Aldol catalysis

Over the past eight years, enantioselective enamine catalysis has expanded in scope more rapidly than perhaps any other field of asymmetric catalysis. From a handful of examples within the realm of aldol catalysis known in the beginning of 2000, the field enamine catalysis now comprises more than 50 different reactions, nearly 1000 different catalysts, and more than 1000 examples Still, major challenges remain to be solved. 

Independently of Shibuya s work, SpiUing s team reported comparable results, effective enantioselective phospho-aldol catalysis via lanthamun com-... 

Whilst we discuss some of the more detailed mechanistic aspects of phospho-aldol catalysis via heterobimetalHc systems in a later section, it is appropriate to note here the considerable and wide-ranging success that these catalysts have had in phospho-aldol catalysis. Thus, lanthanide heterobimetallics have had considerable success in the synthesis of a-hydroxy- (Table 1) [32] and a-aminophosphonate esters (Table 2) [33]. 

Building upon this earlier work, Kee and co-workers chose to move away from binaphthol as a chiral framework and explore alternative systems which may permit phospho-aldol catalysis under mild conditions but crucially be compatible with aerobic conditions. Their earliest studies revolved around the well-... 

Duxbury JP, Wame JND, Mushtaq R, Ward W, Pett-Thomton M, Jiang M, Greatrex R, Kee TP (2000) Phospho-aldol catalysis via chiral schiff base complexes of aluminum. Organometallics 19 4445 57... 

The use of indium in acpieous solution has been reported by Li and co-workers as a new tool in org nometallic chemistry. Recently Loh reported catalysis of the Mukaiyama-aldol reaction by indium trichloride in aqueous solution". Fie attributed the beneficial effect of water to a eg tion phenomena in connection with the high internal pressure of this solvenf This woric has been severely criticised by... 

A regioselective aldol condensation described by Biichi succeeds for sterical reasons (G. Biichi, 1968). If one treats the diaidehyde given below with acid, both possible enols are probably formed in a reversible reaaion. Only compound A, however, is found as a product, since in B the interaction between the enol and ester groups which are in the same plane hinders the cyclization. BOchi used acid catalysis instead of the usual base catalysis. This is often advisable, when sterical hindrance may be important. It works, because the addition of a proton or a Lewis acid to a carbonyl oxygen acidifies the neighbouring CH-bonds. 

An example of an intermolecular aldol type condensation, which works only under acidic catalysis is the Knoevenagel condensation of a sterically hindered aldehyde group in a formyl-porphyrin with a malonic ester (J.-H. Fuhrhop, 1976). Self-condensations of the components do not occur, because the ester groups of malonic esters are not electrophilic enough, and because the porphyrin-carboxaldehyde cannot form enolates. 

The point was made earlier (Section 5 9) that alcohols require acid catalysis in order to undergo dehydration to alkenes Thus it may seem strange that aldol addition products can be dehydrated in base This is another example of the way in which the enhanced acidity of protons at the a carbon atom affects the reactions of carbonyl com pounds Elimination may take place in a concerted E2 fashion or it may be stepwise and proceed through an enolate ion... 

The name aldol was introduced by Wurt2 in 1872 to describe the product resulting from this acid-cataly2ed reaction of acetaldehyde. The addition will occur with base catalysis as well. 

The biologically active form of vitamin Bg is pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PEP), a coenzyme that exists under physiological conditions in two tautomeric forms (Figure 18.25). PLP participates in the catalysis of a wide variety of reactions involving amino acids, including transaminations, a- and /3-decarboxylations, /3- and ") eliminations, racemizations, and aldol reactions (Figure 18.26). Note that these reactions include cleavage of any of the bonds to the amino acid alpha carbon, as well as several bonds in the side chain. The remarkably versatile chemistry of PLP is due to its ability to... 

Cationic bis(oxazoline) and pyridil-bis(oxazoline) Cu(ll) and Zn(ll) Lewis-acid catalysts. A comparative study in catalysis of Diels-Alder and aldol reactions [101]... 

Togni A., Pastor S. D. Cooperativity of Chirality in Homogeneous Catalysis The Gold(I)-Catalyzed Aldol Reaction and the Vanadium(IV)-Catalyzed Hetero-Diels-Alder Cycloaddition Chirality 1991 3 331-340... 

Figure 10.41 Natural aldol reaction catalyzed by RibA, acceptance of nonnatural aldol donors, and azasugar precursors prepared by stereoselective RibA catalysis.

Gruttadauria, M., Riela, S., Lo Meo, P., D Anna, F., Noto, R. (2004) Supported Ionic Liquid Asymmetric Catalysis A New Method for Chiral Catalysts Recycling, the Case of ProUne-Catalysed Aldol Reaction. Tetrahedon Letters, 45(32), 6113-6116. 

Enantioselective Catalysis of the Aldol Addition Reaction. There are also several catalysts that can effect enantioselective aldol addition. The reactions generally involve enolate equivalents, such as silyl enol ethers, that are unreactive toward the carbonyl component alone, but can react when activated by a Lewis acid. The tryptophan-based oxazaborolidinone 15 has proven to be a useful catalyst.148... 

As with aldol and Mukaiyama addition reactions, the Mannich reaction is subject to enantioselective catalysis.192 A catalyst consisting of Ag+ and the chiral imino aryl phosphine 22 achieves high levels of enantioselectivity with a range of N-(2-methoxyphenyljimines.193 The 2-methoxyphenyl group is evidently involved in an interaction with the catalyst and enhances enantioselectivity relative to other A-aryl substituents. The isopropanol serves as a proton source and as the ultimate acceptor of the trimethyl silyl group. 

Asymmetric Lewis-Acid Catalyzed. Another important advance in aqueous Mukaiyama aldol reaction is the recent success of asymmetric catalysis.283 In aqueous ethanol, Kobayashi and co-workers achieved asymmetric inductions by using Cu(OTf)2/chiral >A(oxazoline) ligand,284 Pb(OTf)2/chiral crown ether,285 and Ln(OTf)3/chiral Mv-pyridino-18-crown-6 (Eq. 8.105).286... 

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