Carbonyl compounds optical activity

Simple olefins do not usually add well to ketenes except to ketoketenes and halogenated ketenes. Mild Lewis acids as well as bases often increase the rate of the cyclo addition. The cycloaddition of ketenes to acetylenes yields cyclobutenones. The cycloaddition of ketenes to aldehydes and ketones yields oxetanones. The reaction can also be base-cataly2ed if the reactant contains electron-poor carbonyl bonds. Optically active bases lead to chiral lactones (41—43). The dimerization of the ketene itself is the main competing reaction. This process precludes the parent compound ketene from many [2 + 2] cyclo additions. Intramolecular cycloaddition reactions of ketenes are known and have been reviewed (7). 

High yields of optically active cyanohydrins have been prepared from hydrogen cyanide and carbonyl compounds using an enzyme as catalyst. Reduction of these optically active cyanohydrins with lithium aluminum hydride in ether affords the corresponding substituted, optically active ethanolamine (5) (see Alkanolamines). 

The catalytic enantioselective cycloaddition reaction of carbonyl compounds with conjugated dienes has been in intensive development in recent years with the main focus on synthetic aspects the number of mechanistic studies has been limited. This chapter will focus on the development and understanding of cycloaddition reactions of carbonyl compounds with chiral Lewis acid catalysts for the preparation of optically active six-membered ring systems. 

A simple approach for the formation of 2-substituted 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrans, which are useful precursors for natural products such as optically active carbohydrates, is the catalytic enantioselective cycloaddition reaction of a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds with electron-rich alkenes. This is an inverse electron-demand cycloaddition reaction which is controlled by a dominant interaction between the LUMO of the 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene and the HOMO of the alkene (Scheme 4.2, right). This is usually a concerted non-synchronous reaction with retention of the configuration of the die-nophile and results in normally high regioselectivity, which in the presence of Lewis acids is improved and, furthermore, also increases the reaction rate. 

Reductive alkylation with chiral substrates may afford new chiral centers. The reaction has been of interest for the preparation of optically active amino acids where the chirality of the amine function is induced in the prochiral carbonyl moiety 34,35). The degree of induced asymmetry is influenced by substrate, solvent, and temperature 26,27,28,29,48,51,65). Asymmetry also has been obtained by reduction of prochiral imines, using a chiral catalyst 44). Prediction of the major configurational isomer arising from a reductive alkylation can be made usually by the assumption that amine formation comes via an imine, not the hydroxyamino addition compound, and that the catalyst approaches the least hindered side (57). 

While in first experiments the diastereomeric ratios were not determined, the addition of optically active /erf-butyl 2-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)acetate to prostereogenic carbonyl compounds proceeded with high asymmetric induction34-38. 

Optically Active 3-Hydroxy Esters by Condensation of ferf-Butyl ( + )-(/f)-2-(4-Mcthylphcnylsullinyl)acetate with Carbonyl Compounds General Procedure35,37 ... 

The addition of the dianion of /j-sulfmylcarboxylic acids to carbonyl compounds leads to the formation of the corresponding hydroxy derivatives which undergo spontaneous eyclization to give y-lactones. It was found that when optically active ( + )-(/ )-3-(4-methylphenylsulfinyl)pro-panoic acid is used for the reaction, the corresponding diastereomeric /i-sulfinyl-y-lactones are formed in a ratio which is dependent on the substituents of the carbonyl component. However, the diastereoselectivity was always moderate. 

The reaction between the carbanion formed by treatment of optically active a-sulfmyl-ester 153, with f-BuMgBr and carbonyl compounds, gives /5-hydroxyester 154 in high optical yields197 199. 

Although the conversion of an aldehyde or a ketone to its enol tautomer is not generally a preparative procedure, the reactions do have their preparative aspects. If a full mole of base per mole of ketone is used, the enolate ion (10) is formed and can be isolated (see, e.g., 10-105). When enol ethers or esters are hydrolyzed, the enols initially formed immediately tautomerize to the aldehydes or ketones. In addition, the overall processes (forward plus reverse reactions) are often used for equilibration purposes. When an optically active compound in which the chirality is due to an asymmetric carbon a to a carbonyl group (as in 11) is treated with acid or base, racemization results. If there is another asymmetric center in the molecule. 

The enantioselective 1,4-addition addition of organometaUic reagents to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, the so-called Michael reaction, provides a powerful method for the synthesis of optically active compounds by carbon-carbon bond formation [129]. Therefore, symmetrical and unsymmetrical MiniPHOS phosphines were used for in situ preparation of copper-catalysts, and employed in an optimization study on Cu(I)-catalyzed Michael reactions of di-ethylzinc to a, -unsaturated ketones (Scheme 31) [29,30]. In most cases, complete conversion and good enantioselectivity were obtained and no 1,2-addition product was detected, showing complete regioselectivity. Of interest, the enantioselectivity observed using Cu(I) directly in place of Cu(II) allowed enhanced enantioselectivity, implying that the chiral environment of the Cu(I) complex produced by in situ reduction of Cu(II) may be less selective than the one with preformed Cu(I). 

Durst and coworkers were the first to report the condensation of chiral a-sulphinyl carbanions with carbonyl compounds . They found that metallation of (+ )-(S)-benzyl methyl sulphoxide 397 followed by quenching with acetone gives a mixture of dia-stereoisomeric S-hydroxy sulphoxides 398 in a 15 1 ratio (equation 233). The synthesis of optically active oxiranes was based on this reaction (equation 234). In this context, it is interesting to point out that condensation of benzyl phenyl sulphoxide with benzaldehyde gave a mixture of four j8-sulphinyl alcohols (40% overall yield), the ratio of which after immediate work-up was 41 19 8 32 . 

Reaction of optically active a-sulphinyl acetate 298a with prochiral carbonyl compounds proceeds with a high asymmetric induction - , the degree of which depends on the nature of substituents at the carbonyl group (equation 252 Table 22) . The jS-hydroxy sulphoxides 422 formed may be transformed to optically active p-hydroxycarboxylic esters 423 (equation 253) and optically active long-chain lactones 424 99 (equation 254). Corey and coworkers have used this method to introduce a chiral centre at C-3 in their synthesis of maytansin °°, and Papageorgiou and Benezra for the synthesis of chiral a-hydroxyalkyl acrylates 425 ° (equation 255). 

The parent methylenecyclopropane (MCP) (1) [1 ] is a highly volatile compound (bp 11 °C) which can be prepared in multigram quantities and is commercially available. Numerous efficient and straightforward syntheses of the different types of methylene- and alkylidenecyclopropanes have appeared in the literature and the matter has been reviewed by Binger and Buch [2]. In the last decade other selective syntheses have been developed which gave easy access to compounds containing specific substitution patterns [3], to optically active derivatives [4], or more sophisticated derivatives like dicyclopropylideneethane (2) [5], bicyclopropylidene (BCP) (3) [6] and chloromethoxy carbonyl-methylenecyclopropane (4) [7],... 

Increasing use is being made of pyran syntheses based upon [4 + 2] cycloadditions of carbonyl compounds. The appropriate unsaturated aldehyde with ethyl vinyl ether yields 53 with peracids this affords an epoxide that undergoes ring contraction to the aldehyde 54 (Scheme 23) and rhodium catalyzed decarbonylation affords the required 3-alkylfuran with the optical center intact.116 Acetoxybutadiene derivatives add active carbonyl compounds giving pyrans that contract under the influence of acids to give... 

The asymmetric synthesis achieved when the base is an optically active one is proof that the base is present in a transition state with the carbonyl and not just an agent for removal of protons from hydrogen cyanide. It has further been shown that asymmetric synthesis is still achieved even if the only optically active molecules present are quaternary ammonium compounds, i.e., positive ions without any protons to donate. This probably means that the important thing is to have some positive ion near the carbonyl oxygen, an actual covalent... 

A new stable sulfenylating reagent 3-phenylsulfenyl-2-GV-cyano-imino)thiazolidine 57 has been described. It reacts with amines or thiols to give sulfenamides or disulfides in excellent yields. a-Sulfenylation of carbonyl compounds also proceeds smoothly and if an optically active 4-diphenylmethyl substituent is attached to the thiazolidine ring (58), the cyclic (3-ketoester 59 can be sulfenylated in high yield with an ee of 96% to give the sulfide 60 <00SL32>. 

The synthesis of optically active nitrones (95) was carried out by an aldol reaction of aldehydes (93), catalyzed by L- proline, with carbonyl activated compounds (94) and by an in situ reaction with N -alkylhydroxylamines (Scheme 2.36, Table 2.5) (261). 

Table 2.5 Formation of optically active functionalized fS-hydroxy-nitroncs 95 by reaction of aldehydes 93 with activated carbonyl compounds 94 and substituted N -alkyl hydroxylamine hydrochloride in the presence of L-proline as the catalyst...

The asymmetric arylation of ketone enolates represents an attractive method for the preparation of optically active carbonyl compounds with a stereogenic quaternary center at the a-position to the carbonyl group. Such types of compounds are important intermediates for natural product synthesis. Replacement of BINAP by 109 provides... 

ASYMMETRIC OXIDATION OF ENOLATES FOR THE PREPARATION OF OPTICALLY ACTIVE a-HYDROXYL CARBONYL COMPOUNDS... 

A systematic investigation of the free amino acids of the Leguminosae led to the isolation of a novel ninhydrin-positive compound from the leaves of Derris elliptica Benth. (Papilionidae) (93). This substance was analyzed as C6H,3N04 (microanalysis and high resolution mass spectrometry) and was shown to be an amino alcohol. The absence of a carbonyl in the 1R, the loss of 31 mass units in the mass spectrum, and a positive periodate cleavage reaction were best embodied into a dihydroxydihydroxymethylpyrrolidine structure. The relative simplicity of the NMR spectra (three peaks in the 13C spectrum four spin-system in the H spectrum) pointed out a symmetrical structure. Inasmuch as the material was optically active ([a]D 56.4, c = 7, H20), meso structures were ruled out, and the 2R, 3R, 4R, 5R relative configuration was retained (93). This structure (53) was further confirmed by an X-ray determination (94). 

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