Enantioselectivity Curtius rearrangement

In contrast to the synthesis of carbocyclic rings, the Cope rearrangement has been used sparsely for generating azepinones. Recently, the enantioselectivity of the conversion of 2-aza-divinylcyclopropane 286 has been investigated. The synthesis started from the optically active cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (90% ee), which had been converted into the isocyanate 286 by initial azidation to 285 and a consecutive Curtius rearrangement. Furthermore, the conditions of the iso-... 

The sesquiterpene (+)-asteriscanolide 1 was first isolated from Asteriscus aquaticus L and characterized by San Feliciano in 1985.1 It has captured the attention of organic chemists mainly because of its uncommon bicyclo[6.3.0]undecane ring system bridged by a butyrolactone fragment. The only prior enantioselective synthesis of 1 has been described by Wender in 1988 featuring an Ni(0)-promoted [4 + 4]-cycloaddition.2 Booker-Milburn and co-workers described the sequential application of intramolecular [2 + 2]-photocycloaddition, Curtius rearrangement, and oxidative fragmentation to produce the 7-desmethyl derivative in 1997.3... 

The enantioselective total synthesis of the cytokine modulator (-)-cytoxazone using a syn-stereoselective aldol addition and a Curtius rearrangement as key steps was described by J.A. Marco et al. The key intermediate acid was treated with DPPA and triethylamine in toluene at reflux. This step furnished the oxazolidinone directly and in good yield through an in situ capture of the isocyanate group by the free secondary alcohol functionality. Removal of the protecting group led to the formation of the natural product. 

In 1998, Kawahara and Nagumo reported the first total synthesis of a member of the TAN1251 series [63] and five years later both authors revisited the TAN1251A alkaloid by means of a new enantioselective synthesis (see Section 5.6). The retro synthetic analysis of TAN 1251A is outlined in Scheme 37. The target compound could be obtained by aldol reaction of tricyclic lactam 119, whose disconnection at the amide bond led to the bicyclic amino acid 120, which could be prepared from azaspirocyclic compound 121 by means of alkylation of the secondary amine and Mitsunobu-type chemistry. Azabicycle 121 may be prepared by an intramolecular alkylation of 122, which in turn could be available from allyl derivative 123. The latter can be prepared from carboxylic acid 124 by alkylation and subsequent Curtius rearrangement. 

And last, but not least, Fu et al. [21] reported that the planar-chiral heterocycle 45d catalyzed the enantioselective addition of hydrazoic acid to ketenes. This result in the formation of an acyl azide intermediate, which then can be subjected to Curtius rearrangement to supply a straightforward stereoselective access to chiral amines. As can be seen from Scheme 3.26, amine derivatives 56 were obtained in... 

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