Chiral compounds active moiety

Frequently one of the enantiomers does not have active pharmacologic properties. In such a case, the drug formulation should not include a chemical moiety that does not have therapeutic value once the separation technique is available and is considered to be economical. In addition to physiological activities, stereospecificity influences the physicochemical properties of drugs. Let s take as an example the enantiomer of ibuprofen compared with the race-mate. The chiral compound has higher aqueous solubility, higher density, and better flowability, but a lower intrinsic dissolution rate. ... 

The third approach to Isomer separation by HPLC Is based on the use of chiral stationary phases. The phase may be Inherently optically active (e.g., powdered d-quartz or starch) or may be a non-optlcally active material coated with or reacted with an optically active moiety. As early as 1938, enantiomers of a camphor compound were separated on a lactose column (54), and twenty years later, alumina coated with ortartarlc acid was used to separate Isomers of mandellc acid and phenylglyclne-methyl ester... 

The dual activation mode of the aforementioned cinchona alkaloid-derived thiourea catalysts proved to be highly effective in catalyzing the asynunetric Mannich reaction, among other transformations. These findings prompted the development of new, more simple bifunctional chiral catalysts that are predominately based on tra 5 -l,2-diaminocy-clohexane. For example, the application of the thiourea catalyst 120, which was developed by Takemoto and coworkers, afforded upon the reaction of Af-Boc-protected imines with diethyl malonate the desired chiral amines in good chemical yields (up to 91%) and enantioselectivities (98% ee) (Scheme 11.23) [81]. The catalytic mechanism presumably involves deprotonation and coordination of the active carbonyl compound by the chiral tertiary amine moiety. The formed enolate then attacks the si-face of the... 

Reductive alkylation with chiral substrates may afford new chiral centers. The reaction has been of interest for the preparation of optically active amino acids where the chirality of the amine function is induced in the prochiral carbonyl moiety 34,35). The degree of induced asymmetry is influenced by substrate, solvent, and temperature 26,27,28,29,48,51,65). Asymmetry also has been obtained by reduction of prochiral imines, using a chiral catalyst 44). Prediction of the major configurational isomer arising from a reductive alkylation can be made usually by the assumption that amine formation comes via an imine, not the hydroxyamino addition compound, and that the catalyst approaches the least hindered side (57). 

The question that emerges at the climax of this survey relates to the possibility of using crystalline inclusion phenomena for optical resolutions of molecular species. Can this be done effectively with suitably designed host compounds The definitely positive answer to this question has elegantly been demonstrated by Toda 20) as well as by other investigators (see Ch. 2 of Vol. 140). An optically active host compound will always form a chiral lattice. Therefore, when an inclusion type structure is induced, one enantiomer of the guest moiety should be included selectively within the asymmetric environment. 

This finding is also in agreement with another three-component Michael/aldol addition reaction reported by Shibasaki and coworkers [14]. Here, as a catalyst the chiral AlLibis[(S)-binaphthoxide] complex (ALB) (2-37) was used. Such hetero-bimetallic compounds show both Bronsted basicity and Lewis acidity, and can catalyze aldol [15] and Michael/aldol [14, 16] processes. Reaction of cyclopentenone 2-29b, aldehyde 2-35, and dibenzyl methylmalonate (2-36) at r.t. in the presence of 5 mol% of 2-37 led to 3-hydroxy ketones 2-38 as a mixture of diastereomers in 84% yield. Transformation of 2-38 by a mesylation/elimination sequence afforded 2-39 with 92 % ee recrystallization gave enantiopure 2-39, which was used in the synthesis of ll-deoxy-PGFla (2-40) (Scheme 2.8). The transition states 2-41 and 2-42 illustrate the stereochemical result (Scheme 2.9). The coordination of the enone to the aluminum not only results in its activation, but also fixes its position for the Michael addition, as demonstrated in TS-2-41. It is of importance that the following aldol reaction of 2-42 is faster than a protonation of the enolate moiety. 

Hetero Diels-Alder reactions are very useful for constructing heterocyclic compounds, and many important chiral molecules have thus been synthesized. Although the retro Diels-Alder reaction does not itself involve the asymmetric formation of chiral centers, this reaction can still be used as an important tool in organic synthesis, especially in the synthesis of some thermodynamically less stable compounds. The temporarily formed Diels-Alder adduct can be considered as a protected active olefin moiety. Cyclopentadiene dimer was initially used, but it proved difficult to carry out the pyrrolytic process. Pentamethyl cyclopentadiene was then used, and it was found that a retro Diels-Alder reaction could easily be carried out under mild conditions. 

Chiral /3,/3-diaryIpropionic acid moieties are often found in compounds showing biological activities, such as antiarrhythmics vasodilators antidepressives " , antihistamines and controllers of cerebral insufficiency ". In the course of synthetic studies of chiral -diaryIpropionic acid derivatives, Merck researchers developed stereoselective conjugate addition of aryllithium reagents to the a,/ -unsaturated fert-butyl esters 18 bearing a chiral imidazolidine or oxazolidine auxiliary at the ortho position of an aryl group. The addition furnished chiral -diaryIpropionic acid derivatives 19 with... 

With other electrophiles, ferrocenes 12 and 13 could be obtained, bearing a selenium group [19] or a silanol moiety [20], respectively, in the ortho position. Those compounds proved to be catalytically active as well, and in particular 13 was of interest, since - to the best of our knowledge - it was the first silanol ever used as a chiral ligand in asymmetric catalysis. Details of this study will be discussed below. 

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