Enamines, Hajos-Wiechert reaction

The mechanism of the Hajos-Wiechert reaction has not been without controversy. The original paper by Hajos and Parrish proposed two possible mechanisms. The first, via the carbinolamine 7, proposed addition of proline to a ketone, followed by a nucleophilic attack of the pendant, remote enol [transition state 8]. Calculations by Houk and Clemente show that this is one of the higher energy pathways. The second proposed mechanistic pathway proceeded via an enamine intermediate, followed by carbon-carbon bond formation via transition state 9 and a hydrogen transfer between nitrogen and... 

The delicateness of the aldol protocol has perhaps been one of the factors why enamine catalysis of the aldol reaction did not emerge nntil the 1970s. The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction [30] (Scheme 16) was an important early example of an intramolecular enamine-catalyzed aldol reaction. However, it was not nntil 2000 when List, Barbas and Lemer demonstrated that the same reaction can also be performed in an intermolecular fashion, using proline as a simple enamine catalyst [26]. 

This type of interesting phenomenon has also been observed in non-organometallic reactions. The Hajos-Wiechert intramolecular aldol reaction of the triketone to the bicyclic aldol exhibits a nonlinear relation between the enantiomeric purity of the (S)-proline catalyst and the en-antioselectivity (Scheme 44) (75). With the partially resolved amino acid, the cyclization affords the product in an ee lower than anticipated. The reaction occurring via an enamine intermediate again may be interpreted in terms of participation of two proline molecules in the productdetermining transition state. 

Another key event in the history of organocatalytic reaction was the discovery of efficient r-proline-mediated asymmetric Robinson annulation reported during the early 1970s. The so-called Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction (an intramolecular aldol reaction) allowed access to some of the key intermediates for the synthesis of natural products (Scheme 1.4) [37, 38], and offered a practical and enantioselective route to the Wieland-Miescher ketone [39]. It is pertinent to note, that this chemistry is rooted in the early studies of Langenbeck and in the extensive investigations work of Stork and co-workers on enamine chemistry... 

S.C. PanandB. List s paper spans the whole field of current organocat-alysts discussing Lewis and Brpnsted basic and acidic catalysts. Starting from the development of proline-mediated enamine catalysis— the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction is an intramolecular transformation involving enamine catalysis—into an intermolecular process with various electrophilic reaction partners as a means to access cY-functionalized aldehydes, they discuss a straightforward classification of organocatalysts and expands on Brpnsted acid-mediated transformations, and describe the development of asymmetric counteranion-directed catalysis (ACDC). 

Type I aldolases activate the aldol donor by the formation of enamines with active site amino acids and an alternate approach to the direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction centres on mimicking this process using proline-based organocatalysts. In fact, one of the earliest examples of asymmetric catalysis uses (S)-profine (7.66) as a catalyst for the intramolecular aldol reaction (the Hajos-Eder-Saeur-Wiechert reaction).As an example the achiral triketone (7.67) cyclises to give the aldol product (7.68) with good enantioselectivity. 

One of the milestones in the development of organocatalysis is the intramolecular aldol reaction catalyzed by proline developed independently by two industrial research groups at Hoffmann-La Roche and Schering (Scheme 1.3). This reaction, also known as the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction, was reported in 1971 and is based on the foundations of stoichiometric enamine chemistry by Stork and the mechanistic conclusions driven by Langebeck himself on some enzymatic reactions, and outlines for the first time the reversible formation of a nucleophilic enamine as the key intermediate participating in the catalytic cycle. 

The foundations of this concept (enamine activation) lie in the fundamental studies by Stork and Robinson covering the stoichiometric use of enamine nucleophiles for the formation of C-C bonds. The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction reported in 1971 (Scheme 2.2), which consisted of a... 

Covalent strategy enamine catalysis Intramolecular process Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction... 

Even though the use of chiral amines and consequently the stereoselective reaction of enamines and aldehydes or ketones have been applied successfully as the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction [29], it has been revived and applied to total synthesis starting in 2000 with the publication from Barbas and List (Scheme 2.118) [30]. 

Experiments conducted in the mid-1980s by Agami indicated a small nonlinear effect in the asymmetric catalysis in the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction (Scheme 6.7). Agami proposed that two proline molecules were involved in the catalysis the first proline forms an enamine with the side chain ketone and the second proline molecule facilitates a proton transfer. Hajos and Parrish reported that the proline-catalyzed cyclization shown in Scheme 6.7 did not incorporate when run in the presence of labeled water. While both of these results have since been discredited—the catalysis is first order in catalyst and is incorporated into... 

Prior to 2001, when the first serious computational approaches to the problem appeared in print, four mechanistic proposals had been offered for understanding the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction (Scheme 6.8). Hajos and Parrish proposed the first two mechanisms Mechanisms A and B. Mechanism A is a nucleophilic substitution reaction where the terminal enol attacks the carbinolamine center, displacing proUne. The other three mechanisms start from an enamine intermediate. Mechanism B invokes an enaminium intermediate, which undergoes C-C formation with proton transfer from the aminium group. Mechanism C, proposed by Agamii to account for the nonlinear proline result, has the proton transfer assisted by the second proline molecule. Lastly, Mechanism D, proffered by Jung, proposed that the proton transfer that accompanies C-C bond formation is facilitated by the carboxylic acid group of proline. 

C. Thus, computation indicates that the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction proceeds by the carboxylic-acid-catalyzed enamine mechanism D, which is consistent with all of the computations for intermolecular proline-catalyzed aldol examples. 

Even though the use of (S)-proline (1) for the synthesis of the Wieland-Miescher ketone, a transformation now known as the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaetion, was reported in the early 1970s, aminocatalysis - namely the catalysis promoted by the use of chiral second-aiy amines - was rediscovered only thirty years later. The renaissance of aminocatalysis was prompted by two independent reports by List et al. on the asymmetric intermolecular aldol addition catalysed by (S)-proline (1) and by MacMillan et al. on the asymmetric Diels-Alder cycloaddition catalj ed by a phenylalanine-derived imidazolidinone 2. These two reactions represented the archetypical examples of asymmetric carbonyl compound activation, via enamine (Figure ll.lA) and iminium-ion (Figure 11.IB), respectively. 

As stated above, the studies of Wieland and Miescher, as well as Woodward, on the intramolecular aldol reaction of diketones and dialdehydes were encouraged by this previous work. Wieland, Miescher, and Woodward studied the application of the intramolecular aldol reaction, catalyzed by secondary amine salts, to the synthesis of steroids and believed that their aldolizations proceed via enamine intermediates [ 10]. This was corroborated by the mechanistic studies carried out by Spencer in 1965 [11]. Based on these works, Hajos and Parrish (1974) andEder, Sauer, and Wiechert... 

The term aminocatalysis has been coined [4] to designate reactions catalyzed by secondary and primary amines, taking place via enamine and iminium ion intermediates. The field of asymmetric aminocatalysis, initiated both by Hajos and Parrish [5] and by Eder, Sauer, and Wiechert [6] in 1971, has experienced a tremendous renaissance in the past decade [7], triggered by the simultaneous discovery of proline-catalyzed intermolecular aldol [8] and Mannich [9] reactions and of asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions catalyzed by chiral imidazolidinones [10]. Asymmetric enamine and iminium catalysis have been influential in creating the field of asymmetric organocatalysis [11], and probably for this reason aminocatalytic processes have been the object of the majority of mechanistic smdies in organocatalysis. 

Class 1 aldolase mimics consist of amino acid catalysts that presumably activate the donor via enamine formation and the acceptor through a hydrogen bond with an acid functionality. Repotted hrst by Wiechert et al. and then by Hajos and Parrish,-proline was found to catalyze intramolecular asymmetric aldol reactions. However, the... 

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