Enantioselective catalysts dipolar cycloaddition reactions

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. 

In an analogous study by Meske, the impact of various oxazaborolidinone catalysts for the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions between acyclic nitrones and vinyl ethers was studied [31]. Both the diastereo- and the enantioselectivities obtained in this work were low. The highest enantioselectivity was obtained by the application of 100 mol% of the tert-butyl-substituted oxazaborolidinone catalyst 3d [27, 32] in the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between nitrone la and ethyl vinyl ether 8a giving endo-9a and exo-9a in 42% and 27% isolated yield, respectively, with up to 20% ee for endo-9a as the best result (Scheme 6.10). 

A model for the mechanism of the highly enantioselective AlMe-BINOL-cata-lyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction was proposed as illustrated in Scheme 6.13. In the first step nitrone la coordinates to the catalyst 11b to form intermediate 12. In intermediate 13, which is proposed to account for the absolute stereoselectivity of this reaction, it is apparent that one of the faces of the nitrone, the si face, is shielded by the ligand whereas the re face remains available... 

A rather unexpected discovery was made in connection to these investigations [49]. When the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of la with 19b mediated by catalyst 20 (X=I) was performed in the absence of MS 4 A a remarkable reversal of enantioselectivity was observed as the opposite enantiomer of ench-21 was obtained (Table 6.1, entries 1 and 2). This had not been observed for enantioselective catalytic reactions before and the role of molecular sieves cannot simply be ascribed to the removal of water by the MS, since the application of MS 4 A that were presaturated with water, also induced the reversal of enantioselectivity (Table 6.1, entries 3 and 4). Recently, Desimoni et al. also found that in addition to the presence of MS in the MgX2-Ph-BOX-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar addition shown in Scheme 6.17, the counter-ion for the magnesium catalyst also strongly affect the absolute stereoselectivity of the reac-... 

In a more recent study on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions the use of succi-nimide instead of the oxazolidinone auxiliary was introduced (Scheme 6.19) [58]. The succinimide derivatives 24a,b are more reactive towards the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with nitrone la and the reaction proceeds in the absence of a catalyst. In the presence of TiCl2-TADDOLate catalyst 23a (5 mol%) the reaction of la with 24a proceeds at -20 to -10 °C, and after conversion of the unstable succinimide adduct into the amide derivative, the corresponding product 25 was obtained in an endojexo ratio of <5 >95. Additionally, the enantioselectivity of the reaction of 72% ee is also an improvement compared to the analogous reaction of the oxazolidinone derivative 19. Similar improvements were obtained in reactions of other related nitrones with 24a and b. 

The enantioselective inverse electron-demand 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with alkenes described so far were catalyzed by metal complexes that favor a monodentate coordination of the nitrone, such as boron and aluminum complexes. However, the glyoxylate-derived nitrone 36 favors a bidentate coordination to the catalyst. This nitrone is a very interesting substrate, since the products that are obtained from the reaction with alkenes are masked a-amino acids. One of the characteristics of nitrones such as 36, having an ester moiety in the a position, is the swift E/Z equilibrium at room temperature (Scheme 6.28). In the crystalline form nitrone 36 exists as the pure Z isomer, however, in solution nitrone 36 have been shown to exists as a mixture of the E and Z isomers. This equilibrium could however be shifted to the Z isomer in the presence of a Lewis acid [74]. 

For the activation of a substrate such as 19a via coordination of the two carbonyl oxygen atoms to the metal, one should expect that a hard Lewis acid would be more suitable, since the carbonyl oxygens are hard Lewis bases. Nevertheless, Fu-rukawa et al. succeeded in applying the relative soft metal palladium as catalyst for the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between 1 and 19a (Scheme 6.36) [79, 80]. They applied the dicationic Pd-BINAP 54 as the catalyst, and whereas this type of catalytic reactions is often carried out at rt or at 0°C, the reactions catalyzed by 54 required heating at 40 °C in order to proceed. In most cases mixtures of endo-21 and exo-21 were obtained, however, high enantioselectivity of up to 93% were obtained for reactions of some derivatives of 1. 

In 1997 the application of two different chiral ytterbium catalysts, 55 and 56 for the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction was reported almost simultaneously by two independent research groups [82, 83], In both works it was observed that the achiral Yb(OTf)3 and Sc(OTf)3 salts catalyze the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between nitrones 1 and alkenoyloxazolidinones 19 with endo selectivity. In the first study 20 mol% of the Yb(OTf)2-pyridine-bisoxazoline complex 55 was applied as the catalyst for reactions of a number of derivatives of 1 and 19. The reactions led to endo-selective 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions giving products with enantioselectivities of up to 73% ee (Scheme 6.38) [82]. In the other report Kobayashi et al. described a... 

The reactions of nitrones constitute the absolute majority of metal-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions. Boron, aluminum, titanium, copper and palladium catalysts have been tested for the inverse electron-demand 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with electron-rich alkenes. Fair enantioselectivities of up to 79% ee were obtained with oxazaborolidinone catalysts. However, the AlMe-3,3 -Ar-BINOL complexes proved to be superior for reactions of both acyclic and cyclic nitrones and more than >99% ee was obtained in some reactions. The Cu(OTf)2-BOX catalyst was efficient for reactions of the glyoxylate-derived nitrones with vinyl ethers and enantioselectivities of up to 93% ee were obtained. 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrones to vinyl ethers is accelerated by Ti(IV) species. The efficiency of the catalyst depends on its complexation capacity. The use of Ti( PrO)2Cl2 favors the formation of trans cycloadducts, presumably, via an endo bidentate complex, in which the metal atom is simultaneously coordinated to the vinyl ether and to the cyclic nitrone or to the Z-isomer of the acyclic nitrones (800a). Highly diastereo- and enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with alkenes, catalyzed by chiral polybi-naphtyl Lewis acids, have been developed. Isoxazolidines with up to 99% ee were obtained. The chiral polymer ligand influences the stereoselectivity to the same extent as its monomeric version, but has the advantage of easy recovery and reuse (800b). 

Finally, the catalytic enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction has recently been developed to be a highly selective reaction of nitrones with electron-deficient alkenes activated by chiral Lewis acids. High levels of regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities can now be reached using catalysts 89 <2000JOC9080>, 90 <2002JA4968>, or 91 <2005JA13386> (Scheme 29). 

Abstract 1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition reactions (DCR) are atom-economic processes that permit the construction of heterocycles. Their enantioselective versions allow for the creation of up to four adjacent chiral centers in a concerted fashion. In particular, well-defined half-sandwich iridium (111) catalysts have been applied to the DCR between enals or methacrylonitrile with nitrones. Excellent yield and stereoselectivities have been achieved. Support for mechanistic proposals stems from the isolation and characterization of the tme catalysts. 

Nitrones are the most widely studied of the 1,3-dipoles in the field of catalyzed enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions. Effective catalysis using a variety of chiral Lewis acid catalysts has been reported for the nitrone cycloaddition... 

The 3,3 -cross-linked polymeric binaphthol ligand 238 in combination with A1Mc3 is also a highly selective catalyst for the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction in Scheme 12.69 (345). The only observable diastereomer resulting from the reactions was exo-233, which was obtained with an enantioselectivity of up to 99% ee using the aluminium catalyst of 238 (20 mol%). One of the advances of using a polymeric catalyst is the easy removal and recovery of the ligand from the... 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of diazoalkanes with alkenes has also been reported (395). Kanemasa and Kanai (395) used the chiral DBFOX-Ph ligand with various metals such as Ni, Zn, and Mg for the preparation of 255a-c. The reaction of TMS-diazomethane 171 with alkene 241 was catalyzed by 10 mol% of 255b to afford the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition product 296 in good yields and enantioselectivities of up to 99% ee (Scheme 12.96). Also, the Ni-catalyst 255a and the Mg-catalyst 255c were excellent catalysts for the reaction, resulting in >90% ee in both cases. 

Ru(Tp)(L) 2( x-N2)][PF6]2 and [Ru(Tp)(methacrolein)(L)][PF6] are catalysts for the solvent-free regio and enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions between methacrolein and Cp or Cp. [ Ru(Tp)(L) 2( x-N2)][PFg]2 also catalyzes the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between methacrolein and benzylidenephenylamine A-oxide to yield 5-methyl-2-iV-3-diphenylisoxazolidine-5-carbaldehyde.74... 

Chiral oxazaborolidines 20 derived from various amino alcohols have been used as catalysts in asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with ketene acetals to give substituted isoxazoles in high yield and stereoselectivity but in moderate enantioselectivity (upto 62% ee). This method has also been used for the synthesis of 0-aminoesters... 

Also, Gong and co-workers reported a Brpnsted add catalyzed three-component asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions between aldehydes 213, amino esters 214, and dipolarphiles 215 by catalyst 216, providing pyrrolidines 217 in high yields with excellent enantioselectivity. Scheme 3.69 [86], The methodology introduced a concept that stereochemistry can be controlled by use of a chiral Br0nsted acid (BH), e.g., phosphoric acid. The chiral BH provided sufficient acidity... 

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