1.3- Dioxolan-4-ones nitroalkenes

Scheme 6.116 Adducts of the 117-catalyzed Michael reaction between 5-aryl-l, 3-dioxolan-4-ones and various trans-P-nitroalkenes.

Masked chiral a-hetero substituted carboxylic acid enolates have also shown utility in dia-stereoselective additions to nitroalkenes. For example, derivatives of a-hydroxycarboxylic acids, e.g. l,3-dioxolan-4-ones (187) a-amino acids, e.g. 1,3-imidazolidin-4-ones (188) and a-amino-fi-hydroxy-carboxylic acids, e.g. methyl 1,3-oxazolidin-4-carboxylates (189) and methyl l,3-oxazolin-4-carboxy-lates (190), have been employed.1S0a Further, diastereoselective additions of chiral (3-hydroxyesters (191), via the enediolates, to nitroalkenes (40) afford predominant anr/ -P-hydroxyesters (192 Scheme... 

When Michael additions of chiral enolates to nitroalkenes were studied, it was found that lithium enolates (132) of l,3-dioxolan-4-ones (131), derived from the corresponding a-hydroxy acids, afford the adducts (133) with high diastereoselectivity (Scheme 50).144 Recrystallization leads, in general, to diastereomerically pure products, which in turn can efficiently be converted to homochiral compounds like (134), (135) or (136). A number of other chiral enolates (137M140) were also shown to undergo highly selective additions to nitroalkenes however, product configurations were not determined in these cases. 

Soon afterward, various types of carbon [40-44], oxygen [45], and phosphorous [46] Michael donors were successfully employed in the thiourea-catalyzed addition to nitroalkenes. In the presence of the bifunctional epi-9-amino-9-deoxy cinchonine-based thiourea catalyst 79a, the 5-aryl-l,3-dioxolan-4-ones 138 bearing an acidic a-proton derived from mandelic acid derivatives and hexafluoroacetone were identified by Dixon and coworkers as effective pronucleophiles in diastereo- and enantioselective Michael addition reactions to nitrostyrenes 124 [40]. While the diastereoselectivity obtained exceeded 98%, the enantiomeric excess recorded... 

Scheme 4.14 Enantioselective Michael addition of racemic 5-aryl-l,3-dioxolan-4-ones to nitroalkenes.

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