Deprotonation phase-transfer catalysts

The cocatalytic effects of pinacol in the phase transfer catalysis (PTC) of dihalocarbene additions to alkenes were noted by Dehmlow and co-workers who showed that pinacol accelerates the PTC deprotonation of substrates up to pKa 27.7 Dehmlow also studied the effects of various crown ethers as phase transfer catalysts in the addition of dibromocarbene to allylic bromides.8 In Dehmlow s study, elevated temperature (40°C) and dibenzo-18-crown-6 did not give the highest ratio of addition/substitution to allyl bromide. However, the submitters use of pinacol,... 

Compared with primary and secondary amines, tertiary amines are virtually unreac-tive towards carbenes and it has been demonstrated that they behave as phase-transfer catalysts for the generation of dichlorocarbene from chloroform. For example, tri-n-butylamine and its hydrochloride salt have the same catalytic effect as tetra-n-butylammonium chloride in the generation of dichlorocarbene and its subsequent insertion into the C=C bond of cyclohexene [20]. However, tertiary amines are generally insufficiently basic to deprotonate chloroform and the presence of sodium hydroxide is normally required. The initial reaction of the tertiary amine with chloroform, therefore, appears to be the formation of the A -ylid. This species does not partition between the two phases and cannot be responsible for the insertion reaction of the carbene in the C=C bond. Instead, it has been proposed that it acts as a lipophilic base for the deprotonation of chloroform (Scheme 7.26) to form a dichloromethylammonium ion-pair, which transfers into the organic phase where it decomposes to produce the carbene [21]. 

The synthesis of anastrozole (Scheme 3.3) began with an 8 2 displacement of commercially available 3,5-fc (bromomethyl)toluene (19) using potassium nitrile and a phase-transfer catalyst, tetrabutylammonium bromide (Edwards and Large, 1990). The resulting fcw-nitrile 20 in DMF was then deprotonated with sodium hydride in the presence of excess methyl iodide to give the fc -dimethylated product 21. Subsequently, a Wohl-Ziegler reaction on 21 was carried out using A-bromosuccinamide (NBS), and a catalytic amount of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as the radical initiator. Finally, an Sn2 displacement of benzyl bromide 22 with sodium triazole in DMF afforded anastrozole (2) as a white solid. 

P-Hydroxyammonium salts can react under the strongly basic reaction conditions present in many phase-transfer reactions and the newly formed products could, in principle, serve either as effective or ineffective catalysts (Scheme 10.1) [9c]. The development of a new class of chiral phase-transfer catalysts, the W-alkyl-O-alkyl cinchona quats (Bactjve in Scheme 10.1 and 30 in Scheme 10.2), resulted from detailed mechanistic studies of these systems [5p,12], These catalysts are formed by in situ deprotonation of 28 to the alkoxide 29 followed by alkylation to form the active catalyst 30. Such catalysts offer an important second site of variation (R-, in 30) for catalyst development, which has been rapidly utilized for the preparation of more effective catalysts. 

Whilst simple alkylations of enolates and Michael additions have been successfully catalyzed by phase-transfer catalysts, aldol-type processes have proved more problematic. This difficulty is due largely o the reversible nature of the aldol reaction, resulting in the formation of a thermodynamically more stable aldol product rather than the kinetically favored product. However, by trapping the initial aldol product as soon as it is formed, asymmetric aldol-type reactions can be carried out under phase-transfer catalysis. This is the basis of the Darzens condensation (Scheme 8.2), in which the phase-transfer catalyst first induces the deprotonation of an a-halo... 

Taddol has been widely used as a chiral auxiliary or chiral ligand in asymmetric catalysis [17], and in 1997 Belokon first showed that it could also function as an effective solid-liquid phase-transfer catalyst [18]. The initial reaction studied by Belokon was the asymmetric Michael addition of nickel complex 11a to methyl methacrylate to give y-methyl glutamate precursors 12 and 13 (Scheme 8.7). It was found that only the disodium salt of Taddol 14 acted as a catalyst, and both the enantio- and diastereos-electivity were modest [20% ee and 65% diastereomeric excess (de) in favor of 12 when 10 mol % of Taddol was used]. The enantioselectivity could be increased (to 28%) by using a stoichiometric amount of Taddol, but the diastereoselectivity decreased (to 40%) under these conditions due to deprotonation of the remaining acidic proton in products 12 and 13. Nevertheless, diastereomers 12 and 13 could be separated and the ee-value of complex 12 increased to >85% by recrystallization, thus providing enantiomerically enriched (2S, 4i )-y-methyl glutamic add 15. 

Enantioselective catalytic alkylation is a versatile method for construction of stereo-genic carbon centers. Typically, phase-transfer catalysts are used and form a chiral ion pair of type 4 as an key intermediate. In a first step, an anion, 2, is formed via deprotonation with an achiral base this is followed by extraction in the organic phase via formation of a salt complex of type 4 with the phase-transfer organocata-lyst, 3. Subsequently, a nucleophilic substitution reaction furnishes the optically active alkylated products of type 6, with recovery of the catalyst 3. An overview of this reaction concept is given in Scheme 3.1 [1],... 

The parent / -f-butylcalix[n] arenes (n = 4, 6, 8) are almost completely insoluble in water. However, their resemblance to crown ethers and spherands makes them interesting from the point of view of applications as phase transfer catalysts (Section 3.8.2). Table 3.20 shows the selectivity of calixarene 3.118 and its hexameric and octameric homologues for the extraction of various metal hydroxides into an organic receiving phase such as chloroform. Fortunately, in aqueous base the calixarenes are sufficiently soluble to act as phase transfer catalysts as a consequence of deprotonation of one of their phenolic hydroxyl groups. This solubility contrasts to [18] crown-6, which is much more effective in neutral solution. 

The catalytic approach to conjugate addition is illustrated by the addition of a (3-dike tone to an aromatic enone catalysed by potassium hydroxide and benzyltriethylammonium chloride, which is a phase transfer catalyst. Once again, the catalytic cycle is initiated by deprotonation of the most acidic component in the reaction mixture, acetyl acetone, which is followed by a cycle of conjugate addition and proton exchange leading inexorably to the product. 

In the second step, these imidazolium salts are deprotonated with NaH either at room temperature in THF using KO Bu as a phase-transfer catalyst ( Pr2Im, "Pr2Im) or at —78°C in liquid NH3 (Me2Im, Me Prlm) to yield the stable NHCs. 

A conceptually different approach to interligand asymmetric induction uses chiral phase transfer catalysts. Scheme 3.26 illustrates two examples of such a process using an A -benzylcinchonium halide catalyst. The first is an indanone methylation [150] and the second is a glycine alkylation [151]. Hughes et al. reported a detailed kinetic study of the indanone methylation which revealed a mechanism significantly more complicated than a simple phase-transfer process the reaction is 0.55 order in catalyst and 0.7 order in methyl chloride, deprotonation of the indanone occurs at the interface, and methylation of the enolate (not deprotonation) is rate-determining [150]. Nevertheless, the rationale for the... 

This reaction is carried out in a two-phase mixture (water + an immiscible organic solvent) to prevent the hydroxide and propyl bromide reacting together to give propanol. The hydroxide stays in the aqueous layer, and the other reagents stay in the organic layer. A tetraalkylammonium chloride (benzyltriethylammonium chloride BnEtjN+CI") is needed as a phase transfer catalyst to allow sufficient hydroxide to enter the organic layer to deprotonate the nitrile. 

Chiral ion pairs (B, Fig. 2.2) can be formed by deprotonation of the pronucleophile with a chiral Brpnsted base or employing an achiral base and a chiral phase-transfer catalyst. Chiral phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) [8] illustrates how ion pairing interactions can be used to carry out the enantioface discrimination in conjugate addition reactions. In both cases, the chiral cation is responsible for... 

Recent work has indicated that solvents may even behave as phase transfer catalysts under certain conditions [50]. Generation of sulfur ylides by reaction of a sulfonium salt with a solid base was found to proceed via deprotonation of the solvent (Figure 5.21). It is believed that other weakly acidic solvents, such as rer -butanol and dimethylsulfoxide, behave in a similar manner, although it is not known whether these will function if they are present in just catalytic amounts. 

Cyclopentadiene can be deprotonated by dimethylamine in the presence of anhydrous TiCl, FeCl, or NiCl, to yield Cp,TiCl, (p. 290), Cp,Fe (ferrocene) or Cp,Ni (nickelocene) respectively. Ferrocene has even been prepared in a rapidly stirred two phase system (benzene/water) from FeCl, 4H,0, cyclopentadiene and potassium hydroxide using a crown ether, 18-crown-6, as a phase-transfer catalyst. 

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