymes catalyze the enantioselective tandem aldol reaction of two equivalents of acetaldehyde with one equivalent of chloroacetaldehyde (Scheme 20.6). Thus, in 1 step a 6-carbon lactol with two stereogenic centers is formed from achiral 2-carbon starting materials. In the second step, the lactol is oxidized to the corresponding lactone 7 with sodium hypochlorite in acetic acid, which is crystallized to an exceptionally high level of purity (99.9% ee, 99.8% de). 

Figure 9.32 adds the information of how enol ethers are normally produced, i.e., enol ethers with no conjugation between the C=C- and the neighboring C=0 double bond 0,0-Acetals are subjected to an acid-catalyzed elimination of one equivalent of alcohol, via an El mechanism, that is, via an oxocarbenium ion intermediate that is deprotonated to give the respective enol ether (i.e., the product presented in the first line of Figure 9.32) or dienol ether (the product shown in the second line of Figure 9.32). Among other things, enol ethers are required for the Mukaiyama aldol addition (example Figure 12.23).

Aldol-type reaction of acetals with alkenes. Mildly activated alkenes can undergo addition reactions with acetals in the presence of ClSi(CH3)3 and SnCl2, as in the reaction with dihydropyran. However, the corresponding reaction with styrene requires a full equivalent of ClSi(CH3)3 and a catalytic amount of SnCl2 for a satisfactory yield. 

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