Diastereoselective synthesis aldol reactions, chiral enolates

Traditional models for diastereoface selectivity were first advanced by Cram and later by Felkin for predicting the stereochemical outcome of aldol reactions occurring between an enolate and a chiral aldehyde. [37] During our investigations directed toward a practical synthesis of dEpoB, we were pleased to discover an unanticipated bias in the relative diastereoface selectivity observed in the aldol condensation between the Z-lithium enolate B and aldehyde C, Scheme 2.6. The aldol reaction proceeds with the expected simple diastereoselectivity with the major product displaying the C6-C7 syn relationship shown in Scheme 2.7 (by ul addition) however, the C7-C8 relationship of the principal product was anti (by Ik addition). [38] Thus, the observed symanti relationship between C6-C7 C7-C8 in the aldol reaction between the Z-lithium enolate of 62 and aldehyde 63 was wholly unanticipated. These fortuitous results prompted us to investigate the cause for this unanticipated but fortunate occurrence. 

Akiyama, Y, Ishikawa, K, OzaM, S, Asymmetric synthesis of functionalized tertiary alcohols by diastereoselective aldol reaction of silyl enol ether and ketene silyl acetals with a-keto esters bearing an optically active cyclitol as a chiral auxihary, Synlett, 275-276, 1994. 

Development of diastereoselective and enantioselective aldol reactions has had a profound impact on the synthesis of two important classes of natural products—the macrolide antibiotics and the poly ether ionophores. The aldehyde and the enolate involved in aldol reactions can be chiral, but we shall discuss only the case of chiral enolates. 

The asymmetric total syntheses of mtamycin B and oligomycin C was accomplished by J.S. Panek et al. In the synthesis of the C3-C17 subunit, they utilized a Mukaiyama aldol reaction to establish the C12-C13 stereocenters. During their studies, they surveyed a variety of Lewis acids and examined different trialkyl silyl groups in the silyl enol ether component. They found that the use of BFs OEta and the sterically bulky TBS group was ideal with respect to the level of diastereoselectivity. The stereochemical outcome was rationalized by the open transition state model, where the orientation of the reacting species was anti to each other, and the absolute stereochemistry was determined by the chiral aldehyde leading to the anti diastereomeric Felkin aldol product. 

New auxiliaries and reaction methods are now available for the stereoselective synthesis of all members of the stereochemical family of propionate aldol additions. These also include improvements on previously reported methods that by insightful modification of the original reaction conditions have led to considerable expansion of the versatility of the process. In addition to novel auxiliary-based systems, there continue to be unexpected observations in diastereoselective aldol addition reactions involving chiral aldehyde/achiral enolate, achiral aldehyde/chir-al enolate, and chiral aldehyde/chiral enolate reaction partners. These stereochemical surpri.ses underscore the underlying complexity of the reaction process and how much we have yet to understand. 

The utility of thiazolidinethione chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric aldol reactions is amply demonstrated in a recent enantioselective synthesis of apoptolidinone. This synthesis features three thiazolidinethione propionate aldol reactions for controlling the configuration of 6 of 12 stereogenio centers <05JA13810>. For example, addition of aldehyde 146 to the enolate solution of A -propionyl thiazolidinethione 145 produces aldol product 147 with excellent selectivity (>98 2) for the Evans syn isomer. Compound 145 also undergoes diastereoselective aldol addition with bisaryl aldehyde 148 to give the Evans syn product 149, which is converted to eupomatilone-6 in 6 steps <05JOC9658>. 

The utilization of a-amino acids and their derived e-amino alcohols in asymmetric synthesis has been extensive. A number of procedures have been reported for the reduction of a variety of amino acid derivatives however, the direct reduction of a-amino acids with borane has proven to be exceptionally convenient for laboratory-scale reactions. These reductions characteristically proceed in high yield with no perceptible racemization. The resulting g-amino alcohols can, In turn, be transformed Into oxazol1dinones, which have proven to be versatile chiral auxiliaries. Besides the highly diastereoselective aldol addition reactions,5 enolates of N-acyl oxazolIdinones have been used in conjunction with asymmetric alkylations,5 halogenations,7 hydroxylations,8 acylations, and azide transfer processes, all of which proceed with excellent levels of stereoselectivity. 

Stereoselective anti-aldol reactions. As part of a synthesis of (>olypropionate natural products, Evans et al. have studied the stereoselectivity of the reaction of isobutyraldehyde with the chiral -ketoimide la, which has been shown to undergo syn-selective aldol reactions. Surprisingly, the (E)-boron enolate, generated in ether from dicyclohexylchloroborane and ethyidimethylamine, reacts with isobutyraldehyde to give the anti, anti-a Ao 2 and the syn, anti- AAo 2 in the ratio 84 16. Similar diastereoselectivity obtains with the reaction of the isomeric jS-ketoimide lb. 

This reaction was first reported by Schollkopf in 1979. It is a synthesis of an unnatural nonproteinogenic amino acid from the lithiated enolate equivalent of a simple amino acid (e.g., glycine, alanine and valine), which involves the diastereoselective alkylation of the lithiated bis-lactim ether of an amino acid with an electrophile or an Aldol Reaction or Michael Addition to an o ,jS-unsaturated molecule and subsequent acidic hydrolysis. Therefore, the intermediate of the bis-lactim ether prepared from corresponding amino acids is generally referred to as the Schollkopf bis-lactim ether, " Schollkopf chiral auxiliary, Schollkopf reagent, or Schollkopf bis-lactim ether chiral auxiliary. Likewise, the Schollkopf bis-lactim ether mediated synthesis of chiral nonproteinogenic amino acid is known as the Schollkopf bis-lactim ether method, Schollkopf bis-lactim method, or Schollkopf methodology. In addition, the reaction between a lithiated Schollkopf bis-lactim ether and an electrophile is termed as the Schollkopf alkylation, while the addition of such lithiated intermediate to an Q ,j8-unsaturated compound is referred to as the Schollkopf-type addition. ... 

The BINOL-Ti-catalyzed aldol reaction of chiral P-benzyloxy aldehyde and silyl enol ether provides a facile route to the stereoselective synthesis of both syn and anti-diastereomers of p,S-dihydroxy thioesters, which can be used as the key intermediates for P-lactone synthesis [111] (Scheme 14.39). The high diastereoselectivity of this reaction was found to be dictated by the chirality of the BINOL-Ti catalyst rather than that of the chiral aldehyde substrate. A catalytic enantioselective resolution of secondary alcohol containing silylenol ether moiety has been realized by an aldol reaction catalyzed by BINOL-Ti Lewis acid [112]. 

A single diastereomer 93, however, results from addition of the lithium enolate 92 derived of t-butyl thiopropanoate to the chiral, enantiomerically pure aldehyde 91. The transformation is a key carbon-chain-elongation step in Woodward s synthesis of erythromycin A (Eq. (37)) [166]. Somewhat lower diastereoselectivity is observed in the aldol reaction between the lithium enolate 95 and the chiral aldehyde 94, a transformation used in a synthesis of maytansin (Eq. (38)). The diastereomeric adducts 96a and 96b result in a ratio of 90 10 [167]. 

Conventional asymmetric aldol reactions have been performed by using chiral enolates and achiral carbonyl compounds. A chiral boron enolate generated from a chiral oxazolidone derivative (26 and 28), dialkylboron tri-fiate, and diisopropylethylamine reacts stereoselectively with aldehydes to afford the corresponding syn aldol adducts (27 and 29) in good yields with excellent diastereoselectivity (Eqs. (8) and (9)) [12]. The opposite sense of asymmetric induction is achieved by changing the chiral auxiliary. Several other chiral auxiliaries have also been developed for highly diastereoselec-tive synthesis of syn aldol adducts (Eqs. (10)-(13)) [13]. 

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