Chiral Evans

Neri, C. Williams, J. M. J. New routes to chiral Evans auxiliaries by enzymatic desymmetrization and resolution strategies. Adv. Synth. Catal. 2003, 345, 835-848. 

Chiral 2-oxazolidones are useful recyclable auxiliaries for carboxylic acids in highly enantioselective aldol type reactions via the boron enolates derived from N-propionyl-2-oxazolidones (D.A. Evans, 1981). Two reagents exhibiting opposite enantioselectivity ate prepared from (S)-valinol and from (lS,2R)-norephedrine by cyclization with COClj or diethyl carbonate and subsequent lithiation and acylation with propionyl chloride at — 78°C. En-olization with dibutylboryl triflate forms the (Z)-enolates (>99% Z) which react with aldehydes at low temperature. The pure (2S,3R) and (2R,3S) acids or methyl esters are isolated in a 70% yield after mild solvolysis. 

Fig. 5. Synthesis of Evan s chiral oxa2ohdinone auxiUary and use of this auxiUary for preparation of a chiral intermediate in the synthesis of mtamycin B.

Chiral oxazolines were the first ehiral auxiliaries used for asymmetrie enolate alkylations. Subsequent studies led to the development of a number of other ehiral auxiliaries (34-38) ineluding those reported by Evans, Myers, Enders, Sehollkopf, and others, whieh are now widely used in asymmetrie synthesis. Although these new auxiliaries frequently provide higher yields and enantioseleetivities than the oxazolines originally developed by Meyers, the pioneering work of Meyers laid the groundwork for these later studies. 

Chiral 3-alkenoyl-l,3-oxazolidin-2-ones have been developed and used in highly diastereoselective Diels-Alder reactions by Evans et al. [26] (Scheme 1.34). In this reaction these dienophiles are highly reactive compared with the corresponding... 

Evans et al. reported that the bis(imine)-copper (II) complex 25, prepared from chiral bis(imine) ligand and Cu(OTf)2, is also an effective chiral Lewis acid catalyst [34] (Scheme 1.44, Table 1.18). By tuning the aryl imine moiety, the bis(2,6-dichlor-ophenylimine) derivative was found to be suitable. Although the endojexo selectivity for 3-alkenoyloxazolidinones is low, significant improvement is achieved with the thiazolidine-2-thione analogs, for which both dienophile reactivity and endojexo selectivity are enhanced. 

Since Evans s initial report, several chiral Lewis acids with copper as the central metal have been reported. Davies et al. and Ghosh et al. independently developed a bis(oxazoline) ligand prepared from aminoindanol, and applied the copper complex of this ligand to the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction. Davies varied the link between the two oxazolines and found that cyclopropyl is the best connector (see catalyst 26), giving the cycloadduct of acryloyloxazolidinone and cyclopentadiene in high optical purity (98.4% ee) [35] (Scheme 1.45). Ghosh et al., on the other hand, obtained the same cycloadduct in 99% ee by the use of unsubstituted ligand (see catalyst 27) [36] (Scheme 1.46, Table 1.19). 

Among the many chiral Lewis acid catalysts described so far, not many practical catalysts meet these criteria. For a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes, Corey s tryptophan-derived borane catalyst 4, and Yamamoto s CBA and BLA catalysts 3, 7, and 8 are excellent. Narasaka s chiral titanium catalyst 31 and Evans s chiral copper catalyst 24 are outstanding chiral Lewis acid catalysts of the reaction of 3-alkenoyl-l,2-oxazolidin-2-one as dienophile. These chiral Lewis acid catalysts have wide scope and generality compared with the others, as shown in their application to natural product syntheses. They are, however, still not perfect catalysts. We need to continue the endeavor to seek better catalysts which are more reactive, more selective, and have wider applicability. 

The chiral BOX-copper(ll) complexes, (S)-21a and (l )-21b (X=OTf, SbFg), were found by Evans et al. to catalyze the enantioselective cycloaddition reactions of the a,/ -unsaturated acyl phosphonates 49 with ethyl vinyl ether 46a and the cyclic enol ethers 50 giving the cycloaddition products 51 and 52, respectively, in very high yields and ee as outlined in Scheme 4.33 [38b]. It is notable that the acyclic and cyclic enol ethers react highly stereoselectively and that the same enantiomer is formed using (S)-21a and (J )-21b as the catalyst. It is, furthermore, of practical importance that the cycloaddition reaction can proceed in the presence of only 0.2 mol% (J )-21a (X=SbF6) with minimal reduction in the yield of the cycloaddition product and no loss of enantioselectivity (93% ee). 

Scheme 5 details the asymmetric synthesis of dimethylhydrazone 14. The synthesis of this fragment commences with an Evans asymmetric aldol condensation between the boron enolate derived from 21 and trans-2-pentenal (20). Syn aldol adduct 29 is obtained in diastereomerically pure form through a process which defines both the relative and absolute stereochemistry of the newly generated stereogenic centers at carbons 29 and 30 (92 % yield). After reductive removal of the chiral auxiliary, selective silylation of the primary alcohol furnishes 30 in 71 % overall yield. The method employed to achieve the reduction of the C-28 carbonyl is interesting and worthy of comment. The reaction between tri-n-butylbor-... 

We now tum our attention to the C21-C28 fragment 158. Our retrosynthetic analysis of 158 (see Scheme 42) identifies an expedient synthetic pathway that features the union of two chiral pool derived building blocks (161+162) through an Evans asymmetric aldol reaction. Aldehyde 162, the projected electrophile for the aldol reaction, can be crafted in enantiomerically pure form from commercially available 1,3,4,6-di-O-benzylidene-D-mannitol (183) (see Scheme 45). As anticipated, the two free hydroxyls in the latter substance are methylated smoothly upon exposure to several equivalents each of sodium hydride and methyl iodide. Tetraol 184 can then be revealed after hydrogenolysis of both benzylidene acetals. With four free hydroxyl groups, compound 184 could conceivably present differentiation problems nevertheless, it is possible to selectively protect the two primary hydroxyl groups in 184 in... 

Johnson J. S., Evans D. A. Chiral Bis(Oxazoline) Copper(II) Complexes Versatile Catalysts for Enantioselective Cycloaddition, Aldol, Michael, and Carbonyl Ene Reactions Acc. Chem. Res. 2000 33 325-335... 

Evans D. A., Rovis T., Johnson J. S. Chiral Copper(II) Complexes As Lewis Acids for Catalyzed Cycloaddition, Carbonyl Addition, and Conjngate Addition Reactions. Pure Appl. Chem 1999 71 1407-1415... 

In theory, the chiral center can be anywhere in the molecule, but in practice, reasonable diastereoselectivity is most often achieved when it is in the a position. For examples of high diastereoselectivity when the chiral center is further away, especially in reduction of P-hydroxy ketones, see Narasaka, K. Pai, F. Tetrahedron, 1984, 40, 2233 Hassine, B.B. Gorsane, M. Pecher, J. Martin, R.H. Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg., 1985, 94, 597 Bloch, R. Gilbert, L. Girard, C. Tetrahedron Lett., 1988, 53, 1021 Evans, D.A. Chapman, K.T. Carreira, E.M. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1988, 110, 3560. 

Ghosh et al. [70] reviewed a few years ago the utihty of C2-symmetric chiral bis(oxazoline)-metal complexes for catalytic asymmetric synthesis, and they reserved an important place for Diels-Alder and related transformations. Bis(oxazoline) copper(II)triflate derivatives have been indeed described by Evans et al. as effective catalysts for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction [71]. The bis(oxazoline) Ugand 54 allowed the Diels-Alder transformation of two-point binding N-acylimide dienophiles with good yields, good diastereos-electivities (in favor of the endo diastereoisomer) and excellent ee values (up to 99%) [72]. These substrates represent the standard test for new catalysts development. To widen the use of Lewis acidic chiral Cu(ll) complexes, Evans et al. prepared and tested bis(oxazoHnyl)pyridine (PyBOx, structure 55, Scheme 26) as ligand [73]. 

Another approach in the use of chiral S/P ligands for the hydrosilylation reaction of ketones was proposed more recently by Evans et Thus, in 2003, these workers studied the application of new chiral thioether-phosphinite ligands to enantioselective rhodium-catalysed ketone hydrosilylation processes. For a wide variety of ketones, such as acyclic aryl alkyl and dialkyl ketones as well as cyclic aryl alkyl ketones and also cyclic keto esters, the reaction gave high levels of enantioselectivity of up to 99% ee (Scheme 10.44). 

Construction of the cyclopentane ring was accomplished by utilization of Trosf s Pd-mediated diastereoselective [3+2] trimethylenemethane (TMM) cycloaddition [4] on the cinnamate 5 having an Evans type chiral auxiliary [4b], The resulting diastereomeric mixture (3 1 at best) of 7a and 7b was separated by careful silica gel column chromatography (7a is less polar than 7b under normal phase). Puri-... 

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