Enantioselectivity asymmetric benzylation

These reports have accelerated research investigations into improving the asymmetric alkylation of 1 in terms of catalytic activity and stereoselectivity, the result being the emergence of a series of appropriately modified cinchona alkaloid-based catalysts. The performance of the representative monomeric catalysts in the asymmetric benzylation and allylation of 1 are summarized in Table 2.1, in order to provide an overview of the relationship between the structure, activity and enantioselectivity. 

Figure 5.1 Effect ofthe number of straight alkyl chains in (S)-16A on enantioselectivity in the asymmetric benzylation of 2.

The asymmetric benzylation of 16 was promoted by phosphonium salt 12 in moderate yield with encouraging levels of enantioselectivity when the catalyst loading was as low as 0.20 mol % (Table 7.1, entry 3). Further, a low temperature improved the enantiomeric excess to 50% ee (entry 5). A low enantiomeric excess obtained using the phosphonium salt 13 (entry 6) suggested a critical role for two mandelamide units in the catalytic efficiency of phosphonium salt 12. Unfortunately, this reaction proved to be highly substrate-sensitive, and other alkylating agents or different ester substituents in 16 afforded low enantioselectivities. 

A new C3-symmetric chiral phase-transfer catalyst that offers multipoint inteaction with a nucleophile has been described (Scheme 7.6) [23]. Thus, various quaternary ammonium salts were prepared through the ring opening of optically active epoxides, followed by quaternization of the resulting amines. Asymmetric benzylation of Schiff s base 20 in the presence of catalyst 24—26 yielded (S)-21 with moderate enantioselectivity. As expected, the C3-symmetric catalyst R,R,R)-26a provided... 

The enantioselective a-benzylation of the lithium enolate of acyclic carboxamides, such as propionamides and butyramides, generated with CLA derived from original pen-tamines bearing several asymmetric centers has been reported495. Complementary, cyclic carboxamides such as perhydropyrimidinones lithium enolates, obtained from more classic Simpkins-type CLAs, were methylated or benzylated in toluene at —78 °C in the... 

Asymmetric benzylic functionalization using a chiral base can be achieved. For example, reaction of complex (58) with the chiral base (59) and methyl iodide produce complex (60) in high yield and enantiomeric excess (Scheme 100). Asymmetric benzylic alkylation can also be obtained using the chiral complex (62) derived from enantioselective deprotonation of (61) (Scheme 101). High enantiomeric excess is observed upon deprotonation and alkylation of isobenzothiophen complexes with a chiral base (Scheme 102). 

An interesting recent development employs an asymmetric transformation to enantioselectively alkylate benzylic organolithiums in the presence of sparteine [154,155]. 

In 1996, Katsuki and co-workers studied asymmetric benzylic oxidation reactions by using Mn(salen) complexes. However, the best result they obtained was just 29% yield and 64% ee when 1,1-dimethylindane was used as the substrate and C25 as catalyst (Scheme 1.60). Later, they further enhanced the enantioselective control to 90% ee by changing the catalyst to C26, albeit the yield is only 24.5%. ... 

Takabe et al. [90] described a Cj-symmetric quaternary ammonium salt 57 and applied it to the asymmetric benzylation of N-(diphenyhnethylene) glycine tert-butyl ester. A much lower enantioselectivity was obtained by using the mono- or di-OH group-containing phase-transfer catalyst instead of (R,R,R)-57, which clearly illustrated the importance of a second coordination site to achieve reasonable selectivities. Starting from readily accessible a-amino acids, Ooi and coworkers recently designed and prepared a series of chiral 1,2,3-triazolium 58, and their potential as phase-transfer catalysts was demonstrated through application to the asymmetric alkylation of 3-substituted oxindoles [91]. 

Since cbiral sulfur ylides racemize rapidly, they are generally prepared in situ from chiral sulfides and halides. The first example of asymmetric epoxidation was reported in 1989, using camphor-derived chiral sulfonium ylides with moderate yields and ee (< 41%) Since then, much effort has been made in tbe asymmetric epoxidation using sucb a strategy without a significant breakthrough. In one example, the reaction between benzaldehyde and benzyl bromide in the presence of one equivalent of camphor-derived sulfide 47 furnished epoxide 48 in high diastereoselectivity (trans cis = 96 4) with moderate enantioselectivity in the case of the trans isomer (56% ee). ... 

Solladie-Cavallo s group used Eliel s oxathiane 1 (derived from pulegone) in asymmetric epoxidation (Scheme 1.3) [1]. This sulfide was initially benzylated to form a single diastereomer of the sulfonium salt 2. Epoxidation was then carried out at low temperature with the aid of sodium hydride to furnish diaryl epoxides 3 with high enantioselectivities, and with recovery of the chiral sulfide 1. 

Until this work, the reactions between the benzyl sulfonium ylide and ketones to give trisubstituted epoxides had not previously been used in asymmetric sulfur ylide-mediated epoxidation. It was found that good selectivities were obtained with cyclic ketones (Entry 6), but lower diastereo- and enantioselectivities resulted with acyclic ketones (Entries 7 and 8), which still remain challenging substrates for sulfur ylide-mediated epoxidation. In addition they showed that aryl-vinyl epoxides could also be synthesized with the aid of a,P-unsaturated sulfonium salts lOa-b (Scheme 1.4). 

Asymmetric alcoholyses catalyzed by lipases have been employed for the resolution of lactones with high enantioselectivity. The racemic P-lactone (oxetan-2-one) illustrated in Figure 6.21 was resolved by a lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis to give the corresponding (2S,3 S)-hydroxy benzyl ester and the remaining (3R,4R)-lactone [68]. Tropic acid lactone was resolved by a similar procedure [69]. These reactions are promoted by releasing the strain in the four-membered ring. 

Asymmetric reduction of ketones. Pioneering work by Ohno et al. (6, 36 7, 15) has established that l-benzyl-l,4-dihydronicotinamide is a useful NADH model for reduction of carbonyl groups, but only low enantioselectivity obtains with chiral derivatives of this NADH model. In contrast, this chiral 1,4-dihydropyridine derivative (1) reduces a-keto esters in the presence of Mg(II) or Zn(II) salts in >90% ee (equation I).1 This high stereoselectivity of 1 results from the beneficial effect... 

The high stereopreference was rationalized by considering complex 388 in which an attractive n-n donor-acceptor interaction favors co-ordination of the dienophile to the face of the boron center which is cis to the 2-hydroxyphenyl substituent. Hydrogen bonding of the hydroxyl proton of the 2-hydroxyphenyl group to an oxygen of the adjacent B—O bond played an important role in the asymmetric induction. Protection of this hydroxy functionality with a benzyl group caused reversal of enantioselectivity in the cycloaddition of cyclopentadiene with methacrolein (model 389)244. 

Two precedent examples had been reported of the enantioselective [2+2+2] cycloaddition of alkynes. In one case, an enantioposition-selective intermolecular reaction of a triyne with acetylene generated an asymmetric carbon at the benzylic position of a formed benzene ring [19]. In the other case, an intramolecular reaction of a triyne induced helical chirality [20]. Both reactions were developed by chiral Ni catalysts. 

An important application of these precursors is the asymmetric synthesis of aminoacids, the key step being an enantioselective benzylation using a chiral auxiliary (route A, Scheme 25) [155] or a chiral phase transfer catalyst (PTC) [156] (route B, Scheme 25). This latter approach avoiding the use of dry reagents is particularly adapted to automated synthesis and enables the production of more than 7.4 GBq (200 mCi) of [6- F]fluoro-L-DOPA from 55.5 GBq (1.5 Ci) of starting [ F] fluoride [157]. 

In the past few years, new approaches for the enantioselective synthesis of / -benzyl-y-butyrolactones appeared in the literature. Some of these approaches involve the asymmetric hydrogenation of 2-benzyl-2-butenediols (j [34]), the radical mediated rearrangement of chiral cyclopropanes (r [35]), the transition metal catalyzed asymmetric Bayer-Villiger oxidation of cyclobutanones n [36]), or the enzymatic resolution of racemic succinates (g [37]). 

Two classes of a-hydroxylated lignans have been enantioselectively prepared a) wikstromol (3) [10, 38] and related natural products [39] and b) gomisin A (1) and congeners [40, 41]. In both cases, chiral, non-racemic ita-conic acid derivatives have been synthesized as key compounds for the preparation of -benzyl-y-butyrolactones (either by resolution (g [32]) or by asymmetric hydrogenation (h [25])). 

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