Chiral Anion Phase-Transfer Catalysts

Several years later, a chiral anion phase-transfer approach to asymmetric flu-orination through the use of chiral phosphoric acids Cg-TRIP 63b and PhDAP 64 as catalysts was developed by the same group [98, 99]. Very recendy, other BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acids such as TIPS-TRIP 63c [100] and TCYP 63d [101] were also proved to be efHcient catalysts for the construction of other C-X bonds (X= Br, I) with a high level of enantioselectivity following the chiral anion phase-transfer procedure. 

Asymmetric Phase-Transfer Catalytic Reactions and Applications 

A large number of highly enantioselective transformations catalyzed by chiral phase-transfer catalysts have been developed over the past decades, and some of these reactions have been applied to the asymmetric synthesis of natural products and compounds showing bioactivity. Furthermore, the practicability of asymmetric phase-transfer reactions in the large-scale preparation of drugs and relative intermediates has widely been recognized in both industry and academia. 

In order to illustrate the phase-transfer reactions and their apphcation in organic synthesis, some selected representative examples will be presented in this section. 

Asymmetric Phase-Transfer Reactions of Glycine Imine Derivatives 

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The use of a C-8 BINOL derivative (142) as a chiral anionic phase-transfer catalyst in a nonpolar solvent allowed the enantioselective fluorination of enamides (139) using Selectfluor (140) as the fluorinating reagent (Scheme 48). The authors demonstrated that a wide range of stable and synthetically versatile a-(fluoro)benzoylimines (141) could be readily accessed with high enantioselectivity (82-99% ee). ... 

In the phase-transfer processes discussed in Section 11.2 it is assumed that the anionic hydride source, i.e. borohydride or a hypervalent hydrosilicate, forms an ion-pair with the chiral cationic phase-transfer catalyst. As a consequence, hydride transfer becomes enantioselective. An alternative is that the nucleophilic activator needed to effect hydride transfer from a hydrosilane can act as the chiral inducer itself (Scheme 11.6). 

A reasonable place to start would be to use a combination of Selectfluor and a chiral phosphoric acid catalyst (chiral anion phase-transfer catalysis) [20]... 

Figure 12.15 Chiral phosphate salt anion phase-transfer catalysts.

It is noteworthy that Toste and coworkers described the new concept of an anionic phase-transfer catalyst, whereby a chiral phosphate catalyst was used in the asymmetric fluorination reactions. They used selectfluor as a versatile cationic fluorinating agent, which would normally be insoluble in nonpolar organic solvents. 

The phosphonium salt 21 having a multiple hydrogen-bonding site which would interact with the substrate anion was applied to the phase transfer catalyzed asymmetric benzylation of the p-keto ester 20,[18 191 giving the benzylated P-keto ester 22 in 44% yield with 50% ee, shown in Scheme 7 Although the chemical yield and enantiomeric excess remain to be improved, the method will suggest a new approach to the design of chiral non-racemic phase transfer catalysts. 

These observations showed that the reaction can be simplified by preformation of the indanone enolate in toluene/50% NaOH and subsequent addition of catalyst and CH3CI (Figure 12). This eliminates the "induction period and most importantly the high sensitivity of rate and ee to the catalyst/indanone ratio. Detailed kinetic measurements on this preformed enolate methylation in toluene/50% NaOH determined that the reaction is 0.55 order in catalyst. This is consistent with our finding that the catalyst goes into solution as a dimer which must dissociate prior to com-plexation with the indanone anion. If the rate has a first order dependence on the monomer, the amount of monomer is very small, and the equilibration between dimer and monomer is fast, then the order in catalyst is expected to be 0.5. The 0.5 order in catalyst is not due to the preformation of solid sodium indanone enolate but is a peculiarity of this type of chiral catalyst. Vlhen Aliquat 336 is used as catalyst in this identical system the order in catalyst is 1. Finally, in the absence of a phase transfer catalyst less than 2% methylation was observed in 95 hours. 

Enantioselective aldol reactions also can be used to create arrays of stereogenic centers. Two elegant ot-amino anion approaches have recently been published. Fujie Tanaka and Carlos F. Barbas III of the Scripps Institute, La Jolla, have shown (Org. Lett. 2004,6,3541) that L-proline catalyzes the addition of the aldehyde 6 to other aldehydes with high enantio- and diastereocontroJ. Keiji Maruoka of Kyoto University has developed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004,126,9685) a chiral phase transfer catalyst that mediates the addition of the ester 9 to aldehydes, again with high enantio- and diastcrcocontrol. 

Enantioselective catalytic alkylation is a versatile method for construction of stereo-genic carbon centers. Typically, phase-transfer catalysts are used and form a chiral ion pair of type 4 as an key intermediate. In a first step, an anion, 2, is formed via deprotonation with an achiral base this is followed by extraction in the organic phase via formation of a salt complex of type 4 with the phase-transfer organocata-lyst, 3. Subsequently, a nucleophilic substitution reaction furnishes the optically active alkylated products of type 6, with recovery of the catalyst 3. An overview of this reaction concept is given in Scheme 3.1 [1],... 

Chiral phase transfer catalysts have been exploited in a wide range of reactions which involve anionic intermediates. Remarkably, quaternary ammonium salts of 1 and 2 have been shown to induce asymmetry in many different synthetic reactions, and the cinchona alkaloids appear to be a charmed template for the design of effective phase transfer catalysts [14],... 

Two different epoxidation reactions have been studied using chiral phase transfer catalysts. The salts 22 and 23 have been used to catalyse the nucleophilic epoxidation of enones (e.g. 24) to give either enantiomer of epoxides such as 25 (Scheme 9) [17]. Once again, the large 9-anthracenylmethyl substituent is thought to have a profound effect on the enantio selectivity of the process. A similar process has been exploited by Taylor in his approach to the Manumycin antibiotics (e.g. Manumycin C, 26) [18]. Nucleophilic epoxidation of the quinone derivative 27 with tert-butyl hydroperoxide anion, mediated by the cinchonidinium salt la, gave the tx,/ -epoxy ketone 28 in >99.5% ee (Scheme 10). 

The enantio-determining step of nucleophilic additions to a-bromo-a,y -unsaturated ketones is mechanistically similar to those of nucleophilic epoxidations of enones, and asymmetry has also been induced in these processes using chiral phase-transfer catalysts [20]. The addition of the enolate of benzyl a-cyanoacetate to the enone 31, catalysed by the chiral ammonium salt 32, was highly diastereoselective and gave the cyclopropane 33 in 83% ee (Scheme 12). Good enantiomeric excesses have also been observed in reactions involving the anions of nitromethane and an a-cyanosulfone [20]. 

Several families of efficient chiral phase transfer catalysts are now available for use in asymmetric synthesis. To date, the highest enantiomeric excesses (>95% ee) are obtained using salts derived from cinchona alkaloids with a 9-anthracenylmethyl substituent on the bridgehead nitrogen (e.g. lb, 2b). These catalysts will be used to improve the enantiose-lectivity of existing asymmetric PTC reactions and will be exploited in other anion-mediated processes both in the laboratory and industrially. 

The insertion of the N(2)-G(3) unit in reduced isoquinolines remains a topic of interest, especially stereoselective examples. The iminoglycinate 43 undergoes reaction with the dibromo 44 in the presence of the -symmetric chiral quaternary ammonium bromide phase-transfer catalyst (Equation 130) <2001S1716>. A high-yielding tetrahydro-isoquinoline resulted in excellent enantioselectivity. Reaction of the chiral anion generated from 45 with benzylidene also produces chiral tetrahydroisoquinolines (Equation 131) <1999EJO503>. 

Carter C, Fletcher S, Nelson A (2003) Towards phase-transfer catalysts with a chiral anion inducing asymmetry in the reactions of cations. Tetrahedron Asymmetry 14 1995-2004... 

Alkylation of Glycine Anion Equivalents in the Presence of Chiral Phase-Transfer Catalysts... 

Attempts to produce chiral cyanhydrins under phase-transfer catalytic conditions (3.3.9) using ephedrinium or cinchoninium catalysts has been singularly unsuccessful [21,22]. Optical purities varying from 0 to 60% have been recorded [22], but verification of the reproducibility of the higher values is needed. Similarly, nucleophilic attack on a carbonyl group by the trichloromethyl anion under phase-transfer catalytic conditions (see Section 7.4) in the presence of benzylquininium chloride produces a chiral product, but only with an enantiomeric excess of 5.7% [23]. The veracity of this observation has also been questioned [24],... 

There are only a few reports on chiral phase transfer mediated alkylations". This approach, which seems to offer excellent opportunities for simple asymmetric procedures, has been demonstrated in the catalytic, enantioselective alkylation of racemic 6,7-dichloro-5-methoxy-2-phenyl-l-indanone (1) to form ( + )-indacrinone (4)100. /V-[4-(tnfluoromethyl)phenylmethyl]cinchoninium bromide (2) is one of the most effective catalysts for this reaction. The choice of reaction variables is very important and reaction conditions have been selected which afford very high asymmetric induction (92% cc). A transition state model 3 based on ion pairing between the indanone anion and the benzylcinchoninium cation has been proposed 10°. 

Alkylation Alkylation of the phenylindanone 31 with catalyst 3a by the Merck group demonstrates the reward that can accompany a careful and systematic study of a particular phase-transfer reaction (Scheme 10.3) [5d,5f,9,36], The numerous reaction variables were optimized and the kinetics and mechanism of the reaction were studied in detail. It has been proposed that the chiral induction step involves an ion-pair in which the enolate anion fits on top of the catalyst and is positioned by electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding effects as well as 71—71 stacking interactions between the aromatic rings in the catalyst and the enolate. The electrophile then preferentially approaches the ion-pair from the top (front) face, because the catalyst effectively shields the bottom-face approach. A crystal structure of the catalyst as well as calculations of the catalyst-enolate complex support this interpretation [9a,91]. Alkylations of related active methine compounds, such as 33 to 34 (Scheme 10.3), have also appeared [10,11]. 

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