Azaferrocenes chiral derivatives

The first class of amine-based nucleophilic catalysts to give acceptable levels of selectivity in the KR of aryl alkyl. yec-alcohols was a series of planar chiral pyrrole derivatives 13 and 14, initially disclosed by Fu in 1996 [25, 26]. Fu and co-workers had set out to develop a class of robust and tuneable catalysts that could be used for the acylative KR of various classes of. yec-alcohols. Planar-chiral azaferrocenes 13 and 14 seemed to meet their criteria. These catalysts feature of a reasonably nucleophilic nitrogen and constitute 18-electron metal complexes which are highly stable [54-58]. Moreover, by modifying the substitution pattern on the heteroaromatic ring, the steric demand and hence potentially the selectivity of these catalysts could be modulated. 

Pioneering work by Pracejus et al. in the 1960s, using alkaloids as catalysts, afforded quite remarkable 76% ee in the addition of methanol to phenylmethyl-ketene [26-29]. In 1999 Fu et al. reported that of various planar-chiral ferrocene derivatives tried, the azaferrocene 35 performed best in the asymmetric addition of methanol to several prochiral ketenes [30, 31]. In the presence of 10 mol% catalyst 35 (and 12 mol% 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridinium triflate as proton-transfer agent), up to 80% ee was achieved (Scheme 13.16). 

It has also been demonstrated that a planar-chiral azaferrocene derivative of 4-(pyrrolidino)pyridine is an excellent catalyst for the enantioselective Staudinger reaction, providing P-lactams 24 with very good stereoselection and yield <02JACS1578>. 

Another approach to enantiomerically pure planar chiral azaferrocenes involves 2-lithiation of (367) followed by addition of (-)-menthyl-(5 ) — jo-toluenesulfinate. The diastereomeric sulfoxides thus obtained are chromatograph-ically separable, and treatment of each diastereomer with t-BuLi produces an enantiomerically pure planar chiral anion that may be trapped with an electrophile (Scheme 98). Finally, in order to obviate the need for performing a resolution or a chromatographic separation, chiral ligand-mediated enantioselective deprotonations have been investigated. Lithiation of (367) in the presence of (-)-sparteine followed by addition of an electrophile gives the 2-substituted azaferrocene in good enantioselectivities (Scheme 99). However, lateral lithiation of (370) mediated by 5-valine-derived bis(oxazoline) (371) provides planar chiral products with excellent enantios-electivity. 

Many other chiral copper catalysts have been reported, most of them being derived from C2-symmetrical bidentate nitrogen ligands [13, 27]. Some ligands such as the bipyridine derivatives 14 [60, 61, 62], the diamine 15 [63] and the bis(azaferrocene) 16 [64] are capable to induce high ees, but none of them can compete so far with chiral bisoxazolines in terms of high selectivity combined with effectiveness, general applicability and ease of preparation. 

Figure 8.5 depicts the different chiral azaferrocene derivatives synthesized and used in catalysis. The first member in the series bears a TES protected hydroxymethyl group and was prepared in optically pure form in three steps, including a preparative HPLC enantiomer separation (Scheme 8.2) [11]. Optimization studies later showed the greater stereoinduction brought about by bulkier sUyl groups, with the TBS-substituted derivative achieving 77% ee for the addition reaction of methanol to methyl phenyl ketene, whereas the TES derivative shows only 28%...

In 1996 Fu and Ruble [12] reported the first study of ferrocene derivatives fitted with a trigonal nitrogen atom acting as a Lewis base. Interestingly, in this seminal work, the two main families of planar chiral DMAP were introduced, namely, azaferrocenes and pyridinoferrocenes. These studies resulted in the development of an impressive number of innovative transformations and these advances have been reviewed in several contributions [13]. The underlying concept at the basis of the stereoselection, presented in Scheme 8.1, relies on the symmetry breaking ... 

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