Chirality transfer conjugate addition

Roland et al. obtained 23% ee in the addition of Et2Zn to cyclohexenone using the silver(I) complex 78 having a chiral backbone and methyl groups on the nitrogen atoms. This complex acts as an efficient carbene transfer agent towards Cu(OTf)2. The conjugate addition proceeds rapidly in toluene at 0 °C (Scheme 52). 

Recently, the use of chiral carbanionic ligands as non-transferable ligands has received attention. Gais and BoBhammer have successfully applied cyclic ct-sulfonimidoyl carbanion 24 in the conjugate addition of alkylcuprates to cycloalkenones (Scheme 14).30... 

This chapter will begin with a discussion of the role of chiral copper(I) and (II) complexes in group-transfer processes with an emphasis on alkene cyclo-propanation and aziridination. This discussion will be followed by a survey of enantioselective variants of the Kharasch-Sosnovsky reaction, an allylic oxidation process. Section II will review the extensive efforts that have been directed toward the development of enantioselective, Cu(I) catalyzed conjugate addition reactions and related processes. The discussion will finish with a survey of the recent advances that have been achieved by the use of cationic, chiral Cu(II) complexes as chiral Lewis acids for the catalysis of cycloaddition, aldol, Michael, and ene reactions. 

Conjugate addition. In general, the use of chiral auxiliaries able to promote chirality transfer with a predictable stereochemistry on newly generated stereocenters is recognized as indispensable in asymmetric synthesis.79... 

Keywords Atom transfer Chiral Lewis acid Conjugate addition ... 

A number of conjugate additions delivering excellent enantioselectivities through the use of organocuprates in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of chiral (non-transferable) ligands are known today [7-9]. 

Skraup quinoline synthesis, 443 Smiles rearrangement, phenothiazine, 534 Spiroalkylation, 222, 280 Spirocyclization, conjugate addition, 386 Spiroimidazolone formation, 335 Spiropyrazolopiperidine, 375 Stannylation, alkyne, 15 Stereoselective dehydration, 198 Grignard addition, 198, 199 reduction, 129, 226 hydroxyketone, 400 iminoketone beta, 553 oxazaborohydride, 585 transfer chirality, 321 Stilbene formation, self alkylation, 525 Stobbe condensation, benzophenone, 103... 

An additional interesting example is the conjugate addition of 1 to activated allylic acetates 18 under the chiral phase-transfer catalysis of 4d, and subsequent elimination reaction, as reported by Ramachandran and coworkers, as this enables the synthesis of various enantiomerically enriched glutamic add derivatives [39]. The utility of this process has been demonstrated by the transformation of (S)-19 (R = Ph) into 4-substituted pyroglutamate (2S,4S)-20, as illustrated in Scheme 2.17. 

In one of the earliest reports on enantioselective radical reactions, chiral Lewis acid mediated conjugate addition followed by enantioselective H-atom transfer a to a carbonyl was reported by Sato and co-workers (Scheme 3) [22], The single point binding chiral aluminum complex presumably coordinates to the carbonyl oxygen of the lactone as shown in 10. The strong Lewis acidity of the aluminum complex activates the substrate 7 to nucleophilic conjugate addition, which is followed by an enantioselective H-atom transfer from BuaSnH in a chiral environment provided by BINOL ligand in 8. Only 28% ee was observed for product 9. 

Use of the preformed Z-silyl enol ether 18 results in quite substantial anti/syn selectivity (19 20 up to 20 1), with enantiomeric purity of the anti adducts reaching 99%. The chiral PT-catalyst 12 (Schemes 4.6 and 4.7) proved just as efficient in the conjugate addition of the N-benzhydrylidene glycine tert-butyl ester (22, Scheme 4.8) to acrylonitrile, affording the Michael adduct 23 in 85% yield and 91% ee [10]. This primary product was converted in three steps to L-ornithine [10]. The O-allylated cinchonidine derivative 21 was used in the conjugate addition of 22 to methyl acrylate, ethyl vinyl ketone, and cydohexenone (Scheme 4.8) [12]. The Michael-adducts 24-26 were obtained with high enantiomeric excess and, for cydohexenone as acceptor, with a remarkable (25 1) ratio of diastereomers (26, Scheme 4.8). In the last examples solid (base)-liquid (reactants) phase-transfer was applied. 

---