Cinchona-derived anthracenylmethylated

Minakata and coworkers also reported the asymmetric aziridination reactions of electron-deficient olefins using cinchona-based PTCs 33-37 and N-chloro-N-sodio carbamate as an oxidant [32]. Moderate values of the ee were obtained. Comparative experiments revealed that the electron-deficient olefin bearing both the dimethylpyr-azole and the di-isopropylpyrazole groups turned out to be a better Michael acceptor than that bearing the oxazolidinone substituent. The modification of the R-substit-uent of the cinchona-derived anthracenylmethylated ammonium salts 35-37 did not have any effect on the enantioselectivity (Scheme 5.26). 

The epoxidation of enones using chiral phase transfer catalysis (PTC) is an emerging technology that does not use transition metal catalysts. Lygo and To described the use of anthracenylmethyl derivatives of a cinchona alkaloid that are capable of catalyzing the epoxidation of enones with remarkable levels of asymmetric control and a one pot method for oxidation of the aUyl alcohol directly into... 

Dehmlow and coworkers [17] compared the efficiency of monodeazadnchona alkaloid derivatives 14a-c in the enantioselective epoxidation of naphthoquinone 50 with that of cinchona alkaloid-derived chiral phase-transfer catalysts 15a-c (Table 7.7) (for comparison of the alkylation reaction, see Table 7.1). Interestingly, the non-natural cinchona alkaloid analogues 14a-c afforded better results than natural cinchona alkaloids 15a-c. The deazacinchonine derivatives 14a,b produced epoxidation product 51 in higher enantioselectivity than the related cinchona alkaloids 15a,b. Of note, catalyst 14c, which possessed a bulky 9-anthracenylmethyl substituent on the quaternary nitrogen, afforded the highest enantioselectivity (84% ee). 

Several families of efficient chiral phase transfer catalysts are now available for use in asymmetric synthesis. To date, the highest enantiomeric excesses (>95% ee) are obtained using salts derived from cinchona alkaloids with a 9-anthracenylmethyl substituent on the bridgehead nitrogen (e.g. lb, 2b). These catalysts will be used to improve the enantiose-lectivity of existing asymmetric PTC reactions and will be exploited in other anion-mediated processes both in the laboratory and industrially. 

The asymmetric phase-transfer epoxidation of ( )-a, 3-unsaturated sulfones has recently been achieved by Dorow and coworker using N-anthracenylmethyl cinchona alkaloid derivatives as catalysts and KOC1 as an oxidant at low temperature [23]. The screening of several etheral functional groups at the C9( O) position of the catalyst moiety indicated that the steric size and the electronic factor of the ether substituent has a significant effect on both the reaction conversion and the enantioselectivity. 

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