Complexes Lewis acids-dienophiles

The origin(s) for the preference of stereostructure A in the acrylic acid ester addition is not known with certainty. A steric effect may explain the observation. The bulky acceptor substituent of the dienophile might be less hindered—and this is quite counterintuitive—in the enrfo-orientation in the transition state shown in Figure 15.31 than in the alternative exo-position. One might use the structure B to suggest that the substituent of the dienophile in A does not try to avoid the C atoms C2 and C3 as much as it tries to stay away from the H atoms cis-H1 and cis-H4. The increase of e/w/o-selectivity upon addition of a Lewis acid could then be explained by the premise that the complexing Lewis acid renders the ester group more bulky. This increased steric demand enhances its desire to avoid the steric hindrance in its ew-posi-tion. 

The regioselectivity benefits from the increased polarisation of the alkene moiety, reflected in the increased difference in the orbital coefficients on carbon 1 and 2. The increase in endo-exo selectivity is a result of an increased secondary orbital interaction that can be attributed to the increased orbital coefficient on the carbonyl carbon ". Also increased dipolar interactions, as a result of an increased polarisation, will contribute. Interestingly, Yamamoto has demonstrated that by usirg a very bulky catalyst the endo-pathway can be blocked and an excess of exo product can be obtained The increased di as tereo facial selectivity has been attributed to a more compact transition state for the catalysed reaction as a result of more efficient primary and secondary orbital interactions as well as conformational changes in the complexed dienophile" . Calculations show that, with the polarisation of the dienophile, the extent of asynchronicity in the activated complex increases . Some authors even report a zwitteriorric character of the activated complex of the Lewis-acid catalysed reaction " . Currently, Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions is everyday practice in synthetic organic chemistry. 

The mechanism by which Lewis-acids can be expected to affect the rate of the Diels-Alder reaction in water is depicted in Scheme 2.6. The first step in the cycle comprises rapid and reversible coordination of the Lewis-acid to the dienophile, leading to a complex in which the dienophile is activated for reaction with the diene. After the irreversible Diels-Alder reaction, the product has to dissociate from the Lewis-acid in order to make the catalyst available for another cycle. The overall... 

In the kinetic runs always a large excess of catalyst was used. Under these conditions IQ does not influence the apparent rate of the Diels-Alder reaction. Kinetic studies by UV-vis spectroscopy require a low concentration of the dienophile( 10" M). The use of only a catalytic amount of Lewis-acid will seriously hamper complexation of the dienophile because of the very low concentrations of both reaction partners under these conditions. The contributions of and to the observed apparent rate constant have been determined by measuring k pp and Ka separately. ... 

As anticipated from the complexation experiments, reaction of 4.42 with cyclopentadiene in the presence of copper(II)nitrate or ytterbium triflate was extremely slow and comparable to the rate of the reaction in the absence of Lewis-acid catalyst. Apparently, Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions of p-amino ketone dienophiles is not practicable. 

In contrast to the situation in the absence of catalytically active Lewis acids, micelles of Cu(DS)2 induce rate enhancements up to a factor 1.8710 compared to the uncatalysed reaction in acetonitrile. These enzyme-like accelerations result from a very efficient complexation of the dienophile to the catalytically active copper ions, both species being concentrated at the micellar surface. Moreover, the higher affinity of 5.2 for Cu(DS)2 compared to SDS and CTAB (Psj = 96 versus 61 and 68, respectively) will diminish the inhibitory effect due to spatial separation of 5.1 and 5.2 as observed for SDS and CTAB. 

A second question involves the influence of ligands on the rate and selectivity of the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction in water. In Chapter 3 we have demonstrated that nearly all the ligands studied induce a significant decrease in the affinity of the catalyst for the dienophile. This effect is accompanied by a modest reduction of the rate of the Diels-Alder reaction of the ternary dienophile -catalyst - ligand complex. 

The rate of the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction in water has been compared to that in other solvents. The results demonstrate that the expected beneficial effect of water on the Lewis-acid catalysed reaction is indeed present. However, the water-induced acceleration of the Lewis-add catalysed reaction is not as pronounced as the corresponding effect on the uncatalysed reaction. The two effects that underlie the beneficial influence of water on the uncatalysed Diels-Alder reaction, enforced hydrophobic interactions and enhanced hydrogen bonding of water to the carbonyl moiety of 1 in the activated complex, are likely to be diminished in the Lewis-acid catalysed process. Upon coordination of the Lewis-acid catalyst to the carbonyl group of the dienophile, the catalyst takes over from the hydrogen bonds an important part of the activating influence. Also the influence of enforced hydrophobic interactions is expected to be significantly reduced in the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction. Obviously, the presence of the hydrophilic Lewis-acid diminished the nonpolar character of 1 in the initial state. 

Evans et al. reported that the bis(imine)-copper (II) complex 25, prepared from chiral bis(imine) ligand and Cu(OTf)2, is also an effective chiral Lewis acid catalyst [34] (Scheme 1.44, Table 1.18). By tuning the aryl imine moiety, the bis(2,6-dichlor-ophenylimine) derivative was found to be suitable. Although the endojexo selectivity for 3-alkenoyloxazolidinones is low, significant improvement is achieved with the thiazolidine-2-thione analogs, for which both dienophile reactivity and endojexo selectivity are enhanced. 

Carbene complexes which have an all-carbon tether between the diene and the dienophile react via intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction to give the corresponding bicyclic compound. The stereoselectivities of these reactions are comparable to those observed for the Lewis acid-catalysed reactions of the corresponding methyl esters and much higher than those of the thermal reactions of the methyl esters which are completely unselective. Moreover, the ris-sub-stituted complexes undergo endo-selective reactions where the corresponding reaction of the ester fails [109] (Scheme 61). 

Lewis-acid-catalyzed cycloadditions of dienophiles, such as a,/l-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, with open-chain carbon-dienes, are generally highly ortho-para regioselective because the oxygen complexation increases the difference of LUMO coefficients of the alkene moiety. 

The complexation with Lewis acids or the protonation influences both the energy and the coefficients of carbon atoms of the LUMO orbital of the dienophile. The coefficient of the carbonyl carbon orbital increases (Scheme 1.16) consequently, the stabilizing effect of the secondary orbital interaction is greatly increased and the endo addition is more favored. 

Transition-metal-based Lewis acids such as molybdenum and tungsten nitro-syl complexes have been found to be active catalysts [49]. The ruthenium-based catalyst 50 (Figure 3.6) is very effective for cycloadditions with aldehyde- and ketone-bearing dienophiles but is ineffective for a,)S-unsaturated esters [50]. It can be handled without special precautions since it is stable in air, does not require dry solvents and does not cause polymerization of the substrates. Nitromethane was the most convenient organic solvent the reaction can also be carried out in water. 

The cyclopentadienyl triflate complexes of zirconium and titanium 51 and 52 (Figure 3.7) are also active catalysts [51]. Their activity has been tested in a wide variety of dienes and dienophiles. It is noteworthy that even at low catalyst loadings, rate accelerations between 10 and > 10 times have been observed. No special precautions were taken to dry the solvents or the substrates, in contrast with the traditional Lewis acids which require either predried solvents or high catalyst loadings. 

Several aluminum- and titanium-based compounds have been supported on silica and alumina [53]. Although silica and alumina themselves catalyze cycloaddition reactions, their catalytic activity is greatly increased when they complex a Lewis acid. Some of these catalysts are among the most active described to date for heterogeneous catalysis of the Diels-Alder reactions of carbonyl-containing dienophiles. The Si02-Et2AlCl catalyst is the most efficient and can be... 

Ghosh et al. [70] reviewed a few years ago the utihty of C2-symmetric chiral bis(oxazoline)-metal complexes for catalytic asymmetric synthesis, and they reserved an important place for Diels-Alder and related transformations. Bis(oxazoline) copper(II)triflate derivatives have been indeed described by Evans et al. as effective catalysts for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction [71]. The bis(oxazoline) Ugand 54 allowed the Diels-Alder transformation of two-point binding N-acylimide dienophiles with good yields, good diastereos-electivities (in favor of the endo diastereoisomer) and excellent ee values (up to 99%) [72]. These substrates represent the standard test for new catalysts development. To widen the use of Lewis acidic chiral Cu(ll) complexes, Evans et al. prepared and tested bis(oxazoHnyl)pyridine (PyBOx, structure 55, Scheme 26) as ligand [73]. 

Lewis acids such as zinc chloride, boron trifluoride, tin tetrachloride, aluminum chloride, methylaluminum dichloride, and diethylaluminum chloride catalyze Diels-Alder reactions.22 The catalytic effect is the result of coordination of the Lewis acid with the dienophile. The complexed dienophile is more electrophilic and more reactive toward electron-rich dienes. The mechanism of the addition is believed to be concerted and enhanced regio- and stereoselectivity is often observed.23... 

Some D-A reactions are catalyzed by high concentrations of LiC104 in ether,33 a catalysis that involves Lewis acid complexation of Li+ with the dienophile.34... 

Enantioselective D-A reactions of acrolein are also catalyzed by 3-(2-hydroxyphenyl) derivatives of BINOL in the presence of an aromatic boronic acid. The optimum boronic acid is 3,5-di-(trifluoromethyl)benzeneboronic acid, with which more than 95% e.e. can be achieved. The TS is believed to involve Lewis acid complexation of the boronic acid at the carbonyl oxygen and hydrogen bonding with the hydroxy substituent. In this TS tt-tt interactions between the dienophile and the hydroxybiphenyl substituent can also help to align the dienophile.114... 

These examples serve to illustrate several general points about use of chiral catalysts for D-A reactions. A cationic metal center is present in nearly all of the catalysts developed to date and has several functions. It is the anchor for the chiral ligands and also serves as a Lewis acid with respect to the dienophile. The chiral ligands establish the facial selectivity of the complexed dienophile. There are several indications of the importance of the anions to catalytic activity. Anions, in general,... 

In stereoselective reactions, Zn11 Lewis acids work well to achieve high selectivities (Scheme 54). Chiral complexes of Zn11 with chiral bis(oxazoline) ligands act as effective catalysts in Diels-Alder reactions of reactive dienes with dienophiles having bidentate chelating moieties such as... 

In most reported cases, the covalently bound chiral auxiliary has been attached to the dienophile via an acyl linkage, but there are also many examples known in which the auxiliary has been attached to the diene via an acyl, alkyl or heteroatom linkage, the first example of the latter being Trost s diene147. Lewis acids are often added to the reaction mixtures when the chiral auxiliary attached to the dienophile contains an additional Lewis basic site. This is not only to enhance the reaction rate, but especially to enhance the diastereofacial selectivity by complexing to the dienophile in a bidentate fashion. This makes the dienophile more conformationally rigid. 

Carbohydrates have found widespread use as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric Diels-Al-der reactions156. A recent example is a study conducted by Ferreira and colleagues157 who used carbohydrate based chiral auxiliaries in the Lewis acid catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions of their acrylate esters 235 with cyclopentadiene (equation 66). Some representative results of their findings, including the ratios of products 236 and 237, have been summarized in Table 9. The formation of 236 as the main product when diethylaluminum chloride was used in dichloromethane (entry 3) was considered to be the result of an equilibrium between a bidentate and monodentate catalyst-dienophile complex. The bidentate complex would, upon attack by the diene, lead to 236, whereas the monodentate complex would afford 236 and 237 in approximately equal amounts. The reversal of selectivity on changing the solvent from dichloromethane to toluene (entry 2 vs 3) remained unexplained by the authors. 

The enone system has to preferably adopt an s-cis or s-trans conformation in the transition state. Which one is favored may depend on the nature of the Lewis acid. It is generally accepted that Lewis acid complexation dramatically stabilizes the s-trans conformation204. The s-cis conformation, however, may be the more reactive conformation. The dienophile may react selectively in this conformation, if the s-trans and s-cis conformations are in equilibrium. 

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