Amino acids as catalysts

In addition, solid-phase bound short-chain peptides have been recently found by the Ber-kessel group to act as highly efficient catalysts in asymmetric epoxidation reactions [17]. In the early 1980s, Julia and Colonna reported that chalcone 11 can be epoxidized asymmetrically by akaline hydrogen peroxide in the presence of poly-amino acids as catalysts [18, 19], The work by Berkessel et al. revealed that in fact as little as five I-Leu residues are sufficient for the epoxidation of the enone 11 with 96-98% ee (Scheme 8). 

Another method is to use poly-L-amino acids as catalysts in alkaline media (Julia-Colanna epoxidation) for the asymmetric epoxidation of chalcones and other electron-poor olefins with H202 [287]. SmithKline Beecham workers used this method (see Fig. 4.105) as a key step in the synthesis of a leukotriene antagonist, although it required 20 equivalents of H202 and 12 equivalents of NaOH, based on substrate [288]. The mechanism probably involves the asym-... 

Figure4.1 Formamides derived from cyclic amino acids as catalysts forthe asymmetric reduction of imines.

Development of asymmetric syntheses involving chirality transfer to pro-chiral substrates, in particular the use of amino acids as catalysts in chirally directed aldol cyclizations. 

Although asymmetric organocatalysis is now considered as a powerful tool for the synthesis of chiral compounds this research held experimented its own revolution. It was restricted after the seventies only to the nse of simple a-amino acids as catalyst for the Robinson annulations and above all with the application of proline to the enantioselective intermolecular aldol reaction. 

TABLE 3.4. Selected O-Protected Amino Acids as Catalysts for the Aldol Reaction of Cyclohexanone with Benzaldehyde... 

The field of synthetic enzyme models encompasses attempts to prepare enzymelike functional macromolecules by chemical synthesis [30]. One particularly relevant approach to such enzyme mimics concerns dendrimers, which are treelike synthetic macromolecules with a globular shape similar to a folded protein, and useful in a range of applications including catalysis [31]. Peptide dendrimers, which, like proteins, are composed of amino acids, are particularly well suited as mimics for proteins and enzymes [32]. These dendrimers can be prepared using combinatorial chemistry methods on solid support [33], similar to those used in the context of catalyst and ligand discovery programs in chemistry [34]. Peptide dendrimers used multivalency effects at the dendrimer surface to trigger cooperativity between amino acids, as has been observed in various esterase enzyme models [35]. 

Cross-linked polymers bearing IV-sulfonyl amino acids as chiral ligands were converted to polymer bound oxazaborolidine catalysts by treatment with borane or bromoborane. In the cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene with methacrolein, these catalysts afforded the same enantioselectivities as their non-polymeric counterparts238. 

Addition of HCN to acetone to form the cyanohydrin is still the main route to methyl methacrylate. Hydrocyanins can be converted to amino acids as well. The nitrile group can be easily converted to amines, carboxylic acids, amides, etc. Addition to aldehydes and activated alkenes can be done with simple base, but addition to unactivated alkenes requires a transition metal catalyst. The methods of HCN addition have been discussed by Brown [2],... 

Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions involving bidentate dienophiles in water is possible also if the beneficial effect of water on the catalyzed reaction is reduced relative to pure water. There are no additional effects on endo-exo selectivity. As expected, catalysis by Cu ions is much more efficient than specific-acid catalysis.Using a-amino acids as chiral ligands, Lewis-acid enan-tioselectivity is enhanced in water compared to organic solvents. Micelles, in the absence of Lewis acids, are poor catalysts, but combining Lewis-acid catalysis and micellar catalysis leads to a rate accelaration that is enzyme-like. 

When a poly-(L)-amino acid is used in the epoxidation of chalcone, the predominant optical isomer is laevorotatory [10]. The laevorotatory enantiomer of epoxychalcone has been shown [7] to have absolute configuration 2R, 3S). As anticipated, the use of a poly-(D)-amino acid as the epoxidation catalyst gives rise to the dextrorotatory enantiomer [10]. 

For sensitive amino acids prone to thermal dimerization to the related diketopiperazines, the reaction can be conducted in refluxing tetrahydrofuran solution in the presence of p-toluene- or camphorsulfonic acid as catalyst. Where possible the non acid-catalyzed thermal procedure is preferred since it generally provides cleaner products in higher yields. 

Pizzarello, S. and Weber, A. L. (2004). Prebiotic amino acids as asymmetric catalysts. Science, 303, 1151. 

In the case of A-acylated amino acid derivatives, the oxidation has to take place via an indirect electrochemical process using chloride ions as redox catalysts. In methanol as solvent, methylhypochlorite is formed as oxidant, which yields, via -chlorination, HC1 elimination, and methanol addition, the a-methoxylated amino acids as amidoalkylation reagents [27] ... 

Novel bidentate chiral Lewis acids derived from 1.8-naphthalenediylbis(dichloroborane) and modified amino acids as chiral auxiliary have been successfully utilized as effective catalysts for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction of a,[ -unsaturated aldehydes. The enantioselectivity is highly sensitive to the kind of chiral amino acids. Moderate enantioselectivity was obtained with the tryptophan-derived ligand for the endo adduct, but amino acids without aromatic groups... 

In another synthesis of quinolines involving imine intermediates, o-oxazoline-substi-tuted anilines (6) react with ketones in dry butanol reflux to give 4-amino-substituted quinolines [e.g. (7)], or 4-quinolones, using tosic acid as catalyst.18 A mechanism involving ketoimine formation with subsequent tautomerization to give an enamine which attacks the oxazoline ring is discussed. 

S. Itsuno, M. Sakakura, and K. Ito, Polymer-supported poly(amino acids) as new asymmetric epoxidation catalyst of a,)3-unsaturated ketones, J. Org. Chem. 

Aliphatic aldehydes typically provide only moderate yields in the Biginelli reaction unless special reaction conditions are employed, such as Lewis-acid catalysts or solvent-free methods, or the aldehydes are used in protected form [96]. The C4-unsubstituted DHPM can be prepared in a similar manner employing suitable formaldehyde synthons [96]. Of particular interest are reactions where the aldehyde component is derived from a carbohydrate. In such transformations, DHPMs having a sugar-like moiety in position 4 (C-nucleoside analogues) are obtained (see Section 4.7) [97-106]. Also of interest is the use of masked amino acids as building blocks [107, 108]. In a few cases, bisaldehydes have been used as synthons in Biginelli reactions [89, 109, 110]. 

The search for other amino acid-based catalysts for asymmetric hydrocyanation identified the imidazolidinedione (hydantoin) 3 [49] and the e-caprolactam 4 [21]. Ten different substituents on the imide nitrogen atom of 3 were examined in the preparation, from 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde, of (S)-2-hydroxy-2-(3-phenoxy-phenyl)acetonitrile, an important building block for optically active pyrethroid insecticides. The N-benzyl imide 3 finally proved best, affording the desired cyanohydrin almost quantitatively, albeit with only 37% enantiomeric excess [49]. Interestingly, the catalyst 3 is active only when dissolved homogeneously in the reaction medium (as opposed to the heterogeneous catalyst 1) [49]. With the lysine derivative 4 the cyanohydrin of cyclohexane carbaldehyde was obtained with an enantiomeric excess of 65% by use of acetone cyanohydrin as the cyanide source [21]. 

For the synthesis of optically pure building blocks we mainly focused on the synthesis of protected noncoded (R)- and (S)-amino acids, as they can be synthesized reliably in enantiomerically pure form with a large variety of side chains using asymmetric hydrogenation of a-amino-a, 3-didehydroamino acids using cationic diphosphine rhodium catalysts.216,217 As a typical example of a reactophore we present a-alkynyl ketones, which is a representative bis-acceptor molecule. In Scheme 5 are depicted some of the many synthetic applications of acetylenic ketones in heterocyclic synthesis, which have great potential for combinatorial and parallel organic synthesis. 

Nevertheless, the use of chirally modified Lewis acids as catalysts for enantioselective aminoalkylation reactions proved to be an extraordinary fertile research area [3b-d, 16]. Meanwhile, numerous publications demonstrate their exceptional potential for the activation and chiral modification of Mannich reagents (generally imino compounds). In this way, not only HCN or its synthetic equivalents but also various other nucleophiles could be ami-noalkylated asymmetrically (e.g., trimethylsilyl enol ethers derived from esters or ketones, alkenes, allyltributylstannane, allyltrimethylsilanes, and ketones). This way efficient routes for the enantioselective synthesis of a variety of valuable synthetic building blocks were created (e.g., a-amino nitriles, a- or //-amino acid derivatives, homoallylic amines or //-amino ketones) [3b-d]. 

An important feature of the enzymatic systems is the presence of a binding site. Thus it is attractive to learn how to construct vitamin B6-dependent enzyme models that can provide a substrate binding site and perform molecular recognition. The first example was a catalyst (23) in which pyridoxamine was linked to the primary face of [1-cyclo-dextrin (P-CD) through a sulfur atom [15]. Catalyst 23 could transform a-keto acids into a-amino acids, as pyridoxamine does, but with selectivity. That is, phenylpyruvic acid... 

We also studied the pyridoxal-dependent decarboxylation of an aminomalonic acid, a process providing an a-amino acid as the product. Our interest was to induce stereoselectivity in the process. Therefore, we synthesized catalysts 42 and 43, which rigidly held chirally mounted groups [42]. With the basic 42 we obtained 42% ee favoring l-phenylalanine in the decarboxylation of 2-amino-2-benzyl-malonic acid, while with non-basic 43 the ee was too low to detect. We proposed that the basic side chain delivered a proton to the decarboxylation intermediate in a stereoselective fashion. 

Catalytic Michael additions of a-nitroesters 38 catalyzed by a BINOL (2,2 -dihydroxy-l,r-bi-naphthyl) complex were found to yield the addition products 39 as precursors for a-alkylated amino acids in good yields and with respectable enantioselectivities (8-80%) as shown in Scheme 9 [45]. Asymmetric PTC (phase transfer catalysis) mediated by TADDOL (40) as a chiral catalyst has been used to synthesize enantiomeri-cally enriched a-alkylated amino acids 41 (up to 82 % ee) [46], A similar strategy has been used to access a-amino acids in a stereoselective fashion [47], Using azlactones 42 as nucleophiles in the palladium catalyzed stereoselective allyla-tion addition, compounds 43 were obtained in high yields and almost enantiomerically pure (Scheme 9) [48]. The azlactones 43 can then be converted into the a-alkylated amino acids as shown in Scheme 4. 

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