Chiral process

Whereas this study focused on reaction protocol, the effect of the methylene source on selectivity was another important factor which demanded attention. Earlier studies have demonstrated that substitution of chloroiodomethane for diiodomethane leads to an increased reaction rate (Scheme 3.10) [22]. It is, thus, surprising that the use of chloroiodomethane in sub-protocol la leads a slower, less selective reaction. In contrast to the use of diiodomethane ( 100% conversion at 300 min), the reaction of chloroiodomethane only reaches 58% conversion after 300 min. Selectivity is severely reduced, dropping to 75 25 er. The failure of this reagent in the chiral process may be attributed to the obvious differences between the highly polarizable iodine and the more electronegative chlorine atom, although an exact analysis of the difference is not clear. 

Vlhen the chiral methylation is carried out with 30% aqueous NaOH the indanone is deprotonated at the interface but does not precipitate as the sodium enolate (Figure 11). In this system there are 3 to 4 molecules of H2O per molecule of catalyst available while in the 50% NaOH reactions the toluene is very dry with only 1 molecule of H2O available per catalyst molecule thus forcing the formation of tight ion pairs. Solvation of the ion pairs in the toluene/30% NaOH system should decrease the ee which we indeed observe with an optimum 78% versus 94% in the 50% NaOH reaction. In the 30% NaOH reactions the ee decreases from 78% to 55% as the catalyst concentration increases from 1 mM to 16 mM (80 mM 5, 560 mM CH3CI, 20 C). Based on these ee s rates of formation of (-h)-enantiomer and racemic product can be calculated. When the log of these rates are plotted versus the log of catalyst concentrations (Figure 13) we find an order of about 0.5 in the catalyst for the chiral process similar to that found using 50% NaOH consistent with a dimer-monomer pre-equilibrium. The order in catalyst for the... 

In his interesting paper Professor Nicolis raises the question whether models can be envisioned which lead to a spontaneous spatial symmetry breaking in a chemical system, leading, for example, to the production of a polymer of definite chirality. It would be even more interesting if such a model would arise as a result of a measure preserving process that could mimic a Hamiltonian flow. Although we do not have such an example of a chiral process, which imbeds an axial vector into the polymer chain, several years ago we came across a stochastic process that appears to imbed a polar vector into a growing infinite chain. 

Whyte [2-37] extended the definition of chirality as follows Three-dimensional forms (point arrangements, structures, displacements, and other processes) which possess non-superposable mirror images are called chiral . A chiral process consists of successive states, all of which are chiral. The two main classes of chiral forms are screws and skews. Screws may be conical or cylindrical and are ordered with respect to a line. Examples of the latter are the left-handed and right-handed helices in Figure 2-50. The skews, on the other hand, are ordered around their center. Examples are chiral molecules having point-group symmetry. 

It is nowadays a truism (but therefore also true) to say that life is a chiral process. The implication for the subject of this book is that those pharmaceutical compounds that contain one or more chiral centers could weU show differences between enantiomers with respect to their efficacy. Since most pharmaceutical drugs are administered as race-mates, it is sometimes important in drug development to be able to track the enantiomers separately, and this presents a significant challenge to the analyst in addition to the usual demands of validation and GLP etc. Since mass spectrometry can not in general distinguish between enantiomers, the chiral selectivity must be provided by chromatographic separation (Section 4.4.Id). 

Types of chiral processes amenable to scale-up Specific examples of the manufacture of chiral drugs Diltiazem Captopril Enalapril Naproxen... 

Finally, we should note that there are only a few studies on the effects of either type of chiral nets (intrinsic and induced) on chiral processes, thus for the moment we cannot say if either type has any distinctive advantage. 

Based on the definition of Carlier et al., the requirements for the memory of chirality process are illustrated in Scheme 1.2. 

SCHEME 1.2. Criteria for the successful memory of chirality process (1) enantioselective formation of a conformationally chiral intermediate from a chiral starting material (2) conformationally chiral intermediate must not be readily racemized and (3) conversion of chiral intermediate into product must occur with high reactivity and stereospecificity. 

The term chiral recognition refers to a process m which some chiral receptor or reagent interacts selectively with one of the enantiomers of a chiral molecule Very high levels of chiral recognition are common m biological processes (—) Nicotine for exam pie IS much more toxic than (+) nicotine and (+) adrenaline is more active than (—) adrenaline m constricting blood vessels (—) Thyroxine an ammo acid of the thyroid gland that speeds up metabolism is one of the most widely used of all prescription... 

Optically inactive starting materials can give optically active products only if they are treated with an optically active reagent or if the reaction is catalyzed by an optically active substance The best examples are found m biochemical processes Most bio chemical reactions are catalyzed by enzymes Enzymes are chiral and enantiomerically homogeneous they provide an asymmetric environment m which chemical reaction can take place Ordinarily enzyme catalyzed reactions occur with such a high level of stereo selectivity that one enantiomer of a substance is formed exclusively even when the sub strate is achiral The enzyme fumarase for example catalyzes hydration of the double bond of fumaric acid to malic acid m apples and other fruits Only the S enantiomer of malic acid is formed m this reaction... 

As the experimental tools for biochemical transformations have become more pow erful and procedures for carrying out these transformations m the laboratory more rou tine the application of biochemical processes to mainstream organic chemical tasks including the production of enantiomerically pure chiral molecules has grown... 

High yields of the enantiomerically pure alcohol and enantiomerically pure ester are reg ularly achieved The growing interest m chiral drugs (see the boxed essay on this topic p 296) has stimulated the development of large scale enzymatic resolution as a com mercial process... 

The acyl group of the carboxylic acid acyl chloride or acid anhydride is trans ferred to the oxygen of the alcohol This fact is most clearly evident m the esterification of chiral alcohols where because none of the bonds to the chirality center is broken m the process retention of configuration is observed... 

A novel technique for dating archaeological samples called ammo acid racemiza tion (AAR) IS based on the stereochemistry of ammo acids Over time the configuration at the a carbon atom of a protein s ammo acids is lost m a reaction that follows first order kinetics When the a carbon is the only chirality center this process corresponds to racemization For an ammo acid with two chirality centers changing the configuration of the a carbon from L to D gives a diastereomer In the case of isoleucme for example the diastereomer is an ammo acid not normally present m proteins called alloisoleucme... 

A particular point of interest included in these hehcal complexes concerns the chirality. The heUcates obtained from the achiral strands are a racemic mixture of left- and right-handed double heUces (Fig. 34) (202). This special mode of recognition where homochiral supramolecular entities, as a consequence of homochiral self-recognition, result from racemic components is known as optical self-resolution (203). It appears in certain cases from racemic solutions or melts (spontaneous resolution) and is often quoted as one of the possible sources of optical resolution in the biological world. On the other hand, the more commonly found process of heterochiral self-recognition gives rise to a racemic supramolecular assembly of enantio pairs (204). 

Simple olefins do not usually add well to ketenes except to ketoketenes and halogenated ketenes. Mild Lewis acids as well as bases often increase the rate of the cyclo addition. The cycloaddition of ketenes to acetylenes yields cyclobutenones. The cycloaddition of ketenes to aldehydes and ketones yields oxetanones. The reaction can also be base-cataly2ed if the reactant contains electron-poor carbonyl bonds. Optically active bases lead to chiral lactones (41—43). The dimerization of the ketene itself is the main competing reaction. This process precludes the parent compound ketene from many [2 + 2] cyclo additions. Intramolecular cycloaddition reactions of ketenes are known and have been reviewed (7). 

In this thiamine pyrophosphate-mediated process, ben2aldehyde (29), added to fermenting yeast, reacts with acetaldehyde (qv) (30), generated from glucose by the biocatalyst, to yield (R)-l-phen5l-l-hydroxy-2-propanone (31). The en2ymatically induced chiral center of (31) helps in the asymmetric reductive (chemical) condensation with methylamine to yield (lR,23)-ephedrine [299-42-3] (32). Substituted ben2aldehyde derivatives react in the same manner (80). 

Considerable advances in asymmetric hydroformylation, a process which, among other things, provides a potential route to enantiomericaHy pure biologically active compounds, have occurred. Of particular interest are preparations of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory (NSAI) pharmaceuticals such as Naproxen (8) and Ibuprofen (9), where the represents a chiral center. 

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