Boron compounds Lewis acid complexes

Chiral boron Lewis-acid complexes have been successfully used in Diels-Alder and aldol reactions. Representative chiral Lewis-acidic boron compounds are shown in Figure 2.297-301... 

The isolation of the initial aldol products from the condensation of the enolates of carbene complexes and carbonyl compounds is possible if the carbonyl compound is pretreated with a Lewis acid. As indicated in equation (9), the scope of the aldol reaction can also be extended to ketones and enolizable aldehydes by this procedure. The condensations with ketones were most successful when boron trifluoride etherate was employed, and for aldehydes, the Lewis acid of choice is titanium tetrachloride. The carbonyl compound is pretreated with a stoichiometric amount of the Lewis acid and to this is added a solution of the anion generated from the caibene complex. An excess of the carbonyl-Lewis acid complex (2-10 equiv.) is employed however, above 2 equiv. only small improvements in the overall yield are realized. 

Complementary to the acylation of enolate anions is the acid-catalyzed acylation of the corresponding enols, where the regiochemistry of acylation can vary from that observed in base-catalyzed reactions. Although the reaction has been studied extensively in simple systems, it has not been widely used in the synthesis of complex molecules. The catalysts most frequently employed are boron trifluoride, aluminum chloride and some proton acids, and acid anhydrides are the most frequently used acylating agents. Reaction is thought to involve electrophilic attack on the enol of the ketone by a Lewis acid complex of the anhydride (Scheme 58). In the presence of a proton acid, the enol ester is probably the reactive nucleophile. In either case, the first formed 1,3-dicarbonyl compound is converted into its borofluoride complex, which may be decomposed to give the 3-d>ketone, sometimes isolated as its copper complex. 

Complexes of carbonyl oxygen with trivalent boron and aluminum compounds tend to adopt a geometry consistent with directional interaction with one of the oxygen lone pairs. Thus the C—O—M bonds tend to be in the trigonal (120°—140°) range and the boron or aluminum is usually close to the carbonyl plane.The structural specificity that is built into Lewis acid complexes can be used to advantage to achieve stereoselectivity in catalysis. For example, use of chiral ligands in conjunction with Lewis acids is frequently the basis for enantioselective catalysts. 

Enantiomerically pure boron-based Lewis acids have also been used successfully in catalytic aldol reactions. Corey s catalyst (7.10a) provides good enantioselectivity with ketone-derived silyl enol ethers, including compound (7.11). Other oxazaborolidine complexes (7.13) derived from a,a-disubstituted a-amino acids give particularly high enantioselectivity, especially with the disubstituted ketene... 

A good example of the qi/z-Evans aldol reaction is demonstrated by the Novartis synthesis of (+ymethylphenidate 204, a treatment for ADHD in children. Treatment of compound 199 with n-Bu2BOTf and DIPEA followed by aldehyde 200 afforded the 1,2-syn Aldol product 202. Initial Lewis acid complexation followed by deprotonation led to preferential (Z)-enolate formation. In this case, the use of a boron Lewis acid which can only coordinate to two heteroatoms led to syn stereochemistiy governed by a chair-like Zimmerman-Traxler transition state 201 (Scheme 14.72). Following mesylation of the secondary alcohol, the auxiliary was removed under reductive conditions and the resultant alcohol transformed into (-l-)-methylphenidate 204. 

Neutral compounds such as boron trifluoride and aluminum chloride form Lewis acid-base complexes by accepting an electron pair from the donor molecule. The same functional groups that act as lone-pair donors to metal cations can form complexes with boron trifluoride, aluminum chloride, and related compounds. 

Lewis acids, particularly the boron trifluroride diethyl ether complex, are used to promote the reaction between allyl(trialkyl)- and allyl(triaryl)stannanes and aldehydes and ketones52-54. The mechanism of these Lewis acid promoted reactions may involve coordination of the Lewis acid to the carbonyl compound so increasing its reactivity towards nucleophilic attack, or in situ transmetalation of the allyl(trialkyl)stannane by the Lewis acid to generate a more reactive allylmetal reagent. Which pathway operates in any particular case depends on the order of mixing of the reagents, the Lewis acid, temperature, solvent etc.55- 58. 

Thermolysis rates are enhanced substantially by the presence of certain Lewis acids (e.g. boron and aluminum halides), and transition metal salts (e.g. Cu ", Ag1).46 There is also evidence that complexes formed between azo-compounds and Lewis acids (e.g. ethyl aluminum scsquichloridc) undergo thermolysis or photolysis to give complexed radicals which have different specificity to uncomplexed radicals.81 83... 

Si. rra(pentafluorophenyl)boron was found to be an efficient, air-stable, and water-tolerant Lewis-acid catalyst for the allylation reaction of allylsilanes with aldehydes.167 Sc(OTf)3-catalyzed allylations of hydrates of a-keto aldehydes, glyoxylates and activated aromatic aldehydes with allyltrimethylsilane in H2O-CH3CN were examined. a-Keto and a-ester homoallylic alcohols and aromatic homoallylic alcohols were obtained in good to excellent yields.168 Allylation reactions of carbonyl compounds such as aldehydes and reactive ketones using allyltrimethoxysilane in aqueous media proceeded smoothly in the presence of 5 mol% of a CdF2-terpyridine complex (Eq. 8.71).169... 

Often Lewis acids are added to the system as a cocatalyst. It could be envisaged that Lewis acids enhance the cationic nature of the nickel species and increase the rate of reductive elimination. Indeed, the Lewis acidity mainly determines the activity of the catalyst. It may influence the regioselectivity of the catalyst in such a way as to give more linear product, but this seems not to be the case. Lewis acids are particularly important in the addition of the second molecule of HCN to molecules 2 and 4. Stoichiometrically, Lewis acids (boron compounds, triethyl aluminium) accelerate reductive elimination of RCN (R=CH2Si(CH3)3) from palladium complexes P2Pd(R)(CN) (P2= e g. dppp) [7], This may involve complexation of the Lewis acid to the cyanide anion, thus decreasing the electron density at the metal and accelerating the reductive elimination. 

Since dienolates 1 and 2 represent diacetate synthons, the dienolate derived from 6-ethyl-2,2-dimethyldioxinone can be seen as a propionate-acetate syn-thon. The synthesis of the corresponding dienolate provides a mixture of the E and Z enolates in a 3 5 ratio. The reaction with Ti-BINOL complex 5 generates a 5 1 mixture with the syn isomer as the major diastereomer. After separation of the diastereomers, the enantiomeric excess of the syn isomer was determined to be 100%. The anti isomer was formed in 26% ee. The same transformation performed with boron Lewis acid 7 gave the anti isomer as the major compound, but only with 63% ee. The minor syn isomer was produced with 80% ee. The observed selectivity could be rationalized by an open transition state in which minimization of steric hindrance favors transition state C (Fig. 1). In all three... 

An essential feature of [Tc=N] + complexes is the Lewis basicity of the nitrido group, which can react with strong Lewis acids such as trivalent boron compounds. Recently the first nitrido bridges between technetium and boron were produced by an acid-base reaction between... 

---