Cyclopropanation Aratani catalyst

Dauben et al. (15) applied the Aratani catalyst to intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions. Diazoketoesters were poor substrates for this catalyst, conferring little asymmetric induction to the product, Eq. 10. Better results were found using diazo ketones (34). The product cyclopropane was formed in selectivities as high as 77% ee (35a, n = 1). A reversal in the absolute sense of induction was noted upon cyclopropanation of the homologous substrate 34b (n = 2) using this catalyst, Eq. 11. Dauben notes that the reaction does not proceed at low temperature, as expected for a Cu(II) precatalyst, but that thermal activation of the catalyst results in lower selectivities (44% ee, 80°C, PhH, 35a, n = 1). Complex ent-11 may be activated at ambient temperature by reduction with 0.25 equiv (to catalyst) DIBAL-H, affording the optimized selectivities in this reaction. The active species in these reactions is presumably the aluminum alkoxide (33). Dauben cautions that this catalyst slowly decomposes under these conditions. 

In intramolecular cyclopropanation, Doyle s catalysts (159) show outstanding capabilities for enantiocontrol in the cyclization of allyl and homoallyl diazoesters to bicyclic y-and <5-lactones, respectively (equations 137 and 138)198 205. The data also reveal that intramolecular cyclopropanation of Z-alkenes is generally more enantioselective than that of E-alkenes in bicyclic y-lactone formation198. Both Rh(II)-MEPY enantiomers are available and, through their use, enantiomeric products are accessible. In a few selected cases, the Pfaltz catalyst 156 also results in high-level enandoselectivity in intramolecular cyclopropanation (equation 139)194. On the other hand, the Aratani catalyst is less effective than the Doyle catalyst (159) or Pfaltz catalyst (156) in asymmetric intramolecular cyclo-propanations201. In addition, the bis-oxazoline-derived copper catalyst 157b shows lower enantioselectivity in the intramolecular cyclopropanation of allyl diazomalonate (equation 140)206. 

When the carbinol substituents (R) were the bulky 5-ler -butyl-2-(n-octyloxy)phenyl group, optimum enantioselectivities were achieved with the catalytic use of the corresponding Cu(II) complex (2) in both enantiomeric forms. Specific applications of the Aratani catalysts have included the synthesis of chrysanthemic acid esters (Eq. 5.6) and a precursor to permethrinic acid, both potent units of pyrethroid insecticides, and for the commercial preparation of ethyl (S)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate (Eq. 5.2), which is used for constructing cilastatin. Several other uses of these catalysts and their derivatives for cyclopropanation reactions have been reported albeit, in most cases, with only moderate enantioselectivities [26-29],... 

TABLE 5.2. Diastereoselective Cyclopropanation of Alkenes with /-menthyl Diazoacetate (/-MDA) Catalyzed by the Aratani Catalyst 2 (A = CH3) [5] ... 

With modified Aratani catalysts (2, R = Ph and A = CH2Ph), Reissig observed moderate enantioselectivities (30-40% ee for the trans cyclopropane isomer) for reactions between trimethylsilyl vinyl ethers and methyl diazoacetate [26], but vinyl ethers are the most reactive olefins towards cyclopropanation and also the least selective [30,31]. Other chiral Schiff bases have been examined for enantio-selection by using the in situ method for catalyst preparation that was pioneered by Brunner, but enantioselectivities were generally low [32]. 

As with the Aratani catalysts, enantioselectivities for cyclopropane formation with 4 and 5 are responsive to the steric bulk of the diazo ester, are higher for the trans isomer than for the cis form, and are influenced by the absolute configuration of a chiral diazo ester (d- and 1-menthyl diazoacetate), although not to the same degree as reported for 2 in Tables 5.1 and 5.2. 1,3-Butadiene and 4-methyl- 1,3-pentadiene, whose higher reactivities for metal carbene addition result in higher product yields than do terminal alkenes, form cyclopropane products with 97% ee in reactions with d-men thy 1 diazoacetate (Eq. 5.8). Regiocontrol is complete, but diastereocontrol (trans cis selectivity) is only moderate. 

Intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions of alkenyl diazo carbonyl compounds are among the most useful catalytic metal carbene transformations, and the diversity of their applications for organic syntheses is substantial [7,10,24,84]. Their catalytic asymmetric reactions, however, have only recently been reported. An early application of the Aratani catalyst 2 (A = PhCH2) to... 

Enantioselection can be controlled much more effectively with the appropriate chiral copper, rhodium, and cobalt catalyst.The first major breakthrough in this area was achieved by copper complexes with chiral salicylaldimine ligands that were obtained from salicylaldehyde and amino alcohols derived from a-amino acids (Aratani catalysts ). With bulky diazo esters, both the diastereoselectivity (transicis ratio) and the enantioselectivity can be increased. These facts have been used, inter alia, for the diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of chrysan-themic and permethrinic acids which are components of pyrethroid insecticides (Table 10). 0-Trimethylsilyl enols can also be cyclopropanated enantioselectively with alkyl diazoacetates in the presence of Aratani catalysts. In detailed studies,the influence of various parameters, such as metal ligands in the catalyst, catalyst concentration, solvent, and alkene structure, on the enantioselectivity has been recorded. Enantiomeric excesses of up to 88% were obtained with catalyst 7 (R = Bz = 2-MeOCgH4). 

Table 10. Enantioselective Cyclopropanation with Aratani Catalysts...

In rhodium(II)-catalyzed intermolecular cyclopropanation reactions, chiral dirhodium(II) carb-oximidates provide only limited enantiocontrol. " Tetrakis(5-methoxycarbonyl-2-pyrrolidonato)dirhodium [18, Rh2(MEPY)J, in both enantiomeric forms of the carboxamide ligands, produces the highest enantioselectivities. As can be seen for the cyclopropanation of styrene with diazoacetates, a high level of double diastereoselectivity results from the combination of this chiral catalyst with /- or d-menthyl diazoacetate, but not with diazoacetates bearing other chiral residues.In terms of trans/cis selectivity and enantioselectivity for styrene giving 19 this catalyst is comparable to the Aratani catalysts, but they cannot match the high enantiocontrol of the chiral copper catalysts developed by Pfaltz, Masamune, and Evans vide supra). 

Cyclopropanation reactions can be promoted using copper or rhodium catalysts or indeed systems based on other metals. As early as 1965 Nozaki showed that chiral copper complexes could promote asymmetric addition of a carbenoid species (derived from a diazoester) to an alkene. This pioneering study was embroidered by Aratani and co-workers who showed a highly enantioselective process could be obtained by modifying the chiral copper... 

Cai et al. (71) examined the use of dinuclear copper complexes as catalysts in the cyclopropanation reaction. Their ligand design, based on the success exhibited by the Aratani system, incorporates a diimine aryloxide. A comparison of the mononuclear catalyst 99 with the corresponding dinuclear catalyst 100 showed certain modest benefits conferred by the latter, Eq. 52. The authors note that these catalysts are effective at ambient temperature but isolated yields are higher at 50°C with no loss in enantioselectivity. 

Since the first experiments with chiral copper complexes reported by Nozaki [650] and Aratani [1027] many different catalysts have been examined, both for intermolecular and intramolecular cyclopropanations (for a review, see [1369]). Syntheses of natural products [955,1370] and drugs [1371] using asymmetric cyclopropanation with chiral electrophilic carbene complexes have been reported. A selection of useful catalysts is given in Figure 4.20 (see also Experimental Procedure 4.1.1). 

Even before Aratani introduced his chiral salicylaldimine copper catalysts, Nakamura and Otsuka reported in 1974 that chiral bis(a-camphorquinonedioximato)cobalt(II) (29) and related complexes were effective enantioselective cyclopropanation catalysts [76], and they more fully described the preparation, characteristics, and uses of these catalysts in 1978 [77], Optical yields as high as 88% were achieved for the cyclopropanation of styrene with neopentyl diazoacetate, and chemical yields greater than 90% were obtained in several cases. 

The capabilities of 5-8 for enantioselective cyclopropanation were determined (34) from reactions at room temperature of d- and/or /-menthyl diazoacetate (MDA) with styrene (Table 1), which allows direct comparison with results from both the Aratani (A-Cu) and Pfaltz (P-Cu) catalysts (19, 24). Cyclopropane product yields ranged from 50 to 75%, which were comparable to those obtained with chiral copper catalysts, but enantiomeric excesses were considerably less than those reported from use of either P-Cu or A-Cu. Furthermore, these reactions were subject to exceptional double diastereoselectivity not previously seen to the same degree with the chiral copper catalysts. Although chiral oxazolidinone ligands proved to be promising, the data in Table 1 suggested that steric interactions alone would not sufficiently enhance enantioselectivities to advance RI12L4 as an alternative to A-Cu or P-Cu. 

Enantioselective Cyclopropanation of Alkenes. Cationic Cu complexes of methylenebis(oxazolines) such as (1), which have been developed by Evans and co-workers, are remarkably efficient catalysts for the cyclopropanation of terminal alkenes with diazoacetates. The reaction of styrene with ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of 1 mol % of catalyst, generated in situ from Copper(I) Trifluoromethanesulfonate and ligand (1), affords the (rans -2-phenylcyclopropanecarboxylate in good yield and with 99% ee (eq 3). As with other catalysts, only moderate transicis selectivity is observed. Higher transicis selectivities can be obtained with more bulky esters such as 2,6-di-r-butyl-4-methylphenyl or dicyclohexylmethyl diazoacetate (94 6 and 95 5, respectively). The efficiency of this catalyst system is illustrated by the cyclopropanation of isobutene, which has been carried out on a 0.3 molar scale using 0.1 mol % of catalyst derived firom the (R,R)-enantiomer of ligand (1) (eq 4). The remarkable selectivity of >99% ee exceeds that of Aratani s catalyst which is used in this reaction on an industrial scale. 

With the chiral bis(semicorrinato)copper(II) complex 9 developed by Pfaltz, enan-tioselectivities for cyclopropanes from monosubstituted alkenes are significantly higher than with Aratani s catalysts. Again, enantiocontrol can be increased by utilizing bulky diazoacetic esters (see Houben-Weyl, Vol.E19b, plll2). For menthyl diazoacetate and alkenes such as styrene, hept-l-ene, buta-1,3-diene and penta-1,3-diene, de values of 92-97% have been obtained. However, cyclopropanation of 1,2-disubstituted and trisubstituted alkenes occurs with lower chemical yield and asymmetric induction when catalyst 9 rather than 7 (R = Me) was used. ... 

The first example of asymmetric organometallic catalysis outside the area of polymer chemistry was the cyclopropanation of alkenes as described by Nozaki, Noyori et al. in 1966 [17]. The chiral catalyst used was a salen-copper complex 3 (Scheme 3), giving a maximum enantioselectivity of 10% ee. These low but well-established values initiated further research in this area. Later, Aratani et al. initiated the tuning of the structure of the copper catalyst at Sumitomo [18]. They were able to reach quite high level of enantioselectivity with copper catalyst 4. For example, 2,2-dimethyl-cyclopropane carboxylic acid was obtained in 92% ee, and subsequently used in a process to prepare cilastatine. 

Inspired by the work of Nozaki and coworkers (Scheme 2) [14], a number of research groups initiated a search for more efficient catalysts for enantioselective cyclopropanation. The most spectacular advances were made by Aratani and coworkers whose aim was to develop a catalyst for the industrial production of pyrethroids [15,16,17,18,49]. After extensive evaluation of many different sal-icylaldimine ligands, they eventually found a practically useful catalyst which gave moderate to high enantioselectivities in the cyclopropanation of various olefins with alkyl diazoacetates (Scheme 5 and Table 1). 

Although many different bisoxazolines and other semicorrin-type ligands have been prepared [53,54], the bis(ferf-butyl)oxazoline 11 is still the most versatile ligand for cyclopropanation. However, there are certain applications which give better results with other ligands. For the cyclopropanation of trisubstituted and 1,2-disubstituted (Z)-olefins, Lowenthal and Masamune found the bisoxa-zoline 12 to be superior to the bis(ferf-butyloxazoline) 11 [56]. This is illustrated by the reaction of 2,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexadiene leading to chrysanthemates (Scheme 9). Again, the best diastereo- and enantioselectivities were obtained with bulky diazoacetates. Both the trans/cis ratios and ees were similar to those reported for Aratani s catalyst (Scheme 5). 

The intramolecular cyclopropanation of several unsaturated diazo carbonyl compounds83 is most efficiently catalyzed by the Aratani complex (A)-4. Thus, 1-diazo-5-hexen-2-one is converted into (15",5i )-2-oxobicyclo[3.1.0]hexane with 77% ee, An interesting aspect of this study is the activation of the catalyst by bis(2-methylpropyl)aluminum hydride, which reduces the copper(II) to give a copper complex. Other unsaturated diazoketones with the / -complex 4 gave inferior results and with a-diazo /i-oxo esters, which require higher temperatures for carbenoid formation, the enantiomeric excesses were close to zero. 

---