Chiral amines, with ketones

Recently, two other groups have shown that exocyclic iminium salts can be useful mediators in asymmetric epoxidation. Komatsu has developed a system based on ketiminium salts [14], prepared through the condensation of aliphatic cyclic amines with ketones. A chiral variant was also produced, derived from prolinol and cyclohexanone, which gave 70% yield and 39% ee for cinnamyl alcohol (Scheme 5.7). 

Chiral amines. Synthesis of chiral amines from ketones through reductive amination with (-(-)- or (-)-norephedrine requires selective C-N bond cleavage. Sacrificial dissection of the chiron by periodate oxidation completes the operation. 

Directed and Asymmetric Reduction The principles of directed and asymmetric reactions were first developed for hydrogenation, as discussed in Section 9.2. Asymmetric hydrosilation of ketones can now be carried out cata-lytically with rhodium complexes of diop (9.22). The new chiral ligand Et-duPHOS, made by Burk at du Pont, allows chiral amination of ketones via Eq. 14.50. Note how the use of the hydrazone generates an amide carbonyl to act as a ligand, as is known to favor high e.e. (see Section 9.2). Noyori s powerful BINAP ligand has been applied to a large number of asymmetric reactions. 

Dienamines are usually prepared by condensation of secondary amines with a, p- or p,y-unsaturated aldehydes or ketones [130]. Recently, transient formation of dienamine species by interaction of chiral amines with y-enolizable a,p-unsaturated aldehydes has been largely explored and has been shown to be a powerful tool in organic synthesis [131,132]. As the aminodienic compounds thereby generated are not isolated but further functionalized in situ, their synthesis will not be described here. 

In an enzymatic reaction catalyzed by co-transaminases, ketones were converted into the desired chiral amine with the formation of the coproduct pyruvate from alanine. To remove pyruvate from the equilibrium, it was transformed into lactate by a lactate... 

Since most often the selective formation of just one stereoisomer is desired, it is of great importance to develop highly selective methods. For example the second step, the aldol reaction, can be carried out in the presence of a chiral auxiliary—e.g. a chiral base—to yield a product with high enantiomeric excess. This has been demonstrated for example for the reaction of 2-methylcyclopenta-1,3-dione with methyl vinyl ketone in the presence of a chiral amine or a-amino acid. By using either enantiomer of the amino acid proline—i.e. (S)-(-)-proline or (/ )-(+)-proline—as chiral auxiliary, either enantiomer of the annulation product 7a-methyl-5,6,7,7a-tetrahydroindan-l,5-dione could be obtained with high enantiomeric excess. a-Substituted ketones, e.g. 2-methylcyclohexanone 9, usually add with the higher substituted a-carbon to the Michael acceptor ... 

In asymmetric Strecker synthesis ( + )-(45,55 )-5-amino-2,2-dimethyl-4-phenyl-l,3-dioxane has been introduced as an alternative chiral auxiliary47. The compound is readily accessible from (lS,25)-2-amino-l-phcnyl-l,3-propancdioI, an intermediate in the industrial production of chloramphenicol, by acctalization with acetone. This chiral amine reacts smoothly with methyl ketones of the arylalkyl47 or alkyl series48 and sodium cyanide, after addition of acetic acid, to afford a-methyl-a-amino nitriles in high yield and in diastereomerically pure form. 

In the case of the ketone (12), a racemic mixture was converted to an optically active mixture (optical yield 46%) by treatment with the chiral base (13). This happened beeause 13 reacted with one enantiomer of 12 faster than with the other (an example of kinetic resolution). The enolate (14) must remain coordinated with the chiral amine, and it is the amine that reprotonates 14, not an added proton donor. 

One of the potentially most useful aspects of the imine anions is that they can be prepared from enantiomerically pure amines. When imines derived from chiral amines are alkylated, the new carbon-carbon bond is formed with a bias for one of the two possible stereochemical configurations. Hydrolysis of the imine then leads to enantiomerically enriched ketone. Table 1.4 lists some examples that have been reported.118... 

Burk et al. showed the enantioselective hydrogenation of a broad range of N-acylhydrazones 146 to occur readily with [Et-DuPhos Rh(COD)]OTf [14]. The reaction was found to be extremely chemoselective, with little or no reduction of alkenes, alkynes, ketones, aldehydes, esters, nitriles, imines, carbon-halogen, or nitro groups occurring. Excellent enantioselectivities were achieved (88-97% ee) at reasonable rates (TOF up to 500 h ) under very mild conditions (4 bar H2, 20°C). The products from these reactions could be easily converted into chiral amines or a-amino acids by cleavage of the N-N bond with samarium diiodide. 

Chiral amines can also be produced using aminotransferases, either by kinetic resolution of the racemic amine or by asymmetric synthesis from the corresponding prochiral ketone. The reaction involves the transfer of an amino group, a proton and two electrons from a primary amine to a ketone, and proceeds via an intermediate imine adduct. A variety of chiral amines can be obtained with high to very high ee-values. Several transformations have been developed and can be carried out on a 100-kg scale [94]. 

A final example, from the work of Trost (49), represents the only case in which an intramolecular Michael reaction has been catalyzed by a chiral amine. When the achiral cyclohexanone is treated with (- )-quinine and heated in toluene solution, the bicyclic ketone is formed in 83% chemical and 30% enantiomeric yield (eq. [8]). 

The use of chiral auxiliaries has been developed into elegant three-step sequences to achieve high ee s (Figure 2). In the general scheme a ketone is derivatized with a chiral amine. Low temperature lithiation and alkylation followed by hydrolysis produces the alkylated ketone in moderate to excellent ee s. The auxiliaries most often used are (S)-valine tert-butyl ester (Koga), l-amino-2-methoxymethylpyrrolidine (Enders) and (S)-2-amino-1-... 

Abstract The reversible reaction of primary or secondary amines with enolizable aldehydes or ketones affords nncleophilic intermediates, enamines. With chiral amines, catalytic enantioselective reactions via enamine intermediates become possible. In this review, structure-activity relationships and the scope as well as cnrrent limitations of enamine catalysis are discnssed. 

This catalytic enamine formation is limited to aldehydes and ketones as starting materials - it does not appear to be possible to prepare corresponding enamines , i.e. A,0-ketene acetals, from esters in this fashion. Nevertheless, the preparation of simple, reactive nucleophiles from normally electrophilic species, aldehydes and ketones, in a catalytic fashion sounds highly attfactive. Furthermore, the catalytic nature of these reactions allows the use of chiral amines, and the further possibility that these reactions can be rendered enantioselective. Enamines react readily with a wide variety of electrophiles, and the range of reactions that can be catalyzed by enamine catalysis is summarized in Scheme 2. 

Subsequently, List reported that although the method described above was not applicable to the reduction of a,P-unsaturated ketones, use of a chiral amine in conjunction with a chiral anion provided an efficient and effective procedure for the reduction of these challenging substrates [210]. Transfer hydrogenation of a series of cyclic and acyclic a,P-unsaturated ketones with Hantzsch ester 119 could be achieved in the presence of 5 mol% of valine tert-butyl ester phosphonate salt 155 with outstanding levels of enantiomeric control (Scheme 64). A simple mechanistic model explains the sense of asymmetric induction within these transformations aUowing for reliable prediction of the reaction outcome. It should also be noted that matched chirality in the anion and amine is necessary to achieve high levels of asymmetric induction. 

A further example of the use of a chiral anion in conjunction with a chiral amine was recently reported by Melchiorre and co-workers who described the asymmetric alkylation of indoles with a,P-unsaturated ketones (Scheme 65) [212]. The quinine derived amine salt of phenyl glycine (159) (10-20 mol%) provided the best platform with which to perform these reactions. Addition of a series of indole derivatives to a range of a,P-unsaturated ketones provided access to the adducts with excellent efficiency (56-99% yield 70-96% ee). The substrates adopted within these reactions is particularly noteworthy. For example, use of aryl ketones (R = Ph), significantly widens the scope of substrates accessible to iminium ion activation. Expansion of the scope of nucleophiles to thiols [213] and oximes [214] with similar high levels of selectivity suggests further discoveries will be made. 

The first report in this regard described a method for direct formation of the desired optically active (S)-alcohol 32a, via enantioselective reduction with a chiral amine complex of lithium aluminum hydride (Scheme 14.9). Therefore, the necessary chiral hydride complex 38 was preformed in toluene at low temperature from chiral amino alcohol 37. The resulting hydride solution was then immediately combined with ketone 31 to afford the desired (S)-alcohol 32a in excellent yield and enantiomeric excess. In addition to providing a more efficient route to the desired drug molecule, this work also led to the establishment of the absolute configuration of duloxetine (3) as S). 

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