Aryl enamides

When assessing catalytic results reported for new ligands, one must bear in mind that their quality and relevance differ widely. For most new ligands only experiments with selected model test substrates carried out under standard conditions are available, and very few have already been applied to industrially relevant problems. The test substrates for alkenes used most frequently are Aceta-mido Cinnamic Acid (ACA) or its methyl ester (MAC), Methyl Acetamido Acrylate (MAA), ITaconic Acid or DiMethyl ITaconate (ITA, DMIT) and selected aryl enamides (Fig. 25.3). 

Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation of simple enamides has attracted much attention recently. With the development of increasingly efficient chiral phosphorus ligands, extremely high ee-values can be obtained in the Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation of a-aryl enamides. E/Z-isomeric mixtures of -substituted enamides can also be hydrogenated, with excellent ee-values. Some efficient examples (>95% ee) of hydrogenation of a-phenylenamide and E/Z-isomeric mixtures of / -methyl-a-phenylenamide are listed in Table 26.3. 

The hydrogenation of enamides and enol acetates without acid function is often more demanding, and at present is not applied widely. Besides a bench-scale application by Roche with a Ru-biphep catalyst [55], two examples are of interest a pilot process for a cyclic enol acetate by Roche [55], and a feasibility study by Bristol-Myers Squibb [56], both using Rh-DuPhos catalysts (Fig. 37.11). In the latter case, despite very good ee-values, a chiral pool route was finally chosen. Chiral Quests Rh-f-KetalPhos (see Fig. 37.9) has been shown to hydrogenate a variety of substituted aryl enamide model substrates at r.t., 1 bar, with very promising catalyst performance (ee 98-99%, TON 10000) [47]. 

Recently, high enantioselectivity was obtained in the rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation of a-aryl enamides and E/Z-isomeric mixtures of y9-substituted enamides. Tab. 1.3 lists some examples for the hydrogenation of a-phenylenamide and the /Z-isomeric mixture of yS-methyl-a-phenylenamide. A P-chiral ligand, TangPhos, proved to be particularly efficient for the rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation of enamides, given the excellent enantioselectivity and reactivity, with up to 10000 turnovers. 

Rhodium-BisP and -MiniPHOS catalysts are capable of high enantioselective reductions of dehydroamino acids in 96-99.9% ee.109 A variety of aryl enamides give optically active amides with 96-99% ee with the exception of ort/jo-substituted substrates.111 Despite the high enantio-selectivity, the rate of reaction in this transformation is slow. Rhodium-BisP and -MiniPHOS catalysts perform excellently in the asymmetric reduction of ( >P-(acylamino)acrylates to the corresponding protected-P-amino esters in 95-99% ee.112 Within the family of BisP and MiniPHOS, the ligands that contain t-Bu groups were found to be the most effective in a variety of asymmetric hydrogenations. 

Zhang Catalytic Enantioselective N-acyl-a-Aryl-Enamide Reductions... 

Rigby s studies on the synthesis of alkenylisocyanates fostered the preparation of a suitable substituted aryl enamide, which on photocyclization yielded the polysubstituted pentacyclic system. Key to the success of this process is the hydrogen bond between the phenolic OH and the carbonyl group, which restricts the rotation around the aryl-amide bond and directs the cyclization. Further functionalization allowed the total synthesis of pancratistatin (272) and narciclasine (68) (275) (Scheme 11). The [4-1-1] cycloaddition of bis(alkylthio)carbenes with vinyl isocyanates was the key process in a recent synthesis of (+)-mesembrine (92) 274). 

An efficient manganese(III)-mediated oxidative coupling reaction between a-aryl enamides and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds was developed, giving a series of dihydrofurans and dicarbonyl enamides in moderate-to-good yields. Moreover, these dihydrofurans could be readily transformed into the corresponding furans and pyrroles via the Paal—Knorr reaction (140L5992). 

The reactive double bond, recreated after a chemo- and regioselective a-arylation of enamides, can be further manipulated via a carbonylative annulation, furnishing attractive l-(3-indanonyl)pyrrolidin-2-one structures as exemplified by Wu et al. [67]. In its simplicity, this sequence constitutes an illustrative example of the synthetic versatility of arylated enamides (Figure 3.15). 

Figure 3.15 Synthesis of branched aryl enamides and their use in carbonylative annulations.

N-acyl imines [144]. A slightly modified chiral Br0nsted acid 185 was found to catalytically induce addition of indoles to N-Boc-protected enecarbamates ISK) in high yields and enantioselectivities (Scheme 8.51) [145]. In a related study, Zhou demonstrated the use of a-aryl enamides to obtain optically enriched tertiary amine products [146]. 

Zhang W, Zhang X. Synthesis of triphosphorous bidentate phosphine-phosphoramidite ligands application in the highly enantioselective hydrogenation of ort/io-substituted aryl enamides. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006 45(33) 5515-5518. 

Lefort L, Boogers JAF, Kuilman T, Vijn RJ, Janssen J, Straatman H, de Vries JG, de Vries AHM. Rapid identification of a scalable catalyst for the asymmetric hydrogenation of a sterically demanding aryl enamide. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2010 14(3) 568-573. 

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