Aziridine Synthesis, enantioselective

Saito has recently reported high yields and enantioselectivities in aziridine synthesis through reactions between aryl- or vinyl-substituted N-sulfonyl imines and aryl bromides in the presence of base and mediated by a chiral sulfide 122 (Scheme 1.41) [66]. Aryl substituents with electron-withdrawing and -donating groups gave modest transxis selectivities (around 3 1) with high enantioselectiv-... 

From haloaziridine, homologation 160 Opening 92,193 Synthesis, enantioselective 92 Aziridine aldehyde to amino ester 115... 

Lewis acids such as zinc triflate[16] and BF3[17] have been used to effect the reaction of indole with jV-proiected aziridine-2-carboxylate esters. These alkylations by aziridines constitute a potential method for the enantioselective introduction of tryptophan side-chains in a single step. (See Chapter 13 for other methods of synthesis of tryptophans.)... 

Enantioselective synthesis and transformations of oxirane and aziridine derivatives 99PAC423. 

Synthesis of aziridines by treatment of carbenes with imines was reported by Jacobsen [56]. A metallocarbene 104 derived from ethyl diazoacetate and copper fluorophosphate was treated with N-arylaldimines to form aziridines with reasonable diastereoselectivities (>10 1 in favor of cis) but with low enantioselectivities (about 44% ee). This was shown to result from a competitive achiral reaction path-... 

In 2003, Bonini et al. reported a new synthesis of ferrocenyloxazolines based on an iodide-mediated ring expansion of A-ferrocenoyl-aziridine-2-carboxylic esters. The thus-formed ligands were successfully employed as palladium chelates for the test reaction, since they allowed the product to be formed in quantitative yields and good to high enantioselectivities (Scheme 1.69). According to the results, it seemed that the additional chiral centre present in the oxazoline backbone of these ligands did not play a major role for the asymmetric induction and the activity of the corresponding catalysts. 

Since the discovery of the CBS catalyst system, many chiral //-amino alcohols have been prepared for the synthesis of new oxazoborolidine catalysts. Compounds 95 and 96 have been prepared93 from L-cysteine. Aziridine carbi-nols 97a and 97b have been prepared94 from L-serine and L-threonine, respectively. When applied in the catalytic borane reduction of prochiral ketones, good to excellent enantioselectivity can be attained (Schemes 6-42 and 6-43). 

Chiral cyanohydrins are versatile intermediates in the synthesis of a-hydroxy acids, /3-amino alcohols, amino nitriles, a-hydroxy ketones and aziridines. For the synthesis of enantiopure cyanohydrins, the use of hydroxynitrile lyases is currently the most effective approach.Application of an organic-solvent-free system allows thermodynamically hindered substrates to be converted with moderate to excellent yields. With the use of the highly selective hydroxynitrile lyase from Manihot esculenta, the syntheses of several acetophenone cyanohydrins with excellent enantioselectivities were developed (Figure 8.2). (5)-Acetophenone cyanohydrin was synthesized on a preparative scale. ... 

Sn2 Reactions with epoxides and aziridines are also synthetically useful. An example of epoxide cleavage with an organocopper reagent with sp carbon moieties is the enantioselective synthesis of (3S, 4S)-4-methyl-3-heptanol (53), an elm bark beetle (Scolytus multistriatus) pheromone [42]. The chiral epoxy oxazolidine 51 [43], prepared from (R)-phenylglycinol, reacted with a propylmagnesium bromide-derived cuprate at —70 °C to afford the oxazolidine 52 in 74% yield (Scheme 9.12). Compound 52 was converted into the target molecular 53 by conventional procedures. 

Lewis acid-promoted [3+2] cycloadditions of aziridines and epoxides proceeding via carbon-carbon bond cleavage of three-membered ring heterocycles are demonstrated for the first time. This proposal details plans for extending these initial results into a general synthetic method for the enantioselective synthesis of structurally diverse pyrrolidine- and tetrahydrofuran-containing organic compounds. Expected outcomes of the proposed work will include... 

Sakamoto et al. have provided an example of absolute asymmetric synthesis involving [i-hydrogen abstraction by thiocarbony] sulfur (Scheme 4.68) [102]. The achiral benzothioamides 126 crystallize in chiral space group P212121. When the chiral crystals were irradiated in the solid state at —45 °C, followed by acetylation with AcCl at —78 °C, the aziridines 127 were obtained as a main product in a highly enantioselective cyclization. 

Some p-substituted styrene derivatives were employed in the reaction to establish the generality of the present asymmetric synthesis. The pronounced effect of pyridine IV-oxide was also observed in the aziridination of mms-P-methylstyrene. While this compound was not aziridinated below room temperature in the absence of pyridine IV-oxide, the addition of the N-oxide to the reaction system resulted in both high yield and enantioselectivity of the aziridinated product, even at 0 °C (Table 6.3). 

As an extension of this chemistry, 7V-sulfinyl aziridine 188, prepared from (/ )-187, was utilized in the asymmetric synthesis of protein kinase C inhibitor D-e/yf/iro-sphingosine 189" and in the first enantioselective synthesis of the marine cytotoxic antibiotic (/ )-(-)-dysidazirine (190).100 This latter result constitutes the first general method for preparing nonracemic 2//-azirines, the smallest of the unsaturated nitrogen heterocycles.100,101... 

Addition of the lithium anion of chloromethylphosphonate to sulfinimine 126 gave a-chloro-P-aminophosphonates 195 in a ratio of 59 41 and 98% total yield.104 The diastereomeric products can be separated and each converted to the corresponding aziridine-2-phosphonates 196, new building chiral blocks for the enantioselective synthesis of a-aminophosphonates 197 and azirinyl phosphonates 198.104... 

A novel Pd-catalyzed asymmetric annulation was reported between 5-bromopyrrole-2-carboxylate esters and vinyl aziridines <07OL2357>. The resulting pyrrolopiperazinones such as 58 served as key intermediates in the enantioselective synthesis of longamide B and a number of other pyrrole alkaloids. 

Terminal epoxides of high enantiopurity are among the most important chiral building blocks in enantioselective synthesis, because they are easily opened through nucleophilic substitution reactions. Furthermore, this procedure can be scaled to industrial levels with low catalyst loading. Chiral metal salen complexes have also been successfully applied to the asymmetric hydroxylation of C H bonds, asymmetric oxidation of sulfides, asymmetric aziridination of alkenes, and the asymmetric alkylation of keto esters to name a few. 

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