Enamine intermediates direct observation

The highly enantioselective direct conjugate addition of ketones to nitroalkenes has been promoted by a chiral primary amine-thiourea catalyst (7).31 The observed anti diastereoselectivity has suggested participation of a (Z)-enamine intermediate, given (g) the complementary diastereoselectivity obtained in analogous reactions involving (E)-enamines generated from secondary amine catalysts. 

Two different models were proposed by Ley for the 2b-catalyzed reaction which should also be of application for the cases of proline 1 and proline-tetrazole catalysts 2a, both of them in good agreement with the observed absolute configuration of the final Michael adducts (Figure 2.2). One proposal involved the possibility of the tetrazole moiety acting as a bulky substituent which directed the income of the electrophile by the less hindered face of the enamine intermediate in the most stable pseudo-rrarw conformation. Alternatively, the formation of a hydrogen-bonded transition state was also proposed, in this case with the participation of the pseudo-cj5 enamine conformer. This second pathway was afterwards estimated to be the energetically most favored one by DFT calculations. ... 

Barbas and researchers identified that the diamine la TFA salt can catalyse the asymmetric intermolecular direct aldol reactions of a,a-dialkylaldehydes with aromatic aldehydes (Scheme 9.2). The bifunctional catalytic system exhibited excellent reactivity to give products with moderate diastereo- and enantioselectivities. Notably, L-proline is an ineffective catalyst for this class of aldol reactions. The re-face attack of an enamine intermediate on an aryl aldehyde was proposed, causing the observed stereochemistry. 

With respect to the covalent activation in conjugate additions, the catalyst, usually a primary or a secondary amine, can reversibly form a chiral enamine [ 11 ] to activate the nucleophile (D, Fig. 2.2) or a chiral iminium ion [12] to activate the acceptor (E, Fig. 2.2). The detection of enamine intermediates in asymmetric oiganocatalysis has been for a long time the missing piece of evidence for the commonly accepted mechanism of enamine catalysis. This gap has been recently solved with the first detection and structnral characterization of enamine intermediates in proUne-cata-lyzed aldol reactions by real-time NMR spectroscopy [13] and the direct observation of an enamine intermediate in the crystal strnctnre of an aldolase antibody [14]. 

As a consequence of direct observation of enamine intermediates, it has been concluded that the failure to achieve organocatalytic aza-Michael additions of imidazoles to enals is due to unfavourable proton transfer within the adduct from the imidazolium fragment to the enamine unit. ... 

The reactions of enamines as 1,3-dipolarophiles provide the most extensive examples of applications to heterocyclic syntheses. Thus the addition of aryl azides to a large number of cyclic (596-598) and acyclic (599-602) enamines has led to aminotriazolines which could be converted to triazoles with acid. Particular attention has been given to the direction of azide addition (601,603). While the observed products suggest a transition state in which the development of charges gives greater directional control than steric factors, kinetic data and solvent effects (604-606) speak against zwitterionic intermediates and support the usual 1,3-dipolar addition mechanism. 

The observed absolute configuration of the products is in compliance with a simple transition state model where the phenyl group of the diox-ane moiety shields the Re face of the intermediate formed by addition of the nucleophilic carbene to the aldehyde, therefore, directing the attack of the enoate Michael acceptor to occur with the less hindered face, that is the Si face of the enamine (Fig. 16). The electrophilic part of the intermediate bearing the activated C=C double bond is approached by... 

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