Darzens asymmetric

Davis, F. A., Liu, H., Zhou, P., Fang, T., Reddy, G. V., Zhang, Y. Aza-Darzens asymmetric synthesis of N-(p-toluenesulfinyl)aziridine 2-carboxylate esters from sulfinimines (N-sulfinyl imines). J. Org. Chem. 1999, 64, 7559-7567. 

The Darzens condensation reaction has been used with a wide variety of enolate equivalents that have been covered elsewhere. A recent application of this important reaction was appljed toward the asymmetric synthesis of aziridine phosphonates by Davis and coworkers.In this application, a THF solution of sulfinimine 34 (0.37 mmol, >98% ee) and iodophosphonate 35 (0.74 mmol) was treated with LiHMDS (0.74 mmol) at -78 °C to give aziridine 36 in 75% yield. Treatment of 36 with MeMgBr removed the sulfinyl group to provide aziridine 37 in 72% yield. 

Darzens reaction can be used to efficiently complete the stereoselective synthesis of a"-substituted epoxy ketones. As an example, Enders and Hett reported a technique for the asymmetric synthesis of a"-silylated a,P-epoxy ketones. Thus, optically active a -silyl a-bromoketone 38 was treated with LDA followed by the addition of benzaldehyde to give a"-silyl epoxyketone 40 in 66% yield with good... 

There have been two general approaches to the direct asymmetric epoxidation of carbonyl-containing compounds (Scheme 1.2) ylide-mediated epoxidation for the construction of aryl and vinyl epoxides, and a-halo enolate epoxidation (Darzens reaction) for the construction of epoxy esters, acids, amides, and sulfones. 

Yan s group has used the camphor-based chiral thioamide 62 in asymmetric Darzens reactions (Scheme 1.21) [32]. The addition of the titanium enolate of 62 to... 

Table 1.10 Chiral reagent 75 in asymmetric Darzens reactions. Ph Ph...

Of course, the most practical and synthetically elegant approach to the asymmetric Darzens reaction would be to use a sub-stoichiometric amount of a chiral catalyst. The most notable approach has been the use of chiral phase-transfer catalysts. By rendering the intermediate etiolate 86 (Scheme 1.24) soluble in the reaction solvent, the phase-transfer catalyst can effectively provide the enolate with a chiral environment in which to react with carbonyl compounds. 

Early work on the use of chiral phase-transfer catalysis in asymmetric Darzens reactions was conducted independently by the groups of Wynberg [38] and Co-lonna [39], but the observed asymmetric induction was low. More recently Toke s group has used catalytic chiral aza crown ethers in Darzens reactions [40-42], but again only low to moderate enantioselectivities resulted. 

Table 1.12 Cinchona alkaloid-derived phase-transfer catalysts for asymmetric Darzens reactions.

More recently, the same group has used a simpler and more easily prepared chiral ammonium phase-transfer catalyst 99 derived from BINOL in asymmetric Darzens reactions with a-halo amides 97 to generate glycidic tertiary amides 98 (Table 1.13). Unfortunately the selectivities were only moderate to low [48]. As mentioned in Section 1.2.3.1, tertiary amides can be converted to ketones. 

More recently, Davis and co-workers developed a new method for the asymmetric syntheses of aziridine-2-carboxylates through the use of an aza-Darzens-type reaction between sulfinimines (N-sulfinyl imines) and a-haloenolates [62-66]. The reaction is highly efficient, affording cis- N-sulfmylaziridine-2-carboxylic esters in high yield and diastereoselectivity. This method has been used to prepare a variety of aziridines with diverse ring and nitrogen substituents. As an example, treatment of sulfinimine (Ss)-55 (Scheme 3.18) with the lithium enolate of tert-butyl bromoacetate gave aziridine 56 in 82% isolated yield [66],... 

An aza-Darzens reaction, involving the addition of chloromethylphosphonate anions to enantiopure N-sulfinimines, has also been developed by Davis and others for the asymmetric synthesis of aziridine-2-phosphonates [81-84], As an example, treatment of the lithium anion generated from dimethyl chloromethylphos-phonate (93 Scheme 3.30) with N-sulfmimine (Ss)-92 gave the a-chloro-P-amino phosphonate 94, which could be isolated in 51% yield. Cyclization of 94 with n-BuLi gave cis-N-sulfmylaziridine-2-phosphonate 95 in 82% yield [81],... 

The classical aza-Darzens reaction (between bromoenolates and imines) has been investigated by several groups in recent years, especially with respect to the design and execution of asymmetric variants. Both stoichiometric and catalytic methods have been studied thus, the reactions between N-Dpp imines and chiral ot-bromoenolates [49] (derived from Oppolzer s sultams Scheme 4.35) and between S-chiral sulfmylimines and achiral bromoenolates [50] (Scheme 4.36) have been reported. 

Chiral PTC has been used effectively for making intermediates for drugs. Dolling and coworkers have used 8-R, 9-5, N-(p-trifluoromethylbenzyl) cinchonium bromide to carry out an important asymmetric alkylation, giving 95% ee (Starks, 1987). Nucleophilic epoxidations of enones, Darzens reaction, Michael additions, etc. are some examples of reactions rendered asymmetric through chiral PTCs (Nelson, 1999). 

A very interesting organocatalyzed one-pot Michael addition/aldol condensation/Darzens condensation has been reported for the asymmetric synthesis of epoxy-ketones <06JA5475>. An initial asymmetric Michael condensation between 16 and 17 is catalyzed by proline derivative 18. Intermediate 19 then undergoes an aldol condensation followed by a stereoselective Darzens condensation to provide epoxy-ketone 20 in moderate yield and with surprisingly good enantiomeric excess. 

Compared with many other reactions for enantioselective formation of C-C bonds, the asymmetric Darzens condensation66 has received less attention. Therefore, there is ample opportunity for chemists to improve the enantio-selectivity of the reaction, as well as to develop the reaction itself. 

Early work on the asymmetric Darzens reaction involved the condensation of aromatic aldehydes with phenacyl halides in the presence of a catalytic amount of bovine serum albumin. The reaction gave the corresponding epoxyketone with up to 62% ee.67 Ohkata et al.68 reported the asymmetric Darzens reaction of symmetric and dissymmetric ketones with (-)-8-phenylmenthyl a-chloroacetate as examples of a reagent-controlled asymmetric reaction (Scheme 8-29). When this (-)-8-phenyl menthol derivative was employed as a chiral auxiliary, Darzens reactions of acetone, pentan-3-one, cyclopentanone, cyclohexanone, or benzophenone with 86 in the presence of t-BuOK provided dia-stereomers of (2J ,3J )-glycidic ester 87 with diastereoselectivity ranging from 77% to 96%. 

The Darzens reaction can also proceed in the presence of a chiral catalyst. When chloroacetophenone and benzaldehyde are subjected to asymmetric Darzens reaction, product 89 with 64% ee is obtained if chiral crown ether 88 is used as a phase transfer catalyst (Scheme 8-30).69... 

The asymmetric Darzens condensation, which involves both carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen bond constructions, was realized by use of the chiral azacrown ether 75als2,s ,ss and the quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alka-loids159"621 under phase transfer catalyzed conditions. The a,p-epoxy ketone 80 (R=Ph) was obtained with reasonable enantioselectivity by the reaction of... 

The cyclic a-chloro ketone 81 which forms the (Z)-enolate only also underwent the asymmetric Darzens condensation with various aldehydes by use of the Merck catalyst 7 (R=4-CF3, X=Br) under analogous conditions to furnish the a,(3-epoxy ketones 82 with up to 86 % ee,160611 as shown in Scheme 25. It should be noted that this high enantioselectivity was attained by the reaction at room temperature. 

Scheme 24. The proposed mechanism of asymmetric Darzens reaction.

P. Bako, A. Szolloy, P. Bombicz, L. Toke, Asymmetric C-C Bond Forming Reactions by Chiral Crown Catalysts Darzens Condensation and Nitroalkane Addition to the Double Bond , Synlett 1997, 291-292. 

S. Arai, T. Shioiri, Catalytic Asymmetric Darzens Condensation under Phase-Transfer-Catalyzed Conditions , Tetrahedron Lett. 1998, 39, 2145-2148. 

S. Arai, Y. Shirai, T. Ishida, T. Shioiri, Phase-Transfer-Catalyzed Asymmetric Darzens Reactions , Tetrahedron... 

Asymmetric induction using catalytic amounts of quininium or A-methyl-ephedrinium salts for the Darzen s reaction of aldehydes and ketones with phenacyl halides and chloromethylsulphones produces oxiranes of low optical purity [3, 24, 25]. The chiral catalyst appears to have little more effect than non-chiral catalysts (Section 12.1). Similarly, the catalysed reaction of sodium cyanide with a-bromo-ketones produces epoxynitriles of only low optical purity [3]. The claimed 67% ee for the phenyloxirane derived from the reaction of benzaldehyde with trimethylsul-phonium iodide under basic conditions [26] in the presence of A,A-dimethyle-phedrinium chloride was later retracted [27] the product was contaminated with the 2-methyl-3-phenyloxirane from the degradation of the catalyst. 

Epoxidations and Darzens Condensations The asymmetric catalytic epoxida-tion of a,p-unsaturated ketones using cinchona alkaloid-derived catalysts was introduced in the 19708. However, high levels of enantioselectivity were achieved only 20 years later, when Lygo, Arai, 2-t94 others P ... 

A powerful approach to the synthesis of a,p-epoxy carbonyls and related compounds is found in the Darzens reaction (Scheme 11.18b). In this context, the groups of and Arai " have investigated the asymmetric PTC-... 

Makosza and co-workers have reported the preparation of epoxides from a-halo carbanions and ketones, according to the Darzens reaction, under PT conditions, using TEBA72,73 or dibenzo-18-crown-6.74 The ratio of isomers depends on the reaction conditions.75,76 Asymmetric induction has been reported in the Darzens reaction using chiral catalysts.77,78 The use of several chloro carbanions as well as K2C03 and Na2C03 in the solid state has also been studied. 

Some organic reactions can be accomplished by using two-layer systems in which phase-transfer catalysts play an important role (34). The phase-transfer reaction proceeds via ion pairs, and asymmetric induction is expected to emerge when chiral quaternary ammonium salts are used. The ion-pair interaction, however, is usually not strong enough to control the absolute stereochemistry of the reaction (35). Numerous trials have resulted in low or only moderate stereoselectivity, probably because of the loose orientation of the ion-paired intermediates or transition states. These reactions include, but are not limited to, carbene addition to alkenes, reaction of sulfur ylides and aldehydes, nucleophilic substitution of secondary alkyl halides, Darzens reaction, chlorination... 

Cyclopropanation, Horner-Wadsworth Emmons Reaction, and Darzens Condensation Although induction in the cyclopropanation of alkenes was reported early, this work was disputed [49]. Other reports of cyclopropanations have yielded, at best, low asymmetric inductions [llh,50]. The first example of a catalytic asymmetric Horner-Wadsworth Emmons reaction, which is promoted by a chiral quaternary ammonium salt, was reported recently by the Shioiri group (Scheme 10.10) [51]. The reaction of the prochiral ketone 74 gives optically active a,P-unsaturated ester 76 with 57% ee. 

Promising examples of the catalytic asymmetric Darzens condensation, which yields an epoxide product via carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen bond formation, have been reported recently by two groups (Scheme 10.11). Toke and co-workers used crown ether 24 in the reaction to form the a,P-unsaturated ketone 78 [38b] with 64% ee, whereas the Shioiri group used the cinchona-derived salt 3a [52], which resulted in 78 with 69% ee. The latter authors propose a catalytic cycle involving generation of a chiral enolate in situ from an achiral inorganic base... 

There are many routes available for the synthesis of aziridine 2-carboxylic acids, however there are few reactions which yield enantiomerically pure products. These compounds (especially those with cis-stereochemistry) are especially useful for the synthesis of bioactive molecules556. There is thus significant effort in this area of synthesis557,558, but most methods are lengthy multistep procedures. Recently, a simple, one-pot procedure, utilizing imines, has been developed for the asymmetric synthesis of c/s-N-substituted aziridine-2-carboxylic acids via a Darzens-type reaction (equation 154)559. 

Scheme 3.1 Asymmetric Darzens reaction using chloroketones.

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