Chiral rhodium carboxamides

Having established that pure enantiomer ( S,ZR)-77 was capable of undergoing remarkably regioselective and diastereoselective C-H activation, it followed that highly efficient enantiomeric differentiation of rac-77 could be accomplished.199 Hence, the Rh2(5Y-MEPY)4-catalyzed reaction of rac-77 effectively gave close to a 1 1 mixture of enantioenriched (lY)-78 (91% ee) and ( R)-79 (98% ee) (Equation (68)). Other equally spectacular examples of diastereo- and regiocontrol via chiral rhodium carboxamide catalysts in cyclic and acyclic diazoacetate systems have been reported.152 199 200 203-205... 

Intramolecular cyclopropanation has a noteworthy advantage. Unlike intermolecular asymmetric cyclopropanation, the intramolecular reaction produces only one diastereomer due to geometric constrains on the fused bicyclic products. Doyle has extensively studied the intramolecular enantioselective reactions of a variety of alkenyl diazoacetates catalyzed by chiral rhodium carboxamides 198 and 200 and has achieved excellent results. 

Zalatan DN, Du Bois J. A chiral rhodium carboxamidate catalyst for enantioselective... 

Activation of a C-H bond requires a metallocarbenoid of suitable reactivity and electrophilicity.105-115 Most of the early literature on metal-catalyzed carbenoid reactions used copper complexes as the catalysts.46,116 Several chiral complexes with Ce-symmetric ligands have been explored for selective C-H insertion in the last decade.117-127 However, only a few isolated cases have been reported of impressive asymmetric induction in copper-catalyzed C-H insertion reactions.118,124 The scope of carbenoid-induced C-H insertion expanded greatly with the introduction of dirhodium complexes as catalysts. Building on initial findings from achiral catalysts, four types of chiral rhodium(n) complexes have been developed for enantioselective catalysis in C-H activation reactions. They are rhodium(n) carboxylates, rhodium(n) carboxamidates, rhodium(n) phosphates, and < // < -metallated arylphosphine rhodium(n) complexes. 

Asymmetric C-H insertion using chiral rhodium catalysts has proven rather elusive (Scheme 17.30). Dimeric complexes derived from functionalized amino acids 90 and 91 efficiently promote oxidative cychzation of suifamate 88, but the resulting asymmetric induction is modest at best ( 50% ee with 90). Reactions conducted using Doyle s asymmetric carboxamide systems 92 and 93 give disappointing product yields ( 5-10%) and negligible enantiomeric excesses. In general, the electron-rich carboxamide rhodium dimers are poor catalysts for C-H amination. Low turnover numbers with these systems are ascribed to catalyst oxidation under the reaction conditions. 

Rhodium(II) acetate catalyzes C—H insertion, olefin addition, heteroatom-H insertion, and ylide formation of a-diazocarbonyls via a rhodium carbenoid species (144—147). Intramolecular cyclopentane formation via C—H insertion occurs with retention of stereochemistry (143). Chiral rhodium (TT) carboxamides catalyze enantioselective cyclopropanation and intramolecular C—N insertions of CC-diazoketones (148). Other reactions catalyzed by rhodium complexes include double-bond migration (140), hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes and ketones to hydrocarbons (150), homologation of esters (151), carbonylation of formaldehyde (152) and amines (140), reductive carbonylation of dimethyl ether or methyl acetate to 1,1-diacetoxy ethane (153), decarbonylation of aldehydes (140), water gas shift reaction (69,154), C—C skeletal rearrangements (132,140), oxidation of olefins to ketones (155) and aldehydes (156), and oxidation of substituted anthracenes to anthraquinones (157). Rhodium-catalyzed hydrosilation of olefins, alkynes, carbonyls, alcohols, and imines is facile and may also be accomplished enantioselectively (140). Rhodium complexes are moderately active alkene and alkyne polymerization catalysts (140). In some cases polymer-supported versions of homogeneous rhodium catalysts have improved activity, compared to their homogenous counterparts. This is the case for the conversion of alkenes direcdy to alcohols under oxo conditions by rhodium—amine polymer catalysts... 

The approach that we have taken for the design of chiral rhodium(II) catalysts is based on the selectivity obtained in the preparation of geometric isomers with a limited number of rhodium(II) carboxamides. Although four different orientations of amide... 

Chiral rhodium(II) carboxamides are exceptional catalysts for highly enantio-selective intermolecular cyclopropenation reactions (50). With ethyl diazoacetate and a series of alkynes, use of dirhodium(II) tetrakis[methyl 2-pyrrolidone-5-(R)-carboxylate], Rh2(5R-MEPY)4, in catalytic amounts ( 1.0 mol %) results in the formation of ethyl eyelopropene-3-earboxylates (eq 4) with enantiomeric excesses... 

The most significant breakthrough in this area was Doyle s introduction of chiral rhodium (II) carboxamidates (Fig. 4). These catalysts show an exceptional ability to direct highly enantioselective intramolecular cyclopropanation of al-lylic and homoallylic diazoesters, Eq. (19), and diazoamides, Eq. (20). 

The most commonly used chiral catalysts are the amino acid based rhodium (II) carboxylates of Hashimoto and Ikegami, and McKervey, and the chiral rhodium (II) carboxamidates of Doyle. The amino acid based catalysts exhibit their highest levels of stereocontrol with non-terminal diazo ketones of structure RCOCN2R1 where Rj H, while the rhodium (II) carboxamidates display high enantiocontrol with diazoacetates. 

Doyle s chiral rhodium (II) carboxamidates have proved to be exceptionally successful for asymmetric C-H insertion reactions of diazoacetates and some diazoacetamides leading to lactones and lactams, respectively. With 2-alkoxyethyl diazoacetates and the Rh2(5S- and 5R-MEPY)4 catalysts, for example, highly enantioselective intramolecular C-H insertion reactions occur, the 5S-catalyst, Eq. (40), and 5R-catalyst furnishing the S- and R-lactone, respectively [58]. A polymer-bound version of Rh2(5S-MEPY)4 has also been applied to the cycliza-tion in Eq. (40) to yield the lactone with 69% ee (R=Me) the catalyst could be recovered by filtration and reused several times, but with decreasing enantiose-lection [59]. 

Enantiocontrol in C-H insertion with tertiary alkyl diazoacetates is also attainable using chiral rhodium(II) carboxamidates [65]. Although only a limited... 

Arenes suffer dearomatization via cyclopropanation upon reaction with a-diazocarbonyl compounds (Btlchner reaction) [76]. Initially formed norcaradiene products are usually present in equilibrium with cycloheptatrienes formed via electrocyclic cyclopropane ring opening. The reaction is dramatically promoted by transition metal catalysts (usually Cu(I) or Rh(II) complexes) that give metal-stabilized carbenoids upon reaction with diazo compounds. Inter- and intramolecular manifolds are known, and asymmetric variants employing substrate control and chiral transition metal catalysts have been developed [77]. Effective chiral catalysts for intramolecular Buchner reactions include Rh Cmandelate), rhodium carboxamidates, and Cu(I)-bis(oxazolines). While enantioselectivities as high as 95% have been reported, more modest levels of asymmetric induction are typically observed. 

The Af-[bis(trimethylsilyl)methyl] moiety is also useful in intramolecular C-H insertion reactions catalyzed by chiral rhodium(n) carboxylates and carboxamidates (eq 9). Overall good regio- and chemoselectivity was observed, favoring the formation of y-lactam products. However, these selectivities were also found to be dependent on the type of chiral rhodium(II) catalysts. The degree of asymmetric induction at the newly formed C-4 stereocenter was determined only for y-lactam products. 

The search for an efficient and versatile dirhodium-catalyzed asymmetric C(sp )-H amination reaction is an issue for which there is stiU ample room for improvement. The field was pioneered again by Muller who had designed chiral rhodium(II) complexes for inter- and intramolecular reactions, though with limited success as the ees did not exceed 66%. " With respect to the catalytic asymmetric intramolecular nitrene C(sp )—H insertion, the best results reported so far have been obtained with the rhodium(II) carboxamidate species Rh2(S-nap)4 This complex affords the corresponding cyclic sulfamates with excellent ees (ees enantiomeric excesses) of up to 99% (Scheme 32). However, the scope is limited to benzyhc substrates as, despite the excellent chemoselectivity, the ees remain below 84%... 

Dirhodium(II) tetrakis(carboxamides), constructed with chiral 2-pyrroli-done-5-carboxylate esters so that the two nitrogen donor atoms on each rhodium are in a cis arrangement, represent a new class of chiral catalysts with broad applicability to enantioselective metal carbene transformations. Enantiomeric excesses greater than 90% have been achieved in intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions of allyl diazoacetates. In intermolecular cyclopropanation reactions with monosubsti-tuted olefins, the cis-disubstituted cyclopropane is formed with a higher enantiomeric excess than the trans isomer, and for cyclopropenation of 1-alkynes extraordinary selectivity has been achieved. Carbon-hydro-gen insertion reactions of diazoacetate esters that result in substituted y-butyrolactones occur in high yield and with enantiomeric excess as high as 90% with the use of these catalysts. Their design affords stabilization of the intermediate metal carbene and orientation of the carbene substituents for selectivity enhancement. 

In rhodium(II)-catalyzed intermolecular cyclopropanation reactions, chiral dirhodium(II) carb-oximidates provide only limited enantiocontrol. " Tetrakis(5-methoxycarbonyl-2-pyrrolidonato)dirhodium [18, Rh2(MEPY)J, in both enantiomeric forms of the carboxamide ligands, produces the highest enantioselectivities. As can be seen for the cyclopropanation of styrene with diazoacetates, a high level of double diastereoselectivity results from the combination of this chiral catalyst with /- or d-menthyl diazoacetate, but not with diazoacetates bearing other chiral residues.In terms of trans/cis selectivity and enantioselectivity for styrene giving 19 this catalyst is comparable to the Aratani catalysts, but they cannot match the high enantiocontrol of the chiral copper catalysts developed by Pfaltz, Masamune, and Evans vide supra). 

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