Binaphthol-modified lithium aluminum hydride

In 1979, Noyori and co-workers invented a new type of chiral aluminum hydride reagent (1), which is prepared in situ from LiAlEE, (S)-l, E-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL), and ethanol. The reagent, called binaphthol-modified lithium aluminum hydride (BINAL-H), affects asymmetric reduction of a variety of phenyl alkyl ketones to produce the alcohols 2 with very high to perfect levels of enantioselectivity when the alkyl groups are methyl or primary1 (Scheme 4.3a). 

The binaphthol-modified lithium aluminum hydride reagents (BINAL-Hs) are also effective in enantioselective reduction of a variety of alkynyl and alkenyl ketones2 (Scheme 4.3b). When the reaction is carried out with 3 equivalents of (S)-BINAL-H at —100 to —78 C, the corresponding propargylic alcohol 3 and allylic alcohol 4 are obtained in high chemical yields with good to excellent levels of enantioselectivity. As is the case with aryl alkyl ketones, the alcohols with (.V)-con figuration are obtained when (S)-BINAL-H is employed. 

Two asymmetric synthesis approaches to chiral cyclopentenone derivatives can be envisaged. The first, reduced to practice by Noyori (43), involved reduction of cyclopentene-l,4-dione with lithium aluminum hydride chirally modified with binaphthol to give R-4-hydroxycyclopent-2-en-l-one in 94% e.e. Alternatively, manganese dioxide oxidation of allylic alcohol [40] (Fig. 7), in analogy to the cis isomer (54), would be expected to give the same enone. 

Both enantiomers of binaphthol have found many uses as chiral reagents and catalysts. Thus, they modify reducing agents (e.g., lithium aluminum hydride) for the reduction of ketones to chiral secondary alcohols (Section D.2.3.3.2.) or react with aluminum, titanium or boron compounds to give chiral Lewis acids for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions (Section D. 1.6.1.1.1.3.) and ene reactions (Section D.I.6.2.). They have also been used as chiral leaving groups in the rearrangement of allyl ethers (Section D.l.1.2.2.) and for the formation of chiral esters with a-oxo acids (Section D. 1.3.1.4.1, and many other purposes. 

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