Asymmetric catalysis desymmetrization reactions

Catalytic asymmetric desymmetrization as a field is still growing, with new applications appearing weekly. It is evident that advances in this subfield have kept in step with advances in catalysis as a whole. Some spectacular successes have been reported in recent years, and this strategy has been applied to many new reactions. Willis mentions in conclusion to his 1999 review of this field that desymmetrization reactions involving catalytic enantioselective construction of C—C bonds are... 

This collection begins with a series of three procedures illustrating important new methods for preparation of enantiomerically pure substances via asymmetric catalysis. The preparation of 3-[(1S)-1,2-DIHYDROXYETHYL]-1,5-DIHYDRO-3H-2.4-BENZODIOXEPINE describes, in detail, the use of dihydroquinidine 9-0-(9 -phenanthryl) ether as a chiral ligand in the asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction which is broadly applicable for the preparation of chiral dlols from monosubstituted olefins. The product, an acetal of (S)-glyceralcfehyde, is itself a potentially valuable synthetic intermediate. The assembly of a chiral rhodium catalyst from methyl 2-pyrrolidone 5(R)-carboxylate and its use in the intramolecular asymmetric cyclopropanation of an allyl diazoacetate is illustrated in the preparation of (1R.5S)-()-6,6-DIMETHYL-3-OXABICYCLO[3.1. OJHEXAN-2-ONE. Another important general method for asymmetric synthesis involves the desymmetrization of bifunctional meso compounds as is described for the enantioselective enzymatic hydrolysis of cis-3,5-diacetoxycyclopentene to (1R,4S)-(+)-4-HYDROXY-2-CYCLOPENTENYL ACETATE. This intermediate is especially valuable as a precursor of both antipodes (4R) (+)- and (4S)-(-)-tert-BUTYLDIMETHYLSILOXY-2-CYCLOPENTEN-1-ONE, important intermediates in the synthesis of enantiomerically pure prostanoid derivatives and other classes of natural substances, whose preparation is detailed in accompanying procedures. 

Carbonyl-Ene Reaction. BINOL-TiX2 reagent exhibits a remarkable level of asymmetric catalysis in the carbonyl-ene reaction of prochiral glyoxylates, thereby providing practical access to a-hydroxy esters. These reactions exhibit a remarkable positive nonlinear effect (asymmetric amplification) that is of practical and mechanistic importance (eq 19). The desymmetrization of prochiral ene substrates with planar symmetry by the enantiofacial selective carbonyl-ene reaction provides an efficient solution to remote internal asymmetric induction (eq 20). The kinetic resolution of a racemic allylic ether by the glyoxylate-ene reaction also provides efficient access to remote but relative asymmetric induction (eq 21). Both the dibromide and dichloride catalysts provide the (2R,5S)-syn product with 97% diastereoselectivity and >95% ee. 

Asymmetric Desymmetrization. Desymmetrization of an achiral, symmetrical molecule is a potentially powerful but relatively unexplored concept for the asymmetric catalysis of carbon-carbon bond formation. While the ability of enzymes to differentiate between enantiotopic functional groups is well known, little is known about the similar ability of nonenzymatic catalysts to effect carbon-carbon bond formation. The desymmetrization by the enantiofacial selective carbonyl-ene reaction of prochiral ene substrates with planar symmetry provides an efficient access to remote internal asymmetric induction which is otherwise difficult to attain (eq 6). The (2R,5S)-xyn product is obtained in >99% ee along with more than 99% diastereoselectivity. The desymmetrized product thus obtained can be transformed stereoselectively by a more classical diastereoselective reaction (e.g., hydroboration). 

The asymmetric processes discussed so far in this chapter have focused on reactions that create non-racemic, chiral products from achiral reagents by selective reaction at one prochiral face or position over the other. However, these principles can also be applied to reactions that separate enantiomers of an existing racemic mixture, channel both enantiomers of such a mixture to a single enantiomeric product, or that select between reaction at one of two diastereotopic functional groups in an achiral substrate. These reactions are also synthetically valuable and are called kinetic resolutions, dynamic kinetic resolutions, and desymmetrizations. An understanding of these reactions draws from the principles established so far in this chapter, but they also require some additional principles to be established that apply in a specific way to these classes of asymmetric transformations. Thus, the remainder of Chapter 14 introduces the fundamentals of these classes of asymmetric catalysis. 

Asymmetric Alder-Ene reactions have been accomplished using optically-enriched starting materials, chiral auxiliaries, and chiral catalysts. The use of chiral catalysts has been applied to both chiral Lewis acid catalysis and asymmetric catalysis with chiral ligands. Some of these examples have already been cited for example, the use of a chiral auxiliary or optically-enriched substrates to generate optically-enriched products (LA catalysis with chiral auxiliary 30 + 31 -+ 32 or with optically-enriched starting materials 75 or 77 — 76 or 78, respectively or chiral LA applied to desymmetrization 33 + 34 — 35). More recent examples are displayed here, in particular, the use of chiral catalysts. 

Other reactions not described here are formal [3 -i- 2] cycloadditions of a,p-unsaturated acyl-fluorides with allylsilanes [116], or the desymmetrization of meso epoxides [117]. For many of the reactions shown above, the planar chiral Fe-sandwich complexes are the first catalysts allowing for broad substrate scope in combination with high enantioselectivities and yields. Clearly, these milestones in asymmetric Lewis-base catalysis are stimulating the still ongoing design of improved catalysts. 

BINOL-Ti catalysis is also applicable to carbonyl-ene reaction with formaldehyde or vinylogous and alkynylogous analogs of glyoxylates in the catalytic desymmetrization (vide infra) approach to the asymmetric synthesis of isocarbacycline analogs (Scheme 8C.7) [24],... 

NHC catalysis has been efficiently employed in an intramolecular crossed-benzoin reaction of symmetrical reactants. This desymmetrization strategy can be applied to (g) asymmetric synthesis with chiral NHCs. As an example, bis(acyloin) (91) containing three contiguous quaternary bridgehead chiral centres was synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. 

Typical other trademark applications of asymmetric Brpnsted base catalysis include hydrocyanation reactions, Strecker reactions, or also desymmetrizing esterifications, to mention a few examples only (see Scheme 6.31 for selected seminal reports and Brpnsted base catalysts used therein) [89-91]. 

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