Diels-Alder reactions reaction coordinate

The mechanism of the Arbuzov rearrangement of (allyloxy)phosphines PhJP-(0C3H5)34 (n = 0-2) at room temperature catalysed by [CpRu(AN>3]PF4 has been investigated. A new procedure has been developed for the preparation of enantiomerically pure sulphoxides and ruthenium complexes such as [CpRu((X>)(FI%3)(t-BuMeSO)]SbF4 by a combination of asymmetric oxidations of dialkylsulphides and metal resolution of the products. The Diels Alder reaction of coordinated dienophiles in [CpRu(dnq]p)3 (dienophile)JPF( have been investigated for a range of complexes. ... 

This thesis contributes to the knowledge of catalysis in water, us it describes an explorative journey in the, at the start of the research, unh odded field of catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in aqueous media. The discussion will touch on organic chemistry, coordination chemistry and colloid chemistry, largely depending upon the physical-organic approach of structural variation for the elucidation of the underlying mechanisms and principles of the observed phenomena. 

Unfortunately, the number of mechanistic studies in this field stands in no proportion to its versatility" . Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the beneficial effect of Lewis-acids on the rate of the Diels-Alder reaction can be primarily ascribed to a reduction of the enthalpy of activation ( AAH = 30-50 kJ/mole) leaving the activation entropy essentially unchanged (TAAS = 0-10 kJ/mol)" . Solvent effects on Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reactions have received very little attention. A change in solvent affects mainly the coordination step rather than the actual Diels-Alder reaction. Donating solvents severely impede catalysis . This observation justifies the widespread use of inert solvents such as dichloromethane and chloroform for synthetic applications of Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reactions. 

In a Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction, the first step is coordination of the catalyst to a Lewis-basic site of the reactant. In a typical catalysed Diels-Alder reaction, the carbonyl oxygen of the dienophile coordinates to the Lewis acid. The most common solvents for these processes are inert apolar liquids such as dichloromethane or benzene. Protic solvents, and water in particular, are avoided because of their strong interactions wifti the catalyst and the reacting system. Interestingly, for other catalysed reactions such as hydroformylations the same solvents do not give problems. This paradox is a result of the difference in hardness of the reactants and the catalyst involved... 

The most effective Lewis-acid catalysts for the Diels-Alder reaction are hard cations. Not surprisingly, they coordinate to hard nuclei on the reacting system, typically oxygen atoms. Consequently, hard solvents are likely to affect these interactions significantly. Table 1.4 shows a selection of some solvents ranked according to their softness. Note that water is one of the hardest... 

In summary, water is clearly an extremely bad solvent for coordination of a hard Lewis acid to a hard Lewis base. Hence, catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water is expected to be difficult due to the relative inefficiency of the interactions between the Diels-Alder reactants and the Lewis-acid catalyst in this medium. 

In view of the remarkable effects that water can exert on the uncatalysed Diels-Alder reaction, there might well be a similar effect on the rate and the selectivity of the Lewis-acid catalysed process. At the same time, coordination of a Lewis-acid to a Diels-Alder reagent is likely to overcome the... 

What is the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water An approach of extending the scope by making use of a temporary secondary coordination site is described in Chapter 4. 

Furthermore, the number of diene - dienoplrile combinations that can be expected to undergo a Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction is limited. Studies by Wijnen leave little doubt that the rate of typical Diels-Alder reactions, where the dienophile is activated by one or more carbonyl functionalities, does not respond to the presence of Lewis acids in aqueous solution , at least not beyond the extent that is expected for non-specific interactions (salt effects). No coordination of the Lewis acid to the dienophile was observed in these cases, which is perhaps not surprising. Water is... 

The mechanism by which Lewis-acids can be expected to affect the rate of the Diels-Alder reaction in water is depicted in Scheme 2.6. The first step in the cycle comprises rapid and reversible coordination of the Lewis-acid to the dienophile, leading to a complex in which the dienophile is activated for reaction with the diene. After the irreversible Diels-Alder reaction, the product has to dissociate from the Lewis-acid in order to make the catalyst available for another cycle. The overall... 

Evans and co-workers investigated the effect of a number of -symmetric bis(oxazoline) ligands on the copper(II)-catalysed Diels-Alder reaction of an N-acyloxazolidinone with cyclopentadiene. Enantiomeric excesses of up to 99% have been reported (Scheme 3.4). Evans et al." suggested transition state assembly 3.7, with a square planar coordination environment around the central copper ion. In this scheme the dienophile should be coordinated predominantly in an cisoid fashion in... 

Recently Desimoni et used the same bis(oxazoline) ligand in the magnesium(II) catalysed Diels-Alder reaction of the N-acyloxazolidinone depicted in Scheme 3.4. In dichloromethane a modest preference was observed for the formation of the S-enantiomer. Interestingly, upon addition of two equivalents of water, the R-enantiomer was obtained in excess. This remarkable observation was interpreted in terms of a change from tetrahedral to octahedral coordination upon the introduction of the strongly coordinating water molecules. 

The merits of (enantioselective) Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in aqueous solution have been highlighted in Chapters 2 and 3. Both chapters focused on the Diels-Alder reaction of substituted 3-phenyl-1-(2-pyr idyl)-2-prop ene-1-one dienophiles. In this chapter the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water is investigated. Some literature claims in this area are critically examined and requirements for ejfective Lewis-acid catalysis are formulated. Finally an attempt is made to extend the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis in water by making use of a strongly coordinating auxiliary. 

In summary, the groups of Espenson and Loh observe catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions involving monodentate reactants by Lewis acids in water. If their observations reflect Lewis-acid catalysis, involvirg coordination and concomitant activation of the dienophile, we would conclude that Lewis-acid catalysis in water need not suffer from a limitation to chelating reactants. This conclusion contradicts our observations which have invariably stressed the importance of a chelating potential of the dienophile. Hence it was decided to investigate the effect of indium trichloride and methylrhenium trioxide under homogeneous conditions. 

Scheme 4.6. Schematic representation of the use of a coordinating auxiliary for Lewis-acid catalysis of a Diels-Alder reaction.

This goal might well be achieved by introducing an auxiliary that aids the coordination to the catalyst. After completion of the Diels-Alder reaction and removal of the auxiliary the desired adduct is obtained. This approach is summarised in Scheme 4.6. Some examples in which a temporary additional coordination site has been introduced to aid a catalytic reaction have been reported in the literature and are described in Section 4.2.1. Section 4.2.2 relates an attempt to use (2-pyridyl)hydrazone as coordinating auxiliary for the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction. 

In a second attempt to extend the scope of Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in water, we have used the Mannich reaction to convert a ketone-activated monodentate dienophile into a potentially chelating p-amino ketone. The Mannich reaction seemed ideally suited for the purpose of introducing a second coordination site on a temporary basis. This reaction adds a strongly Lewis-basic amino functionality on a position p to the ketone. Moreover, the Mannich reaction is usually a reversible process, which should allow removal of the auxiliary after the reaction. Furthermore, the reaction is compatible with the use of an aqueous medium. Some Mannich reactions have even been reported to benefit from the use of water ". Finally, Lewis-acid catalysis of Mannich-type reactions in mixtures of organic solvents and water has been reported ". Hence, if both addition of the auxiliary and the subsequent Diels-Alder reaction benefit from Lewis-acid catalysis, the possibility arises of merging these steps into a one-pot procedure. 

Careful examination of literature reporting Lewis-acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions in combination with kinetic investigations indicate that bidentate (or multidentate) reactants are required in order to ensure efficient catalysis in water. Moreover, studies of a number of model dienophiles revealed that a potentially chelating character is not a guarantee for coordination and subsequent catalysis. Consequently extension of the scope in this direction does not seem feasible. 

First of all, given the well recognised promoting effects of Lewis-acids and of aqueous solvents on Diels-Alder reactions, we wanted to know if these two effects could be combined. If this would be possible, dramatic improvements of rate and endo-exo selectivity were envisaged Studies on the Diels-Alder reaction of a dienophile, specifically designed for this purpose are described in Chapter 2. It is demonstrated that Lewis-acid catalysis in an aqueous medium is indeed feasible and, as anticipated, can result in impressive enhancements of both rate and endo-exo selectivity. However, the influences of the Lewis-acid catalyst and the aqueous medium are not fully additive. It seems as if water diminishes the catalytic potential of Lewis acids just as coordination of a Lewis acid diminishes the beneficial effects of water. Still, overall, the rate of the catalysed reaction... 

Of all the work described in this thesis, this discovery is probably the most significant. Given the fact that the arene - arene interactions underlying the observed enantioselectivity of ftie Diels-Alder reactions described in Chapter 3 are also encountered in other organic reactions, we infer that, in the near future, the beneficial influence of water on enantioselectivity can also be extended to these transformations. Moreover, the fact that water can now be used as a solvent for enantioselective Lewis-add catalysed reactions facilitates mechanistic studies of these processes, because the number of equilibria that need to be considered is reduced Furthermore, knowledge and techniques from aqueous coordination chemistry can now be used directly in enantioselective catalysis. 

This thesis has been completely devoted to catalysis by relatively hard catalysts. When aiming at the catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions, soft catalysts are not an option. Soft catalysts tend to coordinate directly to the carbon - carbon double bonds of diene and dienophile, leading to an activation towards nucleophilic attack rather than to a Diels-Alder reaction . This is unfortunate, since in water, catalysis by hard catalysts suffers from a number of intrinsic disadvantages, which are absent for soft catalysts. 

Also the arene-arene interactions, as encountered in Chapter 3, are partly due to hydrophobic effects, which can be ranked among enforced hydrophobic interactions. Simultaneous coordination of an aromatic oc amino acid ligand and the dienophile to the central copper(II) ion offers the possibility of a reduction of the number of water molecules involved in hydrophobic hydration, leading to a strengthening of the arene-arene interaction. Hence, hydrophobic effects can have a beneficial influence on the enantioselectivity of organic reactions. This effect is anticipated to extend well beyond the Diels-Alder reaction. 

Chapter 2 describes the results of the first detailed study of Lewis-acid catalysis of a Diels-Alder reaction in water. Substituted 3-phenyl-l-(2-pyridyl)-2-propen-l-one dienophiles (la-gin Scheme 1) were found to coordinate to Co, Cu" and Zn ions in aqueous solution. This process forms... 

The rate of the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction in water has been compared to that in other solvents. The results demonstrate that the expected beneficial effect of water on the Lewis-acid catalysed reaction is indeed present. However, the water-induced acceleration of the Lewis-add catalysed reaction is not as pronounced as the corresponding effect on the uncatalysed reaction. The two effects that underlie the beneficial influence of water on the uncatalysed Diels-Alder reaction, enforced hydrophobic interactions and enhanced hydrogen bonding of water to the carbonyl moiety of 1 in the activated complex, are likely to be diminished in the Lewis-acid catalysed process. Upon coordination of the Lewis-acid catalyst to the carbonyl group of the dienophile, the catalyst takes over from the hydrogen bonds an important part of the activating influence. Also the influence of enforced hydrophobic interactions is expected to be significantly reduced in the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction. Obviously, the presence of the hydrophilic Lewis-acid diminished the nonpolar character of 1 in the initial state. 

Scheeren et al. reported the first enantioselective metal-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with alkenes in 1994 [26]. Their approach involved C,N-diphenylnitrone la and ketene acetals 2, in the presence of the amino acid-derived oxazaborolidinones 3 as the catalyst (Scheme 6.8). This type of boron catalyst has been used successfully for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions [27, 28]. In this reaction the nitrone is activated, according to the inverse electron-demand, for a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with the electron-rich alkene. The reaction is thus controlled by the LUMO inone-HOMOaikene interaction. They found that coordination of the nitrone to the boron Lewis acid strongly accelerated the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with ketene acetals. The reactions of la with 2a,b, catalyzed by 20 mol% of oxazaborolidinones such as 3a,b were carried out at -78 °C. In some reactions fair enantioselectivities were induced by the catalysts, thus, 4a was obtained with an optical purity of 74% ee, however, in a low yield. The reaction involving 2b gave the C-3, C-4-cis isomer 4b as the only diastereomer of the product with 62% ee. 

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