Ephedrine amides enolates

Smitrovich JH, DiMichele L, Qu C, Boice GN, Nelson TD, Huffman MA, Murry J. Michael Reactions of pseudo-ephedrine amide enolates effect of LiCl on syn/anti selectivity./. Org. Chem. 2004 69 1903-1908. 

In 1978, Larcheveque and coworkers reported modest yields and diastereoselectivities in alkylations of enolates of (-)-ephedrine amides. However, two years later, Evans and Takacs and Sonnet and Heath reported simultaneously that amides derived from (S)-prolinol were much more suitable substrates for such reactions. Deprotonations of these amides with LDA in the THF gave (Z)-enolates (due to allylic strain that would be associated with ( )-enolate formation) and the stereochemical outcome of the alkylation step was rationalized by assuming that the reagent approached preferentially from the less-hindered Jt-face of a chelated species such as (133 Scheme 62). When the hydroxy group of the starting prolinol amide was protected by conversion into various ether derivatives, alkylations of the corresponding lithium enolates were re-face selective. Apparently, in these cases steric factors rather than chelation effects controlled the stereoselectivity of the alkylation. It is of interest to note that enolates such as (133) are attached primarily from the 5/-face by terminal epoxides. ... 

Ruck K. Asymmetric alkylation of amide enolates with pseu-doephedrine and ephedrine as chiral auxiliaries— unexpected influence of additives. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Eng. 1995 34 433 35. 

Accordingly, the Evans protocol, when applied to A-propionyl oxazolidinone 51 derived from ephedrine, leads to the predominant formation of the diastere-omeric syw-aldols, again with outstanding stereoselectivity. In this case, the enolate attacks the Re-hce of aldehydes with high preference. The procedure is illustrated in Scheme 4.48 for an aldol addition to a-benzyloxyacetaldehyde yielding the crude product 213 in a diastereomeric ratio of higher than 99 1. After recrystallization, the stereochemically homogeneous aldol adduct 213 was transformed into the Weinreb amide 214 in the course of a total synthesis of the macrolide antibiotic cytovaricin. In the transamination step, the chiral auxiliary 46 was recovered [111]. 

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