Enantioselective Methyl ketones

A more eflicient and general synthetic procedure is the Masamune reaction of aldehydes with boron enolates of chiral a-silyloxy ketones. A double asymmetric induction generates two new chiral centres with enantioselectivities > 99%. It is again explained by a chair-like six-centre transition state. The repulsive interactions of the bulky cyclohexyl group with the vinylic hydrogen and the boron ligands dictate the approach of the enolate to the aldehyde (S. Masamune, 1981 A). The fi-hydroxy-x-methyl ketones obtained are pure threo products (threo = threose- or threonine-like Fischer formula also termed syn" = planar zig-zag chain with substituents on one side), and the reaction has successfully been applied to macrolide syntheses (S. Masamune, 1981 B). Optically pure threo (= syn") 8-hydroxy-a-methyl carboxylic acids are obtained by desilylation and periodate oxidation (S. Masamune, 1981 A). Chiral 0-((S)-trans-2,5-dimethyl-l-borolanyl) ketene thioketals giving pure erythro (= anti ) diastereomers have also been developed by S. Masamune (1986). 

Chiral oxazolidines 6, or mixtures with their corresponding imines 7, are obtained in quantitative yield from acid-catalyzed condensation of methyl ketones and ( + )- or ( )-2-amino-l-phcnylpropanol (norephedrine, 5) with azeotropic removal of water. Metalation of these chiral oxazolidines (or their imine mixtures) using lithium diisopropylamide generates lithioazaeno-lates which, upon treatment with tin(II) chloride, are converted to cyclic tin(II) azaenolates. After enantioselective reaction with a variety of aldehydes at 0°C and hydrolysis, ft-hydroxy ketones 8 are obtained in 58-86% op4. 

Ketones used in this report are reduced by the cyanobacterium with excellent enan-tioselectivities (> 96% ee). An enzyme exhibiting high enantioselectivity usually shows a relatively strict substrate specificity hence, there scarcely is a catalyst that reacts with many kinds of substrates and also shows high select vities. This alga can reduce a wide variety of aryl methyl ketones and afford the corresponding alcohols with high enantioselectivities. 

In addition, the most efficient mem-ligand depicted above was successfully applied, in 2006, to the alkynylation of ketones. Thus, Liu et al. showed that this ligand was able to catalyse the enantioselective addition of phenylacetylene to various ketones, using Cu(OTf)2 as the starting base in toluene. The results were excellent and homogeneous not only for substituted aryl alkyl ketones, but also for aliphatic methyl ketones (Scheme 4.6). 

Several other ehiral S/O ligands have been involved by Yang and Lee in this type of reaetions, sueh as [(lf ,25 ,3f )-3-mercaptocamphan-2-ol)], MerCO, whieh produeed, when applied to aryl methyl ketones, the corresponding 1-aryl ethyl alcohols in enantioselectivities of up to 92% ee (Scheme 10.63)." ... 

In 2000, Woodward et al. reported that LiGaH4, in combination with the S/ 0-chelate, 2-hydroxy-2 -mercapto-1,1 -binaphthyl (MTBH2), formed an active catalyst for the asymmetric reduction of prochiral ketones with catecholborane as the hydride source (Scheme 10.65). The enantioface differentiation was on the basis of the steric requirements of the ketone substituents. Aryl w-alkyl ketones were reduced in enantioselectivities of 90-93% ee, whereas alkyl methyl ketones e.g. i-Pr, Cy, t-Bu) gave lower enantioselectivities of 60-72% ee. 

More recently, Maruoka and co-workers have reported several new phase-transfer catalysts one of which incorporates a morpholine ring as part of an azoniaspirocyclic core 161 <2007TL4675>. These were employed in the catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition of a-benzylcyanoacetate to acetylenic methyl ketone under phase transfer conditions. 

Scheme 28.18 Enantioselective hydrogenation of aryl-methyl ketones.

Recently, the first report was made on the ruthenium-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation of aryl-methyl ketones using monodentate phosphonites (Scheme 28.18). In particular, ligand 15f induced excellent ee-values. One very early report on rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation of ketones using the monophosphine bmpp 1 f met with a low e.e. [95]. 

BINAL-H reagents 45 are not effective in the enantioselective reduction of dialkyl ketones.53 For example, reaction of benzyl methyl ketone with (S)-45 gives (S )-l-phenyl-2-propanol in only 13% ee (71% yield). Reaction of 2-octanone with (R)-45 produces (S )-2-octanol in 24% ee (67% yield).53 This drop of ee values in the reaction may be explained by the lower energy difference between the favored transition state 48 and unfavored transition state 49 caused by the lack of the above-mentioned n-n repulsion between the reductant and the substrate dialkyl ketone. 

Corey reported a catalytic enantioselective cyanosilylation of methyl ketones using combination of a chiral oxazaborolidinium and an achiral phosphine oxide, [Eq. (13.23)]. An intermolecular dual activation of a substrate by boron and TMSCN by the achiral phosphine oxide (MePh2PO) is proposed as a transition-state model (54). The same catalyst was also used for cyanosilylation of aldehydes ... 

Furthermore, Rueping and coworkers applied their reaction conditions to the cyanation of ketimines [54]. The use of A-benzylated imines derived from aryl-methyl ketones generally gave comparable yields, but lower enantioselectivities. However, this method furnished Strecker products bearing a quaternary stereogenic center, which are valuable intermediates for the preparation of optically active a,a-disubstituted a-amino acids. 

BINOL phosphate (5)-3o (10 mol%, R = 2,4,6- PTj-C Hj) turned out to be the catalyst of choice and gave iV-acetylated 3-indolyl amines 128 bearing a qnatemary stere-ogenic center in excellent yields (94-99%) with high enantioselectivities (73-97% ee). Enamides derived from aryl-methyl ketones as well as indoles with varions substitnents conld be employed. 

By the use of chiral oxazolidines derived from a chiral norephedrine and methyl ketones, an asymmetric aldol reaction proceeds in a highly enantioselective manner. In the case of ethyl or a-methoxy ketones, the corresponding anti aldol products were obtained with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. A chiral titanium reagent, generated from... 

The development of enantioselective aldol reactions has been widely studied in conjunction with the synthesis of natural products. Highly enantioselective aldol reactions have been achieved by employing chiral enolates of ethyl ketones and propionic acid derivatives.(1) On the other hand, achieving high asymmetric induction in the asymmetric aldol reaction of methyl ketones is still a problem.(2)... 

The usual selectivities are observed, with aryl alkyl ketones and alkyl methyl ketones being reduced with high enantioselectivity (1 -> 2 and 3 -> 4)). That 5 is reduced to 6 with high , with the reducing enzymes differentiating between an ethyl and an -pentyl group, is even more impressive. 

An enantioselective synthesis of (+)-estradiol has been accomplished from 1,3-dihy-drobenzo[c]thiophene 2,2-dioxide (306) by successive thermal S02-extrusion and cycloaddition (80HCA1703). Treatment of the optically active iodide (307) with two mole equivalents of the masked quinodimethane (306) in the presence of two mole equivalents of sodium hydride gave (308) as a 1 1 mixture of diastereoisomers. Thermolysis of this alkenic sulfone in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene furnished the trans-anti-trans steroid (309) in 80% yield. Treatment of (309) with methyllithium gave the methyl ketone, which was subjected to a Baeyer-Villiger oxidation and then silyl ether-acetate cleavage to afford (-l-)-estradiol (310 Scheme 66). 

Reactions using catecholborane proceed smoothly in toluene (Scheme 16) (40). The utility of catalytic hydroboration of ketones has been demonstrated by the efficient enantioselective synthesis of a series of biologically active compounds (41). Scheme 17 shows some compounds prepared by using this method. Enantioselective reduction of trichloro-methyl ketones is a general route to a-amino acids and a-hydroxy esters it also allows ready synthesis of a precursor to the carbonic anhy-drase inhibitor MK-0417 (42). 

The Sorghum (S)-oxynitrilase exclusively catalyzes the addition of hydrocyanic acid to aromatic aldehydes with high enantioselectivity, but not to aliphatic aldehydes or ketones [519, 526], In contrast, the Hevea (S)-oxynitrilase was also found to convert aliphatic and a,/ -unsaturated substrates with medium to high selectivity [509, 527]. The stereocomplementary almond (R)-oxynitrilase likewise has a very broad substrate tolerance and accepts both aromatic, aliphatic, and a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes [520, 521, 523, 528, 529] as well as methyl ketones [530] with high enantiomeric excess (Table 9). It is interesting to note that this enzyme will also tolerate sterically hindered substrates such as pivalaldehyde and suitable derivatives 164 which are effective precursors for (R)-pantolactone 165 [531],... 

Excellent enantioselectivity was achieved for the transfer hydrogenation of pinacolone by using (S)-25a as a catalyst with 2-propanol in the presence of (CH3)2CHONa to give the S alcohol in >99% ee (Scheme 28) [90], 2,2-Dimethyl-cyclohexanone was reduced with the same catalyst with 98% optical yield. Reduction of cyclohexyl methyl ketone with (S)-25b gave the S alcohol in 66% ee. 

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