Allyl enammonium cations

Fig. 19 Allyl enammonium salts are encapsulated within the supramolecular assembly, promoting electrocyclization to the corresponding iminium cation. This cation is subject to hydrolysis in basic solution, yielding the aldehyde products while promoting catalytic turnover... 

The acceleration of the 3-aza-Cope rearrangement of A-allylenamines through formation of a cationic quaternary nitrogen center (enammonium salt) has obvious advantages. However, direct allylation of enamines in order to form the enammonium ions is unsatisfactory, and difficult. Moreover, the rearrangement-hydrolysis product is often contaminated by the C-allylated product when an unsymmetrical allyl halide is employed... 

In the last few years, several groups have developed enantioselective domino reactions catalysed by combinations of organocatalysts with palladium complexes. As an example, Murkheqee and List have reported a domino synthesis of p-all earbon quaternary amines on the basis of a highly enantioseleetive a-allqrlation of a-branched aldehydes, involving an achiral palladium catalyst and a chiral phosphoric acid. Under the catalysis of phosphoric acid, a secondary allylamine reacted with an a-branehed aldehyde to form an enammonium phosphate salt, which upon reaction with palladium catalyst afforded a cationic 7t-allyl palladium complex (Scheme 7.2). This intermediate resulted in the formation of an a-allylated iminium ion, whieh eould be reduced to the corresponding final chiral amine in high yield and exeellent enantioselectivity of 97% ee. The synthetic utility of this transformation was also demonstrated hy a formal synthesis of (+)-cuparene. 

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