Cinchona-based quaternary ammonium salts

As shown in Scheme 8.2, chiral P-hydroxy-a-amino adds can be obtained by the Mukaiyama-type aldol reaction of aldehydes with glycine-derived enol silyl ethers using cinchona-based quaternary ammonium salts. In 2004, Castle and coworkers [9] found that dnchona-based quaternary ammonium salts such as 13 are also able to catalyze the dired aldol readion of aldehydes with the glydne donor 14 in the presence of a phosphazene base such as BTTP (t-butyliminotri(pyrrolidino)phos-... 

As discussed above, all of the cinchona-based quaternary ammonium salts used as catalysts gave only poor to moderate diastereoselectivities and enantioselectivities for direct aldol reactions. Quite recently, a highly enantioselective, catalytic, direct aldol reaction was realized by adopting the enamine catalysis approach [12], in which 9-amino-epi-cinchona alkaloids are employed as aminocatalysts [13, 14]. 

Recently, the groups of Mukaiyama [69] and Feng [70] independently demonstrated that aryl oxide anions such as phenoxide [69] or binaphthoxide [70] can be used instead of fluoride to activate (TMS)CF3 as a Lewis base. Several types of aromatic ketones and aldehydes were smoothly trifluoromethylated within a few hours in the presence of cinchona-based quaternary ammonium salts bearing an aryl oxide anion 148 or 149, affording the corresponding product in excellent yields and with moderate to high ee values (up to 87% ee) (Schemes 8.58 and 8.59). 

Cinchona Alkaloid-Derived Quaternary Ammonium Salts The first successful application of cinchona-based quaternary ammonium salts as chiral phase-transfer catalysts was conducted by the Merck research group in 1984 [16]. Dolling and coworkers reported the N-p-trifluoromethylbenzylcinchoninium bromide 11a for the highly enantioselective alkylation of indanone derivatives imder phase-transfer conditions (Figure 12.3). 

Other research groups also devoted their efforts toward the design and synthesis of new polymeric cinchona-based quaternary ammonium salts. Najera et al. [59] developed the catalyst 29 which incorporates a 9,10-dimethylanthracenyl bridge as a spacer, whereas Siva and Murugan [60] prepared the dimeric cinchonidinium salts 30 using a cyclic tetraamine spacer. Both catalysts exhibited good performance in the asymmetric benzylation of N-(diphenyhnethylene) glycine tert-butyl ester. 

Some other very important events in the historic development of asymmetric organocatalysis appeared between 1980 and the late 1990s, such as the development of the enantioselective alkylation of enolates using cinchona-alkaloid-based quaternary ammonium salts under phase-transfer conditions or the use of chiral Bronsted acids by Inoue or Jacobsen for the asymmetric hydro-cyanation of aldehydes and imines respectively. These initial reports acted as the launching point for a very rich chemistry that was extensively developed in the following years, such as the enantioselective catalysis by H-bonding activation or the asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis. The same would apply to the development of enantioselective versions of the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction,to the use of polyamino acids for the epoxidation of enones, also known as the Julia epoxidation or to the chemistry by Denmark in the phosphor-amide-catalyzed aldol reaction. ... 

Continuing with the use of cinchona alkaloid-based quaternary ammonium salts as catalysts, phenyl vinyl sulfones have also been employed as Michael acceptors in the reaction with glycine imines using cinchonidinium salt 103a as catalyst both in solution or in a solid-supported version (Scheme 5.33), furnishing similar results to those provided by the corresponding vinyl ketones and acrylates shown in Schemes 5.8 and 5.23. ... 

O Donnell (1989), Corey/Lygo (1997) cinchona alkaloid-derived quaternary ammonium salts Lewis Base Cataiysis... 

Alkylation of Schiff bases, derived from amino acid and non-optically active aromatic aldehydes by phase-transfer catalysis in the presence of cinchona alkaloid derived quaternary ammonium salts, gave ce values of up to 50% l42. 

In 1989, O Donnell and coworkers successfully utilized cinchona alkaloid-derived chiral quaternary ammonium salts for the asymmetric synthesis of a-amino acids using tert-butyl glycinate benzophenone Schiff base 1 as a key substrate [5]. The asymmetric alkylation of 1 proceeded smoothly under mild phase-transfer... 

Aldol reactions using a quaternary chinchona alkaloid-based ammonium salt as orga-nocatalyst Several quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alkaloids have proven to be excellent organocatalysts for asymmetric nucleophilic substitutions, Michael reactions and other syntheses. As described in more detail in, e.g., Chapters 3 and 4, those salts act as chiral phase-transfer catalysts. It is, therefore, not surprising that catalysts of type 31 have been also applied in the asymmetric aldol reaction [65, 66], The aldol reactions were performed with the aromatic enolate 30a and benzaldehyde in the presence of ammonium fluoride salts derived from cinchonidine and cinchonine, respectively, as a phase-transfer catalyst (10 mol%). For example, in the presence of the cinchonine-derived catalyst 31 the desired product (S)-32a was formed in 65% yield (Scheme 6.16). The enantioselectivity, however, was low (39% ee) [65],... 

The asymmetric alkylation of glycine derivatives is one of the most simple methods by which to obtain optically active a-amino acids [31]. The enantioselective alkylation of glycine Schiff base 52 under phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) conditions and catalyzed by a quaternary cinchona alkaloid, as pioneered by O Donnell [32], allowed impressive degrees of enantioselection to be achieved using only a very simple procedure. Some examples of polymer-supported cinchona alkaloids are shown in Scheme 3.14. Polymer-supported chiral quaternary ammonium salts 48 have been easily prepared from crosslinked chloromethylated polystyrene (Merrifield resin) with an excess of cinchona alkaloid in refluxing toluene [33]. The use of these polymer-supported quaternary ammonium salts allowed high enantioselectivities (up to 90% ee) to be obtained. 

As previously noted, optically active trans-epoxides are not easily available through the (salen)Mn-catalyzed epoxidation of rrans-olefins. However, a modification in the conditions for cis-alkene epoxidation can provide access to trans-epoxides [94JA6937]. Addition of an cinchona alkaloid derivative such as 18 promotes a remarkable crossover in diastereoselectivity, such that the trans-epoxide 17 can be prepared in 90% de from cis-B-methylstyrene (16). It is not yet clear whether these chiral quaternary ammonium salts fundamentally change the nature of the manganese-based oxidant, or rather somehow prolong the lifetime of the radical intermediate, allowing rotation before collapse. 

After the first successful application of Cinchona alkaloid-based quaternary amo-nium salts as chiral phase-transfer catalysts in 1984 [187], the use of chiral quaternary ammonium salts in asymmetric catalysis has experienced a notable growth [177a, 188]. In particular, the asymmetric alkylation of glycine-derived Schiff bases by means of phase-transfer organocatalysis, pioneered by O Donnell et al. [ 189] and further improved by Lygo and Wainwright [190] and by Maruoka and co-workers [191], among others, has become one of the most reliable procedures for... 

The use of inorganic bases and cinchona alkaloids derived quaternary ammonium salts under phase-transfer conditions resulted in lower enantioselectivities [28,29]. 

Asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis is a method that has for almost three decades proven its high utility. Although its typical application is for (non-natural) amino acid synthesis, over the years other types of applications have been reported. The unique capability of quaternary ammonium salts to form chiral ion pairs with anionic intermediates gives access to stereoselective transformations that are otherwise very difficult to conduct using metal catalysts or other organocatalysts. Thus, this catalytic principle has created its own very powerful niche within the field of asymmetric catalysis. As can be seen in Table 5 below, the privileged catalyst structures are mostly Cinchona alkaloid-based, whereas the highly potent Maruoka-type catalysts have so far not been applied routinely to complex natural product total synthesis. 

Phase-Transfer Catalysis Phase-transfer catalysis is an interesting alternative approach that can induce high to very high enantioselectivities. For this purpose, quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alkaloids are good catalysts for the fluorination of C H acidic substrates such as (3-keto esters. Treatment of (3-keto esters with NFSI in the presence of 10 mol% of chiral phase-transfer catalyst and 6 equivalents of base afforded the a-fluoro- 3-keto esters in excellent yields and moderate enantioselectivities (Scheme 44.27). With a-cyano esters,... 

Other Quaternary Ammonium Salts In order to understand the role of the quinoline nucleus on the dnchona alkaloid-derived quaternary ammonium salts in asymmetric PTC, Dehmlow and coworkers replaced the quinoline residue with various sterically bulky aromatic groups. It is interesting that, in the asymmetric epoxidation reaction, the monodea2acinchona alkaloid derivative 56 could provide a higher enantioselectivity than the corresponding cinchona-based catalyst (Figure 12.13) [89]. 

Aldol and Related Condensations As an elegant extension of the PTC-alkylation reaction, quaternary ammonium catalysts have been efficiently utilized in asymmetric aldol (Scheme 11.17a)" and nitroaldol reactions (Scheme ll.lTb) for the constmction of optically active p-hydroxy-a-amino acids. In most cases, Mukaiyama-aldol-type reactions were performed, in which the coupling of sUyl enol ethers with aldehydes was catalyzed by chiral ammonium fluoride salts, thus avoiding the need of additional bases, and allowing the reaction to be performed under homogeneous conditions. " It is important to note that salts derived from cinchona alkaloids provided preferentially iyw-diastereomers, while Maruoka s catalysts afforded awh-diastereomers. 

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