Diastereoselective carboxylic acid enolates

Masked chiral a-hetero substituted carboxylic acid enolates have also shown utility in dia-stereoselective additions to nitroalkenes. For example, derivatives of a-hydroxycarboxylic acids, e.g. l,3-dioxolan-4-ones (187) a-amino acids, e.g. 1,3-imidazolidin-4-ones (188) and a-amino-fi-hydroxy-carboxylic acids, e.g. methyl 1,3-oxazolidin-4-carboxylates (189) and methyl l,3-oxazolin-4-carboxy-lates (190), have been employed.1S0a Further, diastereoselective additions of chiral (3-hydroxyesters (191), via the enediolates, to nitroalkenes (40) afford predominant anr/ -P-hydroxyesters (192 Scheme... 

For acyclic systems, the anti diastereoselectivity of the (i )-enolates is lower than the syn diastereoselectivity of comparable (Z)-enolates. For example, carboxylic acid esters, which form predominantly ( )-enolates, react with aldehydes with high anti selectivity only in those cases where bulky aromatic substituents are in the alcoholic part of the ester22 25. 

Ester enolates which contain the chiral information in the acid moiety have been widely used in alkylations (see Section D.1.1.1,3.) as well as in additions to carbon-nitrogen double bonds (sec Section D.1.4.2.). Below are examples of the reaction of this type of enolate with aldehydes720. The (Z)-enolate generated from benzyl cinnamate (benzyl 3-phenylpropcnoate) and lithium (dimethylphenylsilyl)cuprate affords the /h/-carboxylic acid on addition to acetaldehyde and subsequent hydrogenolysis, The diastereoselectivity is 90 10. 

Several applications of this methodology are known. For the determination of the relative configuration of the stereocenter and the axial chiral unit of 71, the product of a diastereoselective ester enolate Claisen rearrangement of 70, with AgBF4 a cycli-zation to 72 was initiated. Then the carboxylic acid was reduced to alcohol 73 and the position of the substituents was investigated by NMR and by the use of NMR shift-reagents (Scheme 15.16) [32], Control experiments ensured the stereospecifi-city of the cyclization and the reduction step. There are further examples of this strategy [33]. 

Access to the corresponding enantiopure hydroxy esters 133 and 134 of smaller fragments 2 with R =Me employed a highly stereoselective (ds>95%) Evans aldol reaction of allenic aldehydes 113 and rac-114 with boron enolate 124 followed by silylation to arrive at the y-trimethylsilyloxy allene substrates 125 and 126, respectively, for the crucial oxymercuration/methoxycarbonylation process (Scheme 19). Again, this operation provided the desired tetrahydrofurans 127 and 128 with excellent diastereoselectivity (dr=95 5). Chemoselective hydrolytic cleavage of the chiral auxiliary, chemoselective carboxylic acid reduction, and subsequent diastereoselective chelation-controlled enoate reduction (133 dr of crude product=80 20, 134 dr of crude product=84 16) eventually provided the pure stereoisomers 133 and 134 after preparative HPLC. 

The A -acyl derivatives of 4-substituted-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-27/-l,3-oxazin-2-ones proved to behave as effective chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric enolate alkylations and aldol reactions, the stereoselectivities of which were found to be higher for 4-isopropyl than for 4-phenyl derivatives <2006OBC2753>. The transformations of 4-isopropyl-6,6-dimethyl-3-propa-noyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2/7-l,3-oxazin-2-one 251 to 252 or 253 proceeded with excellent diastereoselectivities (Scheme 47). 6,6-Dimethyl substitution within the oxazine ring facilitated exclusive exocyclic cleavage upon hydrolysis of the C-alkylated and the aldol products 252 and 253, to furnish a-substituted carboxylic acids 254 or a-methyl-/ -hydroxycarboxylic acids 256. 

Seebach and Naef1961 generated chiral enolates with asymmetric induction from a-heterosubstituted carboxylic acids. Reactions of these enolates with alkyl halides were found to be highly diastereoselective. Thus, the overall enantioselective a-alkyla-tion of chiral, non-racemic a-heterosubstituted carboxylic acids was realized. No external chiral auxiliary was necessary in order to produce the a-alkylated target molecules. Thus, (S)-proline was refluxed in a pentane solution of pivalaldehyde in the presence of an acid catalyst, with azeotropic removal of water. (197) was isolated as a single diastereomer by distillation. The enolate generated from (197) was allylated and produced (198) with ad.s. value >98 %. The substitution (197) ->(198) probably takes place with retention of configuration 196>. 

Asymmetric acetoxylation of esters.3 Reaction of lead tetraacetate with the silyl enolate of the chiral ester 2 derived from camphorsulfonic acid results in a-acetoxylation with high diastereoselectivity. After crystallization 3 is obtained in 95% de. The product can be hydrolyzed to the optically active a-acetoxy carboxylic acid by K2C03 or reduced to the chiral glycol 4 by LiAlHj. 

Asymmetric aikyiation of imide etiolates.1 The sodium enolates of 3 and 7 are alkylated with marked but opposite diastereoselectivity by alkyl halides. The selectivity is improved by an increase in the size of the electrophile, with methylation being the least stereoselective process. The asymmetric induction results from formation of (Z)-enolates (chelation) with the diastereoselectivity determined by the chirality of the C4-substituent on the oxazolidone ring (equations I and II). The products can be hydrolyzed to the free carboxylic acids or reduced by LiAlH4 to the corresponding primary alcohols and the unreduced oxazolidone (1 or 2). 

The diastereoselective alkylation of /V-acyloxazolidinones enolates was examined first. Lithium enolates of 107 were reacted with a variety of alkyl halides, and alkylation products were formed with excellent diastereoselectivities (94-99% de). Hydrolysis gave optically pure carboxylic acids, and the chiral auxiliary was recovered for reuse almost quantitatively.105-106 Highly diastereoselective bromination was also achieved by reaction of the boron enolate of 107 with /V-bromosuccinimide (NBS) (98% de). Optically pure amino acids could be accessed by simple synthetic transformations (Scheme 24.26).106... 

Diastereoselective Alkylation of Chiral Ester and Amide Enolates Generation of Enantiomerically Pure Carboxylic Acids with Chiral Centers in the a-Position... 

Side Note 13.4 presents the diastereoselective alkylation of a very special ester enolate in which one can easily understand what the stereocontrol observed is based upon. However, only very specific carboxylic acid derivatives are made accessible by those alkylations. Much more broadly applicable diastereoselective alkylations of chiral ester or amide enolates will be introduced in Figures 13.42 and 13.43. Figure 13.42 shows alkylations of a propionic acid ester—derived from an enantiomerically pure chiral alcohol—via the and Z -enolate. 

The alkylations of the oxazolidinone-containing amide enolate of Figure 13.43 occur with diastereoselectivities of 93 7 and > 99 1, respectively. The hydrogen peroxide-accelerated alkaline hydrolysis of these compounds occurs with complete retention of the previously established configuration at the a-stereocenter. To date, the Evans synthesis offers the most versatile access to enantiomerically pure a-alkylated carboxylic acids. 

Stereoselective aldol condensation. Heathcock and Buse have previously employed 2-methyl-2-trimethylsiloxy-3-pentanone (1) in a highly stereoselective route to 3-hydroxy-2-methylcarboxylic acids (8, 295). Aldol condensation of the lithium enolate derived from 1 with a chiral aldehyde yields ery//iro-aldols, which are cleaved with periodic acid to -hydroxy carboxylic acids. However, when 1 is condensed with a chiral aldehyde such as 2, two eryt/iro-products (3 and 4) are produced. Heathcock and co-workers now report that the 1,2-diastereoselectivity of these aldol condensations can be enhanced by use of the ketone 5. Reaction of racemic 5 with racemic aldehyde 2 furnishes a single (racemic) adduct 6. 

The Kunz group further demonstrated the asymmetric s)uithesis of )3-alkylated a-halogenated (Cl or Br) carboxylic acid derivatives. Eor this purpose, the Al-functionalized D-galactosamine-derived oxazolidinone 52 was treated with dialkylaluminum chloride, which was followed by addition of NXS (X = Cl, Br) to trap the intermediary enolate. Consequently, a variety of j8-branched a-halo carboxylic acid derivatives were obtained with good diastereoselectivities [63]. 

With regard to asymmetric synthesis, the possibility that a stereogenic center outside the sigmatropic framework can direct the stereochemical outcome of the electrocyclic process has been intensively exploited recentlyOne method for asymmetric induction has been realized with X representing a chiral carboxylic acid derivative. From the various chiral auxiliaries studied, the C2 symmetrical amide (32) seems to be the most effective, giving via its zirconium enolate) essentially 100% diastereoselectivity and erythro selection, thus permitting ready access to optically active a-hydroxycarboxylic acids (equation 40). 

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