Bromoacetyl oxazolidinones

L. Wessjohn and co-workers successfully applied the CrCl2-mediated Reformatsky reaction for the synthesis of C1-C6 fragment of epothilones. In their approach, they utilized the Evans (R)-4-benzyl-oxazolidinone chiral auxiliary to control the absolute stereochemistry. The chromium-Re/brmafsAy reaction between the (R)-4-benzyl-3-(2-bromoacetyl)-oxazolidinone and 2,2-dimethyl-3-oxo-pentanal occurred with complete chemoselection providing the product with 63% yield and as a single diastereomer. 

Table 14 Condensations of A/-(a-Bromoacetyl)oxazolidinone Enolates and Aldehydes ...

Guided by the success of the Evans and related auxiliaries, several attempts were made to use enantiomerically pure a-bromoacyl oxazolidinones for stereoselective Reformatsky reactions. Fukuzawa and coworkers developed the reaction of various bromoacetyl oxazolidinones 323 as an alternative to an asymmetric acetate aldol addition. The conversion was mediated by samarium iodide and yielded P-hydroxy carbonyl compounds 325 with high diastereoselectivity in optimal combinations of auxiliary group and aldehyde. Among the different auxiliaries, the geminal dimethyl- and diphenyl-substituted ones performed better than the original Evans oxazolidinones. The stereochemical outcome was rationalized by assuming that an O-bound samarium(III) enolate reacts via a chair-like... 

Ytterbium trifluoromethanesulfonate promoted a radical atom-transfer addition of chiral 3-bromoacetyl-2-oxazolidinones to norbornadiene, which afforded the corresponding 5-ex<9-3-bromo-5-nortricycleneacetic acid derivatives in good yields and with high diastereoselectivity (90-96% de, when using the chiral 4-isopropyl- and 4-benzyl-substituted 2-oxazolidinone auxiliaries).133... 

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