Chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst

Reduction of carbonyl compounds with chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts 98AG(E)1987. 

Corey, E.J. Helal, C.J. (1998) Reduction of Carbonyl Compounds with Chiral Oxazaborolidine Catalysts A New Paradigm for Enantioselective Catalysis and a Powerful New Synthetic Method. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 37, 1986-2012. 

Other S/N ligands have been investigated in the enantioselective catalytic reduction of ketones with borane. Thus, Mehler and Martens have reported the synthesis of sulfur-containing ligands based on the L-methionine skeleton and their subsequent application as new chiral catalysts for the borane reduction of ketones." The in situ formed chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst has been used in the reduction of aryl ketones, providing the corresponding alcohols in nearly quantitative yields and high enantioselectivities of up to 99% ee, as shown in Scheme 10.60. 

Corey EJ, Helal CJ (1998) Reduction of carbonyl compounds with chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts a new paradigm for enantioselective catalysis and a powerful new synthetic method. Angew Chem Int Ed 37 1986-2012... 

Mechanistic studies41"43 by Dixon and Jones excluded the possibility of dimeric catalytic species because a linear dependence was observed between the catalyst s enantiopurity and the reaction s enantioselectivity.43 The test reaction was the desymmetrization of meso-imide 22 using chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts. The sense of the enantioselectivity of the reduction was established by conversion of hydroxy lactam 23 to the known ethoxy lactam 24 (Scheme 17.6). 

The critical step in the enantioselective and stereocontrolled total synthesis of eunicenone A by E.J. Corey et al. was the highly efficient chiral Lewis acid catalyzed intermolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction The diene component was mixed with 5 equivalents of 2-bromoacrolein and 0.5 equivalents of the chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst in CH2CI2 at -78 °C for 48h. The reaction gave 80% of the desired cycloadduct in 97% ee and the endolexo selectivity was 98 2. 

The Corey-Bakshi-Shibata reduction (CBS reduction) is a highly enantioselective method for arylketones, diaryl ketones, and dialkylketones. In addition, cyclic a,p-unsaturated ketones, acyclic a,p-unsaturated ketones, and a,p-ynones are reduced enantioselectively in a 1,2-fashion. The high enantioselective nature of this reduction relies on the chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst, shown in the reaction scheme, in the presence of borane or a dialkylborane. Reviews (a) Singh, V. K. Synthesis 1992, 605-617. (b) Deloux, L. Srebnik M. Chem. Rev. 1993,93,163-1. (c) Corey, E. J. Helal, C. J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1998, 37. 1986-2012. 

The Corey-Bakshi-Shibata (CBS) reduction1 employs the use of borane in conjunction with a chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst to conduct enantioselective reductions of ketones. 

The reaction can be applied to silyl enol esters as well. Good asymmetric induction can be achieved in the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. The reaction of silyl enol thioether 246 and nonanal, for example, gave 247 in 60% yield and in 93% ee when the (/ )-BINOL-titanium catalyst shown was used. In this work, the reaction was also done in supercritical fluoroform and in supercritical carbon dioxide. A similar reaction was reported using catalysts closely related to 244 and dichloromethane as the solvent.Chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts have also been shown to be effective for enantioselective Mukaiyama aldol reactions. 

E. J. Corey, C. J. Helal, Angew. Chem. 1998, 110, 2092 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1998, 37, 1986 (Reduction of Carbonyl Compounds with Chiral Oxazaborolidine Catalysts A New Paradigm for Enantioselective Catalysis and a Powerful New Synthetic Method.), S. Itsuno, in Organic Reactions , Ed. L. A. Paquette, John Wiley Sons, New York, 1998, Vol. 52, pp. 395-576 (Enantioselective Reduction of Ketones). 

Scheme 5. Mechanism of the asymmetric reduction of carbonyl compounds (e. g. 25) with borane and chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts (e. g. 26).

The use of boranes has attracted considerably more interest over the last several decades and particularly the use of chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts in combination with borane as a stoichiometric reducing agent (the well-known Corey-Bakshi-Shibata (CBS) reduction) (564, 565) represents one of the most important and versatile methods for the stereoselective reduction of prochiral ketones. It is not intended to give a detailed overview of the successful applications of this versatile methodology for complex (natural product) synthesis, as this would be far beyond the scope of this volume. Instead two examples are chosen below to highlight the potential of this method, especially when used for highly selective late-stage modifications (566,567). 

Chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts were applied in various enantioselective transformations including reduction of highly functionalized ketones/ oximes or imines/ Diels-Alder reactions/ cycloadditions/ Michael additions, and other reactions. These catalysts are surprisingly small molecules compared to the practically efficient chiral phosphoric acids, cinchona alkaloids, or (thio)ureas hence, their effectiveness in asymmetric catalysis demonstrates that huge substituents or extensive hydrogen bond networks are not absolutely essential for successful as5unmetric organocatalysis. 

The mechanisms of the selective reduction of the carbonyl group of a,j8-unsaturated carbonyl compounds have been reviewed (45 references), and an enantioselective reduction of ketones using a bifunctional chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst has been reported. ... 

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