Chromium-arene complexes enantioselective

Desymmetrisation by enantioselective ortholithiation has been achieved with ferrocenylcarboxamides 434,187 and also (with chiral lithium amide bases) a number of chromium-arene complexes.188 The chromium arene complex 435, on treatment with s-BuLi-(-)-sparteine, gives 436 enantioselectively, and reaction with electrophiles leads to 437. However, further treatment with r-BuLi generates the doubly lithiated species 438, in which the new organolithium centre is more reactive than the old, which still carries the (-)-sparteine ligand. Reaction of 438 with an electrophile followed by protonation therefore gives ent-431.m... 

The benzannulation affords arene-Cr(CO)3 complexes possessing a plane of chirality resulting from the unsymmetrical arene substitution pattern. This aspect is relevant to stereoselective synthesis, in which enantiopure arene tricarbonyl chromium complexes play a major role [56]. The benzannulation reaction avoids both harsh conditions incompatible with the retention of chiral information and the cumbersome separation of enantiomers, and is thus attractive for the diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of arene complexes [17b, 57]. 

The first enantioselective functionalization of tricarbonylchromium arene complexes using chiral bases, to generate planar chiral chromium complexes, was reported by Simpkins and coworkers in 1994 and involved a directed orf/zo-lithiation and subsequent quench with an electrophile78. Both aromatic and benzylic functionalization of tricarbonylchromium arene complexes has been achieved. 

Keywords Arene chromium complexes Arene ruthenium complexes Enantioselective total synthesis Planar-chiral metal complexes Natm-al products... 

In a further development of the norbornene/anihne OHA reaction, Salzer and coworkers used planar chiral arene-chromium-tricarbonyl-based diphosphines for the in situ formation of cis-trans mixtures of complexes 9 and 10 that gave enanti-oselectivities of 51% and 70%, respectively, at 333 K and with a 40-fold excess of naked fluoride , but activities were very low. In the same paper complex 6 was shown to be superior in both activity and enantioselectivity (64% ee) to the corresponding Josiphos compound 5 [15]. The activated N-H bond of benzamide was also stereoselectively added across the double bond of norbornene to afford N-benzoyl-e%o-aminonorbornane in up to 50% yield and 73% ee in the presence of 0.5mol% [IrCl((R)-MeO-bipheb)]2 at 373 K [16]. 

An enantioselective approach to cytotoxic nor-calamenenes via electron-transfer-driven benzylic umpolung of an arene tricarbonyl chromium complex. Synthesis 2003, 1851-1855. 

As a consequence, arene-Cr(CO)3 complexes offer new and unique opportunities for the stereoselective multi-step synthesis of complex molecules. By focusing on applications in the enantioselective total synthesis of natural products (and relevant analogs), this review intends to highlight the state of the art of synthetic arene chromium chemistry. It will be shown that highly original and competitive overall syntheses can be achieved especially in those cases, where the whole strategy is based on arene chromium chemistry and the chemical and stereochemical effects of the Cr(CO)3 unit can be exploited in several subse-... 

The synthesis of planar-chiral arene chromium complexes has been reviewed several times and has also been discussed in an earlier article [9,10]. Apart from stereoselective complexation reactions, diastereoselective and enantioselective... 

Planar chiral compounds usually (and for the purpose of this review, always) contain unsymmetrically substituted aromatic systems. Chirality arises because the otherwise enantiotopic faces of the aromatic ring are differentiated by the coordination to a metal atom - commonly iron (in the ferrocenes) or chromium (in the arenechromium tricarbonyl complexes). Withdrawal of electrons by the metal centre means that arene-metal complexes and metallocenes are more readily lithiated than their parent aromatic systems, and the stereochemical features associated with the planar chirality allow lithiation to be diastereoselective (if the starting material is chiral) or enantioselective (if only the product is chiral). 

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