Cinchona alkaloid-based catalysts cycloaddition

Cinchona alkaloid thiourea catalyst 17 (Figure 37.2) was later employed by Gong et al. to induce the enantio- and diastereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides generated from Schiff bases and nitroalkenes [31]. This process provided straightforward access to chiral highly substituted pyrrolidines with good yields, moderate enantioselectivities (<63% ee), and excellent diastereoselectivities... 

Okamura and Nakatani [65] revealed that the cycloaddition of 3-hydroxy-2-py-rone 107 with electron deficient dienophiles such as simple a,p-unsaturated aldehydes form the endo adduct under base catalysis. The reaction proceeds under NEtj, but demonstrates superior selectivity with Cinchona alkaloids. More recently, Deng et al. [66], through use of modified Cinchona alkaloids, expanded the dienophile pool in the Diels-Alder reaction of 3-hydroxy-2-pyrone 107 with a,p-unsaturated ketones. The mechanistic insight reveals that the bifunctional Cinchona alkaloid catalyst, via multiple hydrogen bonding, raises the HOMO of the 2-pyrone while lowering the LUMO of the dienophile with simultaneous stereocontrol over the substrates (Scheme 22). 

Apart from acting as effective Lewis base catalysts, the quinuclidine structure of cinchona alkaloids can also participate in the other cycloaddition reaction by a different catalytic mechanism. Calter et al. described an interesting asymmetric interrupted Feist-Benary reaction between ethyl bromopyruvates and cyclohexadione. They proposed that the protonated cinchona alkaloid would perform as a Bronsted acid to form hydrogen-bonding interaction with a-ketoester moiety, rendering it more electrophilic toward attack by either the enol or enolate of cydohexandione. Then intramolecular alkylation would afford the formal [3 + 2] cycloadduct (Scheme 10.12) [16]. 

Catalytic enantioselective cycloaddition reactions of ketenes have been intensively explored over the past several decades. Various chiral catalysts have been developed for these cycloadditions, such as cinchona alkaloids, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis (2013SL1614), planar-chiral 4-(JV,JV-dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP)-derived catalysts, and Lewis acid-based catalysts (2009T6771, 2004ACR542). 

The synthetic utility of the bifunctional catalysts in various organic transformations with chiral cyclohexane-diamine derived thioureas was estabhshed through the works of Jacobsen, Takemoto, Johnston, Li, Wang, and Tsogoeva. In the last decade, asymmetric conjugate-type reactions have become popular with cinchona alkaloid derived thioureas. The next section presents non-traditional asymmetric reactions of nitroolefins, enones, imines, and cycloadditions to highhght the role of chiral Br0nsted base derived thiourea catalysts. 

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