Enantioselectivity aldehydes

Scheme 1. Catalytic enantioselective aldehyde alkylation affords the chiral macrocyclic alcohol 3 in Oppolzer s total synthesis of muscone (1993).

For reviews encompassing catalytic enantioselective aldehyde vinylation using organozinc reagents, see [71, 72]. 

McMillan and co-workers [146] have reported the first example of direct enantioselective aldehyde-aldehyde cross-aldol reaction using small molecules as catalysts. Subsequently, they have described the enantioselective dimerization and cross-coupling of a-oxygenated aldehydes to provide eiythrose architecture. A second L-proline-catalyzed aldol reaction generates hexoses (O Scheme 22) [147]. 

Roush, W. R., Walts, A. E., Hoong, L. K. Diastereo- and enantioselective aldehyde addition reactions of 2-allyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolane-4,5-dicarboxylic esters, a useful class of tartrate ester modified allylboronates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985,107, 8186-8190. 

Ti(IV). Carreira has reported a novel class of tridentate ligands whose complexes with Ti(IV) 48 serve as catalysts for a variety of enantioselective aldehyde additions [20J. The reactions that have been examined include acetate and dienolate aldol additions as well as ene-like reactions of 2-methoxy propene [21], The salient features of these catalytic systems include the fact that a wide range of aldehyde substrates may be utilized, the ability to carry out the reaction employing 0.2-5 mol% catalyst loading, and the experimental ease with which the process is executed. The typical experimental procedure prescribes the use of an in situ generated catalyst, at -10 to 23 °C in a variety of solvents, employing as little as 0.5 mol% catalyst. 

A related Mukaiyama aldol catalyst system reported by Keck prescribes the use of a complex that is prepared in toluene from (R)- or (S)-BINOL and Ti(0 Pr)4 in the presence of 4 A molecular sieves. In work preceding the aldol addition reaction, Keck had studied this remarkable catalyst system and subsequently developed it into a practical method for enantioselective aldehyde allylation [95a, 95b, 95c, 96]. Because the performance of the Ti(IV) complex as an aldol catalyst was quite distinct from its performance as a catalyst for aldehyde allylation, a careful examination of the reaction conditions was conducted. This meticulous study describing the use of (BINOL)Ti(OiPr)2 as a catalyst for aldol additions is noteworthy since an extensive investigation of reaction parameters, such as temperature, solvent, and catalyst loading and their effect on the enantiomeric excess of the product was documented. For example, when the reaction of benzal-dehyde and tert-butyl thioacetate-derived enol silane was conducted in dichlo-romethane (10 mol % catalyst, -10 °C) the product was isolated in 45% yield and 62% ee by contrast, the use of toluene as solvent under otherwise identical conditions furnished product of higher optical purity (89% ee), albeit in 54% yield. For the reaction in toluene, increasing the amount of catalyst from 10 to 20 mol %... 

This review covers the catalytic literature on condensation reactions to form ketones, by various routes. The focus is on newer developments from the past 15 years, although some older references are included to put the new work in context. Decarboxylative condensations of carboxylic acids and aldehydes, multistep aldol transformations, and condensations based on other functional groups such as boronic acids are considered. The composition of successful catalysts and the important process considerations are discussed. The treatment excludes enantioselective aldehyde and ketone additions requiring stoichiometric amounts of enol silyl ethers (Mukaiyama reaction) or other silyl enolates, and aldol condensations catalyzed by enzymes (aldolases) or catalytic antibodies with aldolase activity. It also excludes condensations catalyzed at ambient conditions or below by aqueous base. Recent reviews on these topics are those of Machajewski and Wong, Shibasaki and Sasai, and Lawrence. " The enzymatic condensations produce mainly polyhydroxyketones. The Mukaiyama and similar reactions require a Lewis acid or Lewis base as catalyst, and the protecting silyl ether or other group must be subsequently removed. However, in some recent work the silane concentrations have been reduced to catalytic amounts (or even zero) this work is discussed. 

David W. C. MacMillan of Princeton University developed Science 2008, 322, 77) an intriguing visible light-powered oxidation-reduction approach to enantioselective aldehyde alkylation. The catalytic chiral secondary amine adds to the aldehyde to form an enamine, that then couples with the radical produced by reduction of the haloester. 

Scheme 43.30 Dual hydrogen-bond/enamine catalyzed enantioselective aldehyde-nitroalkene-aldehyde domino reaction.

Kim H, Ho S, Leighton XL. A more comprehensive and highly practical solution to enantioselective aldehyde crotylation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011 133 6517-6520. 

In the same year, Hayashi and coworkers [39] also reported the use of an amphiphihc L-proHne derivative bearing a long alkyl chain on the 4-position via an ether bond for the enantioselective aldehyde cross-aldol reaction without the need for an additional co-solvent or additives (Scheme 8.14). Probably, emulsions offer an ideal reaction environment in which organic molecules can be assembled through hydrophobic interactions, thus enabling the aldol reaction to proceed efficiently. As a result, the corresponding products, chiral 1,3-diols, could be obtained with high diastereo- and enantioselectivity. 

Here we will illustrate the method using a single example. The aldol reaction between an enol boronate and an aldehyde can lead to four possible stereoisomers (Figure 11.32). Many of these reactions proceed with a high degree of diastereoselectivity (i.e. syn anti) and/or enantioselectivity (syn-l syn-Tl and anti-l anti-lT). Bernardi, Capelli, Gennari,... 

Chiral 2-oxazolidones are useful recyclable auxiliaries for carboxylic acids in highly enantioselective aldol type reactions via the boron enolates derived from N-propionyl-2-oxazolidones (D.A. Evans, 1981). Two reagents exhibiting opposite enantioselectivity ate prepared from (S)-valinol and from (lS,2R)-norephedrine by cyclization with COClj or diethyl carbonate and subsequent lithiation and acylation with propionyl chloride at — 78°C. En-olization with dibutylboryl triflate forms the (Z)-enolates (>99% Z) which react with aldehydes at low temperature. The pure (2S,3R) and (2R,3S) acids or methyl esters are isolated in a 70% yield after mild solvolysis. 

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). 

Conceptually at least, these compounds can be obtained via initial enantioselective hydroformylation of the appropriate vinyl aromatic to branched chiral aldehyde and subsequent oxidation. 

Because the Corey synthesis has been extensively used in prostaglandin research, improvements on the various steps in the procedure have been made. These variations include improved procedures for the preparation of norbomenone (24), alternative methods for the resolution of acid (26), stereoselective preparations of (26), improved procedures for the deiodination of iodolactone (27), alternative methods for the synthesis of Corey aldehyde (29) or its equivalent, and improved procedures for the stereoselective reduction of enone (30) (108—168). For example, a catalytic enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction has been used in a highly efficient synthesis of key intermediate (24) in 92% ee (169). 

Diels-Alder reaction of 2-bromoacrolein and 5-[(ben2yloxy)meth5i]cyclopentadiene in the presence of 5 mol % of the catalyst (35) afforded the adduct (36) in 83—85% yield, 95 5 exo/endo ratio, and greater than 96 4 enantioselectivity. Treatment of the aldehyde (36) with aqueous hydroxylamine, led to oxime formation and bromide solvolysis. Tosylation and elimination to the cyanohydrin followed by basic hydrolysis gave (24). 

Although alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) also catalyze the oxidation of aldehydes to the corresponding acids, the rate of this reaction is significantly lower. The systems that combine ADH and aldehyde dehydrogenases (EC 1.2.1.5) (AldDH) are much more efficient. For example, HLAD catalyzes the enantioselective oxidation of a number of racemic 1,2-diols to L-a-hydroxy aldehydes which are further converted to L-a-hydroxy acids by AldDH (166). 

The first synthesis of the potent antitumor agent maytansine was carried out by the elaboration of aldehyde D, an intermediate in the enantioselective synthesis of (-)-A/-methylmaysenine (Ref. 1,2), using enantioselective and diastereoselective steps. 

One interesting phenomenon was the effect of the boron substituent on enantioselectivity. The stereochemistry of the reaction of a-substituted a,/ -unsatu-rated aldehydes was completely independent of the steric features of the boron substituents, probably because of a preference for the s-trans conformation in the transition state in all cases. On the other hand, the stereochemistry of the reaction of cyclopentadiene with a-unsubstituted a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes was dramatically reversed on altering the structure of the boron substituents, because the stable conformation changed from s-cis to s-trans, resulting in production of the opposite enantiomer. It should be noted that selective cycloadditions of a-unsubsti-tuted a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes are rarer than those of a-substituted a,/ -unsatu-... 

To overcome these problems with the first generation Brmsted acid-assisted chiral Lewis acid 7, Yamamoto and coworkers developed in 1996 a second-generation catalyst 8 containing the 3,5-bis-(trifluoromethyl)phenylboronic acid moiety [10b,d] (Scheme 1.15, 1.16, Table 1.4, 1.5). The catalyst was prepared from a chiral triol containing a chiral binaphthol moiety and 3,5-bis-(trifluoromethyl)phenylboronic acid, with removal of water. This is a practical Diels-Alder catalyst, effective in catalyzing the reaction not only of a-substituted a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes, but also of a-unsubstituted a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes. In each reaction, the adducts were formed in high yields and with excellent enantioselectivity. It also promotes the reaction with less reactive dienophiles such as crotonaldehyde. Less reactive dienes such as isoprene and cyclohexadiene can, moreover, also be successfully employed in reactions with bromoacrolein, methacrolein, and acrolein dienophiles. The chiral ligand was readily recovered (>90%). 

Yamamoto et al. have reported a chiral helical titanium catalyst, 10, prepared from a binaphthol-derived chiral tetraol and titanium tetraisopropoxide with azeotropic removal of 2-propanol [16] (Scheme 1.22, 1.23, Table 1.9). This is one of the few catalysts which promote the Diels-Alder reaction of a-unsubstituted aldehydes such as acrolein with high enantioselectivity. Acrolein reacts not only with cyclo-pentadiene but also 1,3-cyclohexadiene and l-methoxy-l,3-cyclohexadiene to afford cycloadducts in 96, 81, and 98% ee, respectively. Another noteworthy feature of the titanium catalyst 10 is that the enantioselectivity is not greatly influenced by reaction temperature (96% ee at... 

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