Cinchona alkaloids Cinchonine catalysis

The enantioselective hydrogenation of prochiral substances bearing an activated group, such as an ester, an acid or an amide, is often an important step in the industrial synthesis of fine and pharmaceutical products. In addition to the hydrogenation of /5-ketoesters into optically pure products with Raney nickel modified by tartaric acid [117], the asymmetric reduction of a-ketoesters on heterogeneous platinum catalysts modified by cinchona alkaloids (cinchonidine and cinchonine) was reported for the first time by Orito and coworkers [118-121]. Asymmetric catalysis on solid surfaces remains a very important research area for a better mechanistic understanding of the interaction between the substrate, the modifier and the catalyst [122-125], although excellent results in terms of enantiomeric excesses (up to 97%) have been obtained in the reduction of ethyl pyruvate under optimum reaction conditions with these Pt/cinchona systems [126-128],... 

BQC is derived from quinine, which is a member of the cinchona family of alkaloids. Ammonium salts derived from quinidine, a diastereomer of (1) at the hydroxyl substituent, have been used less frequently in catalysis than BQC. Quini-dinium salts often give rise to products with enantioselectivity opposite to that from (1). Other related compounds, such as those derived from cinchonine and cinchonidine (which lack the methoxy substituent on the quinoline nucleus), have found application in organic synthesis. The cinchona alkaloids, as well as salt derivatives in which the benzyl group bears various substituents, have also been studied. Results from polymer-bound catalysts have not been promising. ... 

As mentioned in the previous section, nowadays, readily available and inexpensive cinchona alkaloids with pseudoenantiomeric forms, such as quinine and quinidine or cinchonine and cinchonidine, are among the most privileged chirality inducers in the area of asymmetric catalysis. The key feature responsible for their successful utility in catalysis is that they possess diverse chiral skeletons and are easily tunable for diverse types of reactions (Figure 1.2). The presence of the 1,2-aminoalcohol subunit containing the highly basic and bulky quinuclidine, which complements the proximal Lewis acidic hydroxyl function, is primarily responsible for their catalytic activity. 

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