Thiourea bifunctional catalysts

Following work on Michael addition of triazoles to nitro-olefins (discussed in Sect. 2.5), bifunctional chiral thiourea catalysts were used in the addition of triazoles to chalcones [83]. The catalytic system was applicable to enones bearing aromatic groups of varying electronic natures to provide good yields and moderate selectivity. a-Cyanoacetates [84] were also applied in Michael addition to chalcones under similar catalytic conditions (Scheme 33). 

The modification of thiourea catalyst 93 through incorporation of the (S,S)-diaminocyclohexane backbone as an additional chirality element and a Schiff base imidazoyl-moiety led to the bifunctional catalyst 94 that, in contrast to 93 in the Strecker reaction (Scheme 6.99), exhibited enantioinduction (83-87% ee) in the nitro-Michael addition of acetone to trons-P-nitrostyrenes. The desired adducts were isolated in moderate yields (46-62%) as depicted in Scheme 6.100) [259]. 

The Michael reactions [149-152] between cyclohexanone and trons-nitroalkenes were also explored by Xiao and co-workers utilizing bifunctional pyrrolidine-thiourea 213 and the pyrrolidine-thioureas 214-217 (Figure 6.61) [344]. The model Michael reaction between cyclohexanone and trons-nitrostyrene identified water as the best solvent and 217 to be the most efficient catalysts concerning the activity and asymmetric induction (90% yield 96% ee dr 98 2 in 12 h at 35 °C) in the presence of benzoic acid (10mol%) as additive. The optimized catalytic system allowed the formation of a broad spectrum of Michael adducts such as 1-6 resulting from... 

The asymmetric alcoholytic ring opening of 4-substituted-2-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-l,3-oxazin-6-ones proved to be a efficient method for the preparation of enatiomerically pure /3-amino acid derivatives <2005AGE7466>. Treatment of 2,4-diphenyl-4,5-dihydro-l,3-oxazin-6-one 208 in the presence of the bifunctional chiral thiourea catalyst 211 resulted in formation of an enantiomerically enriched mixture of the unchanged oxazinone (iJ)-208 and allyl (4)-3-benzoyl-amino-3-phenylpropanoate 209. The resolved material (iJ)-208 and the product 209 could easily be separated by a selective hydrolytic procedure that converted oxazinone (iJ)-208 quantitatively into the insoluble iV-benzoyl /3-amino acid 210 (Scheme 37). 

A pyrrolidine-thiourea organocatalyst (69) facilitates Michael addition of cyclohexanone to both aryl and alkyl nitroalkenes with up to 98% de and ee 202 The bifunctional catalyst (69) can doubly hydrogen bond to the nitro group, leaving the chiral heterocycles positioned for cyclohexyl enamine formation over one face of the alkene. 

The groups of Tsogoeva, Tang and Jacobsen each pioneered the development of the bifunctional catalyst, combining the nucleophilic amine and thiourea... 

Chen and co-workers later reported the successful asymmetric 1,4-addition of aryl thiols to a,/ -unsaturated cyclic enones and imides using Takemoto s elegantly simple catalyst (3) [43]. This bifunctional amine-thiourea catalyst gives optimal reactivity and reproducibility when used at 10 mol% loading in the presence of freshly dried 4 A molecular sieves (MS). This combination afforded the expected addition products in high yields (90-99%) and moderate to good enantioselectiv-ities (55-85% ee) for a variety of cyclic and acyclic Michael acceptors (Table 6.2). 

Disubstituted thiochroman-4-ols are formed with excellent enantio- and diastereo-selectivity when thiosalicylaldehydes react with an a,P-unsaturated oxazolidinone in the presence of a chiral bifunctional amine-thiourea catalyst. A tandem Michael - aldol process is involved (Scheme 43) <07JA1036>. 

However, when the dienophile was replaced with unsaturated nitrile, 1 j (or lk) was proved to be ineffective. Other bifunctional catalysts, 9-thiourea cinchona alkaloids 11 and lm [21], which were prepared from 9-amino-9-deoxyepiquinidine and 9-amino-... 

Scheme 8.19 Supported thiourea derivative as chiral bifunctional catalyst.

A more simple thiourea catalyst with amino functionality catalyses the asymmetric Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compound to nitroolefin [29,30]. In the reaction of malonate to nitrostyrene (Table 9.11) the adduct is satisfactorily obtained when A-[3,5-bis(trifluor-omethyl)phenyl]-A -(2-dimethylaminocyclohexyl)thiourea is used as a catalyst (ran 1), whereas the reaction proceeds slowly when the 2-amino group is lacking (ran2). In addition, chiral amine without a thiourea moiety gives a poor yield and enantioselectivity of the product (run 3). These facts clearly show that both thiourea and amino functionalities are necessary for rate acceleration and asymmetric induction, suggesting that the catalyst simultaneously activates substrate and nucleophile as a bifunctional catalyst. 

There is an interesting variant of this reaction which involves the use of tert-butyldimethylsilyloxyacetaldehyde as Michael donors and chiral primary amine thiourea bifunctional catalyst 37b (Scheme 2.13). In this case, the diastereoselectivity of the reaction changed from the usually observed syn relative stereochemistry at the final Michael adduct to the formation of the anti diastereoisomer as the major product. This change in diastereoselectivity was explained in terms of the generation of a Z-enamine intermediate assisted by the formation of an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the secondary... 

The higher activity of primary amines in the reaction involving enones as Michael acceptors has also been extended to the use of different bifunctional catalysts (Scheme 3.19), which usually contain a primary amine functionality connected to a basic site by means of a chiral scaffold, as is the case in the use of 280 and 55. These diamine catalysts have been found to be excellent promoters of the Michael reaction of enones with cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and malonates respectively, the tertiary amine basic site present at the catalyst structure being responsible for assisting in the deprotonation of the Michael donor in order to increase the concentration of the nucleophile species. In a different approach, bifunctional thiourea-primary amine catalyst 56a has also... 

Figure 2.6 Some amino-thiourea bifunctional catalysts for the MBH reaction.

Depending of the catalyst structure, a dual catalyst activation mode may be involved in the process. For instance, in catalyst 42 (Fig. 2.4) [62] the presence of the trans-OH group in the 4-position of the pyrroUdine ring helps to activate the electrophile and also directs its approach from the less hindered face of the -enamine (B, Fig. 2.5). The bifunctional catalyst activation behavior is also suggested for other catalysts such as Jacobsen s thiourea 41 (Fig. 2.4) [61], where binding of the nitroalkene by the thioureamoiety allows the thermodynamically favorable E enamine to attain in close proximity for a highly diastereo- and enantioselective C-C bond-formation (C, Fig. 2.5). 

---