Auxiliary-Controlled Aldol Reactions

9 Stereoselective Aldol Reactions in the Synthesis of Polyketide Natural Products 

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Commerqon et al.40 developed a method based on an Evans-type auxiliary-controlled aldol reaction. Subsequent treatment of the aldol product with base produced the standard epoxide compound for the asymmetric synthesis of the taxol side chain (Scheme 7-84). 

A vinylogous Mukaiyama reaction, similar to that utilized in our synthesis, was employed to introduce the C-, stereocenter in Nicolaou s synthesis and also in the synthesis of preswinholide A reported by the Nakata group I53k One notable reaction in Nakata s synthesis of preswinholide A was the auxiliary-controlled aldol reaction shown in Scheme 9-31. Here the Evans auxiliary is used to couple two relatively complex fragments 91 and 92 to give 93. Unusually, this reaction was best performed using the lithium enolate of imide 91. 

The synthesis of the C1-C9 fragment 120 began with an auxiliary controlled aldol reaction of the chloroacetimide 121, where chlorine is present as a removable group to ensure high diastereoselectivity in what would otherwise have been a non-selective addition (Scheme 9-39). The Lewis acid-catalyzed, Mukaiyama aldol reaction of dienyl silyl ether 122 with / -chiral aldehyde 123 proceeded with 94%ds, giving the 3-anti product 124, as predicted by the opposed dipoles model [3]. Anti reduction of the aldol product and further manipulation then provided the C1-C9 fragment 120 of the bryostatins. 

Chiral auxiliary-controlled aldol reactions the Evans aldol... 

Interactive mechanism for the chiral auxiliary-controlled aldol reaction... 

Stereochemical Control Through Chiral Auxiliaries. Another approach to control of stereochemistry is installation of a chiral auxiliary, which can achieve a high degree of facial selectivity.124 A very useful method for enantioselective aldol reactions is based on the oxazolidinones 10,11, and 12. These compounds are available in enantiomerically pure form and can be used to obtain either enantiomer of the desired product. 

Aldol addition and related reactions of enolates and enolate equivalents are the subject of the first part of Chapter 2. These reactions provide powerful methods for controlling the stereochemistry in reactions that form hydroxyl- and methyl-substituted structures, such as those found in many antibiotics. We will see how the choice of the nucleophile, the other reagents (such as Lewis acids), and adjustment of reaction conditions can be used to control stereochemistry. We discuss the role of open, cyclic, and chelated transition structures in determining stereochemistry, and will also see how chiral auxiliaries and chiral catalysts can control the enantiose-lectivity of these reactions. Intramolecular aldol reactions, including the Robinson annulation are discussed. Other reactions included in Chapter 2 include Mannich, carbon acylation, and olefination reactions. The reactivity of other carbon nucleophiles including phosphonium ylides, phosphonate carbanions, sulfone anions, sulfonium ylides, and sulfoxonium ylides are also considered. 

Another chiral auxiliary for controlling the absolute stereochemistry in Mukaiyama aldol reactions of chiral silyl ketene acetals has been derived from TV-methyl ephedrine.18 This has been successfully applied to the enantioselec-tive synthesis of various natural products19 such as a-methyl-/ -hydroxy esters (ee 91-94%),18,20 a-methyl-/Miydroxy aldehydes (91% ee),21 a-hydrazino and a-amino acids (78-91% ee),22 a-methyl-d-oxoesters (72-75% ee),20b cis- and trans-l1-lactams (70-96% ee),23 and carbapenem antibiotics.24... 

Access to the corresponding enantiopure hydroxy esters 133 and 134 of smaller fragments 2 with R =Me employed a highly stereoselective (ds>95%) Evans aldol reaction of allenic aldehydes 113 and rac-114 with boron enolate 124 followed by silylation to arrive at the y-trimethylsilyloxy allene substrates 125 and 126, respectively, for the crucial oxymercuration/methoxycarbonylation process (Scheme 19). Again, this operation provided the desired tetrahydrofurans 127 and 128 with excellent diastereoselectivity (dr=95 5). Chemoselective hydrolytic cleavage of the chiral auxiliary, chemoselective carboxylic acid reduction, and subsequent diastereoselective chelation-controlled enoate reduction (133 dr of crude product=80 20, 134 dr of crude product=84 16) eventually provided the pure stereoisomers 133 and 134 after preparative HPLC. 

The preceding reactions illustrate control of stereochemistry by aldehyde substituents. Substantial effort has also been devoted to use of chiral auxiliaries and chiral catalysts to effect enantioselective aldol reactions.71 72 Avery useful approach for enantioselective aldol condensations has been based on the oxazolidinones 1-3, which are readily available in enantiomerically pure form. 

The focus in this section is the electrophilic a-functionalization of 2,2-dimethyl-l,3-dioxan-5-one. Various reactions have been carried out, such as alkylations, aldol additions, Mannich reactions, and transition metal-catalyzed reactions. Conditions were described for diastereoselective transformations, or auxiliary controlled diastereoselective transformations, providing enantiomerically pure products, and enantioselectively catalyzed reactions using organo-catalysts. 

Aldol reactions enjoy great recognition as a useful tool for the synthesis of building blocks in natural product and drug synthesis [42, 182]. The stereochemistry of the stereogenic centers formed can be controlled by various means. Besides chiral auxiliaries, catalytic methods with chiral Lewis acids, organocatalysts, or catalytic antibodies were established for stereochemical control [183-187]. 

In the crossed aldol reaction between acetaldehyde and propiophenone, two chirality centres are created and consequently, four stereoisomers will be produced. Compounds A and B are enantiomers of each other and can be described with the stereo descriptor u. Similarly, C and D are enantiomers and are /-configured. Since both starting materials are achiral, without the use of a chiral base or chiral auxiliary, racemates will be produced. Likewise the choice of base, the addition of a Lewis acid and the reaction conditions used to form the enolate can control which diastereomer is preferentially formed. If the Z enolate is formed, the u product is the preferred product, whilst the E enolate yields predominately the / product. 

The asymmetric synthesis of (—)-denticulatin A (30) shows an interesting application of the boron aldol chemistry (Scheme 6) [23]. In a group-selective aldol reaction between the weso-aldehyde 27 and (5)-28, the hydroxyalde-hyde 29 was formed with > 90 % de, which spontaneously cyclized to the lactol 31. The configuration at the stereocenters of C-2 and C-3 in 29 is in accordance with the induction through the sultam auxiliary as well as with preference of an a-chiral aldehyde to react to the ant/-Felkin diastereomer in an aldol reaction which is controlled by the Zimmermann-Traxler model [24, 25]. 

The aldol reaction illustrated in eq 2 has been applied to the targeted synthesis of a number of complex molecules including Tylosin, Hapalosin, the antibiotic Sinefungin, and the HIV protease Saquinavir inhibitor. Oxazolidinone-type chiral auxiliaries derived from 1 have also been employed for the control of Diels-Alder reactions of attached acryloyl or crotonyl groups. ... 

In addition to being an efficient chiral controller in a number of stereoselective transformations of chiral acrylates, (i.e. the Diels-Alder reaction, the conjugate reduction, the asymmetric dihydroxylation, and the nitrile oxide cycloaddition ) the bomanesultam (11) has been shown to be an exceptionally efficient chiral auxiliary for stereoselective aldol condensations (eqs eq 3 and eq 4). Depending upon the reaction conditions, A -propionylsultam can produce either the syn or anti aldol product with an excellent diastereoselectivity, Furthermore, good diastereoselectiv-ities are also observed for the corresponding acetate aldol reaction (eq 5), ... 

In a related manner, -keto imide 25 also functions as a versatile dipropionate reagent with three different stereoselective aldol reactions being reported by the Evans group (Scheme 9-9). Both syn aldol isomers, 26 and 27, are available from either the titanium or tin(II) enolates [14] and the anti adduct 28 can be accessed using the dicyclohexyl boron enolate [15], While a chiral auxiliary is present, it is the ketone a-stereocenter that controls the r-facial selectivity in these aldol reactions. 

The related lactate-derived ketones, 44 [27] and 45 [29], are useful auxiliaries for boron- and titanium-mediated syn aldol reactions, respectively (Scheme 9-14). The effect of the protecting group in both cases is notable. For ketone 44, the use of the boron chloride reagent unexpectedly afforded the syn adduct with good control... 

Evans synthesis of bryostatin 2 (113) also relied upon asymmetric aldol reactions for the introduction of most of the 11 stereocenters [58], At different points, the synthesis used control from an auxiliary, a chiral Lewis acid, chiral ligands on the enolate metal and substrate control from a chiral aldehyde. Indeed, this represents the current state of the art in the aldol construction of complex polyketide natural products. 

In the previous synthesis, two asymmetric aldol reactions using dienyl silyl ethers were described, one using a chiral Lewis acid for stereoinduction while the other used substrate control from a chiral aldehyde. This can be compared with the use of chiral dienolate 131 in the synthesis of a Ci-Cie fragment of the bryo-statins (Scheme 9-41) [59J. Here, the menthyl-derived auxiliary is covalently attached to the enolate, and again an excellent level of asymmetric induction was achieved on addition to aldehyde 132 to give adduct 133. 

Other approaches to the bryostatins have also used enantio- or diastereoselective aldol reactions. An interesting iterative strategy for the synthesis of the Cj-Cg polyacetate region 134 has been disclosed where each aldol addition proceeds with excellent stereocontrol (99 1) under the catalytic influence of oxazaborolidine 135 (Scheme 9-42) [60J. Finally, a moderately selective, auxiliary controlled, acetate aldol reaction has been used for the introduction of the C3 stereocenter of the bryostatins giving adduct 136 (84% d.s) [61]. 

As shown in Scheme 9-57, the Ci-Cf, ketones 202 and 203 have both been prepared by aldol chemistry. The synthesis of ketone 202 used the Braun auxiliary 204 in a lithium-mediated aldol reaction and afforded adduct 205 in 75% yield and 98% ds [75]. This synthe.sis can be compared with the related Reformatsky reaction of imide 206, again controlled by an auxiliary attached to the enolate... 

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