Copper catalysts conjugate addition

In 1996, Feringa and co-workers (164) reported the use of binaphthol-derived phosphoramidite 232a as a ligand for the copper-catalyzed conjugate addition. Addition of 2 equiv of 232a to Cu(OTf)2 forms an effective catalyst for the selective... 

Organoaluminum reagents have been used in the copper-catalyzed conjugate addition to enones with some success. Iwata and co-workers (182) demonstrated that dimethoxyphenyl oxazoline (247) provides modest selectivities in the copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of trimethylaluminum to 3,4,4-trimethylcyclohexadi-enone to provide the adduct in 68% ee, Eq. 145. The use of TBSOTf is crucial to attain high conversion and selectivity in this process. Woodward and co-workers (183) subsequently reported that a Cu(I) complex of thiocarbamate 248 provides modest facial discrimination in the addition of trimethylaluminum to a linear enone to afford 245b in 51% ee, Eq. 146. The authors note that this catalyst system decomposes under the reaction conditions at ambient temperature. 

The copper-catalyzed conjugate addition reaction of organozinc reagents has reached a prominent level of success by the development of sophisticated chiral phosphorus ligands. Nickel catalysts have also been surveyed by several groups. 

The copper-catalysed conjugate addition process is not limited to the use of Grignard reagents and dialkylzincs. Some success has been achieved using trimethylaluminium as nucleophile and up to 97% ee has been obtained in the addition to 2-cyclohexenones using copper-phosphoramidite catalysts. ... 

Nickel catalysts can be used instead of copper catalysts to promote the conjugate addition reaction, providing, in some cases, better results than the corresponding copper catalysts. In 2000, Yang et al. discovered a series of (li ,25, 3i )-3-mercaptocamphan-2-ol derivatives, which proved to be efficient ligands in the conjugate addition of ZnEt2 to chalcone upon catalysis with Ni(acac)2 (Scheme 2.29). 

In the conjugate addition of diethylzinc to enones catalyzed by copper reagent CuOTf or Cu(OTf)2 in the presence of 90, an ee of over 60% has been obtained. Study also shows that the actual catalyst in the reaction may be a Cu(I) species formed via in situ reduction of Cu(II) complexes. 

Tanaka et al. (152) demonstrated that a chiral copper alkoxide could be used substoichiometrically to deliver MeLi to an enone in conjugate fashion. The precatalyst is formed from amino alcohol 221, MeLi and Cul, Eq. 123a. Under stoichiometric conditions, this catalyst mediates the conjugate addition of MeLi to the macrocyclic enone, affording muscone in 91% ee. Lower enantioselectivity is observed using a substoichiometric amount of 222 (0.5 equiv), affording a 79% yield of muscone in 76% ee, Eq. 123b. These selectivities are attained by portion-wise addition of the substrate and MeLi to the alkoxy-cuprate. This catalyst also exhibits a complex nonlinear effect (78, 153). 

Palladium-catalysed C-C bond formation under Heck reaction conditions, which normally requires anhydrous conditions and the presence of copper(I) salts, is aided by the addition of quaternary ammonium salts. It has been shown that it is frequently possible to dispense with the copper catalyst and use standard two-phase reactions conditions [e.g. 18, 19]. Tetra-/i-butylammonium salts catalyse the palladium-catalysed reaction of iodoarenes with alkynes to yield the arylethynes in high yield [20, 21], whereas the reaction with 3-methylbut-1 -yn-3-ol (Scheme 6.30) provides a route to diarylethynes [22]. Diarylethynes are also formed from the reaction of an iodoarene with trimethylsilylethyne [23], Iodoalkynes react with a,p-unsaturated ketones and esters to produce the conjugated yne-eneones [19],... 

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