Enantioselective reactions continued enones

Despite the fact that the [2 + 2] -photocycloaddition reaction of enones has a history of more than 100 years, it has remained a vital and attractive reaction. The continuing interest and many applications to increasingly more complex targets not only bear testimony to its utility but also contradict the myth that photochemical reactions are nonselective and unpredictable. It would be desirable if this most useful chemistry could also be appreciated in the life sciences industry. The first blockbuster drug to be synthesized via a [2 + 2]-photocycloaddition is yet to be developed. Apart from the conventional evolution of the reaction, which involves an increase in scope and an improvement in its practical execution [154], it is expected that sensitization - as a means of catalyzing photochemical reactions in general [155-157] - will become a dominant factor in the development of catalytic enantioselective [2 + 2]-photo-cycloaddition variants. 

In total, over the past six years, the chelating P,N-ligands have shown considerable promise in a variety of enantioselective processes, including transfer-hydrogenation and hydrosilylation of ketones, hydroboration of alkenes, conjugate addition to enones and Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reactions, in addition to those described above.128,341 It is anticipated that this list will continue to grow, and... 

The chiral molecular receptor (35) has been used to effect enantioselective cyclization of the enone (36). The complex of (36) and (35) undergoes energy transfer from the ketonic acceptor to (36) and results in its conversion into the cyclobutanes (37) and (38) in a total yield of 21%. Bach et aV have continued their investigations of enantioselective additions mediated by the chiral lactam hosts (39). The present reactions involve intra and intermolecular additions of quinolone systems (40) at -60°C in toluene as solvent. The irradiation affords the cycloadducts (41) and (42). As can be seen, the ee of the products is high and the chemical yields are also good. An extension of the work to intermolecular reactions of the quinolone (43) was also reported. The additions of the alkenes... 

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