Asymmetric allylation metal reactions

As many endeavors in transition-metal catalysis, the design, synthesis and screening of chiral ligands have played a pivotal role in the development of the asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction. A series of C2-symmetric diphosphines such as DiPAMP, chiraphos, DIOP. and BINAP,... 

There are a number of metal-ligand systems that will provide the proper activation for nucleophile coupling, but the Pd system is by far the most well developed and useful. In recent years, asymmetric allylic alkylation reactions have received the most interest for organic synthesis apphcations (see Asymmetric Synthesis by Homogeneous Catalysis). Metals other than Pd have also received some additional attention. 

In 1977, Trost published the first example of an asymmetric variant of the Tsuji-Trost reaction, termed the asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction (AAA). Much of the subsequent development of the AAA reaction can be attributed to the dedicated work of Trost and co-workers.There was a substantial time lag however, in the development of processes where high enantioselectivities were realized in a predictable fashion. This was due, in part, to the fact that chiral, asymmetrically pure ligands must create a chiral environment on the opposite face of the allyl fragment to the metal centre (a stereoelectronic requirement, vide infra)P This obviously represents a significant design challenge in the production of effective ligand systems. 

Four reviews of allylic substitution reactions have been published. The first covers the metal-mediated allylic substitution reactions in water, the second discusses the mechanisms and scope of iridium-catalysed asymmetric allylic substitution reactions, the third ° reviews the development and use of iridium salt-phosphoramidite ligand catalysts for enantioselective allylic substitution reactions, and the fourth covers the transition metal-catalysed reactions of allylic alcohols. Special attention is focussed on the ar-allyl metal intermediates and their influence on the regio-, stereo-, and enantio-selectivities of these reactions. 

As the results show, the chirality of the a-alkoxy center, as well as the type of allyl metal employed, are the two most important determinants for the stereochemical outcome of the reaction. In other words, the 1,2-asymmetric induction combined with the right choice of the allyl organometallic overrides the influence of the chiral nitrogen substituent. 

Asymmetric Allylation. One of the recent new developments on this subject is the asymmetric allylation reaction. It was found that native and trimethylated cyclodextrins (CDs) promote enantiose-lective allylation of 2-cyclohexenone and aldehydes using Zn dust and alkyl halides in 5 1 H2O-THF. Moderately optically active products with ee up to 50% were obtained.188 The results can be rationalized in terms of the formation of inclusion complexes between the substrates and the CDs and of their interaction with the surface of the metal. 

Asymmetric synthesis of tricyclic nitro ergoline synthon (up to 70% ee) is accomplished by intramolecular cyclization of nitro compound Pd(0)-catalyzed complexes with classical C2 symmetry diphosphanes.94 Palladium complexes of 4,5-dihydrooxazoles are better chiral ligands to promote asymmetric allylic alkylation than classical catalysts. For example, allylic substitution with nitromethane gives enantioselectivity exceeding 99% ee (Eq. 5.62).95 Phosphi-noxazolines can induce very high enatioselectivity in other transition metal-catalyzed reactions.96 Diastereo- and enantioselective allylation of substituted nitroalkanes has also been reported.9513... 

The palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution using seven different phosphano-oxazoline ligands at various ligand-to-metal ratios was also studied.112 An aluminum block containing 27 wells was placed in a dry box in which the reactions were carried out in parallel. Analyses were performed by conventional chiral GC equipped with an autosampler. Such a setup allowed about 33 catalyst evaluations per day. Apparently, only a few dozen were carried out in the study, resulting in the identification of a catalyst showing an ee-value of 74% in the reaction of 4-acyloxy-2-pentene with malonate.112 It is not clear whether further ligand diversification would lead to catalysts more selective than the record set in this case by the Trost-catalyst (92% ee).113... 

Another metal-catalyzed microwave-assisted transformation performed on a polymer support involves the asymmetric allylic malonate alkylation reaction shown in Scheme 12.4. The rapid molybdenum(0)-catalyzed process involving thermostable chiral ligands proceeded with 99% ee on a solid support. When TentaGel was used as as support, however, the yields after cleavage were low (8-34%) compared with the corresponding solution phase microwave-assisted process (monomode cavity) which generally proceeded in high yields (>85%) [30],... 

A diverse group of secondary and tertiary amines are readily synthesized from the reaction of primary and secondary amines with allylic carbonates in the presence of preformed iridium metalacycles, but the direct synthesis of primary amines via iridium-catalyzed allylic amination requires the use of ammonia as a nucleophile. The asymmetric allylation of ammonia had not been reported until very recently, and it is not a common reagent in other metal-catalyzed reactions. Nonetheless, Hartwig and coworkers developed the reactions of ammonia with allylic carbonates in the presence of la generated in situ [89]. Reactions conducted in the initial work led exclusively to the products from diallylation (Scheme 16). Further advances in... 

Ruthenium complexes mediate the hydroamination of ethylene with pyridine.589 The reaction, however, is not catalytic, because of strong complexation of the amine to metal sites. Iridium complexes with chiral diphosphine ligands and a small amount of fluoride cocatalyst are effective in inducing asymmetric alkene hydroamination reaction of norbomene with aniline [the best enantiomeric excess (ee) values exceed 90%].590 Strained methylenecyclopropanes react with ring opening to yield isomeric allylic enamines 591... 

In the alkylation with most commonly used stabilized nucleophiles, one quite obvious problem associated with this process is the physical separation between the chiral ligand and the reaction site. Both bond-breaking and -forming occur on the Jt-allyl face opposite the metal and its attendant ligand. Thus, efficient transfer of the chirality over the allyl barrier is key to a successful strategy for asymmetric allylic alkylation. 

Although mechanistically different, a successful kinetic resolution of cyclic allyl ethers has recently been achieved by zirconium catalysis [2201. Other metals such as cobalt [221], ruthenium [222], and iron [2231 have been shown to catalyze allylic alkylation reactions via metal-allyl complexes. However, their catalytic systems have not been thoroughly investigated, and the corresponding asymmetric catalytic processes have not been forthcoming. Nevertheless, increasing interest in the use of alternative metals for asymmetric alkylation will undoubtedly promote further research in this area. 

Stereo specific generation and reactions of allylic alkali and alkaline earth metals have been reviewed121 and solvent-mediated allylation of carbonyl compounds with allylstannanes has been explored.122 Chiral phosphoramides derived from (5 )-proliiie have been used to catalyse asymmetric allylation of aromatic aldehydes by allylic trichlorosilanes.123... 

Metals other than palladium and molybdenum can be used for allylic substitution reactions. For example, nickel in the presence of the oxazolinylferrocenylphosphine 9 provides good asymmetric induction for the reaction of a Grignard reagent with allylic electrophilic systems such as acetates.151... 

Attempts to achieve asymmetric nitrene insertion reactions catalyzed by chiral transition metal complexes have also been performed [41,42]. The reaction of the nosyl-imine derivative as the nitrene donor with indane 61 catalyzed by the chiral rhodium complex 63 gave the optically active allyl amine 62 in good yield and moderate ee (Eq. (15)) [41],... 

Several methods promoted by a stoichiometric amount of chiral Lewis acid 38 [51] or chiral Lewis bases 39 [52, 53] and 40 [53] have been developed for enantioselective indium-mediated allylation of aldehydes and ketones by the Loh group. A combination of a chiral trimethylsilyl ether derived from norpseu-doephedrine and allyltrimethylsilane is also convenient for synthesis of enan-tiopure homoallylic alcohols from ketones [54,55]. Asymmetric carbonyl addition by chirally modified allylic metal reagents, to which chiral auxiliaries are covalently bonded, is also an efficient method to obtain enantiomerically enriched homoallylic alcohols and various excellent chiral allylating agents have been developed for example, (lS,2S)-pseudoephedrine- and (lF,2F)-cyclohex-ane-1,2-diamine-derived allylsilanes [56], polymer-supported chiral allylboron reagents [57], and a bisoxazoline-modified chiral allylzinc reagent [58]. An al-lyl transfer reaction from a chiral crotyl donor opened a way to highly enantioselective and a-selective crotylation of aldehydes [59-62]. Enzymatic routes to enantioselective allylation of carbonyl compounds have still not appeared. 

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