Cinchona alkaloids modification

The hydrogenation of methyl pyruvate proceeded over 4% Pd/Fe20 at 293 K and 10 bar when the catalyst was prepared by reduction at room temperature Racemic product was obtained over utunodified catalyst, modification of the catalyst with a cinchona alkaloid reduced reaction rate and rendered the reaction enantioselective. S-lactate was formed in excess when the modifier was cinchonidine, and R-lactate when the modifier was cinchonine... 

Electron-deficient alkenes generally require the use of some other epoxidation procedure, owing to their low reactivity under electrophilic addition conditions. Within this categoiy, o,P-unsaturated ketones tend to be the substrates of interest, and basic oxygen transfer reagents are fiequently encountered, such as HjOj/NaOH, t-BuOOH/NaOH, and NaOCl. Much activity has centered around the modification of these traditional conditions to accommodate asymmetric induction. In this regard, variously substituted Cinchona alkaloids (e.g., 39 - 41) have received a fair amount of attention over the past year. 

The modification of platinum-group metals by adsorbed chiral organic modifiers has emerged as an efficient method to make catalytic metal surfaces chiral. The method is used to prepare highly efficient catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenation of reactants with activated C = O and C = C groups. The adsorption mode of the chiral modifier is crucial for proper chiral modification of the active metal surfaces. The most efficient chiral modifiers known today are cinchona alkaloids, particularly CD, which yields more than 90% enantiomeric excess in the hydrogenation of various reactants. 

Another useful method is the modification of Pt black by cinchona alkaloids, initially developed by Orito, which permits the asymmetric hydrogenation of a-keto esters in up to 90% optical yield (Scheme 17) (43). The reaction with Pt-Al203 modified by cinchonidine can be carried out on 10-200-kg scale in greater than 98% chemical yield and in... 

In particular, it is not only the cinchona alkaloids that are suitable chiral sources for asymmetric organocatalysis [6], but also the corresponding ammonium salts. Indeed, the latter are particularly useful for chiral PTCs because (1) both pseudo enantiomers of the starting amines are inexpensive and available commercially (2) various quaternary ammonium salts can be easily prepared by the use of alkyl halides in a single step and (3) the olefin and hydroxyl functions are beneficial for further modification of the catalyst. In this chapter, the details of recent progress on asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis are described, with special focus on cinchona-derived ammonium salts, except for asymmetric alkylation in a-amino acid synthesis. 

Some of the most remarkable examples of terpenoid indole alkaloid modifications are to be found in the genus Cinchona (Rubiaceae), in the alkaloids quinine, quinidine, cinchonidine,... 

Undoubtedly, the modification of the structure of the cinchona alkaloid also has a significant effect on its conformational behavior in solution esters [17] and 9-0-carbamoyl derivatives [21] exist as a mixture of two major anti-closed and anti-open conformers, while C9 methyl ethers prefer an anti-closed arrangement in noncoordinating solvents [17]. Here again, protonation provides the anti-open conformation as the sole stable form [16b]. In addition to the solvent polarity, many other factors such as intermolecular interactions are also responsible for the complex conformational behavior of cinchona alkaloids in solution. 

For the asymmetric synthesis of the 2-substituted chromane 7 via the intramolecular Michael addition reaction of 6, Merschaert et al. also employed natural cinchona alkaloids such as HCD as catalysts (Scheme 9.3) [3]. Here again, the 9-0 functionalization and dehydroxylation of the natural alkaloid showed a large negative effect, indicating that the presence of the 9-OH group is needed to achieve both good kinetics and enantioselectivity. Moreover, C3 modifications of this parent alkaloid did not lead to any significant improvement in the results in terms of the enantioselectivity and catalytic activity. 

Figure 12.2 Impact of side chain modification on stereocontrol of cinchona alkaloid ligands and catalysts.

Due to the high number of steps, challenging stereocontrol, and low overall yield, the known total synthesis of cinchona alkaloids cannot compete with the extraction of the natural products from readily available cinchona bark and any subsequent semisynthetic modifications. 

It can be hoped that the results achieved recently in the synthesis of Cinchona alkaloids will lead to improved modifications of quinine and quinidine. 

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