Enantioselective lithium enolate

SCHEME 31.1. Marckwald s first enantioselective decarboxylative protonation and Duhamel and Plaquevent s enantioselective lithium enolate protonation. 

Enantioselective deprotonation of prochiral 4-alkylcyclohexanones using certain lithium amide bases derived from chiral amines such as (1) has been shown (73) to generate chiral lithium enolates, which can be trapped and used further as the corresponding trimethylsilyl enol ethers trapping was achieved using Corey s internal quench described above. 

Other organometallic compounds that are hydrolyzed by water are those of sodium, potassium, lithium, zinc, and so on, the ones high in the electromotive series. Enantioselective protonation of lithium enolates and cyclopropyllithium compounds have been reported. When the metal is less active, stronger acids are required. For example, R2Zn compounds react explosively with water, R2Cd slowly, and R2Hg not at all, though the latter can be cleaved with concentrated HCl. How-... 

Covalently bonded chiral auxiliaries readily induce high stereoselectivity for propionate enolates, while the case of acetate enolates has proved to be difficult. Alkylation of carbonyl compound with a novel cyclopentadienyl titanium carbohydrate complex has been found to give high stereoselectivity,44 and a variety of ft-hydroxyl carboxylic acids are accessible with 90-95% optical yields. This compound was also tested in enantioselective aldol reactions. Transmetalation of the relatively stable lithium enolate of t-butyl acetate with chloro(cyclopentadienyl)-bis(l,2 5,6-di-<9-isopropylidene-a-D-glucofuranose-3-0-yl)titanate provided the titanium enolate 66. Reaction of 66 with aldehydes gave -hydroxy esters in high ee (Scheme 3-23). 

Enantioselective a-hydroxylotion of carbonyl compounds. The lithium enolates of the SAMP-hydrazones of ketones undergo facile and diastereoselective oxidation with 2-phenylsulfonyl-3-phenyloxaziridine (13, 23-24) to provide, after ozonolysis, (R)-a-hydroxy ketones in about 95% ee. High enantioselectivity in hydroxylation of aldehydes requires a more demanding side chain on the pyrrolidine ring such as —QCjHOjOCH, which also results in reversal of the configuration. 

The chiral A/ -propionyl-2-oxazolidones (32 and 38) are also useful chiral auxiliaries in the enantioselective a-alkylation of carbonyl compounds, and it is interesting to observe that the sense of chirality transfer in the lithium enolate alkylation is opposite to that observed in the aldol condensation with boron enolates. Thus, whereas the lithium enolate of 37 (see Scheme 9.13) reacts with benzyl bromide to give predominantly the (2/ )-isomer 43a (ratio 43a 43b = 99.2 0.8), the dibutylboron enolate reacts with benzaldehyde to give the (3R, 25) aldol 44a (ratio 44a 44b = 99.7 0.3). The resultant (2R) and (25)-3-phenylpropionic acid derivatives obtained from the hydrolysis of the corresponding oxazolidinones indicated the compounds to be optically pure substances. 

The reactivity of lithium enolates has been explored in a theoretical study of the isomers of C2H30Li, such as the lithium enolate, the acyl lithium, and the a-lithio enol. Imides containing a chiral 2-oxazolidine have been employed for enantioselective protonation of prochiral enolates.A degree of kinetic control of the product E/Z-enolate ratio has been reported for the lithiation of 3,3-diphenylpropiomesitylene, using lithium amides/alkyls. " °... 

A method for enantioselective synthesis of carboxylic acid derivatives is based on alkylation of the enolates of /V-acyl oxazolidinones.59 The lithium enolates have the structures shown because of the tendency for the metal cation to form a chelate. 

Table 2. Enantioselective Dcprotonation of 4-Substituted Cyclohexanones 1 in THF with in situ Trapping of the Intermediate Lithium Enolate with (CH3)3SiCl at — 78°Ca-b 13-14-24-2g-3S-37-55-55a...

The enantioselectivity of the two-step process (deprotonation and trapping of the enolate) is considerably higher in the case of internal quenching with chlorotrimethylsilane as shown by the results of the external quenching of the lithium enolate with acetic anhydride (Table 4)20. 

Asymmetric hydraxylation of lithium enolates of esters and amides.2 Hydroxylation of typical enolates of esters with ( + )- and (-)-l is effected in 75-90% yield and with 55-85% ee. The reaction with amide enolates with ( + )- and ( — )-l results in the opposite configuration to that obtained with ester enolates and with less enantioselectivity. Steric factors appear to predominate over metal chelation. 

Koga has continued his research program in the enantioselective alkylations of achiral lithium enolates using chiral ligands. Previous examples had provided excellent ee and yields for tertiary carbon centers ligand 6 has now been designed that allows formation of quaternary carbon centers with high ee [44]. 

It is known that, besides the boron enolates most commonly used because they lead to excellent yields and ee s, several other types of enolates can be used in Evans type condensations. Among these, lithium enolates looked particularly attractive they are easily prepared and they react with aldehydes in good yield and with good enantioselectivity. Furthermore, they do not require an oxidative work up which, in our case appeared to be a key advantage. 

Evans type aldolizations using boron or lithium enolates are mechanistically different. Although both reactions lead predominantly to 2,3-syrc-aldols, the enantioselectivities are inverted i.e. whereas in our original strategy (5)-oxazolidinones lead to the desired 2(5), 3(5) aldols, the same result via lithium enolates requires switching to (R)-oxazolidinones. This change of selectivity has been explained by differing... 

Mixed aggregates of chiral lithium amide and lithium ester enolate have been employed in the enantioselective conjugate addition on a,/S-unsaturated esters.27 Michael adducts have been obtained in ees up to 76% combining a lithium enolate and a chiral 3-aminopyrrolidine lithium amide. The sense of the induction has been found to be determined by both the relative configuration of the stereogenic centres borne by the amide and the solvent. 

Enantioselective aldol reaction -hydroxy esters.2 The lithium enolate 4 of t-butyl acetate reacts with an aldehyde in the presence of 2 to form P-hydroxy esters 6 in 90-96% ee. 

By means of a chiral base the compound shown below can be converted enantioselectively into its lithium enolate which can be transformed into an a,p-unsaturated ketone in two subsequent steps. If deprotonation of the initial ketone occurs preferentially at the pro-R group to the extent of 92 %, what is the configuration and the enantiomeric excess of the resulting a,p-unsaturated ketone ... 

Disilylation of enones.1 In the presence of Pd[P(C6H5),]4, this disilane undergoes 1,4-addition to a,p-enones to give -y-(phenyldichlorosilyl) silyl enol ethers, which can be converted into lithium enolates by exchange with methyllithium. The reaction can provide 3-hydroxy ketones. The Michael addition is enantioselective when catalyzed by Cl2Pd[( + )-BINAP] (12, 53-57). 

Several new catalytic asymmetric protonations of metal enolates under basic conditions have been published to date. In those processes, reactive metal enolates such as lithium enolates are usually protonated by a catalytic amount of chiral proton source and a stoichiometric amount of achiral proton source. Vedejs et al. reported a catalytic enantioselective protonation of amide enolates [35]. For example, when lithium enolate 43, generated from racemic amide 42 and s-BuLi, was treated with 0.1 equivalents of chiral aniline 31 followed by slow addition of 2 equivalents of ferf-butyl phenylacetate, (K)-enriched amide 42 was obtained with 94% ee (Scheme 2). In this reaction, various achiral acids were... 

In contrast, Koga and coworkers found that enantioselective protonation of lithium enolates of 2-substituted-l-tetralones occurred with a catalytic amount of chiral tetraamine 30 in the presence of water as an achiral proton source [34]. This protonation system is noteworthy, since high enantioselectivities are observed notwithstanding the existence of a large excess of water. 

The enantioselective versions of the alkylation of lithium enolates rely on the complex-ation of the cation by a chiral ligand, which can be in stoichiometric or sub-stoichiometric (catalytic) amounts. 

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