Asymmetric autocatalysis consecutive reactions

The first asymmetric autocatalysis with amplification of was observed in the automultiplication of a 5-pyrimidyl alkanol 80 (Figure l)169. When (5)-5-pyrimidyl alkanol 80 with as low as 2% is used as the asymmetric autocatalyst for enantioselective addition of diisopropylzinc to pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde 88, the of the produced pyrimidyl alkanol (and the initial asymmetric autocatalyst) 80 increases to 10% (Figure 1, 1st run). Consecutive asymmetric autocatalyses using 5-pyrimidyl alkanol 80 with 10% have increased its to 57%, 81% and 88% , successively. During the reactions, the major (S)-enantiomer in the initial asymmetric autocatalyst has automultiplied by a factor of 238, while the slightly minor (R)-enantiomer has automultiplied by a factor of only 16. 

In the absence of any chiral factors, the probability of the formation of S- and 77-enantiomers is 1 to 1. However, the numbers of the resulting two enantiomers are not exactly the same in almost all cases. Mislow197 described the inevitability of small enantiomeric enrichment in absolute asymmetric synthesis. According to the statistics, it is expected that a fluctuation in the ratio of the S- and 77-enantiomers becomes more and more likely as the numbers in the enantiomer mixture become smaller198. Thus, if the asymmetric autocatalysis is initiated without adding any chiral substance, small fluctuations of enantiomers produced in the initial stage could be enhanced by consecutive asymmetric autocatalytic reaction of pyrimidyl alkanol with amplification of chirality. 

As shown in Scheme 9, various organic compounds can act as a chiral initiator of asymmetric auto catalysis. 2-Methylpyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde 9 was subjected to the addition of z-Pr2Zn in the presence of chiral butan-2-ol, methyl mandelate and a carboxylic acid [74], When the chiral alcohol, (S)-butan-2-ol with ca. 0.1% ee was used as a chiral initiator of asymmetric autocatalysis, (S)-pyrimidyl alkanol 10 with 73% ee was obtained. In contrast, (,R)-butan-2-ol with 0.1% ee induced the production of (A)-10 with 76% ee. In the same manner, methyl mandelate (ca. 0.05% ee) and a chiral carboxylic acid (ca. 0.1% ee) can act as a chiral initiator of asymmetric autocatalysis, therefore the S- and IC enantiomers of methyl mandelate and carboxylic acid induce the formation of (R)- and (S)-alkanol 10, respectively. Chiral propylene oxide (2% ee) and styrene oxide (2% ee) also induce the imbalance of ee in initially forming the zinc alkoxide of the pyrimidyl alkanol in the addition reaction of z-Pr2Zn to pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde 11 [75]. Further consecutive reactions enable the amplification of ee to produce the highly enantiomerically enriched alkanol 12 (up to 96% ee) with the corresponding... 

Soai and co-workers have developed additions of diisopropylzinc to 2-alkynylpyrimidyl-5-carbaldehydes. The resulting alcohol allows a practically perfect asymmetric autocatalysis.216 Recently, they reported that an efficient amplification by a catalyst with as low as 10 5%ee gives practically enantiomerically pure (>99.5%ee) product in only three consecutive cycles.217 The product formed in situ with enhanced ee serves as an asymmetric autocatalyst. Thus, addition of diisopropylzinc to the carbaldehyde 64 in presence of 20 mol% of the alkanol (61-65 with 10 s% ee gives after 1.5 h (6)-65 with 57% ee. A new addition of the mixture diisopropylzinc/carbaldehyde 64 to the reaction... 

Soai et al. discovered and developed asymmetric autocatalysis (Figure 9), in which the structures of the chiral catalyst (5)-54 and the chiral product (5)-54 are the same after the addition of diisopropylzinc to aldehyde 53. Consecutive asymmetric autocatalysis starting with (S)-54 of 0.6% ee amplifies its ee, and yields itself as the product with >99.5% ee. Even chiral inorganic crystals, such as quartz or sodium chlorate, act as chiral inducers in this reaction. Soai et alls asymmetric autocatalysis gives us an insight to speculate on the early asymmetric reactions on this planet Earth. However, it can be argued whether such strictly anhydrous organometallic reactions are possible under the nonartificial conditions or not. 

As we had expected, the first asymmetric autocatalysis of pyrimidyl alkanol in the addition of -Pr2Zn to pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde gave a promising result. We refined the reaction conditions and ee became near 90% ee. Moreover, amplification of ee was observed in the reaction. Starting from pyrimidyl alkanol with 2% ee, consecutive asymmetric autocatalysis using the product of one round as asymmetric autocatalyst for the next round afforded alkanol with 88% ee (see Scheme 1). At this stage, we found the first asymmetric autocatalysis with amplification of chirality. These results were published in Nature in 1995 [11]. 

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