Chiral a-keto acetals

Chiral acetals can be used as auxiliaries in the diastereoselective reactions of Grignard reagents with acyclic as well as cyclic a-keto acetals. Nucleophilic addition to the monoprotected diketone (69 equation 18) occurs with excellent stereoselectivity to generate the corresponding tertiary alcohol (70) as the major product, usually with greater than 95 5 selectivity. Removal of the ketal yields a-hydroxy ketones of high optical purity. In most examples, enantiomeric excesses of 95% and higher are observed in the resultant keto alcohols. Table 17 represents the results of additions to cyclic and acyclic substrates. 

Platinum catalysts modified by cinchona alkaloids have been developed for asym metric hydrogenation of a-keto acetals " and a-keto esters, and the Ru complex of chiral 2-(MeO)BIPHEP 97 has been developed for P-keto sulfone reduction. ... 

Cross-aldol reactions involving the optically active keto-esters menthyl pyruvate and phenylglyoxylate and either silyl enol ethers or keten silyl acetals have been shown to result in appreciable asymmetric induction, considerably larger than that observed in the reactions of the same chiral a-keto-esters with Grignard... 

Asymmetric reductions of a-fiinctionalized ketones, such as a-hydroxy ketones, a-halo ketones, a-sulfonoxy ketones, 1,2-diketones, a-keto acetals or thio ketals, acyl cyanides and a-amino or imino ketones with boron-based chiral reducing agents in a stoichiometric or catalytic manner have been reviewed. The oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of protected a-hydroxy ketones, a-keto acetals and a-sulfonoxy ketones has been discussed in more detail. 

Enol acetates and corresponding derivatives constitute another class of unsaturated compounds that can advantageously be hydrogenated with high enantiomeric excess. This reaction is related to the enantioselective reduction of ketones. Acylated enol carboxy-lates (as an equivalent of a-keto carboxylic acid) can likewise be successfully reduced with rhodium(I) catalysts based on (5,5)-ethyl-DuPHOS (eq 8). Subsequent deprotection of the hydroxyl group or reduction of the carboxylic acid derivatives so obtained deliver chiral a-hydroxy carboxylates and 1,2-diols, respectively. 

Akiyama, Y, Ishikawa, K, OzaM, S, Asymmetric synthesis of functionalized tertiary alcohols by diastereoselective aldol reaction of silyl enol ether and ketene silyl acetals with a-keto esters bearing an optically active cyclitol as a chiral auxihary, Synlett, 275-276, 1994. 

Aromatic a-keto esters (38) have been also used as electrophilic partner in this transformation. Thus, catalyst mt-60c (15 mol%) combined with acetic acid (150 mol%) allowed the reaction between acetone (3a, 27.3 equiv.) and several a-keto esters affording the corresponding chiral tertiary alcohols (70) in good results. When other ketones such as cyclohexanone, 3-pentanone or 2-butanone were used, the products were obtained albeit in low yields [132]. 

In the early 1990s, Burk introduced a new series of efficient chiral bisphospholane ligands BPE and DuPhos.55,55a-55c The invention of these ligands has expanded the scope of substrates in Rh-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation. For example, with Rh-DuPhos or Rh-BPE as catalysts, extremely high efficiencies have been observed in the asymmetric hydrogenation of a-(acylamino)acrylic acids, enamides, enol acetates, /3-keto esters, unsaturated carboxylic acids, and itaconic acids. 

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