Asymmetric menthol

Perhaps the most successful industrial process for the synthesis of menthol is employed by the Takasago Corporation in Japan.4 The elegant Takasago Process uses a most effective catalytic asymmetric reaction - the (S)-BINAP-Rh(i)-catalyzed asymmetric isomerization of an allylic amine to an enamine - and furnishes approximately 30% of the annual world supply of menthol. The asymmetric isomerization of an allylic amine is one of a large and growing number of catalytic asymmetric processes. Collectively, these catalytic asymmetric reactions have dramatically increased the power and scope of organic synthesis. Indeed, the discovery that certain chiral transition metal catalysts can dictate the stereo-... 

We now turn to the Takasago Process for the commercial synthesis of (-)-menthol (1),4 one of the most successful industrial applications of catalytic asymmetric synthesis. This exquisite synthesis is based on the BINAP-Rh(i)-catalyzed enantioselecdve isomerization of allylic amines, and has been in operation for the commercial production of (-)-menthol since 1984. 

Scheme 12. The Takasago process for the asymmetric synthesis of (-)-menthol (1).

The interest in asymmetric synthesis that began at the end of the 1970s did not ignore the dihydroxylation reaction. The stoichiometric osmylation had always been more reliable than the catalytic version, and it was clear that this should be the appropriate starting point. Criegee had shown that amines, pyridine in particular, accelerated the rate of the stoichiometric dihydroxylation, so it was understandable that the first attempt at nonenzymatic asymmetric dihydroxylation was to utilize a chiral, enantiomerically pure pyridine and determine if this induced asymmetry in the diol. This principle was verified by Sharpless (Scheme 7).20 The pyridine 25, derived from menthol, induced ee s of 3-18% in the dihydroxylation of /rcms-stilbene (23). Nonetheless, the ee s were too low and clearly had to be improved. 

A similar but asymmetric variant of the reaction, involving the radical addition of alkyl iodides and trialkylboranes to chiral azirine esters derived from 8-phenyl-menthol and camphorsultam, in the presence of a Cu(i) catalyst, has subsequently been reported [64]. The diastereoselectivity of the addition is variable (0-92% de)... 

Chiral alcohols have also been used in an asymmetric synthesis of sulphoxides based on halogenation of sulphides. Johnson and coworkers have found319 that the reaction of benzyl p-tolyl sulphide with JV-chlorobenzotriazole (NCBT) followed by addition of (—) menthol and silver tetrafluoroborate afforded diastereoisomeric menthoxysulphonium salts 267 which, upon recrystallization and hydrolysis, gave benzyl p-tolyl sulphoxide with 87% optical purity (equation 145). More recently, Oae and coworkers reported320 that optically active diaryl sulphoxides (e.e. up to 20%) were formed either by hydrolysis or thermolysis of the corresponding diaryl menthoxysulphonium salts prepared in situ from diaryl sulphides using ( —) menthol and t-butyl hypochlorite. 

The Diels-Alder reaction of simple alkoxy alkenylcarbene complexes leads to mixtures of endo and exo cycloadducts, with the endo isomer generally being the major one [96,97]. Asymmetric examples of endo Diels-Alder reactions have also been reported by the use of chiral auxiliaries both on the carbene complex and the diene. Thus, the reaction of cyclopentadiene with chiral alkenylcarbene complexes derived from (-)-menthol proceeds to afford a 4 1... 

Clive and coworkers have reported a total synthesis of calicheamicinone, the aglycon of the antitumor agent calicheamicin starting from the Diels-Alder reaction of methyl 3-nitro-propenoate with ketene acetal (Eq. 8.32).54 An asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction between ketene acetal presented in Eq. 8.32 and 3-nitropropenoate derived from (-)-8-phenyl-menthol affords the optically pure adduct, which can be converted into either enantiomer of calicheamicinone (Eq. 8.33).55... 

Metal-catalyzed C-H bond formation through isomerization, especially asymmetric variant of that, is highly useful in organic synthesis. The most successful example is no doubt the enantioselective isomerization of allylamines catalyzed by Rh(i)/TolBINAP complex, which was applied to the industrial synthesis of (—)-menthol. A highly enantioselective isomerization of allylic alcohols was also developed using Rh(l)/phosphaferrocene complex. Despite these successful examples, an enantioselective isomerization of unfunctionalized alkenes and metal-catalyzed isomerization of acetylenic triple bonds has not been extensively studied. Future developments of new catalysts and ligands for these reactions will enhance the synthetic utility of the metal-catalyzed isomerization reaction. 

For acrylates, or type I reagents, applied in asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions, several chiral auxiliaries such as menthol derivatives, camphor derivatives,16,3 and oxazolidinones4 are available. Carbohydrate compounds have also been reported as chiral auxiliaries in a recent publication, although the stereoselectivity was not good.5 Here are examples in which asymmetric Diels-... 

Chapter 2 to 6 have introduced a variety of reactions such as asymmetric C-C bond formations (Chapters 2, 3, and 5), asymmetric oxidation reactions (Chapter 4), and asymmetric reduction reactions (Chapter 6). Such asymmetric reactions have been applied in several industrial processes, such as the asymmetric synthesis of l-DOPA, a drug for the treatment of Parkinson s disease, via Rh(DIPAMP)-catalyzed hydrogenation (Monsanto) the asymmetric synthesis of the cyclopropane component of cilastatin using a copper complex-catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanation reaction (Sumitomo) and the industrial synthesis of menthol and citronellal through asymmetric isomerization of enamines and asymmetric hydrogenation reactions (Takasago). Now, the side chain of taxol can also be synthesized by several asymmetric approaches. 

Early work on the asymmetric Darzens reaction involved the condensation of aromatic aldehydes with phenacyl halides in the presence of a catalytic amount of bovine serum albumin. The reaction gave the corresponding epoxyketone with up to 62% ee.67 Ohkata et al.68 reported the asymmetric Darzens reaction of symmetric and dissymmetric ketones with (-)-8-phenylmenthyl a-chloroacetate as examples of a reagent-controlled asymmetric reaction (Scheme 8-29). When this (-)-8-phenyl menthol derivative was employed as a chiral auxiliary, Darzens reactions of acetone, pentan-3-one, cyclopentanone, cyclohexanone, or benzophenone with 86 in the presence of t-BuOK provided dia-stereomers of (2J ,3J )-glycidic ester 87 with diastereoselectivity ranging from 77% to 96%. 

Mckenzie carried out a number of asymmetric synthesis by reducing the keto groups in several ketoesters in which the ester group contained a chiral group. Thus he synthesized 1-mandelic acid from benzoyl formic acid by the following steps using 1-menthol... 

Brimble and coworkers172 reported the asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions between quinones 265 bearing a menthol chiral auxiliary and cyclopentadiene (equation 73). When zinc dichloride or zinc dibromide was employed as the Lewis acid catalyst, the reaction proceeded with complete endo selectivity, but with only moderate diastereofacial selectivity affording 3 1 and 2 1 mixtures of 266 and 267 (dominant diastereomer unknown), respectively. The use of stronger Lewis acids, such as titanium tetrachloride, led to the formation of fragmentation products. Due to the inseparability of the two diastereomeric adducts, it proved impossible to determine which one had been formed in excess. 

Cervinka has employed these reagents in the asymmetric reduction of im-monium salts (49,50) and imines (51). The reduction of 2-substituted jV-methyl-A -tetrahydropyridinium perchlorates (10) with (— )-menthol-LAH in ether or THF led to optically active piperidine derivatives (eq. [10]). The optical purity obtained for the Pr" derivative was 12%. In the case of R = Me and Pr" the configuration of the predominant enantiomer was shown to be S. The (-)-menthol-LAH reagent was similarly shown to reduce l-methyl-2-alkyl-A -di-hydropyrrolinium perchlorates (11) to optically active pyrrolidine derivatives (eq. [11]). The optical yield could be calculated only for R = CH2Ph, and was only 6% (/ enantiomer) obtained with a 1 1 (— )-menthoi-LAH reagent. With 2 1 or 3 1 molar ratios of menthol LAH, the optical yield decreased. The... 

Coordination of the aluminum atom of the reducing complex was proposed to take place both to the oxygen atom of the hydroxy group and to the nitrogen atom of the amino group. The asymmetric reduction of enamine perchlorates and ketimines with menthol and bomeol chiral auxiliary reagents (50,51) presumably involves coordination of aluminum to the nitrogen atom of the substrate. 

For these and similar reactions recently a variety of Lewis acidic aluminium, rare earth metals, and titanium alkoxides have been applied. Alkoxides have the additional advantage that they can be made as enantiomers using asymmetric alcohols which opens the possibility of asymmetric catalysis. Examples of asymmetric alcohols are bis-naphtols, menthol, tartaric acid derivatives [28], Other reactions comprise activation of aldehydes towards a large number of nucleophiles, addition of nucleophiles to enones, ketones, etc. 

An important application of an isomerisation is found in the Takasago process for the commercial production of (-)menthol from myreene. The catalyst used is a rhodium complex of BINAP, an asymmetric ligand based on the atropisomerism of substituted dinaphthyl (Figure 5.5). It was introduced by Noyori [1],... 

The synthesis of menthol is given in the reaction scheme, Figure 5. 6. The key reaction [2] is the enantioselective isomerisation of the allylamine to the asymmetric enamine. It is proposed that this reaction proceeds via an allylic intermediate, but it is not known whether the allyl formation is accompanied by a base-mediated proton abstraction or hydride formation. 

Wudl and Lee (96,97) reported the first preparation and resolution of the cyclic diastereomeric amidosulfites 58, which have been successfully used in the synthesis of chiral sulfoxides. A mixture of diastereomeric menthyl dimethylamidosulfites (100) was obtained in the reaction of racemic dimethylaminosulfinyl chloride (101) with menthol in the presence of pyridine (149). The degree of asymmetric... 

Quite recently, an asymmetric synthesis of alkoxyaminosulfonium salt 122 and diaminosulfonium salt 125 was accomplished (163) by way of menthoxysulfonium salt 126, obtained by treating A -p-toluene-sulftnylmorphoUne with 1-chlorobenzotriazole (NCBT), followed by menthol. The subsequent addition of methanol and sodium tetra-phenylborate gave the optically active salt 122 (Scheme 7). When 126 was treated with piperidine instead of methanol, the optically active diaminosulfonium salt 125 was formed. 

The commercialization in 1983 of the process illustrated in Eq. (1) is undoubtedly one of the most significant triumphs of asymmetric catalysis to date [2]. Takasago Chemical Company produced more than 22 000 tons of menthol by this route during the period 1983-1996, consuming only 125 kg of the chiral Hgand in the process. Rh(I)/Tol-BINAP-catalyzed isomerizations of allylic amines are beheved to proceed through the pathway outlined in Eq. (2) [3]. 

Chiacchio et al. (43,44) investigated the synthesis of isoxazolidinylthymines by the use of various C-functionalized chiral nitrones in order to enforce enantioselec-tion in their cycloaddition reactions with vinyl acetate (Scheme 1.3). They found, as in the work of Merino et al. (40), that asymmetric induction is at best partial with dipoles whose chiral auxiliary does not maintain a fixed geometry and so cannot completely direct the addition to the nitrone. After poor results with menthol ester-and methyl lactate-based nitrones, they were able to prepare and separate isoxazo-lidine 8a and its diastereomer 8b in near quantitative yield using the A-glycosyl... 

Chiral alkenes derived from ot,p-unsaturated aldehydes have also been applied in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (142). Soucy et al. (142) used (—)-8-(benzylamino)menthol (94) and acrolein for the exclusive formation of 95 having an equatorial C(2) vinyl group (Scheme 12.31). The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of acetonitrile oxide with 95 gave 96 with a selectivity of > 90% de. 

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