Enantioselective Michael addition mechanism

Fig. 32 Proposed cooperative bimetallic intramolecular mechanism for the enantioselective Michael addition of a-cyanoesters 57 to vinylketones...

A diastereo- and enantioselective Michael addition combined with a Darzens condensation reaction can be used to form two products of interest in the field of medicinal and natural products chemistry [60]. Additionally, depending on the workup conditions, an optically active epoxycyclohexanone, 92, can be prepared through an Sf 2 reaction, or the ElcB reaction pathway to 91 can be accessed (Scheme 7.17). In the early stages of the proposed mechanism, a planar iminium ion is suggested between the 2-[bis(3,5-bistrifluoromethylphenyl) trimethylsilany-loxymethyljpyrrolidine 61 and the aldehyde moiety of compound 88, which is subsequently attacked by the P-ketoester 89. For the synthesis of the epoxide, a... 

In 2003, Takemoto and coworkers published the enantioselective Michael addition of malonates to nitro-olefins catalysed by the first bifunctional thiourea 15, providing the corresponding products in high yields and enantioselectivities. The proposed mechanism involved a bifunctional transition state, where activation of the nitro-olefin is promoted by the thiourea group, while the activation of the malonate occurred by the tertiary amine (Scheme 19.18). ... 

Two recent publications on the mechanism of the organocatalytic enantioselective Michael addition of aldehydes to nitroalkenes have led to the revision of some of the structures depicted in Scheme 2.11 (see Ref. 199). 

To test the validity of this mechanism, it was reasoned that a weak add (t-BuOH or water) should quench the zwitterion 21 and suppress or at least decrease the formation of by-products. This is indeed the case, although the addition of more alkene increases the quantity of by-products, even in the presence of t-BuOH. It should be noted that the presence of these protic additives is not innocent, since it also increases the reaction rates and affects the enantioselectivity. For example adding 20 equivalents of t-BuOH to the reaction of PH(Is)Me with tert-butyl acrylate halves the time for the completion of the reaction (from 5 to 2 days) and doubles the enantiomeric excess from 28% to 56%. The latter enantioselectivity is the best obtained to date with the systems discussed in this section. More evidence for the Michael addition mechanism came from trapping intermediate 21 with electrophiles other than a proton. Scheme 6.12 shows that performing the hydrophosphination reaction in the presence of benzaldehyde produced some of the three-component coupling product 25. 

The enantioselective Michael addition of malononitrile CH2(CN)2 to trans-chalcones R CH=CHCOR catalysed by diarylprolinols (151), has been studied in detail. Both experimental and computational results are consistent with a bifunctional non-covalent activation of the reactants (152). The latter mechanism correctly predicts formation of the (R)-configured products (<75% eef- but is in conflict with the generally accepted iminium mechanism. Furthermore, (151) is likely to form the corresponding oxazolidine derivative as an intermediate, which has not been taken into account. 

Recently, the mechanism of enantioselective Michael addition of malonic esters and keto esters to cyclic conjugated enones catalyzed by Ru bifunctional complexes 1 was studied in detail. ... 

Cyclohexanediamine-derived amine thiourea 70, which provided high enantio-selectivities for the Michael addition [77] and aza-Henry reactions [78], showed poor activity in the MBH reaction. This fact is not surprising when one considers that a chiral urea catalyst functions by fundamentally different stereoinduction mechanisms in the MBH reaction, and in the activation of related imine substrates in Mannich or Streclcer reactions [80]. In contrast, the binaph-thylamine thiourea 71 mediated the addition of dihydrocinnamaldehyde 74 to cyclohexenone 75 in high yield (83%) and enantioselectivity (71% ee) (Table 5.6, entry 2) [79]. The more bulky diethyl analogue 72 displayed similar enantioselectivity (73% ee) while affording a lower yield (56%, entry 3). Catalyst 73 showed only low catalytic activity in the MBH reaction (18%, entry 4). 

The first prominent catalytic asymmetric Michael-type addition reaction of an organolithium reagent was shown by the reaction of 1-naphthy[lithium with 1-fluoro-2-naphthylaldehyde imine in the presence of 6 to afford the binaphthyls in high ee. Only catalytic amounts of 6 (0.05 mol%) effects the reaction to give 82% ee, in which an enantioselective Michael-type addition-elimination mechanism is operative (Eq. (12.12)) [31],... 

A highly enantioselective organocatalytic Michael addition of 4-hydroxycouma-rines and related compounds to a,p-unsaturated ketones has been also achieved using imidazolidine catalyst 137 [213]. The reaction, which gives high yields and enantioselectivities for a wide range of cyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and enones, has been successfully employed for the asymmetric synthesis of the anticoagulant warfarin (Scheme 2.78) and derivatives [213], With respect to the reaction mechanism, very recent studies have demonstrated that the truly active catalyst in the process was the chiral diamine 138, which is formed in catalytic amounts under the reaction conditions by reaction with the hydroxycoumarine (Schane 2.79)... 

Ishihara, K. et al. reported an enantioselective [2+2] cycloaddition of unactivated alkenes (e.g., 161) with a-acyloxyacroleins 162, catalyzed by chiral organoammo-nium salts, catalyst 163, Scheme 3.52 [68], A possible stepwise mechanism was proposed by authors to account for the stereoselectivity, which includes initial Michael addition of alkene to (Z)-iminium enal intermediate and intramolecular cyclization to afford the cycloadducts. The proposed transition states were stabilized by aromatic n-n stacking and intramolecular hydrogen-bonding interaction. 

Early work by Tomioka and coworkers [39] described a two-component Michael/ aldol process to cyclopentenes. Furthermore, rhodium-assisted Michael/aldol processes to cyclopentanes and cyclohexanes have also been reported [40]. Later, a Michael addition reaction in combination with an adehyde a-alkylation reaction was reported for the highly stereoselective formation of y-nitroaldehydes 50 [41]. In this publication, a series of aliphatic aldehydes 49 (at Rj) and ( )-5-iodo-l-nitropent-1-ene 48 were reacted in the presence of the organocatalyst 1 and benzoic acid in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to afford the resulting cyclopentene ring system 50 (Scheme 7.9). The diastereo- and enantioselective process follows the proposed mechanism beginning with enamine activation of the aldehyde to 51 by the catalyst 1 (blocking the re face), and Michael addition of 48 occurs at its more accessible si face. The full enamine-enamine mechanism, illustrated in Scheme 7.9, provided... 

The proposed reaction mechanism involves initially the activation of cyclohexenone by the thiourea group and subsequently a Michael addition of the tertiary amine at the p-position. The resulting enolate intermediate attacks the aldehyde performing an aldol reaction. Finally, a retro-Michael addition releases the catalyst to afford the product (Scheme 19.22). This mechanism supports the experimental results of the authors diethyl analogue 16b showed similar enantioselectivities, but significant lower yield for the reaction between 2-cyclohexen-l-one and 3-phenylpropionaldehyde, presumably because of the difficulty of the amine to perform the Michael addition due to confined space in the presence of the more flexible ethyl substituents. 

Recently, the same group successfully extended this methodology to 3-substituted 2-(bromomethyl)-acrylates proceeding with concomitant generation of two contiguous stereocenters with high diastereo- and also enantioselectivity [115]. Based on the proposed reaction mechanism (Scheme 8.25), Palomo s a-aUcylation S/ 2 pathway suggests the addition of an activated aldehyde as enamine to an sp carbon of ammonium salt 77 followed by DMAP elimination, and thus this process is Michael addition rather than an a-alkylation [116]. 

Whereas secondary amines are suitable catalysts for activation of a,(3-unsaturated aldehydes, more difficulties are usually encountered with sterically demanding substrates, such as a,(5-unsaturated ketones. Primary amines can be useful catalysts in such cases. Yoshida et al. [52] reported an amino acid-catalyzed sulfa-Michael addition of arylmethyl mercaptans to cyclic enones. The proposed mechanism invokes the formation of an imine intermediate. However, even with the best screened catalyst, 5-trityl L-cysteine, the reaction proceeded with modest levels of enantioselectivity (8-58% ee). 

Ricci and coworkers [64] studied oxazoline moiety fused with a cyclopenta[P]thio-phene as ligands on the copper-catalyzed enantioselective addition of Et2Zn to chalcone. The structure of the active Cu species was determined by ESI-MS. Evans and coworkers [65] studied C2-symmetric copper(II) complexes as chiral Lewis acids. The catalyst-substrate species were probed using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Comelles and coworkers studied Cu(II)-catalyzed Michael additions of P-dicarbonyl compounds to 2-butenone in neutral media [66]. ESI-MS studies suggested that copper enolates of the a-dicarbonyl formed in situ are the active nucleophilic species. Schwarz and coworkers investigated by ESI-MS iron enolates formed in solutions of iron(III) salts and [3-ketoesters [67]. Studying the mechanism of palladium complex-catalyzed enantioselective Mannich-type reactions, Fujii and coworkers characterized a novel binuclear palladium enolate complex as intermediate by ESI-MS [68]. 

In 2012, Rueping et al. reported the proline-mediated reaction of 1,3-diketones with aldehydes to provide 2-hydroxy-3,4-dihydro-2//-pyran derivatives in good to excellent yields [46]. The reaction mechanism involves a Knoevenagel-Michael addition sequence with subsequent hemiacetalization. The haniacetal was oxidized with TPAP/ NMO or PCC to give the corresponding lactones 96. An enantioselective variant utilizing stoichiometric amounts of an... 

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