Chiral PTCs

Chiral PTC has been used effectively for making intermediates for drugs. Dolling and coworkers have used 8-R, 9-5, N-(p-trifluoromethylbenzyl) cinchonium bromide to carry out an important asymmetric alkylation, giving 95% ee (Starks, 1987). Nucleophilic epoxidations of enones, Darzens reaction, Michael additions, etc. are some examples of reactions rendered asymmetric through chiral PTCs (Nelson, 1999). 

The possibility of solving the catalyst recovery problem by attaching active catalyst centers to insoluble pol)rmeric substrates was recognized early(26), as was the possible use of chiral PTC catalysts to introduce chirality in products(1). Much work in both these areas has been partially successful(27). However, the results have not been completely satisfactory in that resin bound catalysts have shown much lower catalytic activity than soluble catalysts and they frequently lose their activity with repeated use. Chiral... 

SCHEME 49. Weitz-Scheffer epoxidation of isoflavones 101 by various hydroperoxides and the chiral PTCs 103h-k... 

Asymmetric epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizer promoted by chiral phase-transfer catalysts (chiral PTCs, Figure 6.7) can be performed under mild... 

ASYMMETRIC EPOXIDATION OF (E)-CHALCONE CATALYZED BY THE AZACROWN ETHER-TYPE QUATERNARY AMMONIUM SALT AS CHIRAL PTC... 

The azacrown ether-type chiral quaternary ammonium salts as chiral PTCs are easily prepared from BINOL in four steps. Remarkably, Table 6.10 shows that the good efficiency of asymmetric epoxidation of various chalcones can be achieved by adjustment of the length of the carbon chains on the nitrogen atom in the quaternary ammonium salts. 

Table 6.10 Asymmetric epoxidation of chalcones catalyzed by the azacrown ether-type quaternary ammonium salts as Chiral PTCs (see Figure 6.8).

Catalysts (3 and 6) derived from the cinchona alkaloids (Chart 10.1) [83] have been utilized extensively in chiral PTC because the parent alkaloids (1—4) are inexpensive, readily available in both pseudoenantiomeric forms [84], and can be easily quatemarized to a variety of different salts. 

Unless asymmetric induction is complete, it is necessary to remove the undesired enantiomer from the product mixture. Whereas in conventional diastereoselective asymmetric syntheses this removal can typically be readily accomplished by crystallization or chromatography, the separation of enantiomeric products can be problematic. Often, though, with enantio-enriched samples it is possible to recrystallize either the racemate from the pure enantiomer or, preferably, one enantiomer from the other [I2a,16,17], Another very effective method to produce enan-tiopure compounds is by enzymatic resolution of the enantio-enriched product from chiral PTC [16,18]. These methods are illustrated by examples in the alkylation section of this chapter (Chart 10.6). 

A caution has been noted for chiral PTC alkylations involving alkyl halides that can be easily reduced. Attempted alkylation of 35 with (bromomethyl)cyclooctatetraene with a chiral cinchona-derived catalyst gave only racemic product [20]. 

Other chiral PTC alkylations of active methylene compounds leading to amino acid derivatives have been reported [24] as have other alkylations [25]. Several reported asymmetric PTC alkylations have been disputed [26-29]. 

Protected glycine derivatives have been used as the nucleophilic partner in enantioselective syntheses of amino acid derivatives by chiral PTC (Scheme 10.9). Loupy and co-workers have reported the addition of diethyl acetylaminomalonate to chalcone without solvent with enan-tioselectivity up to 82% ee [44]. The recent report from the Corey group, with catalyst 8a used in conjunction with the benzophenone imine of glycine t-butyl ester 35, discussed earlier, results in highly enantioselective reactions (91-99% ee) with various Michael acceptors (2-cyclo-hexenone, methyl acrylate, and ethyl vinyl ketone) to yield products 71-73 [21], Other Michael reactions resulting in amino acid products are noted [45]. 

PMHS corresponding polymeric reagent (PMHS, polymethylhydrosiloxane), a substantial rate increase was observed over the monomeric model (complete reduction of acetophenone in less than 1 min with PMHS vs. only 60% conversion in 1 h with (EtO)2SiHMe) [55]. The related hydrosilylation of 86 by chiral PTC uses an interesting ep/iedra-derivedhalometallated catalyst 25 (Scheme 10.12) [56],... 

An early report of a promising level of asymmetric induction in the reduction of ketones by chiral PTC [62a] was disputed [26b,60c]. Several reviews concerning hydrogenation by enantioselective catalysis have appeared [5j-l]. 

Other Oxidations. Glycol formation by oxidation of styrene [75], as well as oxidation of prochiral phosphines to the optically active phosphine oxides [76] by chiral PTC, gave only low asymmetric inductions. 

In particular, it is not only the cinchona alkaloids that are suitable chiral sources for asymmetric organocatalysis [6], but also the corresponding ammonium salts. Indeed, the latter are particularly useful for chiral PTCs because (1) both pseudo enantiomers of the starting amines are inexpensive and available commercially (2) various quaternary ammonium salts can be easily prepared by the use of alkyl halides in a single step and (3) the olefin and hydroxyl functions are beneficial for further modification of the catalyst. In this chapter, the details of recent progress on asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis are described, with special focus on cinchona-derived ammonium salts, except for asymmetric alkylation in a-amino acid synthesis. 

Cinchona alkaloids, of course, have occupied the central position in the design of chiral PTCs. By employing a simple chemical transformation of the tertiary amine ofthe natural cinchona alkaloids to the corresponding quaternary ammonium salts, using active halides (e.g., aryl-methyl halides), a basic series of PTCs can be readily prepared. Cinchona alkaloid-derived PTCs have proved their real value in many types of catalytic asymmetric synthesis, including a-alkylation of modified a-amino acids for the synthesis of higher-ordered a-amino acids [2], a-alkylation of... 

As (—)-cinchonidine-derived ammonium salts have been mainly used as chiral PTCs in monomeric cinchona-PTCs via the asymmetric alkylation of 1, and have generally shown better results than those of others [e.g., derived from (+)-cinchonine, (—(-quinine, and (+)-quinidine], the Park-Jew group primarily prepared (—) -cinchonidine derivatives to identify both the optimal linker and best relationship of attachment for the two cinchona units, and to compare catalytic efficiency with that of monomeric cinchona-PTCs. 

By screening solvent and inorganic bases to establish the optimal reaction conditions for dimeric chiral PTCs, a toluenexhloroform (7 3, v/v) solvent system and a 50% aqueous KOH base were found to afford the best enantioselectivity and chemical yield within a reasonable reaction time. As dimeric cinchona-PTCs are very poorly soluble in toluene (one of the popular solvents in asymmetric alkylation), this might act as an obstacle for the catalyst to show its maximum ability. However, the addition of chloroform to toluene provided better results due to an improved solubility of the dimeric PTC. This difference in ability to dissolve the dimeric PTC might be heavily associated not only with the reaction rate but also with the chemical/ optical yield. However, the use of chloroform alone proved to be inadequate as an optimal solvent [10]. 

In the Park-Jew group s systematic investigation, two types of catalyst - the 1,3-phenyl- and 2,7-naphthyl-based dimeric ammonium salts - were selected as an efficient skeleton of chiral PTCs for the catalytic asymmetric phase-transfer alkylation... 

Table 7.2 Asymmetric C-benzylation of glycine imine 20 using chiral PTCs 30-32.

Besides the glycinate ester derivatives described above, other types of enolate-forming compounds have proved to be useful substrates for enantioselective alkylation reactions in the presence of cinchona alkaloids as chiral PTC catalysts. The Corey group reported the alkylation of enolizable carboxylic acid esters of type 57 in the presence of 25 as organocatalyst [69]. The alkylations furnished the desired a-substituted carboxylate 58 in yields of up to 83% and enantioselectivity up to 98% ee (Scheme 3.23). It should be added that high enantioselectivity in the range 94-98% ee was obtained with a broad variety of alkyl halides as alkylation agents. The product 58c is a versatile intermediate in the synthesis of an optically active tetra-hydropyran. 

Stereoselectivity is often controllable, but it seems to be inconsistent from one type of enolate to another. For example, most heterocyclic five-membered ring enolates seem to prefer syn addition495,518,519 while lactones often give a m -alkylation371,495,520. Asymmetric induction has been used successfully in complex enolate alkylation. The use of the novel, chiral PTC, A-(/ -(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)cinchonium bromide (PTBCBr) has also been used for stereocontrolled alkylation (equation 67) giving an enantiomeric excess of 92%521. 

FIGURE 9.4. Chiral methylation using a chiral PTC catalyst... 

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