Cinchona Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction

Table 6.31 Modified cinchona-catalyzed Morita-Baylis-Hillman reactions.

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. ... 

Another class of reaction for which chiral tertiary amines are privileged catalysts is the Morita-Baylis-Hillman type (477, 478). One of the first applications of Cinchona alkaloids to mediate an asymmetric Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction in a natural product synthesis was reported by Hatakeyama et al. in 2001 (479). Using a stoichiometric amount of (3-isocupreidine (568), a stereoselective addition of hexafluoroisopropyl acrylate (569) to aldehyde 570 could be carried out in good yield and with excellent selectivity (99% ee) (Scheme 119). The chiral p-hydroxy ester 571 was converted further into the epoxide 572, a known intermediate in the synthesis of epopromycin B (573). Epopromycin B (573) is a plant cell wall... 

A review on ynolates, including the synthesis of p-lactones, has appeared <03S2275>. Morita-Baylis-Hillman-type adducts have been converted into a-alkylidene-p-lactones 65, which on reaction with dimethyltitanocene can be transformed into 3-alkylidene-2-methyleneoxetanes <03OL399>. Lactones 66 have been obtained via the cinchona alkaloid-catalyzed dimerization of monosubstituted ketenes <03OL4745>. The PdCh-promoted synthesis of P-lactones 67 have been achieved via cyclocarbonylation of 2-alkynols <03OL4429>. 

Chen and coworkers published a formal [3 + 3]-type reaction to give highly substituted cyclohexenes 8. This domino process consists of an allylic-allylic alkylation of an a,a-dicyanoalkene derived from 1-indanone and Morita-Baylis-Hillman carbonates, following an intramolecular Michael addition, by employing dual orga-nocatalysis of commercially available modified cinchona alkaloid (DHQD)2AQN If (hydroquinidine (anthraquinone-l,4-diyl) diether) and (S)-BINOL. The cyclic adducts... 

Chen and coworkers employed the cinchona alkaloid-derived catalyst 26 to direct Mannich additions of 3-methyloxindole 24 to the A-tosylimine 25 to afford the all-carbon quaternary center of oxindole 27 with good enantioselectivity (84% ee) [22]. The outcome of this Mannich reaction is notable in that it provided very good selectivity for the anti diastereomer (anti/syn 94 6). The mechanism of asymmetric induction has been suggested to involve a hydrogen bonding network between the cinchona alkaloid 26, the oxindole enolate of 24, and the imine electrophile 25 (Scheme 7). Asymmetric allylic alkylation of oxindoles with Morita-Baylis-Hillman carbonates has been reported by the same group [23]. 

Cinchona alkaloid derivatives can also serve as useful Lewis basic catalysts, as very well exemplified by their successful employment in the Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction and its aza variant (aza-MBH), which provide a convenient access to functionalised allylie aleohols and amines. As early as 1999 Hatakeyama and coworkers reported the use of p-isocupreidine (P-ICPD) as a catalyst for the reaction of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes with 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropyl acrylate, affording the desired adducts with very high enantioselectivities (Scheme 14.19). The concomitant formation of the dioxanone derivatives lowered the yield in the MBH adducts and caused difficulties in the experimental proeedure. Interestingly, the dioxanone derivatives had the opposite eonfiguration at the alcoholic stereocentre compared to the MBH produet, highlighting an intriguing mechanistic feature of this Lewis-base catalysed reaction. ... 

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