Diastereoselectivity of the

Dramatic rate accelerations of [4 + 2]cycloadditions were observed in an inert, extremely polar solvent, namely in5 M solutions oflithium perchlorate in diethyl ether(s 532 g LiC104 per litre ). Diels-Alder additions requiring several days, 10—20 kbar of pressure, and/ or elevated temperatures in apolar solvents are achieved in high yields in some hours at ambient pressure and temperature in this solvent (P.A. Grieco, 1990). Also several other reactions, e.g, allylic rearrangements and Michael additions, can be drastically accelerated by this magic solvent. The diastereoselectivities of the reactions in apolar solvents and in LiClO EtjO are often different or even complementary and become thus steerable. 

Several factors influence the diastereoselectivity of the Pictet-Spengler condensation to form 1,3-disubstituted and 1,2,3-trisubstituted tetrahydro-P-carbolines (39 and 40, respectively). The presence or absence of an alkyl substituent on the nitrogen of tryptophan has a large influence on the relative stereochemistry of the tetrahydro-P-carboline products formed from a condensation reaction with an aldehyde under various reaction conditions. 

The enantiomers are obtained as a racemic mixture if no asymmetric induction becomes effective. The ratio of diastereomers depends on structural features of the reactants as well as the reaction conditions as outlined in the following. By using properly substituted preformed enolates, the diastereoselectivity of the aldol reaction can be controlled. Such enolates can show E-ot Z-configuration at the carbon-carbon double bond. With Z-enolates 9, the syn products are formed preferentially, while fi-enolates 12 lead mainly to anti products. This stereochemical outcome can be rationalized to arise from the more favored transition state 10 and 13 respectively ... 

A cursory inspection of key intermediate 8 (see Scheme 1) reveals that it possesses both vicinal and remote stereochemical relationships. To cope with the stereochemical challenge posed by this intermediate and to enhance overall efficiency, a convergent approach featuring the union of optically active intermediates 18 and 19 was adopted. Scheme 5a illustrates the synthesis of intermediate 18. Thus, oxidative cleavage of the trisubstituted olefin of (/ )-citronellic acid benzyl ester (28) with ozone, followed by oxidative workup with Jones reagent, affords a carboxylic acid which can be oxidatively decarboxylated to 29 with lead tetraacetate and copper(n) acetate. Saponification of the benzyl ester in 29 with potassium hydroxide provides an unsaturated carboxylic acid which undergoes smooth conversion to trans iodolactone 30 on treatment with iodine in acetonitrile at -15 °C (89% yield from 29).24 The diastereoselectivity of the thermodynamically controlled iodolacto-nization reaction is approximately 20 1 in favor of the more stable trans iodolactone 30. 

This area of research has only recently attracted the attention of synthetic organic chemists, but there has been a flurry of impressive activity in the area. Simple (i. e., unstabilized) carbenes suffer from many of the problems of nitrenes (vide infra) and most reported synthetically useful procedures use carbenoids the majority of recent reports have focussed upon reactions between a-diazoesters and imines in the presence of a range of catalysts. In one of the earliest reports of enantioselective carbene-imine reactions, for instance, Jacobsen and Finney reported that ethyl diazoacetate reacts with N-arylaldimines in the presence of cop-per(i) hexafluorophosphate with mediocre stereoselectivity to give N-arylaziridine carboxylates. Though the diastereoselectivities of the reaction were often acceptable (usually >10 1, in favor of the cis isomers) the observed enantioselectivity was low (no more than 44% ee Scheme 4.27) [33],... 

A similar but asymmetric variant of the reaction, involving the radical addition of alkyl iodides and trialkylboranes to chiral azirine esters derived from 8-phenyl-menthol and camphorsultam, in the presence of a Cu(i) catalyst, has subsequently been reported [64]. The diastereoselectivity of the addition is variable (0-92% de)... 

As observed with cyclohexanones, the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction of trimeth-ylaluminum to 2-methylcyclopentanone depends on the stoichiometry of the reactants. Thus, addition of one equivalent of trimcthylaluminum proceeds via preferential tram attack whereas, due to the "compression effect , addition of an excess of the reagent leads to the formation of the equatorial alcohol via predominant attack from the cis side (Table 3)6. In contrast to the addition reactions with trimethylaluniinum, no reversal of the diastereoselectivity upon change of reagent stoichiometry was observed in the addition of triphenylaluminum to 2-methylcyclopentanone6. Even with an excess of the aluminum reagent trans attack predominates. However, the diastereoselectivity is lower than with the use of an equimolar amount of the reactants. 

Trifluoromethylation of protected glyceraldehyde 8 is possible by slowly introducing trifluo-roiodomethane to a mixture of the aldehyde and zinc powder under irradiation with ultra sound, however, the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction is low94. ... 

The addition of aziridinyl anions to aldehydes gave the alcohols 31 in good yields15. As with the oxiranyl anions, the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction could be substantially enhanced by transmetalation of the lithium reagent with chlorotris(dimethylamino)titanium. 

Besides simple alkyl-substituted sulfoxides, (a-chloroalkyl)sulfoxides have been used as reagents for diastereoselective addition reactions. Thus, a synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-hydroxy carboxylates is based on the addition of (-)-l-[(l-chlorobutyl)sulfinyl]-4-methyl-benzene (10) to aldehydes433. The sulfoxide, optically pure with respect to the sulfoxide chirality but a mixture of diastereomers with respect to the a-sulfinyl carbon, can be readily deprotonated at — 55 °C. Subsequent addition to aldehydes afforded a mixture of the diastereomers 11A and 11B. Although the diastereoselectivity of the addition reaction is very low, the diastereomers are easily separated by flash chromatography. Thermal elimination of the sulfinyl group in refluxing xylene cleanly afforded the vinyl chlorides 12 A/12B in high chemical yield as a mixture of E- and Z-isomers. After ozonolysis in ethanol, followed by reductive workup, enantiomerically pure ethyl a-hydroxycarboxylates were obtained. 

The diastereoselectivity of the reactions of (Z)-l-methyl-2-butenylboronate is greater than that of (Z)-l-chloro-2-butenylboronate, evidently because the smaller, more electronegative chlorine substituent has a greater preference to orient in the axial position of transition state 5 than the methyl group. Excellent diastereoselectivity has also been observed in reactions of 1-methyl-3,3-disubstituted 2-propenylboronates and aldehydes27,40. 

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. 

The diastereoselectivity of the copper enolate 2b may be rationalized by suggesting that the chair-like cyclic transition state J is preferred which leads to the major diastereomer 4. The usual antiperiplanar enolate geometry and equatorial disposition of the aldehyde substituent are incorporated into this model. Possible transition states consistent with the stereochemistries of the observed minor aldol products are also illustrated. 

The diastereoselectivity of the reaction may be rationalized by assuming a chelation model, which has been developed in the addition of Grignard reagents to enantiomerically pure a-keto acetals7,8. Cerium metal is fixed by chelation between the N-atom, the methoxy O-atom and one of the acetal O-atoms leading to a rigid structure in the transition state of the reaction (see below). Hence, nucleophilic attack from the Si-face of the C-N double bond is favored4. 

Much better results are achieved in the addition of butyllithium to oxime ethers 4a, 4b and 4c activated by boron trifluoride-diethyl ether complex (BF3 OEt2) at — 78 °C (above a reaction temperature of — 30 °C complex mixtures of products are obtained) using toluene as the solvent. Furthermore, the stereoselectivity depends on the E/Z ratio of the starting oxime ethers. The reaction appears to be highly stereoselective, with the diastereoselectivity of the... 

The diastereoselectivity of the nucleophilic addition to nitrone 2 may be rationalized by assuming that magnesium bromide preferentially coordinates with the nitrone oxygen. The Grignard reagent is therefore forced to interact with the acetal oxygen in position 3. 

The diastereoselectivity of the addition of metalated croty] compounds 1 to the imine moiety has been constantly improved by changing the metal from magnesium over lithium, zinc, aluminum to boron and tin113 (see Table 7). With the latter a high selectivity in favor of the. vj M-product 3 was achieved. The unh-diastereomer 4 results exclusively from addition of boron reagents to A-arylimines 21. 

The mechanistic analogy to the Streckcr synthesis becomes obvious in the addition of the isocyanide to the imine to produce the a-amino nitrilium intermediate. Since all four components are involved in this step, it might be expected that every chiral component (chiral groups R1, R2, R3, R4) contributes to diastereofacial differentiation in the nucleophilic attack on the imine. However, in peptide syntheses by four-component condensation5, the chiral isocyanide or a chiral carboxylic acid component has only limited influence on the diastereoselectivity of the a-amino amide formation5. 

The diastereoselectivity of the zinc iodide catalyzed reaction of the azetidinone I with the trimethylsilyl enolate derivatives of the chiral 3-(l-oxopropyI)oxazolidinones 6 was considerably lower (about 60 40), although independent generation of the zinc enolate, via exchange of the lithium enolate with zinc bromide, afforded the /9-Iactam carboximide derivatives in a ratio (RIS) 80 20177. 

In contrast, the diastereoselectivity of the conjugate addition of a chiral alkenylcoppcr-phosphinc complex to 2-mcthyl-2-cyclopentenone was dictated by the chirality of the reagent63. The double Michael addition using the cyclopentenone and 3-(trimethylsilyl)-3-buten-2-one and subsequent aldol condensation gave 4 in 58 % overall yield. The first Michael addition took place from the less hindered face of the m-vinylcopper, in which chelation between copper and the oxygen atom fixed the conformation of the reagent. 

The diastereoselectivity of the intramolecular cyclization of acyclic imino-substituted enones, although predominantly trans, also strongly depends upon the conditions for cyclization, i.e., heat, pressure or Lewis acid138 387. 

The stereochemical outcome and the diastereoselectivity of the addition of the anion of diethyl propanedioate to a,/ -unsaturated sulfoxides is dependent on the reaction solvent, the metal counterion and the geometry of the a,/ -unsaturated sulfoxide1 - 3. 

This crisscross or von Halban-White-type cyclization product is formed from the (E)-configured intermediate 87, which cannot undergo the 67r-electrocy-clization like the (Z)-configured isomer 88, to yield the benzannelation product 86 [78,79]. While the diastereoselectivity of the alkyne insertion must have been controlled by the electronic and not the steric factors of the substituents on the alkyne, the anti-configuration of the tricyclic system 85 was confirmed by an X-ray structure analysis [77]. 

Pagni and coworkers [18] have conducted in-depth investigations on the cycloadditions of cyclopentadiene with methyl acrylate on alumina of varing activity (200 300 400 800 °) showing that the diastereoselectivity of the... 

Good yields and high diastereoselectivities were obtained by using zeolites in combination with Lewis-acid catalyst [21]. Table 4.7 illustrates some examples of Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene, cyclohexadiene and furan with methyl acrylate. Na-Y and Ce-Y zeolites gave excellent results for the cycloadditions of carbocyclic dienes, and combining these zeolites with anhydrous ZnBr2 further enhanced the endo diastereoselectivity of the reaction. An exception is the cycloaddition of furan that occurred considerably faster and with better yield, in comparison with the classic procedure [22], when performed in the presence of sole zeolites. 

The micellar effect on the endo/exo diastereoselectivity of the reaction has also been investigated. The endo/exo ratio of the reaction of cyclopentadiene with methyl acrylate is affected little (compared to water) by the use of SDS and CTAB [73b], while a large enhancement was observed in SDS solution when n-butyl acrylate was the dienophile used [74]. The ratio of endo/exo products in the reaction of 1 with 113c is not affected by CTAB, SDS and C12E7 [72a]. 

Pressure influences the regioselectivity and the endo-exo diastereoselectivity of the cycloadditions. All the cycloadducts were converted into polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by treatment over a Pd/charcoal catalyst. This approach provides a new and efficient route to a broad variety of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [36]. 

The aqueous medium also has beneficial effects on the diastereoselectivity of the Diels-Alder reactions. The endo addition that occurs in the classical cycloadditions of cyclopentadiene with methyl vinyl ketone and methyl acrylate is more favored when the reaction is carried out in aqueous medium than when it is performed in organic solvents (Table 6.4) [2b, c]. 

Protic solvents such as i-PrOH and t-BuOH favor the diastereoselectivity of the reaction of 3-hydroxy-2-pyrone with acrylates [49b]. Further examples of proton-promoted Diels-Alder reactions are reported in Section 4.8. 

The diastereoselection of the Diels Alder reaction of methyl acrylate with cyclopentadiene was investigated [74] in microemulsions prepared with isooctane oil, CTAB as surfactant and 1-butanol as cosurfactant, and the results were compared with those found in pure solvents and water (Table 6.12). In emulsions rich in 1-butanol and formamide (entries 1 and 4) the reaction was slow (72 h) and the diastereoselectivity was practically the same as that... 

The diastereoselectivity of the cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene with methyl acrylate in SC-CO2 at 40 °C and subcritical liquid CO2 at 22 °C is practically the same endojexo = 75 25 and 76 24 respectively) and is comparable to that found in hydrocarbon solvents (73 27 and 75 25 in heptane and cyclohexane, respectively). This shows that CO2, in these states, behaves like an apolar solvent with very low polarizability [82]. 

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