Asymmetric diphosphine ligands

Reactions of [RhCl(cod)] with. AgClO and subsequent coordination of diphosphine give ionic complexes [Rh(P)2(cod)] C10j. Complexes of this type having asymmetric diphosphine ligands, such as BINAP. BPPFOH. and DIOP (Fig. 11.1), are very effective catalysts for various asymmetric reactions. 

Monsanto s commercial route to the Parkinson s drug, L-DOPA (3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine), utilizes an Erlenmeyer azlactone prepared from vanillin. The pioneering research in catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation by William Knowles as exemplified by his reduction of 24 to 25 in 95% ee with the DiPAMP diphosphine ligand was recognized with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001. ... 

Significant advance in the field of asymmetric catalysis was also achieved with the preparation of l,2-bis(phospholano)benzene (DuPHOS 4) and its confor-mationally flexible derivative (l,2-bis(phospholano)ethane, known as BPE) by Burk et al. [59]. Two main distinctive features embodied by these Hgands, as compared to other known chiral diphosphine ligands, are the electron-rich character of the phosphorus atoms on the one hand and the pseudo-chirality at phosphorus atoms, on the other. These properties are responsible for both the high activity of the corresponding metal complex and an enantioselection indepen-... 

Similar catalytic reactions allowed stereocontrol at either of the olefin carbons (Scheme 5-13, Eqs. 2 and 3). As in related catalysis with achiral diphosphine ligands (Scheme 5-7), these reactions proceeded more quickly for smaller phosphine substrates. These processes are not yet synthetically useful, since the enantiomeric excesses (ee s) were low (0-27%) and selectivity for the illustrated phosphine products ranged from 60 to 100%. However, this work demonstrated that asymmetric hydrophosphination can produce non-racemic chiral phosphines [13]. 

On the other hand, the enantioselective 1,4-addition of carbanions such as enolates to linear enones is an interesting challenge, since relatively few efficient methods exist for these transformations. The Michael reaction of p-dicarbonyl compounds with a,p-unsaturated ketones can be catalysed by a number of transition-metal compounds. The asymmetric version of this reaction has been performed using chiral diol, diamine, and diphosphine ligands. In the past few years, bidentate and polydentate thioethers have begun to be considered as chiral ligands for this reaction. As an example, Christoffers et al. have developed the synthesis of several S/O-bidentate and S/O/S-tridentate thioether... 

Manufacture of rhodium precatalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation. Established literature methods used to make the Rh-DuPhos complexes consisted of converting (1,5-cyclooctadiene) acetylacetonato Rh(l) into the sparingly soluble bis(l,5-cyclooctadiene) Rh(l) tetrafluoroborate complex which then reacts with the diphosphine ligand to provide the precatalyst complex in solution. Addition of an anti-solvent results in precipitation of the desired product. Although this method worked well with a variety of diphosphines, yields were modest and more importantly the product form was variable. The different physical forms performed equally as well in hydrogenation reactions but had different shelf-life and air stability. 

In contrast, synthesis of 3,4-diphosphorylthiophenes requires more elaboration because of low reactivity of 3,4-positions of thiophene and unavailability of 3,4-dihalo or dimetallated thiophenes. Minami et al. synthesized 3,4-diphosphoryl thiophenes 16 as shown in Scheme 24 [46], Bis(phosphoryl)butadiene 17 was synthesized from 2-butyne-l,4-diol. Double addition of sodium sulfide to 17 gave tetrahydrothiophene 18. Oxidation of 18 to the corresponding sulfoxide 19 followed by dehydration gave dihydrothiophene 20. Final oxidation of 20 afforded 3,4-diphosphorylthiophene 16. 3,4-Diphosphorylthiophene derivative 21 was also synthesized by Pd catalyzed phosphorylation of 2,5-disubstituted-3,4-dihalothiophene and converted to diphosphine ligand for Rh catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation (Scheme 25) [47],... 

Shibasaki et al. also developed catalytic reactions of copper, some of which can be applied to catalytic asymmetric reactions. Catalytic aldol reactions of silicon enolates to ketones proceed using catalytic amounts of CuF (2.5 mol%) and a stoichiometric amount of (EtO)3SiF (120 mol%) (Scheme 104).500 Enantioselective alkenylation catalyzed by a complex derived from CuF and a chiral diphosphine ligand 237 is shown in Scheme 105.501 Catalytic cyanomethyla-tion by using TMSCH2CN was also reported, as shown in Scheme 106.502... 

The development of chiral catalysts for use in enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed hydroborations was pioneered by Burgess9, Suzuki,77 and Hayashi.78 The chiral diphosphine ligands employed in their preliminary investigations 23-26 (Figures 2(a) and 2(b)), had previously been successfully applied in other catalytic asymmetric transformations. 

Figure 2 Chiral diphosphine ligands for asymmetric hydroboration.

The third major class of diphosphine ligands employed in catalytic asymmetric hydroboration are those possessing planar chirality (Figure 6). These ligands are chiral by virtue of the non-symmetrical disubstitution of one of the cyclopentadienyl rings. 

PHENAP 65 was prepared and resolved98 in a similar manner to QUINAP 60 and tested in asymmetric rhodium-catalyzed hydroboration-oxidations." Impressive enantioselectivities were obtained and the sterically demanding cyclic substrates were hydroborated with 64-84% ee. Compared to the corresponding results obtained with diphosphine ligands, it is clear that QUINAP 60, and structural relatives 61-64 and PHENAP 65, give superior results in the asymmetric rhodium-catalyzed hydroboration of several vinylarenes, and are essentially the only practical solution for / -substituted alkenes.100 The reasons for this are not well understood, but thought to be due to the particular... 

Recently Togni et al. [19] focussed on the preparation of asymmetric dendrimer catalysts derived from ferrocenyl diphosphine ligands anchored to dendritic backbones constructed from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid trichloride and adamantane-l,3,5,7-tetracarboxylic acid tetrachloride (e.g. 11, Scheme 11). In situ catalyst preparation by treatment of the dendritic ligands with [Rh(COD)2]BF4 afforded the cationic Rh-dendrimer, which was then used as a homogeneous catalyst in the hydrogenation reaction of, for example, dimethyl itaconate in MeOH. In all cases the measured enantioselectivity (98.0-98.7%) was nearly the same as observed for the ferrocenyl diphosphine (Josiphos) model compound (see Scheme 11). 

Fig. 8 Diphosphine ligands 5-8 applied in the Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of exocyclic enamines...

H.U. Blaser, M. Lotz, F. Spindler, "Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation Reactions with Ferrocene Based Diphosphine Ligands" in Handbook of Chiral Chemicals, 2nd Edition, D. J. Ager (Ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton 2005... 

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