Chirality prochiral center

M. Bhupathy, J. L. Leazer J. M. McNamara, D. R. Sidler P. J. Reider, and E. J. J. Grabowski, lipase-catalyzed asymmetric hydrolysis of esters having remote chiral/prochiral centers,/. Org. Chem. 1990, 55, 6252-6259. 

The desymmetrization of some prochiral dithioacetal esters possessing up to five bonds between the prochiral center and the ester carbonyl - the site of reaction -proceeded with high selectivity using PSL [454], This example of a highly selective chiral recognition of a remote chiral/prochiral center is not unusual amongst hydrolytic enzymes [455 57]. 

It is generally beheved that selectivity of hydrolytic enzymes strongly depends on the proximity of the chiral center to the reacting carbonyl group, and only a few examples of successful resolutions exist for compounds that have the chiral center removed by more than three bonds. A noticeable exception to this rule is the enantioselective hydrolysis by Pseudomonasfluorescens Hpase (PEL) of racemic dithioacetal (5) that has a prochiral center four bonds away from the reactive carboxylate (24). The monoester (6) is obtained in 89% yield and 98% ee. 

The two protons at C-1 are topologically nonequivalent, since substitution of one produces a product tiiat is stereochemically distinct fiom that produced by substitution of the other. Ligands of this type are termed heterotopic, and, because the products of substitution are enantiomers, the more precise term enantiotopic also applies. If a chiral assembly is generated when a particular ligand is replaced by a new ligand, the original assembly is prochiral. Both C-1 and C-3 of 1,3-propanediol are prochiral centers. 

Chiral chemical reagents can react with prochiral centers in achiral substances to give partially or completely enantiomerically pure product. An example of such processes is the preparation of enantiomerically enriched sulfoxides from achiral sulfides with the use of chiral oxidant. The reagent must preferential react with one of the two prochiral faces of the sulfide, that is, the enantiotopic electron pairs. 

If a tetrahedral center in a molecule has two identical substituents, it is referred to as prochiral since, if either of the like substituents is converted to a different group, the tetrahedral center then becomes chiral. Consider glycerol the central carbon of glycerol is prochiral since replacing either of the —CH9OH groups would make the central carbon chiral. Nomenclature for prochiral centers is based on the (R,S) system (in Chapter 3). To name the otherwise identical substituents of a prochiral center, imagine... 

In addition to compounds with planar, sp2-hybridized carbons, compounds with tetrahedral, sp3-hybridized atoms can also be prochiral. An vp3-hybridizec) atom is said to be a prochirality center if, by changing one of its attached groups, it becomes a chirality center. The —GH2OH carbon atom of ethanol, for instance, is a prochirality center because changing one of its attached -H atoms converts it into a chirality center. 

A molecule is prochiral if can be converted from achiral to chiral in a single chemical step. A prochiral sp2-hybridized atom has two faces, described as either Re or Si. An sp3-hybridized atom is a prochirality center if, by changing one of its attached atoms, a chirality center results. The atom whose replacement leads to an R chirality center is pro-R, and the atom whose replacement leads to an S chirality center is pro-S. 

Prochirality center (Section 9.13) An atom in a compound that can be converted into a chirality center by changing one of its attached substituents. 

FIGURE 3.1 Formation of a chiral center from a prochiral center. 

When a chiral ansa-type zirconocene/MAO system was used as the catalyst precursor for polymerization of 1,5-hexadiene, an main-chain optically active polymer (68% trans rings) was obtained84-86. The enantioselectivity for this cyclopolymerization can be explained by the fact that the same prochiral face of the olefins was selected by the chiral zirconium center (Eq. 12) [209-211]. Asymmetric hydrogenation, as well as C-C bond formation catalyzed by chiral ansa-metallocene 144, has recently been developed to achieve high enantioselectivity88-90. This parallels to the high stereoselectivity in the polymerization. 

The prochirality concept is not necessarily an expression of a precursor-product relationship because there exist stereoselective reactions at pro-chiral elements that do not generate elements of chirality. An illustration of this is the reversible enzymatic dehydration of citric to cu-aconitic acid. In this process two prochiral centers of citric acid disappear and we obtain an achiral line of stereoisomerism that physically coincides with a prochiral plane of prostereoisomerism. 

C2 symmetry is a common feature in chiral bidentate ligands (119). If two identical enantiopure donor groups Y are connected by a tetrahedral bridging atom, any additional group Z at this atom will cause no additional stereo center but a prochiral center (Fig. 18a) (120). (S,S)- and (i2,i )-Trihydroxyglutaric acid are textbook examples for such compounds (120). Inversion of configuration at C3 in (S,S)-trihydroxyglutaric acid (Fig. 18b) yields the identical compound. 

It is worthwhile emphasising that the abovementioned syntheses using chiral auxiliaries covalently bound to the substrate bearing the prochiral center prior to the creation of the new asymmetric centre mean converting the problem of enantiofacial recognition into a problem of diastereofacial selectivity i.e. the pair of enantiomers 41 and 42 are actually obtained from hydrolysis of two different diastereomers 39 and 40. In fact, "direct enantioselectivity" can only be attained by using an external chiral catalyst,23 as shown in Figure 9.1 [26]. 

The two molecules are enantiomers. If two of four groups attached to the C are identical as in CH3CH2CO2H, the 2 H s are enantiotopic and are attached to a prochiral center. Replacement of one of the H s by OH obviously leads to enantiomers. If there is already one chiral center in the molecule, as in (R)-malic acid... 

Another class of ligands for ATH is represented by multidentate Schiff bases and their derivatives. Zassinovich and Mestroni reported on the effective reduction of alkyl aryl ketones catalyzed by a series of lr(l) complexes with chiral bidentate pyridylaldimines, of the form [lr(cod)(NNR )]C104 (76a-f see Scheme 4.31). It was observed that both the activity and selectivity depended heavily on the nature of the subshtuents at the chiral center of the ligand, and also at the prochiral center of the substrate. Optical yields of up to 50% (R-isomer) at 100% conversion were obtained in the ATH of BuC(0)Ph and PhCH2C(0)Ph using [lr(cod)(PPEl)]C104 as the precatalyst (0.1% mol, 83 °C, PrOH, KOH) [66]. 

It should be mentioned that the central carbon atom of citric acid becomes chiral when the two peripheral carboxy groups are substituted differently (examples will be found below). For enzyme reactions it is a prochirality center. This has been shown for vibrioferrin (58) and staphyloferrin B (59). 

Asymmetric Synthesis Using a Chiral Molybdenum Catalyst In olefin metathesis, a double bond is cleaved and a double bond is formed. Thus, a chiral carbon center is not constructed in the reaction. To realize the asymmetric induction by ring-closing metathesis, there are two procedures a kinetic resolution and desym-metrization of symmetric prochiral triene. Various molybdenum complexes are synthesized in order to explore the viabihty of these approaches (Figure 6.2). 

Because proteins are made up of L-amino acids, they exhibit chirality in their structures, lacking planes or points of symmetry. Proteins also can exhibit chirality in their interactions with other chiral molecules as well as prochiral centers in other molecules. This latter point is beautifully illustrated by fumarase s catalysis of the dehydration of L-malate, a molecule containing two seemingly equivalent hydrogen atoms ... 

In principle, each enchainment of a prochiral monomer such as propene generates a chiral carbon center. The relative orientation of two such centers can therefore give rise to meso-diads or racemo-diads. Three monomers consecutively enchained in meso-fashion give rise to a mm triad, and so forth (Scheme 8.37). 

By modification with an optically active compound, RNi can acquire both enantiomer-differentiating ability and diastereoface-differentiating ability in addition to the enantioface-differentiating ability. The diastereoface- and enantiomer-differentiating abilities of MRNi can be observed when a substrate containing both chiral and sp2-prochiral centers is used, because such a compound has a diastereoface and a chirality. 4-Hydroxy-2-pentanone is one of the substrates with a chiral and sp2-prochiral center, as shown in Fig. 17. 

Larry Overman also used (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004,126, 14043) a chiral pool starting material, but in a different way. The prochiral enolate 12 showed substantial diastereoselectivity in its reaction with the bis-triflate 13, almost 10 1. Through the power of algebra, it followed that the three diastereomers of 14 were formed in a ratio of 90 9 1. The crystalline 14 was easily isolated in diastereomerically-pure form, and carried on to phenserine 15. This is a new method for the stereocontrolled construction of chiral quaternary centers. 

Most enzymes possess an infallible ability to recognize the difference between the right side and the left side of an organic substrate even when the latter has perfect bilateral symmetry. In fact, this ability is limited to prochiral centers of molecules and is a natural consequence of their reaction with the chiral... 

Another example is provided by malic acid, a chiral molecule which also contains a prochiral center (see Eq. 9-74). In this case replacement of the pro-R or pro-S hydrogen atom by another atom or group would yield a pair of diastereoisomers rather than enantiomers. Therefore, these hydrogen atoms are diastereotopic. When L-malic acid is dehydrated by fumarate hydratase (Chapter 13) the hydrogen in the pro-R position is removed but that in the pro-S position is not touched. This can be demonstrated by allowing the dehydration product, fumarate, to be hydrated to malate in 2HzO (Eq. 9-74). The malate formed contains deuterium in the pro-R position. If this malate is now isolated and placed with another portion of enzyme in H20, the deuterium is removed cleanly. The fumarate produced contains no deuterium. 

The notation prochiral center is useful in molecules that already have one or more chiral centers. Development of chirality from prochirality in such cases would lead to diastereomers, as shown in the conversions of 14 and 15 ... 

Exercise 19-13 Designate which of the following structures are chiral, and/or achiral. Specify which carbon atoms are prochiral centers. 

Often (e.g. in asymmetric synthesis) one is interested in the fact that in certain molecules, such as propionic acid (2, Fig. 1), an achiral center (here C ) can be transformed into a chiral center by replacement of one or other of two apparently identical1 ligands2 by a different one. Thus the replacement of HA at C in propionic add (Fig. 1) by OH generates the chiral center of (lactic acid. C in propionic acid is therefore called a prochiral center 4) HA and HB are called heterotopic ligands 5 7) (from Greek heteros = different and topos" = place — see also below). Prochiral axes and planes may similarly be defined in relation to chiral axes and planes (see below)... 

Anisochrony due to axial chirality of the diastereotopic methylene protons in H2C = C=C(Me)COCHBrR (cf. Fig. 24) has been observed the chemical shift differences may be as high as 0.13 ppm.34) Also related to axial chirality are several cases of anisochronous methyl groups in isopropyl moieties which are diastereotopic through being part of a chiral allene of the type Me2CHCR=C=CR R" 35,49). These cases resemble that shown in Fig. 27 where a prochiral center (Me2CH—C. ..) is attached to a chiral ferrocenyl moiety it should be noted that the ferrocenylmethyl-carbenium ion fragment is chiral only if rotation about the Cp—C+ bond (marked a in Fig. 27) is slow on the NMR time scale 42 . 

In 2005, the groups of List and McMillan simultaneously described excellent results in the asymmetric reduction of a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes with a prochiral center in the ft position [14, 15]. (For experimental details see Chapters 14.22.1 and 14.22.2). In both cases the catalyst used was a chiral imidazolidinone (6 or 8), and some representative examples are listed in Tables 11.1 and 11.2. The reactions were run at 10-20 mol% of catalyst, at moderate temperature (13 °C or 4 °C) over several hours. The hydride source (Hantzsch ester) was utilized in stoichiometric quantities, and the chemical yields and enantiomeric excesses proved to be... 

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