Conjugate thiourea catalysts

Dicarbonyl donors are excellent Michael donors in asymmetric conjugate addition to a,p-nnsatnrated ketones. Wang and co-workers [79] applied chiral Cinchona-thiourea catalyst 131 to various carbon donors in the addition to aromatic enones. A diverse array of nucleophiles, mainly 1,3-dicarbonyls proceeded smoothly in the conjugate addition to a,p-unsaturated enone 132 (Scheme 29). 

The conjugate additions of thiols to a,p-unsaturated electrophiles was extended by Wang [96]. Catalyst 166 promoted the addition of thioacetic acid to a variety of enones, including aliphatic, aromatic and heteroaromatic substituents (Scheme 42). Wang expanded the scope of the reaction to include asymmetric additions of thioacetic acid to nitro-olefms (Scheme 43) [97]. Thiourea catalyst 166 promoted the addition reactions in high yields and high enantiomeric ratios for a variety of P-substituted nitro-olefms. 

Scheme 6.26 Proposed model of the biomimetic reduction of conjugated nitroalkenes in the presence of thiourea catalyst 9 and 19.

The highly enantioselective direct conjugate addition of ketones to nitroalkenes has been promoted by a chiral primary amine-thiourea catalyst (7).31 The observed anti diastereoselectivity has suggested participation of a (Z)-enamine intermediate, given (g) the complementary diastereoselectivity obtained in analogous reactions involving (E)-enamines generated from secondary amine catalysts. 

Using the bifunctional chiral primary amine thiourea catalyst 41 (20 mol%) in CH Clj and in the presence of five equivalents of H O as additive, a highly enanti-oselective direct conjugate addition of a wide range of a,a-unsymmetrically dis-ubstituted aldehydes (only a twofold excess of aldehyde relative to nitroaUcene) to nitroolefins is obtained (see Table 2.1, entry 15, for a representative example) [61], The beneficial role of water is proposed to lie in increasing turnover by eliminating potential catalyst deactivation pathways, and accelerating the final imine hydrolysis. 

On the other hand, chiral primary amine-thiourea catalysts 85 and 90 developed by Tsogoeva [125] and Jacobsen [130], respectively, show an opposite sense of relative stereoinduction in the conjugate addition of acyclic ketones to nitroolefins (see Scheme 2.41 for 90). These anti selective catalysts stand in contrast to the usually obtained results which lead to selective formation of the i yn-conflgured diastereoiso-mers. The unexpected situation suggests participation of a Z-enamine intermediate. Moreover, with respect to the electrophile activation by the urea-type catalysts, it is also demonstrated that only one oxygen of the nitro group is bound to the thiourea moiety in an out-of-plane arrangement [125,130]. 

Bifunctional alkaloid-derived thiourea catalyst 79 promotes the conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to l,l-bis(benzenesulfonyl)ethylene in toluene to afford the corresponding enantiomerically enriched y-sulfonyl derivatives at-10°C [183]. Although... 

From the various conjugate addition reactions of nucleophiles to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, the use of maleimides as the Michael acceptor deserves special mention. Xue and coworkers developed a highly sustainable protocol for the Michael addition of a,a-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides (Scheme 19.52). Remarkably, using 1 mol% of the simple bifunctional thiourea catalyst 46 and water as additive, the reaction proceeded smoothly to afford oc-branched succinimides in high yields and with... 

The greater scope of this reaction was attributed to the dual cyclic Bronsted acid/H-Bond donar cocatalysis mechanism. The catalytic cycle initially involves imine protonation by the chiral thiourea catalyst 170 associated via H-bonding to the conjugate base (X ) of a weak Bronsted acid (H-X, benzoic acid in this case) additive. Intramolecular cyclization of the protonated iminium ion 146, followed by rearomatization regenerates the Bronsted acid cocatlayst (benzoic acid). Note for brevity, the plausible rearrangement (RR) step of the inital CCij-spiroalkylated adduct to the final tetrahydrohydroisoquinoline scaffold 147 is not shown. 

Finally, bifunctional thiourea catalysts bearing primary or secondary amine have been reported by Tsogoeva [116], Jacobsen [117], Tang [118], and Xiao [119] (Figure 2.22). They are employed for the conjugate addition of ketone to ni-troalkenes. In principle, they are enamine catalysts bearing acidic functional group. 

The first report on the development and use of chiral squaramide derivatives as hydrogen-bond donor catalysts appeared in 2008 by Rawal and coworkers [78]. The authors showcased the usefulness of this new scaffold by evaluating the Michael addihon of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to nitroalkenes, the same reaction that was used to illustrate the capabilily of a thiourea catalyst by Takemoto [45]. Of the catalysts examined, the cinchonine-derived squaramide 13 functioned well as a bifunctional catalyst and provided the conjugate addition product in high yield and excellent enanhoselectivity (Scheme 10.12). Less reactive substrates such as a-substituted 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds also participate in the desired reaction. 

The synthetic utility of the bifunctional catalysts in various organic transformations with chiral cyclohexane-diamine derived thioureas was estabhshed through the works of Jacobsen, Takemoto, Johnston, Li, Wang, and Tsogoeva. In the last decade, asymmetric conjugate-type reactions have become popular with cinchona alkaloid derived thioureas. The next section presents non-traditional asymmetric reactions of nitroolefins, enones, imines, and cycloadditions to highhght the role of chiral Br0nsted base derived thiourea catalysts. 

Cobb and coworkers reported another intramolecular Michael addition of conjugated esters 117. They screened a range of thiourea catalysts and found bifunc-tional compound 116 gave sahsfactory results in this cycHzation, furnishing the cyclic y-nitro esters 118 with up to three stereocenters (Scheme 36.32) [40]. 

A practical and highly enantioselective Michael addition of malonates to enones catalysed by bifunctional primary amine-thiourea (5) derived from 1,2-diaminocyclohexane has been reported. The addition of weak acids and elevated temperature improved the efficiency of the Michael reaction. This approach enables the efficient synthesis of 1,5-ketoesters with good yields, excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee), and low loading (0.5-5 mol%) of catalysts. A related bifunctional cinchona-thiourea catalyst has been involved in asymmetric organocatalysed conjugate addition reactions of monoth-iomalonates to nitroolefins. ... 

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