Chiral borohydrides, asymmetric

High enantioselectivities are obtained using tartaric acid-derived boronate ester 31 in combination with lithium borohydride or sodium borohydride for asymmetric reduction of alkyl or aryl ketones. The chiral Lewis add is easUy prepared in one hour, and the resulting alcohols are obtained in enantiomeric excesses of 88-99% (Equation 46) [44]. 

Industrial Synthetic Improvements. One significant modification of the Stembach process is the result of work by Sumitomo chemists in 1975, in which the optical resolution—reduction sequence is replaced with a more efficient asymmetric conversion of the meso-cyc. 02Lcid (13) to the optically pure i7-lactone (17) (Fig. 3) (25). The cycloacid is reacted with the optically active dihydroxyamine [2964-48-9] (23) to quantitatively yield the chiral imide [85317-83-5] (24). Diastereoselective reduction of the pro-R-carbonyl using sodium borohydride affords the optically pure hydroxyamide [85317-84-6] (25) after recrystaUization. Acid hydrolysis of the amide then yields the desired i7-lactone (17). A similar approach uses chiral alcohols to form diastereomic half-esters stereoselectivity. These are reduced and direedy converted to i7-lactone (26). In both approaches, the desired diastereomeric half-amide or half-ester is formed in excess, thus avoiding the cosdy resolution step required in the Stembach synthesis. 

Brimble and coworkers176 studied the asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with chiral naphthoquinones 272 bearing different chiral auxiliaries. The highest endo and facial selectivities were obtained using zinc dichloride as the Lewis acid catalyst and (—)-pantolactone as the chiral auxiliary. Thus, the reaction between cyclopentadiene and 272 afforded a 98 2 mixture of 273 and 274 (equation 76). The chiral auxiliary was removed easily by lithium borohydride reduction. 

The first asymmetric synthesis of (-)-monomorine I, an enantiomer of the natural alkaloid, by Husson and co-workers starts with the chiral 2-cyano-6-oxazolopiperidine synthon (385) prepared from (-)-phenylglycinol (384), glu-taraldehyde (383), and KCN (443). Alkylation of 385 with an iodo ketal led to the formation of a single product (386). The cyano acetal (386) was treated with silver tetrafluoroborate and then zinc borohydride to afford a 3 2 mixture of C-6 epimeric oxazolidine (387) having the (2S) configuration. Reaction of 387 with... 

Isosorbide (3) and isomannide (4) act as chiral auxiliaries for the sodium borohydride reduction of some prochiral ketones optical yields of up to 20% were achieved. It seems that the isohexides form chiral complexes with sodium borohydride, whereby the chiral information is transferred to the substrate.219 Optical active alcohols were obtained by reduction of appropriate ketones with sodium or lithium borohydride in the presence of isosor-bide.219 Asymmetric reduction of propiophenone using sodium borohydride, modified with (+)-camphoric acid and isosorbide, resulted in C -phenylethylcarbinol in 35% enantiomeric excess.2,9b... 

A combination of chiral cobalt-catalyst and sodium borohydride was successfully applied to the asymmetric reduction of aromatic ketones. A chiral cobalt complex 164 (5 mol%), prepared from the corresponding salen-type chiral bisketoaldimine and cobalt(II) chloride, catalyzed the reduction of dimethylchromanone 165 in the presence of sodium borohydride (1.5 equiv to ketone) in chloroform, including a small amount of ethanol at -20°C for 120 h to give alcohol 166 92% ee (S ) in 94% yield (Scheme 2.18) [94], Addition of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFFA) to the reaction system or the use of pre-modified borohydride, NaBH2(THFFA)2, improved the catalyst activity, that is, using this protocol, the reactions of ketone 165 and... 

Consequently, Dehmlow and coworkers modified the cinchona alkaloid structure to elucidate the role of each ofthe structural motifs of cinchona alkaloid-derived chiral phase-transfer catalysts in asymmetric reactions. Thus, the quinoline nucleus of cinchona alkaloid was replaced with various simple or sterically bulky substituents, and the resulting catalysts were screened in asymmetric reactions (Scheme 7.2). The initial results using catalysts 8-11 in the asymmetric borohydride reduction of pivalophenone, the hydroxylation of 2-ethyl-l-tetralone and the alkylation of SchifF s base each exhibited lower enantiomeric excesses than the corresponding cinchona alkaloid-derived chiral phase-transfer catalysts [14]. 

A review describing the major advances in the field of asymmetric reduction of achiral ketones using borohydrides, exemplified by oxazaborolidines and /9-chlorodiisopino- camphenylborane, has appeared. Use of sodium borohydride in combination with chiral Lewis acids has been discussed.298 The usefulness of sodium triacetoxyboro-hydride in the reductive amination of aldehydes and ketones has been reviewed. The wide scope of the reagent, its diverse and numerous applications, and high tolerance for many functional groups have been discussed.299 The preparation, properties, and synthetic application of lithium aminoborohydrides (LABs) have been reviewed. 

Organocatalytic asymmetric carbonyl reductions have been achieved with boranes in the presence of oxazaborolidine and phosphorus-based catalysts (Section 11.1), with borohydride reagents in the presence of phase-transfer catalysts (Section 11.2), and with hydrosilanes in the presence of chiral nucleophilic activators (Section 11.3). 

Compared with boranes, borohydrides are inexpensive and easy to handle. As early as 1978 Colonna and Fornasier reported that aryl alkyl ketones such as acetophenone can be reduced asymmetrically by sodium borohydride by use of an aqueous-organic two-phase system and chiral phase transfer catalysts [20], In this study, the best enantiomeric excess (32%) was achieved when pivalophenone (11) was reduced in the presence of 5 mol% benzylquininium chloride (12) (Scheme 11.4) [20]. Other chiral phase-transfer catalysts, for example ephedrinium salts, proved less effective. 

The boron atom dominates the reactivity of the boracyclic compounds because of its inherent Lewis acidity. Consequently, there have been very few reports on the reactivity of substituents attached to the ring carbon atoms in the five-membered boronated cyclic systems. Singaram and co-workers developed a novel catalyst 31 based on dicarboxylic acid derivative of 1,3,2-dioxaborolane for the asymmetric reduction of prochiral ketones 32. This catalyst reduces a wide variety of ketones enantioselectively in the presence of a co-reductant such as LiBH4. The mechanism involves the coordination of ketone 32 with the chiral boronate 31 and the conjugation of borohydride with carboxylic acid to furnish the chiral borohydride complex 34. Subsequent transfer of hydride from the least hindered face of the ketone yields the corresponding alcohol 35 in high ee (Scheme 3) <20060PD949>. 

In this approach (17), the prochiral fragment was attached to the auxiliary at only one point making the acid-catalysed release after transformation a simple procedure. Chirality was induced by the borohydride reduction of a carbonyl group on the pro-chiral fragment in the asymmetric environment created by complexation of calcium ions between the Cl and C2 oxygens of the hexose. The diastereomeric purity was good (-70%) but separation of the diastereomers was more problematic. 

Abley and McQuillin (44) have reported asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenations catalyzed by rhodium complexes of chiral amides. In initial experiments the catalyst was generated in situ by treating trichlorotripyridylrhodium(III) with sodium borohydride in an optically active amide solvent (Fig. 20). In later work a 5% solution of the amide in diethylene glycol monoethyl ether was used and products with the same optical purities were obtained. This evidence indi-... 

In 1993, Bolm reported that these reactions could be performed using catalytic quantities (10 mol%) of the chiral P-hydroxy sulfoximine.132 The enantiomeric purities of the product alcohols ranged from 52% (1-indanone) to 93% (PhCOCHjOSiRj). In many cases the enantiomeric purities were enhanced using sodium borohydride as reductant in the presence of chlorotrimethylsilane.133 These methods have been extended to the asymmetric reductions of imines.134 /V-SPh-substituted imines gave the highest enantioselectivities and these reductions proceeded in the same stereochemical sense as the reductions of ketones. 

Precursor of Useful Chiral Ligands. OPEN is widely used for the preparation of chiral ligands. Organometallic compounds with these ligands act as useful reagents or catalysts in asymmetric induction reactions such as dihydroxylation of olefins, transfer hydrogenation of ketones and imines, Diels-Alder and aldol reactions, desymmetrization of meso-diols to produce chiral oxazolidinones, epoxidation of simple olefins, benzylic hydroxylation, and borohydride reduction of ketones, imines, and a,p-unsaturated carboxylates. ... 

Reduction of C=0 and C=N Bonds. Asymmetric reductions of prochiral ketones (19) to the corresponding chiral alcohols (20) using (S)-proline-modified borohydride reagents as the reductant have been published. The borane reductions of ketones (19) employing (S)-proline as chiral mediator proceeds with enantiomeric... 

In 1951 Bothner-By first attempted asymmetric reductions based on the conversion of lithium aluminum hydride (LAH) into a chiral alkoxy derivative by reaction with (+)-camphor. Since this pioneering work, the use of chirally modified LAH reagents has been the focus of much attention. In 1979, the first virtually complete enantiofacial recognition of prochiral carbonyl compounds was accomplished by using LAH modified with optically pure 2,2 -dihydroxy-1,1 -binaphthyl and a simple alcohol (BINAL-H). Asymmetric reduction with chiral 2,5-dimethylborolane also gave alcohols in high optical yields." Recently, excellent results have been obtained using a chirally modified sodium borohydride... 

When borohydride reductions are carried out in the presence of either a chiral phase transfer catalyst or a chiral crown ether, asymmetric reduction of ketones occurs but optical yields are low. In the reduction of acetophenone with NaBH4 aided with a phase transfer catalyst (57), 10% ee was obtained. Similarly, reduction of acetophenone with NaBH4 in the presence of the chiral crown ether (58) was ineffective (6% ee)J Sodium borohydride reduction of aryl alkyl ketones in the presence of a protein, bovine semm albumin, in 0.01 M borax buffer at pH 9.2 affords (R)-carbinols in maximum 78% cc. ... 

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