Ferrocenyl oxazoline chiral catalyst

Various ferrocene-based organosilanols 165 have been synthesized in two steps fi om chiral 2-ferrocenyl oxazolines 163. Diastereoselective ortho-lithiation with sec-BuLi followed by electrophilic attack with chlorosilanes gave diastereomerically enriched 164, which were oxidized in air with [IrCl(C8Hi2)]2 as catalyst to give, after purification, stereochemically homogeneous samples of 165. Their application in asymmetric phenyl transfer reactions to substituted benzaldehydes afforded products with high ee (up to 91%) <050L1407>. 

Overman and co-workers carried out extensive studies on Pd(II)-catalyzed asymmetric allylic rearrangement of allylic imidates to form enantioenriched allylic amides. They achieved 97 % ee as the best result by the reaction of the allylic imidate 612 using the cyclopalladated ferrocenyl oxazoline 613 having elements of planar chirality as a catalyst precursor, and discussed the mechanism of the reaction [220]. 

Bolm found that chiral ferrocenyl hydroxy oxazoline 24 is also a good catalyst (88% ee). When the zinc species is prepared from a 1 2 mixture of diphenylzinc and diethylzinc, enantioselectivity is dramatically improved (97% ee) (Scheme 11) [36]. Extremely high enantioselectivity was also achieved by using planar chiral q5-cyclopentadienylrhenium tricarbonyl complex 25 [37]. 

Excellent enantioselectivity and double-bond regioselectivity can be achieved in an asymmetric Heck reaction between 2,3-dihydrofuran and aryl triflates by using a combination of chiral diphosphine-oxazoline ferrocenyl ligand and Pd catalyst <03CEJ3073>, as shown below. Chiral diphosphine-containing (arene)tricarbonylchromium(O) complexes were also used as ligands for this reaction to obtain the 2,3-isomer, however, both the yield and enantioselectivity were modest <03TA1455>. 

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