Benzaldehyde, enantioselective

Since cbiral sulfur ylides racemize rapidly, they are generally prepared in situ from chiral sulfides and halides. The first example of asymmetric epoxidation was reported in 1989, using camphor-derived chiral sulfonium ylides with moderate yields and ee (< 41%) Since then, much effort has been made in tbe asymmetric epoxidation using sucb a strategy without a significant breakthrough. In one example, the reaction between benzaldehyde and benzyl bromide in the presence of one equivalent of camphor-derived sulfide 47 furnished epoxide 48 in high diastereoselectivity (trans cis = 96 4) with moderate enantioselectivity in the case of the trans isomer (56% ee). ... 

Interestingly, phase-transfer catalysts including crown ethers have been used to promote enantioselective variations of Darzens condensation. Toke and coworkers showed that the novel 15-crown-5 catalyst derived from d-glucose 33 could promote the condensation between acetyl chloride 31 and benzaldehyde to give the epoxide in 49% yield and 71% A modified cinchoninium bromide was shown to act as an effective phase transfer catalyst for the transformation as well. ... 

Yamamoto et al. were probably the first to report that chiral aluminum(III) catalysts are effective in the cycloaddition reactions of aldehydes [11]. The use of chiral BINOL-AlMe complexes (R)-S was found to be highly effective in the cycloaddition reaction of a variety of aldehydes with activated Danishefsky-type dienes. The reaction of benzaldehyde la with Danishefsky s diene 2a and traws-l-methoxy-2-methyl-3-(trimethylsilyloxy)-l,3-pentadiene 2b affords cis dihydropyrones, cis-3, as the major product in high yield with up to 97% ee (Scheme 4.6). The choice of the bulky triarylsilyl moiety in catalyst (J )-8b is crucial for high yield and the en-antioselectivity of the reaction in contrast with this the catalysts derived from AlMe3 and (J )-3,3 -disubstituted binaphthol (substituent = H, Me, Ph) were effective in stoichiometric amounts only and were less satisfactory with regard to reactivity and enantioselectivity. 

Chiral boron(III) Lewis acid catalysts have also been used for enantioselective cycloaddition reactions of carbonyl compounds [17]. The chiral acyloxylborane catalysts 9a-9d, which are also efficient catalysts for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions [17, 18], can also catalyze highly enantioselective cycloaddition reactions of aldehydes with activated dienes. The arylboron catalysts 9b-9c which are air- and moisture-stable have been shown by Yamamoto et al. to induce excellent chiral induction in the cycloaddition reaction between, e.g., benzaldehyde and Danishefsky s dienes such as 2b with up to 95% yield and 97% ee of the cycloaddition product CIS-3b (Scheme 4.9) [17]. 

A chiral vanadium complex, bis(3-(heptafluorobutyryl)camphorato)oxovana-dium(IV), can catalyze the cycloaddition reaction of, mainly, benzaldehyde with dienes of the Danishefsky type with moderate to good enantioselectivity [21]. A thorough investigation was performed with benzaldehyde and different activated dienes, and reactions involving double stereo differentiation using a chiral aldehyde. 

Chiral salen chromium and cobalt complexes have been shown by Jacobsen et al. to catalyze an enantioselective cycloaddition reaction of carbonyl compounds with dienes [22]. The cycloaddition reaction of different aldehydes 1 containing aromatic, aliphatic, and conjugated substituents with Danishefsky s diene 2a catalyzed by the chiral salen-chromium(III) complexes 14a,b proceeds in up to 98% yield and with moderate to high ee (Scheme 4.14). It was found that the presence of oven-dried powdered 4 A molecular sieves led to increased yield and enantioselectivity. The lowest ee (62% ee, catalyst 14b) was obtained for hexanal and the highest (93% ee, catalyst 14a) was obtained for cyclohexyl aldehyde. The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction was investigated in terms of a traditional cycloaddition, or formation of the cycloaddition product via a Mukaiyama aldol-reaction path. In the presence of the chiral salen-chromium(III) catalyst system NMR spectroscopy of the crude reaction mixture of the reaction of benzaldehyde with Danishefsky s diene revealed the exclusive presence of the cycloaddition-pathway product. The Mukaiyama aldol condensation product was prepared independently and subjected to the conditions of the chiral salen-chromium(III)-catalyzed reactions. No detectable cycloaddition product could be observed. These results point towards a [2-i-4]-cydoaddition mechanism. 

Addition of (R,S)-9 to the aromatic benzaldehyde proceeded with higher enantiosclcctivity than the addition of the diastereomeric reagent (S,S)-9. The reverse is true for additions to aliphatic aldehydes. Thus, the highest enantioselectivity of 92% ee was observed in the addition of (R,R)- 9 to cyclohexanccarboxaldehyde. The low chemical yields of most addition reactions can be improved by addition of the Lewis acid diethylaluminum ethoxide. The presence of the Lewis acid solely enhanced the chemical yield without changing the enantioselectivity of the addition reactions. 

A remarkable effect of the reaction temperature on the enantioselectivity of the addition of butyllithium to benzaldehyde was found with polystyrene-bound cvs-enofo-S-dimethylamino -(benzyloxy)bornane (8)12. When the soluble monomeric ligand 9 was tested, the enantioselectivity increased with decreasing temperature (53% ee at — 78 C). In contrast, the polymer-bound chiral additive 8 showed an optimum at — 20 C (32% ee). Although the enantioselectivity of this addition reaction is low, an advantage of a polymer-bound chiral auxiliary is that it can be removed by a simple filtration. 

Since the addition of methyllithium, as well as the addition of dimethylmagnesium, to benzaldehyde (11) proceeded with very low enantioselectivity compared to other organometal-... 

Polymer-supported amino alcohols and quaternary ammonium salts catalyze the enan-tioselective addition of dialkylzinc reagents to aldehydes (Table 31). When the quaternary ammonium salt F is used in hexane, it is in the solid state, and it catalyzes the alkylation of benzaldehyde with diethylzinc in good chemical yield and moderate enantioselectivity. On the other hand, when a mixture of dimethylformamide and hexane is used as solvent, the ammonium salt is soluble and no enantioselectivity is observed21. 

It has been observed, however, that the enantioselectivity of reactions of tartrate ester modified allylboronates with metal carbonyl complexes of unsaturated aldehydes are significantly improved compared with the results with the metal-free, uncomplexed aldehydes72. Two such examples involve the (benzaldehyde)tricarbonylchromium complex and the hexacarbonyl(2-... 

Z)-l-Methyl-2-butenylboronate 7 undergoes an exceptionally enantioselective reaction with benzaldehyde (99% ee), propanal (79%. 98% ee), 2-methyl-2-propenal (85%, 99% ee), and ( )-2-methyl-2-pentenal (81 %, 99% ee)10 38. Excellent enantioselectivity is also realized in reactions of the analogous chiral a-methyl-) y-disubstituted allylboronate27 40. Whether the l,2-dicyclohexyl-l,2-ethanediol auxiliary plays a beneficial role in this reaction, as suggested above for the asymmetric allylboration reactions of 6, has not yet been determined. 

The aldol reaction of 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanone, which is mediated by chiral lithium amide bases, is another route for the formation of nonracemic aldols. Indeed, (lS,2S)-l-hydroxy-2,4,4-trimethyl-l-phenyl-3-pentanone (21) is obtained in 68% ee, if the chiral lithiated amide (/ )-A-isopropyl-n-lithio-2-methoxy-l-phenylethanamine is used in order to chelate the (Z)-lithium cnolate, and which thus promotes the addition to benzaldehyde in an enantioselective manner. No anti-adduct is formed25. 

The enantioselective addition of organometallic reagents to, V-(trimethylsilyl)benzaldehyde imine (1) in the presence of enantiomerically pure modifiers has been investigated. The best result is obtained with butyllithium (the corresponding Grignard reagent affords both lower yield and selectivity, 1 fails to react with diethylzinc) and two equivalents of the enantiomerically pure diol 2 in diethyl ether. It should be noted that the choice of the solvent is crucial for the stereoselectivity of the reaction1 2 3 5 7 8 9. 

The first asymmetric benzoin reactions were reported by Sheehan and Hannemann nsing chiral thiazolinm salt pre-catalyst 100 of unknown absolute configuration [40], Low yields and enantioselectivities were obtained, and although a wide range of thiazolium salt pre-catalysts have since been studied, of which 101-105 are representative, the enantioselectivities obtained for the condensation of benzaldehyde using thiazolium pre-catalysts are generally poor (Scheme 12.19) [41],... 

Kragl and Dreisbach (1996) have carried out the enantioselective addition of diethyl zinc to benzaldehyde in a continuous asymmetric membrane reactor using a homogeneous soluble catalyst, described in their paper. Here a,a-diphenyl-L-proline was used as a chiral ligand, coupled to a copolymer made from 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate and octadecyl methacrylate, which had a sufficiently high molecular weight to allow separation by ultra-filtration (U/F). The solvent-stable polyaramide U/F Hoechst Nadir UF PA20 retained more than 99.8% of the catalyst. The ee was 80 %, compared to 98 % for a noncoupled catalyst. 

Other excellent results have been reported by Kang et al. for the addition of ZnEt2 to aldehydes by using chiral cyclic amino thiol ligands depicted in Scheme 3.7. A total enantioselectivity was obtained when (lR,25)-l-phenyl-2-piperidinopropane-1-thiol was used as the ligand in the reactions of substituted benzaldehydes. However, -hexanal and traw -cinnamaldehyde could only be... 

On the other hand, sulfur-containing pyridine ligands have been prepared by Chelucci et al These ligands gave only moderate enantioselectivities (<51% ee) in the enantioselective addition of ZnEt2 to benzaldehyde, as shown in Scheme 3.17. 

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