Diastereoselective reductions

Sodium or tetramethylammonium triacetoxyborohydride has become the reagent of choice for diastereoselective reduction of P-hydroxyketones to antidiols. Trialkylborohydrides, eg, alkaH metal tri-j -butylborohydrides, show outstanding stereoselectivity in ketone reductions (39). 

Industrial Synthetic Improvements. One significant modification of the Stembach process is the result of work by Sumitomo chemists in 1975, in which the optical resolution—reduction sequence is replaced with a more efficient asymmetric conversion of the meso-cyc. 02Lcid (13) to the optically pure i7-lactone (17) (Fig. 3) (25). The cycloacid is reacted with the optically active dihydroxyamine [2964-48-9] (23) to quantitatively yield the chiral imide [85317-83-5] (24). Diastereoselective reduction of the pro-R-carbonyl using sodium borohydride affords the optically pure hydroxyamide [85317-84-6] (25) after recrystaUization. Acid hydrolysis of the amide then yields the desired i7-lactone (17). A similar approach uses chiral alcohols to form diastereomic half-esters stereoselectivity. These are reduced and direedy converted to i7-lactone (26). In both approaches, the desired diastereomeric half-amide or half-ester is formed in excess, thus avoiding the cosdy resolution step required in the Stembach synthesis. 

It is important to emphasize that the hydroxy dithioketal cyclization can be conducted under mild reaction conditions and can be successfully applied to a variety of substrates.15 However, the utility of this method for the synthesis of didehydrooxocane-contain-ing natural products requires the diastereoselective, reductive removal of the ethylthio group. Gratifyingly, treatment of 13 with triphenyltin hydride and a catalytic amount of the radical initiator, azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), accomplishes a homolytic cleavage of the C-S bond and furnishes didehydrooxocane 14 in diastereo-merically pure form (95 % yield), after hydrogen atom transfer. 

The same auxiliary at nitrogen is used in the diastereoselective reduction of a series of bicyclic imides with sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminum hydride or sodium diethylalu-minum hydride at — 78 "C, proceeding in 85-97% yield45 with d.r. values >75 25. 

There are other stereochemical aspects to the reduction of aldehydes and ketones. If there is a chiral center to the carbonyl group, even an achiral reducing agent can give more of one diastereomer than of the other. Such diastereoselective reductions have been carried out with considerable success. In most such cases Cram s rule (p. 147) is followed, but exceptions are known. ... 

Scheme 30 Substrate-induced diastereoselective reductions of a-aminooximes and a-amino imines...

Scheme 31 Auxiliary-induced diastereoselective reduction of a-amino ketimines...

By heating 2-benzyloxycyclohexanone 208 and (R)-l-phenylethylamine in refluxing toluene for 4 days in a Dean-Stark apparatus, the imine 209 was formed, then a rearrangement occurred to give first the a-aminocyclohexanone derivative 210 and finally the Q, o -disubstituted imine 211 with moderate diastereoselectivity. Reduction of this imine with sodium borohydride gave a mixture of two trans diamines (S,S)-212 and (R,R)-212, which were separated by chromatography. The enantiomers of 1-benzyl-1,2-diaminocyclohexanes 213 were then obtained by hydrogenolysis [99] (Scheme 31). 

Scheme 45 Substrate- and auxiliary-induced diastereoselective reduction of chiral 1,2-diimines...

Based on these observations [18,19,23], a variety of modified catalytic systems have been reported for the diastereoselective reductive carbon-carbon bond formation (Scheme 8). A complex 5 derived from Cp2TiCl2 and MgBr2 is proposed to be an efficient catalyst for the DL-diastereoselective pinacol coupling of aromatic aldehydes [24], Addition of a solution of benzalde-... 

Diastereoselective reductive coupling of MVK and p-nitrobenzaldehyde performed under an atmosphere of elemental deuterium provides an aldol adduct incorporating a single deuterium atom at the former enone f>-pos-ition [69]. Deuterium incorporation at the a-carbon is not observed, excluding Morita-Baylis-Hillman pathways en route to product. Incorporation of a single deuterium atom suggests irreversible enone hydrometallation (Scheme 5). 

As practiced in the preceding syntheses by Evans and Nishiyama and Yamamura, the A-ring fragment 43 is formed through substrate-directed vinylogous aldol reaction of the Brassard-type diene 19 and the chiral aldehyde 42, which is prepared using Brown s protocols for enantioselective allylation [53], followed by hydroxy-directed nnn-diastereoselective reduction of the C3 ketone (Me4NB(OAc)3H) [41],... 

Diastereoselective reduction of the aldol 221/ can be achieved using AIH3 in toluene at —78°C. The corresponding ra-diol is preferentially formed. The diol can be protected with isopropylidene acetal to provide tricyclic compound 222. This can be converted to conformationally rigid C-l ketone 223 by deprotection of the PMB group and successive oxidation with PDC (Scheme 7-73). 

Diastereoselective reduction of p-keto esters.1 Reduction of p-keto esters (3) of the chiral a-naphthylborneol (2)2 is stereoselective because one face of the carbonyl group is blocked by the naphthyl group. Chelation of the keto ester with... 

This reagent can also effect sequential diastereoselective reduction of a hydroxy diketo ester to afford an anti, anti-triol ester as the major product. The only other significant product is the anti, syn-triol (equation I). 

Scheme 4.7 Asymmetric synthesis of allene via a diastereoselective reduction.

The stereoselective epoxidation of chalcones, followed by acid-catalysed ring closure and concomitant cleavage of the epoxide ring, provides a very efficient route to chiral flavon-3-ols and, subsequently, by borohydride reduction to produce flavan-3,4-diols [13, 14], It has been shown that diastereoselective reduction of the chiral flavon-3-ols by sodium borohydride in methanol yields the trans-2,3-dihydroxy compounds, whereas borohydride reduction in dioxan produces the cis-isomers [14] the synthetic procedure confirms the cis configuration of the 2,3-hydroxy groups of naturally occurring leucodelphinidins [14]. 

The use of a chiral sulfoxide group as the stereoinducing element is at the center of Solladie s approach to the smaller fragment [44] and a C(8)-C(18) segment [44,45] of the larger fragment of lb (Scheme 27). jS-Ketosulfoxide 200 was obtained from S-ketoester 198 via carbonyl protection and condensation with chiral sulfoxide 199. Two completely diastereoselective reductions of 200... 

Figure 9.2 Enantioselective and diastereoselective reduction ofa.,/3-unsaturated ketones...

Stereoselectivity in reductions of acyclic oximes depends on the configuration of C=N bond. ( )-Isomer of oxime 89 produced syn-hydroxylamine 90 in excellent stereoselectivity in reaction with phenyldimethylsilane-trifluroacetic acid while giving anti-product in the reaction with lithium aluminium hydride. Stereoselectivity in reductions of (Z)-isomers of 89 was substantially lower in both cases (equation 62) . It can be assumed that the rules of stereoselectivity established in diastereoselective reduction of ketones can be applied to reduction of oximes as well. 

The initial synthetic route employed by the medicinal chemistry group is straightforward a moderately diastereoselective reductive amination between ethyl-2-oxo-4-phenylbutyrate (13) and alanyl-proline (14) generated a 1.6 1 mixture of diastereomers favoring the desired (5,5,5)-enantiomer (Scheme 10.2). Fractional recrystallization afforded enalapril as the maleate salt (Harris et al., 1983 Wyvratt et al., 1984). Although requiring only one synthetic step, the diastereoselectivity of the process is poor, reducing the overall yield. 

The Merck process group subsequently published a more detailed route amenable towards multikilogram scales (Blacklock et al., 1988). This synthesis begins with treatment of alanine with phosgene to produce A-carboxyanhydride (NCA) 16 (Scheme 10.3). Under basic aqueous conditions this anhydride is coupled with proline to produce, upon acidic work-up, the dipeptide alanyl-proline (14). Enalapril is then prepared in one synthetic step by a diastereoselective reductive amination between ethyl-2— oxo-4-phenylbutyrate (13) and 14. This reaction was the subject of extensive optimization, and it was found that the highest diastereoselectivity was obtained by hydrogenation over Raney nickel in the presence of acetic acid (25%), KF (4.0 equiv.), and 3 A molecular sieves (17 1 dr). Enalapril is then isolated in diastereomerically pure form as its maleate salt (Huffman and Reider, 1999 Huffman et al., 2000). 

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