Chiral acetals preparation

The chiral acetate reagent is readily prepared from methyl mandelate [methyl (A)-hydroxy-phenyl acetate] which is first converted by treatment with phcnylmagnesium bromide into the triphenylglycol783, c (see Section 1.3.4.2.2.2.) and subsequently transformed into the acetate by reaction with acetyl chloride in the presence of pyridine. Thereby, the secondary hydroxyl group of the glycol is esterified exclusively. Both enantiomers of the reagent are readily accessible since both (R)- and (5)-hydroxyphenylacelic acid (mandelic acids) arc industrial products. 

A third route to nonracemic a-alkoxy and a-hydroxy stannaries employs the chiral acetal 73 prepared from (f ,f )-2,4-pentanediol (Scheme 30)66. Addition of various Grignard reagents to this acetal in the presence of TiCLt results in selective displacement yielding (S )-a-alkoxy stannanes. The corresponding a-hydroxy derivatives can be obtained after oxidation and mild base treatment. Organocuprates can also be employed to cleave this acetal but with somewhat lower selectivity67. 

TiCL-induced cleavage of chiral acetal can be used to prepare /i-adrencrgic blocking agents 95 bearing the glycerol structure (Scheme 2-40).98... 

The key sequence in a somewhat involved stereospecihc total synthesis of a carbacephem starts by preparation of a chiral auxiliary. It is interesting to note that nitrogen is the only atom from this molecule retained in the hnal product. Constmction of this moiety starts with the formation of the carbethoxy derivative (37-2) from L(- -)-phenylglycine (37-1). Selective reduction of the free carboxyl group with borane. THF leads to the hydroxycarbamate (37-3). In a one-pot sequence, this is first cyclized to the corresponding oxazolidinone (37-4) by means of sodium hydride and then alkylated with ethyl bromoacetate (37-5). Saponification of the side chain then affords the chiral acetic acid (37-6). The carboxyl group is then activated by conversion to its acid chloride (37-7). 

Chiral acetals have also been used as chiral auxiliaries for the enantioselective cyclopropanation of a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl derivatives (Figure 7). Yamamoto s tartrate derived auxiliaries (15) based on the ether-directed cyclopropanation allowed the efficient preparation of cyclopropylcarboxaldehyde derivatives The reaction proceeded with high diastereocontrol, and the auxiliary could be cleaved under mild acidic conditions (equation 73). 

For example, the acetate prepared from l,l,l-trifluoro-2-octanol was transformed into (.R)-l,l,l-trifluoro-2-octanol in 96% when hydrolyzed with lipase MY at 40% conversion. Other, trifluoromethylated chiral secondary alcohols shown in Table 2 were prepared by the same procedure. The corresponding alcohols were converted to their acetate, followed by asymmetric hydrolysis to attain the higher enantiomeric excess [28]. 

Analogous to the use of chiral acetals one can employ chiral N,O-acetals, accessible from a, -unsatu-rated aldehydes and certain chiral amino alcohols, to prepare optically active -substituted aldehydes via subsequent Sn2 addition and hydrolysis. However, the situation is more complicated in this case, since the N,0-acetal center constitutes a new stereogenic center which has to be selectively established. The addition of organocopper compounds to a, -ethylenic oxazolidine derivatives prepared from unsaturated aldehydes and ephedrine was studied.70-78 The (diastereo) selectivities were rather low (<50% ee after hydrolysis) in most cases, the highest value being 80% ee in a single case.73 There is a strong solvent effect in these reactions, e.g. in the addition of lithium dimethylcuprate to the ( )-cinnamaldehyde-derived oxazolidine (70 Scheme 28) 73 the (fl)-aldehyde (71) is formed preferentially in polar solvents, while the (S)-enantiomer [ent-71) is the major product in nonpolar solvents like hexane. This approach was utilized in the preparation of citronellal (80% ee) from crotonaldehyde (40% overall yield).78... 

Aldol coupling of chiral acetals. The acetals (2) prepared from an aldehyde and (2R,4R)-pentanediol react with a-silyl ketones orenol silyl ethers in the presence of TiCI, to form aldol ethers 3 and 4 with high diastereoselectivity (>95 5). Removal of the chiral auxiliary usually results in decomposition of the aldol, but can be effected after reduction... 

Protected a,3-dihydroxy aldehydes have been prepared by oxidation of acetals of a,B-unsaturated aldehydes with osmium tetroxide in the presence of (23), and a remarkable level of enantioselection ee 2 90%) thereby achieved. Oxidation of chiral acetals of a,p-unsaturated aldehydes in which chirality resides in the noncarbonyl moiety with osmium tetroxide-t ydroquinine acetate (or dihydroquitudine acetate) may be regard as a process in which double stereoselection is at work and a high dia-stereoisomeric ratio of products may be obtained. 

Aldol-Type Addition. Aldol-type addition of the magnesium enolate of (R)-(+)-7-butyl 2-(p-tolylsulfinyl)acetate, prepared with 7-butylmagnesium bromide, with aldehydes and ketones afforded, after desulfurization with Aluminum Amalgam, p-hydroxy esters in very high diastereoselectivity (eq Two chiral centers are created in the first step with very high diastereoselectivity (mainly one diastereomer is formed). A model M based on the structure of the sulfinyl ester enolate (determined by C NMR) and on electrophilic assistance of magnesium to the carbonyl approach, was proposed to explain and predict the absolute configuration of the two created chiral centers. ... 

Acetals prepared from chiral diols and carbonyl compounds serve as a chiral synthetic equivalent of aldehydes or ketones. 1,3-Dioxanes synthesized from chiral 2,4-pentanediols are especially useful, and high asymmetric inductions are observed in the Lewis acid promoted reactions of a variety of organometallic compounds. After the removal of the chiral auxiliary by the oxidation and -elimination procedures, optically active alcohols are obtained. Optically active propargylic alcohols and cyanohydrins are synthesized from organosilane compounds, TMS-C CR or TMS-CN in the presence of TiCU (Scheme 24). 1 6-138 Reactive wganometals such as alkyl-lithiums, -magnesiums or -coppers also react with chiral... 

Chiral auxiliaries have also been applied to the radicals themselves in the formation of chiral hydroxyalkyl radical equivalents [59]. Once again, stereocontrol is accessed through the use of chiral acetals, which are readily available in the form of sugars. Typical reactions of this type are shown in Eq. (13.47). First, the thiohydroxamate ester 148 is prepared so that radical intermediate 149 can be formed photolytically via Barton s radical decarboxylation protocol [60]. The chiral radical 149 can then be trapped by methyl acrylate in a 61% yield with an 11 1 diastereomeric preference for y-substituted 150. 

A chiral oxazolidine prepared from a,j6-unsaturated aldehydes and ( —)- or (-l-)-ephedrine efficiently induced asymmetric cyclopropanation with excess of diazomethane in the presence of palladium acetate, e.g. formation of 24 from ( —)-ephedrine and ( )-cinnamaldehyde 24 was cyclopropanated to give 25 and the auxiliary removed giving... 

Based on the study of the thermal 3-aza-Cope rearrangement of iV-allylketene Af,0-acetals, Kurth and coworkers have developed a similar methodology to the asymmetric synthesis of C(a)- and C( )-substituted-4-pentenoic acids by using a chiral auxiliary. Prepared from the alkylation of oxazolines 179 with tosylate esters 180, followed by neutralization with n-butyllithium in THF, iV-allylketene. /V,0-acetals of 182 rearrange without isolation at 180 °C to 2-butenylisoxazolines (183) with 79-92% diastereoselectivity (d.e,). Enantiomeric excess (e.e.%) reaches as high as 98%. In... 

Two other purely chemical routes to chiral acetic acid have been pursued in our laboratory. In one of these, outlined in Scheme 4, stereospecifically o-deuterated or -tritiated 3,5-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol is prepared by reduction of the aldehyde with Midland s reagent (B-3-pinanyl-9-borabicyclo [3.3.1 ] -nonane, cr-pinanyl-9-BBN) (35), followed by conversion to the tosylate and reductive displacement with lithium aluminum hydride or superhydride (lithium... 

Creighton and Rose (45) have explored the route shown in Scheme 7 to synthesize chiral pyruvate. The method takes advantage of the fact that pyruvate kinase decarboxylates oxalacetate with retention of configuration. The requisite labeled oxalacetates were prepared as shown from the appropriately labeled L-malates, available from equilibration with fumarase in either deuterated or tritiated water. This method is convenient for the preparation of small amounts of chiral acetate but suffers from the low oxalacetate decarboxylase activity of pyruvate kinase. 

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