Cu-PYBOX

Landais has extended his desymmetrization of dienes from dihydroxylation approaches to a cyclopropanation reaction. A Cu-pybox complex provides the highest enantioselectivities and good diastereoselectivity in the asymmetric cyclopropanation of the silyl-substituted cyclopentadiene 210 ... 

Yu and co-workers32 have reported bis-THF syntheses using Lewis acid-catalyzed reaction of commercially available 2,3-dihydrofiiran (12) and glycolaldehyde dimer 25, as shown in Scheme 5. The use of Sc(OTt)3 and (S)-26 as chiral ligand in CH2C12 at 0 °C provided bis-THF alcohol 11 in a 85 15 mixture of enantiomers by GC analysis. The use of Cu[Pybox] gave similar results. 

Figure 13 Structure of an ir-PCP pincer complex and of a Cu-PyBox complex...

Propargylic oxidation of the acyclic alkyne (5.126) can be achieved with moderate enantioselectivity. It is noteworthy that in this case, the quoted yield is based on the starting material (rather than being based on the perester).One drawback with this procedure is the very slow reaction rate. It has been discovered that the rate of the oxidation can be enhanced using phenylhydrazine as an additive, to aid in the reduction of Cu(II) to Cu(I), and Cu-PYBOX ligand (5.127) as catalyst. 

The aldehyde 157 was prepared according to the sequence in the synthesis of Evans total synthesis of callipeltoside A (Scheme 33) [75]. The vinylidene asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reaction of a-oxy aldehyde 159 and silyl ketene acetal 160 catalyzed by Cu-pybox complex 161 [76] furnished 5-hydroxy-a, /l-unsaturated ester 162 in 95% ee, which was reduced to yield 157. 

Evans et al. reported that the his(oxazolinyl)pyridine (pybox) complex of copper(II) 17 is a selective catalyst of Diels-Alder reactions between a-bromoacrolein or methacrolein and cydopentadiene affording the adducts in high enantioselectivity [23] (Scheme 1.30). Selection of the counter-ion is important to achieve a satisfactory reaction rate and enantioselectivity, and [Cu(pyhox)](ShFg)2 gave the best result. This catalyst is also effective for the Diels-Alder reaction of acrylate dieno-philes (vide infra). 

Evans s bis(oxazolinyl)pyridine (pybox) complex 17, which is effective for the Diels-Alder reaction of a-bromoacrolein and methacrolein (Section 2.1), is also a suitable catalyst for the Diels-Alder reaction of acrylate dienophiles [23] (Scheme 1.33). In the presence of 5 mol% of the Cu((l )-pybox)(SbF5)2 catalyst with a benzyl substituent, tert-butyl acrylate reacts with cyclopentadiene to give the adduct in good optical purity (92% ee). Methyl acrylate and phenyl acrylate underwent cycloadditions with lower selectivities. 

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]. 

Figure 24. X-ray crystal structures of the [Cu((5, 5)-i-Pr-pybox)](H20)n]X2 complexes 267b and 267b along with selected bond lengths and angles. [Adapted from (197).]...

Similar to the CuOTf/PyBox system, the CuBr/QUINAP system also gave high enantioselectivities of the three component reactions to construct propargyl amines from aldehydes, amines, and alkynes (Scheme 5.6). In this system various aldehydes including aromatic aldehydes and aliphatic aldehydes could be used and a wide range of chiral propargyl amines were prepared in good yields and enantioselectivities. Mechanistic studies showed that the dimeric Cu/QUINAP complex is the catalytically active species that differs from the previous reaction. 

Allylic oxidation of a variety of cyclic alkenes with copper complexes of different pybox ligands (8) and with various peresters shows high enantioselectivity (80-96% ee). Use of phenylhydrazine as an additive and acetone as solvent accelerates the reaction. It has been suggested that the phenylhydrazone is responsible for the observed acceleration. Using EPR spectra, it has been shown that the Cu(II) species is reduced to Cu(I) by phenylhydrazine and phenylhydrazone. It has been found that the presence of a gem-diphenyl group at C(5) and a secondary or tertiary alkyl substituent at the chiral centre at C(4) of the oxazoline rings is crucial for high enantioselectivity. 

Other terminal olefins were transformed to the corresponding cyclopropane esters with Z-menthyl and d-menthyl diazoacetates with high stereoselectivity up to 98% ee (Scheme 3). Intramolecular reaction of the phenyl-allyl ester 9 was carried out to give the bicyclic compound 10 with 86% ee and 93% yield. The enantioselectivity for intramolecular cyclopropanation of the 3-methylbutenyl ester 11 was compared with chiral Cu(I), Rh(II), and Ru Pybox catalysts Rh>Ru>Cu [26]. 

The use of (A,A)-/-Pr-pybox-Cu(OTf)2 complex as a catalyst preferentially produces the optically active syn-aldol... 

C2-symmetric bis(oxazolinyl)pyridine (pybox)-Cu (II) complex 27 has been shown to catalyze highly enantioselective Mukaiyaraa aldol reactions between (benzyloxy)acetaldehyde and silyl ketene acetals by Evans and co-workers as exemplified in Scheme 1-9 [38]. Here, the requirement for a chelating substituent on the aldehyde partner is critical to catalyst selectivity, as a-(terl-butyldimethylsil-oxy)acetaldehyde gave lower enantioselectivity (56% ee). In addition, P-(benzyl-oxy)propionaldehyde provided the racemic product, indicating a strict requirement for a five-membered catalyst-substrate chelate. 

Copper complexes of chiral Pybox (pyridine-2,6-bis(oxazoline))-type ligands have been found to catalyze the enantioselective alkynylation of imines [26]. Moreover, the resultant optically active propargylamines are important intermediates for the synthesis of a variety of nitrogen compounds [27], as well as being a common structural feature of many biologically active compounds and natural products. Portnoy prepared PS-supported chiral Pybox-copper complex 35 via a five-step solid-phase synthetic sequence [28]. Cu(l) complexes of the polymeric Pybox ligands were then used as catalysts for the asymmetric addition of phenylacetylene to imine 36, as shown in Scheme 3.11. tBu-Pybox gave the best enantioselectivity of 83% ee in the synthesis of 37. 

Schreiber and co-workers demonstrated that an indan (PyBox)-Cu(II) complex (140) was able to catalyze the P-3CR (Scheme 5.43) [86]. Nevertheless, the enantio-enriched Passerini adduct was obtained only when the chelating aldehyde was used as a reaction partner. 

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