Carbon-nitrogen bonds oxidation enantioselectivity

Intramolecular carbon-nitrogen bond formation may result from the Ullmann coupling of l,3-bis(2-iodoaryl)propan-2-amines catalysed by copper. Using (i )-BINOL, l,l -Bi-2-naphthol, ligands, the enantioselective formation of indolines and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines was achieved. Copper catalysis has also been used in the intramolecular formation of imidazobenzimidazole derivatives. The reaction is likely to involve the formation of intermediates, such as (16), which on aerobic oxidation yield the product. There is evidence for an intramolecular 0- -N Smiles rearrangement, as... 

High enantioselectivity has been achieved on addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde catalysed by a chiral diamine, (,S )-2-(A,A -disubstitutcd aminomethyl)pyrrolidine,116 and by chiral helical titanate complexes of tetradentate ligands.117 Enantioselective additions of dialkylzinc reagents to A,-(diphcnylphosphiiioyl)imines, promoted by aziridino alcohols,118 and to the carbon-nitrogen double bond of the nitrone 3,4-dihydroisoquinoline A-oxide, promoted by dicyclopentyl(R,R)-tartrate,119 have also been reported. 

At this stage, sulfoximines had been shown to function as chiral ligands for various palladium and copper catalysts which led to enantioselectivities of >95% ee in various reactions. Furthermore, most of those catalyzed reactions were C-C bond formations. Obvious questions were, therefore, whether sulfoximines could also be applied in combination with other metals and whether reductions and oxidations could be catalyzed as well. A structural comparison of the sulfoximines leading to high ee values such as 55, 60, 81, and 85 revealed that all of them had a two-carbon distance between the two coordinating atoms (which were all nitrogen in these cases). 

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