Chiral carboxamides

As already mentioned (Section 2.5.1.2.1.3), rhodium(III) borohydride complexes with chiral carboxamide ligands have also been used as enantioselective catalysts for the hydrogenation of a,/ -unsaturated carboxylic esters89. In one case, with methyl 3-phenyl-2-butenoate as substrate, optical yields in the range of 60% have been achieved. 

Chiral dirhodium(II) carboxamidate catalysts are, by far, the most effective for reactions of allylic diazoacetates [44, 45] and allylic diazoacetamides [46]. Product yields are high, catalyst loading is low (less than 1 mol%), and enan-tioselectivities are exceptional (Scheme 6). The catalysts of choice are the two... 

The use of chiral dirhodium carboxamidates has made possible the highly enantioselective synthesis of presqualene alcohol (4) from farnesyl diazoacetate (14) through cyclopropane 15 [9] (Eq. 1). Highly enantiomerically en-... 

Addition to a carbon-carbon triple bond is even more facile than addition to a carbon-carbon double bond, and there are now several reports of intermolec-ular [71] and intramolecular reactions [72-74] that produce stable cyclopropene products with moderate to high enantioselectivities. One of the most revealing examples is that shown in Scheme 9 [72] where the allylic cyclopropanation product (30) is formed by the less reactive Rh2(MEPY)4 catalyst, but macrocy-clization is favored by the more reactive Rh2(TBSP)4 and Rh2(IBAZ)4 catalysts and, as expected, the highest enantioselectivities are derived from the use of chiral dirhodium(II) carboxamidate catalysts. 

In order for folded helices to assemble into tertiary structures in water, they need to be amphipathic (e.g. where one hehcal face is hydrophobic and the other is hydrophilic). Because the first hehcal peptoids contained very hydrophobic chiral residues, ways to increase the water solubihty and side-chain diversity of the hehx-indudng residues were investigated [49]. It was found that a series of side chains with chiral-substituted carboxamides in place of the aromatic group could stiU favor hehx formation, while dramatically increasing water solubility. 

Activation of a C-H bond requires a metallocarbenoid of suitable reactivity and electrophilicity.105-115 Most of the early literature on metal-catalyzed carbenoid reactions used copper complexes as the catalysts.46,116 Several chiral complexes with Ce-symmetric ligands have been explored for selective C-H insertion in the last decade.117-127 However, only a few isolated cases have been reported of impressive asymmetric induction in copper-catalyzed C-H insertion reactions.118,124 The scope of carbenoid-induced C-H insertion expanded greatly with the introduction of dirhodium complexes as catalysts. Building on initial findings from achiral catalysts, four types of chiral rhodium(n) complexes have been developed for enantioselective catalysis in C-H activation reactions. They are rhodium(n) carboxylates, rhodium(n) carboxamidates, rhodium(n) phosphates, and < // < -metallated arylphosphine rhodium(n) complexes. 

Having established that pure enantiomer ( S,ZR)-77 was capable of undergoing remarkably regioselective and diastereoselective C-H activation, it followed that highly efficient enantiomeric differentiation of rac-77 could be accomplished.199 Hence, the Rh2(5Y-MEPY)4-catalyzed reaction of rac-77 effectively gave close to a 1 1 mixture of enantioenriched (lY)-78 (91% ee) and ( R)-79 (98% ee) (Equation (68)). Other equally spectacular examples of diastereo- and regiocontrol via chiral rhodium carboxamide catalysts in cyclic and acyclic diazoacetate systems have been reported.152 199 200 203-205... 

DIPAMP-Rh complex to give the corresponding chiral a-amino acid derivative in over 98% ee. The chiral product has been used for the synthesis of (S)-(-)-ac-romelobic acid [88]. Hydrogenation of a tetrahydropyrazine derivative catalyzed by a PHANEPHOS-Rh complex at -40"C gives an intermediate for the synthesis of Crixivan in 86% ee [82a]. Hydrogenation of another tetrahydropyrazine carboxamide derivative catalyzed by an (R)-BINAP-Rh catalyst leads to the chiral product in 99% ee [89]. 

Chiral dirhodium(II) catalysts with carboxylate or carboxamidate ligands have recently been developed to take advantage of their versatility in metal carbene transformation, and these have now become the catalysts of choice for cyclopropanation. Chiral carboxylate ligands 195,103 196,104 and 197105 have been used for tetrasubstitution around a dirhodium(II) core. However, the enantioselectivity in intermolecular reactions with simple ketenes is marginal. 

Intramolecular cyclopropanation has a noteworthy advantage. Unlike intermolecular asymmetric cyclopropanation, the intramolecular reaction produces only one diastereomer due to geometric constrains on the fused bicyclic products. Doyle has extensively studied the intramolecular enantioselective reactions of a variety of alkenyl diazoacetates catalyzed by chiral rhodium carboxamides 198 and 200 and has achieved excellent results. 

Cationic chiral Rh2 carboxamidates show catalytic activity for the DCR between diaryl nitrones and methacrolein (Scheme 11). Cycloadducts were obtained as 3,4-endo/3,5-endo mixtures with molar ratios ranging from 13/87 to 90/10. The enantioselectivity of the 3,4 isomers is higher than that of the 3,5 adducts and increases when the steric bulk of the ligand ester group increases [36]. 

Optically active benzene(poly)carboxamides and benzene(poly)carboxy-lates were used by Inoue and co-workers as sensitizers for the geometrical photoisomerization of (Z)-cyclooctene and (Z,Z)-cyclooctadienes in various solvents at different temperatures. Under energy-transfer conditions, enantiomeric excesses up to 64% ee in unpolar solvents like pentane were reported. The use of polar solvents diminished the product ee s due to the intervention of a free or solvent-separated radical ion pair generated through the electron transfer from the substrate to the excited chiral sensitizer (Scheme 58) [105-109]. 

Chiral Dirhodium(ll) Carboxamidates for Asymmetric Cyclopropanation and Carbon-Hydrogen Insertion Reactions... 

Chiral dirhodium(II) carboxamidates are preferred for intramolecular cyclopropanation of allylic and homoallylic diazoacetates (Eq. 2). The catalyst of choice is Rh2(MEPY)4 when R " and R are H, but Rh2(MPPIM)4 gives the highest selectivities when these substituents are alkyl or aryl. Representative examples of the applications of these catalysts are listed in Scheme 15.1 according to the cyclopropane synthesized. Use of the catalyst with mirror image chirality produces the enantiomeric cyclopropane with the same enantiomeric excess [33]. Enantioselectivities fall off to a level of 40-70% ee when n is increased beyond 2 and up to 8 (Eq. 2) [32], and in these cases the use of the chiral bisoxazoline-copper complexes is advantageous. 

Diazoacetamides undergo intramolecular cyclopropanation with similarly high enantios-electivities (Eq. 4) [33, 36, 37]. In these cases, however, competition from intramolecular dipolar cycloaddition can compHcate the reaction process. Therefore, the use of R = Me or Bu has been required to achieve good yields of reaction products. Representative examples of applications of chiral dirhodium(II) carboxamidates for enantioselective intramolecular cyclopropanation of diazoacetamides are compiled in Scheme 15.2. 

---