Chiral dirhodium compounds

Since their first introduction by Brunner and McKervey as chiral catalysts for the asymmetric cyclopropanation of alkenes with diazo compounds, chiral dirhodium tetra(A-arylsulfonylprolinates) complexes have been widely used by Davies,in particular, in the context of these reactions. Therefore, the use of... 

Rh(II) carboxylates, especially Rh2(OAc)4> have emerged as the most generally effective catalysts for metal carbene transformations [7-10] and thus interest continues in the design and development of dirhodium(II) complexes that possess chiral51igands. They are structurally well-defined, with D2h symmetry [51] and axial coordination sites at which carbene formation occurs in reactions with diazo compounds. With chiral dirhodium(II) carboxylates the asymmetric center is located relatively far from the carbene center in the metal carbene intermediate. The first of these to be reported with applications to cyclopropanation reactions was developed by Brunner [52], who prepared 13 chiral dirhodium(II) tetrakis(car-boxylate) derivatives (16) from enantiomerically pure carboxylic acids RlR2R3CC OOH with substituents that were varied from H, Me, and Ph to OH, NHAc, and CF3. However, reactions performed between ethyl diazoacetate and styrene yielded cyclopropane products whose enantiopurities were less than 12% ee, a situation analogous to that encountered by Nozaki [2] in the first applications of chiral Schiff base-Cu(II) catalysts. 

The use of chiral dirhodium carboxylate, 17 or 18, is preferred over chiral dirhodium carboxamidates for chemical transformations of a-diazo-p-ketocarbonyl compounds primarily because of reactivity considerations, that is, these diazo compounds do not undergo dinitrogen loss with the carboxamidate catalysts even at elevated temperatures. In addition, the orientation of the chiral ligands in 17 and 18 provides closer access to bulky diazo compounds. When the two attachments to the di azomethane unit are vastly unequal in size, high levels of enantiocontrol can result. 

Although exceptional diastereocontrol and enantiocontrol can now be achieved in C-H insertion reactions of catalytically generated metal carbenes, further improvements are needed. Insertion into tertiary C-H bonds occurs with diminished enantiocontrol and regiocontrol [131,132], In addition, chiral dirhodium carboxamidates do not react with a-diazo-p-ketocar-bonyl compounds. Thus, the potential for their impact on a broad range of C-H insertion processes is yet to be tested. 

Molecular mechanics was also used to model enantioselective metal-carbene transformations catalyzed by chiral dirhodium(II) compounds[243]. Here, a considerably more thorough approach was used, and the experimental structures of the catalysts were accurately reproduced. A difficulty encountered in this study was the parameterization of the metal-carbene intermediate. This might be part of the reason why in some cases the predicted enantioselectivities were opposite to those observed1 431. 

This is the first detailed procedure for the synthesis of a chiral dirhodium(ll) carboxamide catalyst and its application to intramolecular cyclopropanation. The preparation of the ligand, methyl 2-pyrrolidone-5(R)-carboxylate, is adapted from the procedure of Ackermann, Matthes, and Tamm.2 The method for ligand displacement from dirhodium(ll) tetraacetate is an extension of that reported for the synthesis of dirhodium(ll) tetraacetamide.6 The title compound, (1 R,5S)-(-)-6,6-dimethyl-3-oxabicyclo[3.1.0]hexan-2-one, is a synthetic precursor to (1 R,3S)-(+)-cis-chrysanthemic acid.5... 

The use of chiral additives with a rhodium complex also leads to cyclopropanes enantioselectively. An important chiral rhodium species is Rh2(5-DOSP)4, which leads to cyclopropanes with excellent enantioselectivity in carbene cyclopro-panation reactions. Asymmetric, intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions have been reported. The copper catalyzed diazoester cyclopropanation was reported in an ionic liquid. ° It is noted that the reaction of a diazoester with a chiral dirhodium catalyst leads to p-lactones with modest enantioselectivity Phosphonate esters have been incorporated into the diazo compound... 

An exceptionally reactive and selective chiral dirhodium(II) carboxamides, Rh2[(45)-MEAZ]4, has the potential to significantly broaden the applicability of asymmetric synthesis using diazocarbonyl compounds. ... 

Timmons DJ, Doyle MP (2005) Chiral dirhodium(II) catalysts and their applications. In Chemical reactions of metal-metal bonded compounds of the transition elements, progress in inorganic chemistry. Chap 13, pp 591-632... 

A comprehensive review on metal-metal bonded rhodium compounds by Chifotides et al. [59] was published in the book by Cotton et al. in 2005. In this chapter, more than 1800 dirhodium complexes were systematically categorized based on the types of bridging groups and the oxidation states of the metal centers, and the syntheses, the structural characteristics, and the applications of the complexes were discussed [59]. The catalytic applications of chiral dirhodium(II) complexes were covered in a separate chapter by Doyle et al. in the 2005 monograph [60a]. 

Synthesis of the chiral catalysts to introduce enantioselectivity in carbene transfer reactions is a subject of great interest. Often copper and rhodium chiral catalysts are of choice for the carbene transfer reactions. In some reports, immobilized chiral dirhodium (II) catalyst were employed successfully in asymmetric cyclopropanation reactions. Ubeda and coworkers reported the immobilization of chiral Rh2(02CR)2(PC)2 (PC = ort/io-metalated phosphine) compounds on cross-linked polystyrene (PS) resin by an... 

Enantioselective intramolecular and intermolecular C—H functionalization reactions with a-diazocarbonyl compounds catalyzed by chiral dirhodium (II) complexes have been shown to be usefiil for the synthesis of chiral... 

Abstract The dirhodium(II) core is a template onto which both achiral and chiral ligands are placed so that four exist in a paddle wheel fashion around the core. The resulting structures are effective electrophilic catalysts for diazo decomposition in reactions that involve metal carbene intermediates. High selectivities are achieved in transformations ranging from addition to insertion and association. The syntheses of natural products and compounds of biological interest have employed these catalysts and methods with increasing frequency. 

Dirhodium(II) carboxylate catalysts have been used extensively for the catalysis of carbene insertions. In many cases, impressive selectivities have been achieved (19-21). In an effort to find selective catalysts for carbenoid insertions, Moody screened a series of dirhodium(II) carboxylate catalysts for their ability to catalyze carbenoid Si-H insertion (22). The authors surveyed the commercially available carboxylic acids, -10,000 of which are chiral. The members of this group that contained functionality that is incompatible to the reaction were culled out. The remaining chiral carboxylic acids (-2000 compounds) were then grouped into 80 different clusters. There is no discussion presented for the criteria used in the grouping of the acids. A representative acid from each cluster was then chosen for... 

A vast array of chiral catalysts have been developed for the enantioselective reactions of diazo compounds but the majority has been applied to asymmetric cyclopropanations of alkyl diazoacetates [2]. Prominent catalysts for asymmetric intermolecular C-H insertions are the dirhodium tetraprolinate catalysts, Rh2(S-TBSP)4 (la) and Rh2(S-DOSP)4 (lb), and the bridged analogue Rh2(S-biDOSP)2 (2) [7] (Fig. 1). A related prolinate catalyst is the amide 3 [8]. Another catalyst that has been occasionally used in intermolecular C-H activations is Rh2(S-MEPY)4 (4) [9], The most notable catalysts that have been used in enantioselective ylide transformations are the valine derivative, Rh2(S-BPTV)4 (5) [10], and the binaphthylphosphate catalysts, Rh2(R-BNP)4 (6a) and Rh2(R-DDNP)4 (6b) [11]. All of the catalysts tend to be very active in the decomposition of diazo compounds and generally, carbenoid reactions are conducted with 1 mol % or less of catalyst loading [1-3]. 

One of the attractions of dirhodium paddelwheel complexes is their ability to catalyse a wide variety of organic transformations such as C-H insertions, cyclopropanations and ylide formation. A review on the application of high symmetry chiral Rh2(II,II) paddlewheel compounds highlights their application as catalysts for asymmetric metal carbenoid and nitrenoid reactions, and as Lewis acids.59 Their impressive performance as catalysts in C-H functionalisation reactions has been exploited in the synthesis of complex natural products and pharmaceutical agents. A recent review on catalytic C-H functionalisation by metal carbenoid and nitrenoid insertion demonstrates the important role of dirhodium species in this field.60... 

Chiral Ligands. Bidentate chelation of dirhodium(II) compounds by chiral oxazolidinones creates asymmetric sites on the metal, leading to induction in cyclopropanations and carbon-hydrogen insertion reactions. The oxazolidinones are less effective in this capacity than are the pyrrolidines. ... 

Asymmetric cyclopropanation. The ability to effect ligand exchange between rhodium(II) acetate and various amides has lead to a search for novel, chiral rhodium(II) catalysts for enantioselective cyclopropanation with diazo carbonyl compounds. The most promising to date are prepared from methyl (S)- or (R)-pyroglutamate (1), [dirhodium(ll) tetrakis(methyl 2-pyrrolidone-5-carboxylate)]. Thus these complexes, Rh2[(S)- or (R)-l]4, effect intramolecular cyclopropanation of allylic diazoacetates (2) to give the cyclo-propanated y-lactones 3 in 65 S 94% ee (equation 1). In general, the enantioselectivity is higher in cyclopropanation of (Z)-alkenes. 

On the other hand, the dirhodium bridge caged within a lantern structure is thought to be essential to the success of dirhodium complexes in which two rhodium atoms are surrounded by four ligands in a nominal symmetry. Both computational studies and characterization of dirhodium car-benoid intermediates suggested that the intermediate adopts a Rh—Rh=C framework. In another word, two rhodium atoms are bound to one carbene center, and the bonding scenario obeys the three-center orbital paradigm. As such, metal carbenoids derived from chiral Rh complexes and donor/ acceptor diazo compounds are routinely utilized. 

Another successful catalytic enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of Qf-diazocarbonyl compounds using phthaloyl-derived chiral rhodium(II) catalysts has been demonstrated [ill]. Six-membered ring carbonyl ylide formation from the a-diazo ketone 80 and subsequent 1,3-cycloaddition with DMAD under the influence of 1 mol % of dirhodium(II) tetrakis[M-benzene-fused-phthaloyl-(S)-phenylvaline], Rh2(S-BPTV)4 101 [112], has been explored to obtain the cycloadduct 102 in up to 92% ee (Scheme 31). 

Diazo Compounds Decomposition with Chiral Rhodium Catalysts. The first chiral rhodium catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanation was reported in 1989 (75). Structures of the catalysts were based on the framework of dirhodium(II) tetrakis(carboxylate) 1 with the carboxylate ligands replaced with... 

The incorporation of N-phthaloyl amino acids into the dirhodium(II) platform afforded excellent asymmetric cyclopropanation catalysts [81b, 97]. In contrast to other phthaloyl catalysts [97], the X-ray crystal structure of Rh2(S-PTTL)4 (2), reported by Fox et al. revealed that the four phthalimido groups are situated on one face of the catalyst in a chiral crown structure (Figure 9.10) [93]. The four Bu- groups are directed on the other face of the catalyst, and aU C- Bu bonds are parallel to the Rh-Rh bond. Compound 2 exhibits high diastereoselectivity and yields for cyclopropanation with a-alkyl-a-diazoesters (Table 9.2, entry 2). The enantiomeric excess (ee) increases with the a-alkyl diazoester substituent size, and the highest 99% ee and 95% yield were achieved in the reaction of styrene with ethyl-2-diazo-5-methylhexanoate [93]. 

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