Asymmetric nitroalkenes

R)-(-)-2,2-Diphenylcyclopentanol (1) is a highly effective chiral auxiliary in asymmetric synthesis. Hydrogenation of chiral 0-acetamidocrotonates derived from this alcohol has afforded the corresponding 0-amido esters with high diastereoselectivity (96% de).6 In addition, (R)-1 has been used as a chiral auxiliary in Mn(lll)-based oxidative free-radical cyclizations to provide diastereomerically enriched cycloalkanones (60% de).7 Our interest in (R)-(-)-2,2-diphenylcyclopentanol is its utility as a chiral auxiliary in Lewis acid-promoted, asymmetric nitroalkene [4+2] cycloadditions. The 2-(acetoxy)vinyl ether derived from alcohol (R)-1 is useful for the asymmetric synthesis of 3-hydroxy-4-substituted pyrrolidines from nitroalkenes (96% ee).8 In a similar fashion, a number of enantiomerically enriched (71-97% ee) N-protected, 3-substituted pyrrolidines have been prepared in two steps from 2-substituted 1-nitroalkenes and (R)-2,2-diphenyl-1-ethenoxycyclopentane (2) (see Table).9... 

A chiral sulfoxide can be used as a leaving group for the asymmetric inducdon via addidon-eliminadonprocess. 5-Lactam enolates are converted into the corresponding nitroalkenes subsdnited with lactams fEq. 4.101. ... 

Node and co-workers have found that the Diels-Alder reaction of nitroalkenes v/ith 1-methoxy-3-trimethylsilyloxy-l,3-butadiene (Danishefsky s dienesi exhibit abnormal exo-se-lecdvity Electrostadc repulsion between the nitro and the silyloxy group of the diene induces this abnormal exc-selecdvity (Tq 8 10 This selecdve reacdon has been used for the asymmetric synthesis of various naniral products as shovm in Scheme 8 6... 

Node and Fuji have developed a new chiral synthesis of various alkaloids using chiral nitroalkene, fS -( - -3-methyl-3-( 3 -nitrovinyl -o-valerolactone Scheme 8 11 shows a total synthesis of f-i-physosdgmine, a principM alkriloid of the CMabar bean The key nitroalkene is prepared by asymmetric nitroolefinadon of ct-methyl-o-lactone using a chirM enamine fsee... 

When Talkoxy-l,4-pentadienes are used Instead of 2-alkoxy-l,4-pentadienes, tandem Inter [4- 2 /lntra [3- 2 cycloaddidon of nitroalkenes followed by hydrogenolysls affords a versatile asymmetric synthesis of highly fiincdonalized aminocyclopentanes fScheme 8.47i. ... 

Hoashi, Y., Yabuta, T., Takemoto, Y. (2004) Bifunctional Thiourea-Catalyzed Enantioselective Double Michael Reaction of y,5-Unsaturated fS-Ketoesterto Nitroalkene Asymmetric Synthesis of (—)-Epibatidine. Tetrahedron Letters, 45, 9185-9188. 

Recently, very effective asymmetric conjugate addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to nitroalkenes has been reported, as shown in Scheme 4.10. The reaction of ethyl acetoacetate with nitrostyrene is carried out in the presence of 5 mol% of the preformed complex of magnesium triflate and chiral bis(oxazoline) ligands and a small amount ofW-methylmorpholine (NMM) to give the adduct with selectivity of 91%. The selectivity depends on ligands. The effect of ligands is presented in Scheme 4.10.63... 

Asymmetric Michael addition of chiral enolates to nitroalkenes provides a useful method for the preparation of biologically important compounds. The Michael addition of doubly deprotonated, optically active P-hydroxycarboxylates to nitroalkenes proceeds with high dias-tereoselectivity to give erythro-hydroxynitroesters (Eq. 4.58).76... 

A radical approach to asymmetric aldol synthesis, which is based on the radical addition of a chiral hydroxyalkyl radical equivalent to a nitroalkene, has been reported, as shown in Eq. 4.93.113 The radical precursor is prepared from the corresponding carboxylic add by the Barton reaction,114 which has been used for synthesis of new (3-lactams.115... 

Node and coworkers have used this aromatization strategy for the synthesis of (-) aphanor-phine.27 The Diels-Alder reaction of chiral nitroalkene, prepared by the asymmetric nitroolefi-nation reaction of a-methyl-8-valerolactone, with the Danishefsky s diene followed by aromatization is used as a key step for this total synthesis, as shown in Scheme 8.6. 

Asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions have been performed by using either chiral dienophiles or chiral dienes in the presence or the absence of catalysts.47 The progress in this field is remarkable catalytic asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions are generally carried out either by the use of chiral dienophiles or by the use of chiral dienes. Here, the reactions of chiral nitroalkenes with dienes or the reactions of nitroalkenes with chiral dienes are discussed. Many different chiral auxiliaries are now available, and some of them have been used in asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions of nitroalkenes. 

Asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions using chiral sulfinylalkenes have been extensively studied by Koizumi and coworkers.55 Fuji and coworkers have extended this strategy to chiral l-(alkyl-sulfinyl)-2-nitroalkenes. Such nitroalkenes react with reactive dienes such as Danishefsky s dienes to produce an adduct with a high enantiomeric excess (ee) (see Eqs. 8.34 and 8.35).57... 

Dienes with Chiral Auxiliaries The use of dienes with the chiral auxiliary attached to the C-l position of the dienes is the most popular in asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions.59 In 1980, Trost reported high asymmetric induction in the Diels-Alder reaction using l-(S)-0-methylmandeloxy-l,4-butadiene59a However, the result obtained by Trost et al. has remained unique for more than a decade, at least in terms of enantioselectivity. The asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction of chiral diene-amines with nitroalkenes gives aminocyclohexenes with good diastereoselectivity (Eq. 8.37).60 The development in the area of chiral dienes is slow it may be due to the difficulty of preparing these compounds. 

The strategy based on tandem cycloaddition leads to a short and efficient asymmetric synthesis of the pyrrolizidine necine base (-)-hastanecine, as shown in Scheme 8.32.163 Pyrrolizidine alkaloids have a long history for attracting the interest of synthetic chemists because of their physiological properties. The method of Denmark shown in this scheme is very simple and applied to synthesis of various alkaloids. The Lewis acid-promoted [4+2] cycloaddition between 2-acyloxy nitroalkene and chiral vinyl ether gives a nitronate that... 

Asymmetric tandem cycloaddition of a chiral carbohydrate nitroalkene with ethyl vinyl ether in the presence of electron-withdrawing alkenes produces a facile assembly of bicyclic systems, which can further be selectively cleaved to give homologated carbohydrates (Eq. 8.110).176... 

The extremely high selectivity for tandem cycloaddition, the ease of manipulation of the nitroso acetals, and the release of the vinyl ether appendage in the hydrogenolytic cleavage constitute ideal features for asymmetric modifications of the cycloadditions with chiral vinyl ethers. As discussed in Section 8.3.2.1 (Inter [4+2]/inter [3+2] cycloadditions of nitroalkenes), the stereochemical course depends on the Lewis acids. The results are summarized in Scheme 8.38.179 The high levels and complementary selectivity with three chiral vinyl ethers and two kinds of Lewis acids (Ti- and Al-based Lewis acids) are presented in this scheme. 

The synthesis of (+)-crotanecine is accomplished in 10 steps in a 10.2% overall yield, as shown in Scheme 8.42. The key step in the asymmetric synthesis is a Lewis acid-promoted, tandem inter [4+2]/intra [3+2] cycloaddition between a (fumaroyloxy)nitroalkene and chiral [J-silylvinyl ether, in which the substituted silanes are used as hydroxy synthons.181... 

In recent years, the importance of aliphatic nitro compounds has greatly increased, due to the discovery of new selective transformations. These topics are discussed in the following chapters Stereoselective Henry reaction (chapter 3.3), Asymmetric Micheal additions (chapter 4.4), use of nitroalkenes as heterodienes in tandem [4+2]/[3+2] cycloadditions (chapter 8) and radical denitration (chapter 7.2). These reactions discovered in recent years constitute important tools in organic synthesis. They are discussed in more detail than the conventional reactions such as the Nef reaction, reduction to amines, synthesis of nitro sugars, alkylation and acylation (chapter 5). Concerning aromatic nitro chemistry, the preparation of substituted aromatic compounds via the SNAr reaction and nucleophilic aromatic substitution of hydrogen (VNS) are discussed (chapter 9). Preparation of heterocycles such as indoles, are covered (chapter 10). 

The C2-symmetric bifunctional tridentate bis(thiazoline) 222 has been shown to promote the zinc(II)-catalyzed asymmetric Michael addition of nitroalkanes to nitroalkenes in high enantioselectivity <06JA7418>. The corresponding bis(oxazoline) ligand provides comparable enantioselectivity but higher product yield. The same bis(thiazoline) ligand has also been evaluated in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles, but the enantioselectivity is moderate <06OL2115>. 

In 1993, Alexakis et al. reported the first copper-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of diethylzinc to 2-cyclohexenone using phosphorous ligand 28 (32% ee).36 An important breakthrough was achieved by Feringa et al. with chiral phosphoramidite (S,R,R)-29 (Figure 1), which showed excellent selectivity (over 98% ee) for the addition of 2-cyclohexenone.37 Since then, efficient protocols for the conversion of both cyclic and acyclic enones, as well as lactones and nitroalkenes, have been developed featuring excellent stereocontrol. 

Hoveyda and co-workers presented the asymmetric addition of alkylzincs to small-, medium-, and large-ring nitroolefins with chiral peptide-based phosphines 57 as catalyst.87 The enantioselectivities were typically >90%. Ligand 57 also worked well in the asymmetric addition of dialkylzinc to acyclic disubstituted nitroalkenes (up to 95% ee Scheme 26).88... 

The first example of asymmetric rhodium-catalyzed 1,4-addition of organoboron reagents to enones was described in 1998 by Hayashi and Miyaura. Significant progress has been made in the past few years. This asymmetric addition reaction can be carried out in aqueous solvent for a broad range of substrates, such as a,/ -unsaturated ketones, esters, amides, phosphonates, nitroalkenes. The enantioselectivity is always very high (in most cases over 90% ee). This asymmetric transformation provides the best method for the enantioselective introduction of aryl and alkenyl groups to the / -position of these electron-deficient olefins. 

Nitroalkenes are good candidates for the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of organoboronic acids. Hayashi et al. reported that the reaction of 1-nitrocyclohexene with phenylboronic acid in the presence of rhodium/ -BINAP catalyst gave 99% ee of 2-phenyl-1-nitrocyclohexane (Scheme 38).117... 

Nitroalkenes are excellent Michael acceptors, and asymmetric 1,4-additions to nitroalkenes (Scheme 7.22) provide access to highly versatile synthons, since the nitro group is readily reduced to the corresponding amine [74]. Seebach, employing a... 

In spite of the success of asymmetric iridium catalysts for the direct hydrogenation of alkenes, there has been very limited research into the use of alternative hydrogen donors. Carreira and coworkers have reported an enantioselective reduction of nitroalkenes in water using formic acid and the iridium aqua complex 69 [66]. For example, the reduction of nitroalkene 70 led to the formation of the product 71 in good yield and enantioselectivity (Scheme 17). The use of other aryl substrates afforded similar levels of enantioselectivity. 

One or both of the disadvantages are Hkely to be overcome in due course. It is obvious that a clearer picture of the mechanism of the oxidation is mandatory before much progress can be made. Once it is understood how this very simple protein folds, in the presence of organic solvent, to form a chiral cavity or chiral surface that activates the peroxide and/or enone to accomplish the desired asymmetric oxidation then the reaction may be extended to other substrates, e.g. a, unsaturated esters, nitroalkenes, perhaps (under different conditions) electron-rich alkenes. 

The asymmetric tandem cycloaddition of the chiral carbohydrate nitroalkene (35) with ethyl vinyl ether involves the initial formation of the nitronate (36) which reacts exclusively with electron-withdrawing alkenes by 3 -I- 2-cycloaddition to yield chiral bicycles (37) and (38) (Scheme 12). ... 

Nitroalkenes have also been employed in the copper-catalyzed asymmetric... 

Ligand 4, which is highly effective for the 1,4-addition of diethylzinc to 2-cyclohexen-l-one, shows relatively wide scope with respect to the p-substituent in the copper-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of diethylzinc to acyclic nitroalkenes... 

Figure 3.13. Scope of Cu/4-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of diethylzinc to acyclic nitroalkenes.

When nitroalkenes were used as Michael acceptors, high yields and enantioselectivities of the desired Michael addition products were also obtained (Scheme 5.22). In these reactions, a well-defined chiral Ru amido complex (Figure 5.9) was an efficient catalyst. The mild reaction conditions and high reactivities and stereoselectivities allowed a large-scale reaction in the presence 1 mol% Ru catalyst. By using a chiral Pd(II) catalyst, an asymmetric allylic arylation was reported by Mikami and coworkers to give the cross-couphng product via the activation of both allylic C H and aryl C H bonds in moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 5.23). ... 

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