Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reactions indoles

Ricci and co-workers introduced a new class of amino- alcohol- based thiourea derivatives, which were easily accessible in a one-step coupling reaction in nearly quanitative yield from the commercially available chiral amino alcohols and 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl isothiocyanate or isocyanate, respectively (Figure 6.45) [307]. The screening of (thio)urea derivatives 137-140 in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indole with trans-P-nitrostyrene at 20 °C in toluene demonstrated (lR,2S)-cis-l-amino-2-indanol-derived thiourea 139 to be the most active catalyst regarding conversion (95% conv./60h) as well as stereoinduction (35% ee), while the canditates 137, 138, and the urea derivative 140 displayed a lower accelerating effect and poorer asymmetric induction (Figure 6.45). The uncatalyzed reference reaction performed under otherwise identical conditions showed 17% conversion in 65 h reaction time. 

Figure 6.45 Hydroxy-flinctionalized thiourea derivatives (20mol% loading) screened in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indole with trons-P-nitrostyrene at 20°C in toluene.

Kadyrov R, Riermeier TH (2003) Highly enantioselective hydrogen-transfer reductive amination catalytic asymmetric synthesis of primary amines. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 42 5472-5474 Kang Q, Zhao ZA, You SL (2007) Highly enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with imines by a chiral phosphoric acid. J Am Chem Soc 129 1484-1485... 

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indole with electron-rich alkenes by means of 21e furnished 1-indolyl-l-alkylamines, which are of pharmaceutical and biological importance, with excellent enantioselectivity (Equation 10.40) [84],... 

The enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of a. unsaturated 2-acyl iV-methylimidazoles with electron-rich heterocycles, such as indole derivatives, 2-methoxyfuran, and pyrrole, was catalyzed by Sc(OTf)3 conjointly used with a chiral bis(oxazolinyl)pytidine ligand (eq 31). The reaction afforded good enantioselectivities (>90% ee) for a broad range of substrates. 

Hirata, T. Yamanaka, M. DFT Study of Chiral-Phosphoric-Acid-Catalyzed Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts Reaction of Indole with Nitroalkene Bifunctionality and Substituent Effect of Phosphoric Acid. Chem. Asian J. 2011, 6, 510-516. 

A polystyrene-supported l,l -bi-2-naphthol phosphoric acid derivative (296) has been synthesised and applied in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction. The immohilised catalyst (296) has been found to be highly active and selective for the reaction of indoles (293) and sulfony-limines (294), and gave corresponding 3-indolylmethanamines (295) with high excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee) (Scheme 79). Moreover, the recycling of (296) (14 cycles) was possible with no substantial loss in catal34ic performance. ... 

SCHEME 10.28 Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with enecarbamates catalyzed by a chiral monophosphoric acid. 

In an effort to demonstrate a different facet of squaramide s capability, Zhao and Rawal et al. have successfully developed a squaramide-catalyzed enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with imines (Scheme 10.27) [105]. To overcome the slow reaction rate at room temperature, the authors performed the reactions at an elevated temperature. Notably, the reaction at 50 °C afforded the desired product in much improved yield with only a slight decrease in enantioselectivity. Using 2.5 mol% cyclohexanediamine-derived squaramide catalyst 27, the reactions between various indoles and a diverse range of N-arylsulfonyl imines of both electron-rich and electron-deficient aromatic as well as aliphatic aldehydes proceeded with high yield and high enantioselectivity. This transformation represents an efficient synthesis of enantioenriched indolyl-sulfonamides. 

Subsequently, the chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed Friedel-Crafts alkylation attracted much attention and became the subject of comprehensive investigations. In particular, the reaction with indole was investigated extensively because it provided pharmacologically important 3-substituted indole derivatives in enantio-merically enriched forms. The groups of You [35], Terada [36], and AntUla [37] almost simultaneously developed a highly enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles 75 with aromatic imines 74 (Scheme 11.20). Interestingly, their reactions... 

The enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with nitroalkenes is one of the most important carbon-bond-forming reactions for the preparation of biologically active compounds, such as indole alkaloids [39], Although several chiral catalysts have been investigated for the reaction, the enantioselectivities are not always satisfactory. Akiyama and coworkers developed a highly enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of nitroalkenes 77 with indoles 75 using chiral phosphoric acid Ih (Scheme 11.21) [40]. They found that the addition of molecular... 

In the same year, Enders and coworkers reported an asymmetric one-pot, two-step synthesis of substituted isoindolines 159 in the presence of chiral A-triflyl phosphoramide (R)-Ae (10 mol%, R = d-NO -C H ) (Scheme 67) [87]. The cascade was triggered by a Brpnsted acid-catalyzed aza-Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles 29 and A-tosyliminoenoates 160 followed by a DBU-mediated aza-Michael cyclization of intermediates 161 to afford the isoindolines 159 in high yields (71-99%) and short reaction times (10 min to 4 h) along with good enantioselectivities (52-90% ee). Longer reaction times (16 h to 10 days) caused increasing formation of the bisindole byproduct 162 (Scheme 68) along with amplified optical purity of isoindolines 159. 

D-Camphorsulfonic acid (d-CSA) was identified as catalyst for the enantioselec-tive Michael-type Friedel-Crafts reactions of indoles with aromatic enones ArCH= CHCOAr to afford the corresponding /i-indolyl ketones in excellent yields and moderate enantioselectivities. A surprising synergistic effect was discovered between [Bmim] Br and d-CSA, which may originate from the catalytic Lewis acid activation of the Brpnsted acid.162... 

The use of bifunctional thiourea-substituted cinchona alkaloid derivatives has continued to gamer interest, with the Deng laboratory reporting the use of a 6 -thiourea-substituted cinchona derivative for both the Mannich reactions of malo-nates with imines [136] and the Friedel-Crafts reactions of imines with indoles [137]. In both reports, a catalyst loading of 10-20 mol% provided the desired products in almost uniformly high yields and high enantioselectivities. Thiourea-substituted cinchona derivatives have also been used for the enantioselective aza-Henry reactions of aldimines [138] and the enantioselective Henry reactions of nitromethane with aromatic aldehydes [139]. 

Enantioselective Michael-type indole Friedel-Crafts reaction with a,P-unsaturated acyl thiazole has been disclosed <07JA10029>. Reaction of indole 127 and 128 in the presence of 10% mol of bis(oxazolinyl)pyridine-scandium(III) triflate complex 129 in acetonitrile at -40 °C affords 130 with high level of enantioselectivity. 

The 3-indolyl methanamine structural motif 503 is embedded in numerous indole alkaloids and synthetic indole derivatives . An efficient catalytic asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles 501 with imines 502 provides a direct, convergent, and versatile method for the highly enantioselective construction of 3-indolyl methanamines 503 from readily accessible achiral precursors (Scheme 101) <2006JA8156 and references therein>. 

Catalytic enantioselective Friedel-Crafts type addition reactions of electron-rich arenes (indoles, pyrroles etc.) with Michael acceptors have been well developed in the past years. These reactions generally are enabled by chiral Lewis acids or organocatalysts (Scheme 6.24). Chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed processes usually require bidentate substrates (chelating a,p-unsatu-rated compounds) for strong chelation activation. Monodentate compounds (simple a,p-unsaturated compounds) prove to be less selective. With chiral... 

Furans represent an important class of electron-rich heterocycles which are useful intermediates in synthetic chemistry and are broadly found as structural motifs of many natural products and pharmaceutically important substances [333]. Since furans are generally less nucleophilic than indoles and pyrroles, their catalytic enantioselective Friedel-Crafts-type conjugate addition has been much less developed so far. Very recently Harada et al. have developed a catalytic system able to achieve good enantioselectivities in the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of electron-rich furans with acychc a,p-unsaturated ketones [334]. As depicted in Scheme 2.117, a//o-threonine-derived oxazaborolidinone 190 (10 mol%) in the presence of V,V-dimethyl benzylamine (10 mol%) as cocatalyst in ether at -40°C, is an efficient catalytic system for the reaction affording the corresponding functionalized furans with good yields and enantioselectivities. 

During recent years, asymmetric catalysis by small organic molecules has received much attention [140]. Because these reactions proceed through intermediates that are inherently less reactive, the Friedel-Crafts reactions of electron-rich (hetero)aryls generally seem to be well suited. For instance, Deng described the use of readily accessible cinchona-derived ligand 178 to perform highly enantioselective indole additions to a-ketoesters and even simple aldehydes (Scheme 8.49) [141]. Bisindole adducts, the major side products in many Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions, were formed to only a minor extent. 

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions were performed between substituted indoles and methyl trifluoropyruvate, using a chiral nonracemic ( -symmetric 2,2 -bipyridyl copper triflate complex as catalyst. The active copper(II) catalyst was... 

In the case of indole itself, the conjugate addition product was formed in excellent yield (97%) and in good enantiomeric excess (59% ee). According to the authors, this was the first report of the use of a chiral nonracemic 2,2 -bipyridyl ligand in catalytic and enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions. 

For other examples of use of chiral phosphoric acid as catalyst in the synthesis of indole derivatives, see (a) Q. Kang, Z.-A. Zhao, S.-L. You, Tetrahedron 2009, 65, 1603-1607. Enantioselective synthesis of (3-indolyl)glycine derivatives via asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction between indoles and glyoxylate imines. (b) M. Terada, K. Machioka, K. Sorimachi, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 2553-2556. Activation of hemiaminal ethers by chiral Brpnsted acids for facile access to enantioselective two-carbon homologation using enecarbamates. 

A chiral Sc-pybox catalyst from Sc(OTf)3 catalyzes a highly enantioselective Michael-type indole Friedel-Crafts reactions with a variety of )3-substitnfed a, -unsaturated acyl phosphonates and -substituted a,j8-unsaturated 2-acyl imidazoles (Scheme 2). The acyl phosphonate products were efficiently ttansformed into the corresponding esters and amides, whereas the acyl imidazole prodncts were converted to more diverse functionalities snch as esters, amides, carboxyhc acids, ketones, and aldehydes. A nuld and efficient cleavage protocol for the diversification of the 2-acyl imidazole prodncts ntihzing methylating conditions was also developed. 

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