Cinchona Darzens reaction

Table 1.12 Cinchona alkaloid-derived phase-transfer catalysts for asymmetric Darzens reactions.

The asymmetric Darzens reaction of a-chlorocycloalkanones using quatemized cinchona alkaloids as phase-transfer catalyst and LiOH as base in BU2O at room temperature is usually high yielding. However, the moderate ee is disappointing. 

Darzens Reaction with Cinchona-derived PTC Catalysts... 

The asymmetric Darzens condensation, which involves both carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen bond constructions, was realized by use of the chiral azacrown ether 75als2,s ,ss and the quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alka-loids159"621 under phase transfer catalyzed conditions. The a,p-epoxy ketone 80 (R=Ph) was obtained with reasonable enantioselectivity by the reaction of... 

Promising examples of the catalytic asymmetric Darzens condensation, which yields an epoxide product via carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen bond formation, have been reported recently by two groups (Scheme 10.11). Toke and co-workers used crown ether 24 in the reaction to form the a,P-unsaturated ketone 78 [38b] with 64% ee, whereas the Shioiri group used the cinchona-derived salt 3a [52], which resulted in 78 with 69% ee. The latter authors propose a catalytic cycle involving generation of a chiral enolate in situ from an achiral inorganic base... 

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