Enantioselective aldol condensation production

Chiral salen chromium and cobalt complexes have been shown by Jacobsen et al. to catalyze an enantioselective cycloaddition reaction of carbonyl compounds with dienes [22]. The cycloaddition reaction of different aldehydes 1 containing aromatic, aliphatic, and conjugated substituents with Danishefsky s diene 2a catalyzed by the chiral salen-chromium(III) complexes 14a,b proceeds in up to 98% yield and with moderate to high ee (Scheme 4.14). It was found that the presence of oven-dried powdered 4 A molecular sieves led to increased yield and enantioselectivity. The lowest ee (62% ee, catalyst 14b) was obtained for hexanal and the highest (93% ee, catalyst 14a) was obtained for cyclohexyl aldehyde. The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction was investigated in terms of a traditional cycloaddition, or formation of the cycloaddition product via a Mukaiyama aldol-reaction path. In the presence of the chiral salen-chromium(III) catalyst system NMR spectroscopy of the crude reaction mixture of the reaction of benzaldehyde with Danishefsky s diene revealed the exclusive presence of the cycloaddition-pathway product. The Mukaiyama aldol condensation product was prepared independently and subjected to the conditions of the chiral salen-chromium(III)-catalyzed reactions. No detectable cycloaddition product could be observed. These results point towards a [2-i-4]-cydoaddition mechanism. 

Mandelic acid and its derivatives are utilized as convenient precursors for the introduction of a chiral center, and they possess the extra advantage of bearing a useful functional group. Many mandelic acid derivatives also act as chiral auxiliaries for the induction of a chiral center in stereoselective transformations. Numerous natural products, such as macrolides and ionophore antibiotics, possess a carbon framework that may be viewed synthetically as arising from a sequence of highly stereo- and enantioselective aldol condensations. Boron enolates, chiral auxiliaries derived from mandelic acids 1 or 2, provide remarkably high aldol stereoselectivity. 

Hajos and Parrish at Hoffmann La Roche discovered that proline-catalyzed intramolecular aldol reactions of triketones such as 104 and 107 furnish al-dols 105 and 108 in good yields and vith high enantioselectivity (Scheme 4.17). Acid-catalyzed dehydration of the aldol addition products then gave condensation products 106 and 109 (Eqs. (1) and (2)). Independently, Eder, Sauer, and Wiechert at Schering AG in Germany directly isolated the aldol condensation products vhen the same cyclizations vere conducted in the presence of proline (10-200 mol%) and an acid co-catalyst (Eqs. (3) and (4)). 

The Pictet-Spengler condensation has been of vital importance in the synthesis of numerous P-carboline and isoquinoline compounds in addition to its use in the formation of alkaloid natural products of complex structure. A tandem retro-aldol and Pictet-Spengler sequence was utilized in a concise and enantioselective synthesis of 18-pseudoyohimbone. Amine 49 cyclized under acidic conditions to give the condensation product 50 in good yield. Deprotection of the ketone produced the indole alkaloid 51. 

A series of chiral binaphthyl ligands in combination with AlMe3 has been used for the cycloaddition reaction of enamide aldehydes with Danishefsky s diene for the enantioselective synthesis of a chiral amino dihydroxy molecule [15]. The cycloaddition reaction, which was found to proceed via a Mukaiyama aldol condensation followed by a cyclization, gives the cycloaddition product in up to 60% yield and 78% ee. 

Reaction of aldehydes and 2 equivalents of ketone in the presence of 5 mol% of (R)-BaBM gives good yield of aldol product (77-99%) with moderate enan-tioselectivity (54-70% ee) after a 2-day reaction (Scheme 3-36 and Table 3-9). Although the enantioselectivity is not very high, this is one of the first examples of direct aldol condensation using barium catalyst as the promoter. 

The first chapter in this volume is a particularly timely one given the recent surge of activity in natural product synthesis based upon stereocontrolled Aldol Condensations. D. A. Evans, one of the principal protagonists in this effort, and his associates, J. V. Nelson and T. R. Taber, have surveyed the several modem variants of the Aldol Condensation and discuss models to rationalize the experimental results, particularly with respect to stereochemistry, in a chapter entitled Stereoselective Aldol Condensations. The authors examine Aldol diastereoselection under thermodynamic and kinetic control as well as enantioselection in Aldol Condensations involving chiral reactants. 

Trost s group reported direct catalytic enantioselective aldol reaction of unmodified ketones using dinuclear Zn complex 21 [Eq. (13.10)]. This reaction is noteworthy because products from linear aliphatic aldehydes were also obtained in reasonable chemical yields and enantioselectivity, in addition to secondary and tertiary alkyl-substituted aldehydes. Primary alkyl-substituted aldehydes are normally problematic substrates for direct aldol reaction because self-aldol condensation of the aldehydes complicates the reaction. Bifunctional Zn catalysis 22 was proposed, in which one Zn atom acts as a Lewis acid to activate an aldehyde and the other Zn-alkoxide acts as a Bronsted base to generate a Zn-enolate. The... 

The syntheses in Schemes 13.36 and 13.37 illustrate the use of chiral auxiliaries in enantioselective synthesis. Step A in Scheme 13.36 establishes the configuration at the carbon which becomes C-4 in the product. This is an enolate alkylation in which the steric effect of the oxazolinone substituents directs the approach of the alkylating group. Step C also uses the oxazolidinone structure. In this case, the enolborinate is formed and condensed with the aldehyde intermediate. This stereoselective aldol condensation establishes the configuration at C-2 and C-3. The configuration at the final stereocenter is established by the hydroboration in step D. The selectivity for the desired stereoisomer is 85 15. Stereoselectivity in the same sense has been observed for a number of other 2-methyl-alkenes in which the remainder of the alkene constitutes a relatively bulky 135... 

List gave the first examples of the proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric three-component Mannich reactions of ketones, aldehydes, and amines (Scheme 14) [35], This was the first organocatalytic asymmetric Mannich reaction. These reactions do not require enolate equivalents or preformed imine equivalent. Both a-substituted and a-unsubstituted aldehydes gave the corresponding p-amino ketones 40 in good to excellent yield and with enantiomeric excesses up to 91%. The aldol addition and condensation products were observed as side products in this reaction. The application of their reaction to the highly enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols was also presented [36]. A plausible mechanism of the proline-catalyzed three-component Mannich reaction is shown in Fig. 2. The ketone reacts with proline to give an enamine 41. In a second pre-equilib-... 

Although attempts to catalyze bimolecular aldol condensations without resorting to enamine chemistry have not yet been successful, the Schultz group92 has prepared an antibody against the phosphinate hapten 115 that catalyzes the retro aldol reaction of 116 (kcJKm = 125 M-1 s l). The equilibrium in this case strongly disfavors the condensation product, and a histidine induced in response to the phosphinate may be involved in catalysis. Interestingly and in contrast to the previous examples, the stereoselectivity of the antibody is modest. The syn diastereomer of 116 was found to be the better substrate for the antibody by 2 1 over the anti diastereomer, but no evidence of enantioselectivity was observed. 

Enantioselective Aldol Reactions. The use of 1 for generating two contiguous stereocenters via an asymmetric aldol condensation has also been investigated,but only with marginal success. For example, reaction of the lithium enolate derived from tert-butyl propionate with the /Y-lithio derivative of 1, followed by condensation with benzaldehyde, provided a mixture of anti and syn aldol products in poor-to-modest % ee (eq 8). 

Cationic Pd complexes can be applied to the asymmetric aldol reaction. Shibasaki and coworkers reported that (/ )-BINAP PdCP, generated from a 1 1 mixture of (i )-BINAP PdCl2 and AgOTf in wet DMF, is an effective chiral catalyst for asymmetric aldol addition of silyl enol ethers to aldehydes [63]. For instance, treatment of trimethylsi-lyl enol ether of acetophenone 49 with benzaldehyde under the influence of 5 mol % of this catalyst affords the trimethylsilyl ether of aldol adduct 113 (87 % yield, 71 % ee) and desilylated product 114 (9 % yield, 73 % ee) as shown in Sch. 31. They later prepared chiral palladium diaquo complexes 115 and 116 from (7 )-BINAP PdCl2 and (i )-p-Tol-BINAP PdCl2, respectively, by reaction with 2 equiv. AgBF4 in wet acetone [64]. These complexes are tolerant of air and moisture, and afford similar reactivity and enantioselec-tivity in the aldol condensation of 49 and benzaldehyde. Sodeoka and coworkers have recently developed enantioselective Mannich-type reactions of silyl enol ethers with imi-nes catalyzed by binuclear -hydroxo palladium(II) complexes 117 and 118 derived from the diaquo complexes 115 and 116 [65]. These reactions are believed to proceed via a chiral palladium(fl) enolate. 

Gallc er and co-workers devised a formal enantioselective synthesis of ( — )-3 in wduch the stereogenic center at C-6 was derived fiom Cbz-protected (S)-2-amino-4-pentenoic acid (36) (44). Acylation of 3,3-dimethoxy-pyrrolidine (37) with this acid yielded amide 38, which was converted into aldehyde 39 by cleavage of the terminal alkene vnth osmium tetroxide and sodium periodate (Scheme 5). The indolizidine nucleus was constructed from 39 by a problematic intramolecular aldol condensation, which was eventually optimized by using 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine as base followed by adsorption onto, and elution from, silica gel (45). Diastereoselective reduction of the ketone group of the aldol product 40 was accomplished in better than 95% enantiomeric excess (ee) with the Corey... 

It catalyses the aminolysis of epoxides in an extraordinarily efficient manner in aprotic solvents (e.g. toluene, CH2CI2) with complete trans stereoselectivity and high regioselectivity [Chini et al. Tetrahedron Lett 35 433 1994], It also catalyses the trans addition of indole (at position 3) to epoxides (e.g. to phenoxymetltyloxirane) in >50% yields at 60° (42 hours) under pressure (10 Kbar) and was successfully applied for an enantioselective synthesis of (+)-diolmycin A2 [Kotsuki Tetrahedron Lett 37 3727 799(5]. Of the ten lanthanide triflates, Yb(OTf)3 gave the highest yields (> 90%, see above) of condensation products by catalytically activating formaldehyde, and a variety of aldehydes, in hydroformylations and aldol reactions, respectively, with trimethylsilyl enol-ethers in THF at room temperature. All the lanthanide triflates can be recovered from these reactions for re-use. [Kobayashi Hachiya J Org Chem 59 3590 1994.]... 

A likely cyclic transition state makes the Mukaiyama aldol condensation diastereoselective, that is, strongly favoring one diastereomer of the product. Addition of a chiral ligand or chelator (such as a chiral diamine) can make the process enantioselective as well, that is, favoring one enantiomer. 

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