Diastereoselectivity 1,3-dipoles

For azomethine ylides and carbonyl ylides, the diastereoselectivity is more complex as the presence of an additional chiral center in the product allows for the formation of four diastereomers. Since the few reactions that are described in this chapter of these dipoles give rise to only one diastereomer, this topic will not be mentioned further here [10]. 

In addition to nitrones, azomethine ylides are also valuable 1,3-dipoles for five-membered heterocycles [415], which have found useful applications in the synthesis of for example, alkaloids [416]. Again, the groups of both Grigg [417] and Risch [418] have contributed to this field. As reported by the latter group, the treatment of secondary amines 2-824 with benzaldehyde and an appropriate dipolarophile leads to the formation of either substituted pyrrolidines 2-823, 2-825 and 2-826 or oxa-zolidines 2-828 with the 1,3-dipole 2-827 as intermediate (Scheme 2.184). However, the yields and the diastereoselectivities are not always satisfactory. 

It was shown (801) that the diastereoselectivity of a-fluoroalkyl nitrones is reversed to that of the corresponding a-alkyl nitrones. This fact supports the conclusion that the conformation, due to the relief of the dipole repulsion between the fluorine atom and the oxygen atom of the nitrone is preferred in a-fluoroalkyl nitrones. 

The reaction of 5(4H)-oxazolones (32) and miinchnones with triphenylvinylphos-phonium bromide (33) provides a mild synthesis of substituted pyrroles (34) (Scheme 11). The cycloaddition-elimination reactions of 5-imino-l,2,4-thiadiazolidin-3-ones with enamines and ester enolates produce 2-iminothiazolidines. " Chiral isomtinchnone dipoles show jr-facial diastereoselectivity with IV-phenyl- or A -methyl-maleimide in refluxing benzene. ... 

The utility of -phenyl camphor-derived oxazolidinones as chiral formyl anion syn-thons has been demonstrated by Gawley and coworkers (Scheme 42). Deprotonation yields a dipole-stabihzed organolithium intermediate and the absolute configuration of the lithium-bearing carbon is presumed to be R. Additions to benzaldehyde and cyclohexane carboxaldehyde are 86% and 76% diastereoselective, respectively, but recrystallization affords a single diastereomer in the yields shown. Addition is postulated to proceed via the pre-complex shown in the inset, in which the aldehyde is coordinated to the R epimer... 

The ability to produce 1,3-dipoles, through the rhodium-catalyzed decomposition of diazo carbonyl compounds, provides unique opportunities for the accomplishment of a variety of cycloaddition reactions, in both an intra- and intermolecular sense. These transformations are often highly regio- and diastereoselective, making them extremely powerful tools for synthetic chemistry. This is exemplified in the number of applications of this chemistry to the construction of heterocyclic and natural-product ring systems. Future developments are likely to focus on the enantioselective and combinatorial variants of these reactions. 

The convergence of the nitronate and nitrile oxide cycloadditions has allowed for the direct comparisons of yields and stereoselectivities of the two processes. For intramolecular reactions, the nitronate dipole typically required longer reaction times and/or elevated temperatures (22,98,135), however, the nitronate cycloaddition shows considerably higher diastereoselectivity (Table 2.42). Interestingly, the diastereoselectivity is dependent on the placement of a substituent on the tether. In the case of the silyl nitronate derived from 172, the diastereoselectivity is controlled by the substituent at C(l), while cyclization of the analogous nitrile oxide is governed by the substituent at C(l ) (Scheme 2.10) (124). 

The use of chiral auxiliaries to induce (or even control) diastereoselectivity in the cycloaddition of nitrile oxides with achiral alkenes to give 5-substituted isoxazolines has been investigated by a number of groups. With chiral acrylates, this led mostly to low or modest diastereoselectivity, which was explained in terms of the conformational flexibility of the vinyl-CO linkage of the ester (Scheme 6.33) (179). In cycloadditions to chiral acrylates (or acrylamides), both the direction of the facial attack of the dipole as well as the conformational preference of the rotamers need to be controlled in order to achieve high diastereoselection. Although the attack from one sector of space may well be directed or hindered by the chiral auxiliary, a low diastereomer ratio would result due to competing attack to the respective 7i-faces of both the s-cis and s-trans rotamers of the acrylate or amide. 

Extensive studies on diastereoselectivity in the reactions of 1,3-dipoles such as nitrile oxides and nitrones have been carried out over the last 10 years. In contrast, very little work was done on the reactions of nitrile imines with chiral alkenes until the end of the 1990s and very few enantiomerically pure nitrile imines were generated. The greatest degree of selectivity so far has been achieved in cycloadditions to the Fischer chromium carbene complexes (201) to give, initially, the pyrazohne complexes 202 and 203 (111,112). These products proved to be rather unstable and were oxidized in situ with pyridine N-oxide to give predominantly the (4R,5S) product 204 in moderate yield (35-73%). 

Padwa and Prein (105,106) applied chiral, but racemic, isomiinchnone dipoles in diastereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. The carbonyl ylide related isomiinch-none derivative rac-70 was obtained from the rhodium-catalyzed cyclization of diazo-derivative rac-69 (Scheme 12.24) (105). The reactions of the in situ formed dipole with a series of alkenes was described and in particular the reaction with maleic acid derivatives 71a-c gave rise to reaction with high selectivities. The tetracyclic products 72a-c were all obtained in good yield with high endo/ exo and diastereofacial selectivities. In another paper by the same authors, the reactions of racemic isomilnchnones having an exo-cyclic chirality was described (106). 

One of the classical ways to perform diastereoselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition is by the addition of a 1,3-dipole to an allyl alcohol derivative (65, 107-120). Very recently, a short review article was devoted to this area (13). Among the most commonly applied acyclic allyl alcohol derivatives are alkenes 73-75 (Scheme 12.25). These alkenes have been used in reactions with nitrones. 

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