Glyoxylate-derived imines

Since the initial studies, the substrate scope has expanded to include heteroatom-substituted ketones [208-216], cyclic ketones [217] and aldehydes [211, 218-226] as donors, and formaldehyde-derived imines [218, 227-232] as well as glyoxylate-derived imines [96, 220, 233-237] as acceptors. In addition, several alternative catalysts to proline have been pursued [238-242]. 

Addition of nucleophiles to electrophilic glycine templates has served as an excellent means of synthesis of a-amino acid derivatives [2c, 4—6]. In particular, imines derived from a-ethyl glyoxylate are excellent electrophiles for stereoselective construction of optically active molecules [32], This research and retrosyn-thetic analysis led us to believe that amine-catalyzed asymmetric Mannich-type additions of unmodified ketones to glyoxylate derived imines would be an attractive route for synthesis of y-keto-ce-amino acid derivatives [33], Initially, L-proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric Mannich reaction with acetone and N-PMP-protected a-ethyl glyoxylate was examined in different solvents. The Mannich-type reaction was effective in all solvents tested and the corresponding amino acid derivative was isolated in excellent yield and enantioselectivity (ee >95 %). Direct asymmetric Mannich-type additions with other ketones afford Mannich adducts in good yield and excellent regio-, diastereo- and enantioselectivity (Eq. 8). 

Kobayashi and coworkers pioneered the use of enamides or enecarbamates as nucleophiles in enantioselective reactions with either glyoxylates or glyoxylate derived imines catalyzed by chiral copper complexes [65]. The reaction using enamides or enecarbamates as nucleophilic components, namely, the aza ene reaction, with imines provides P amino imines that can be readily transformed into... 

SCHEME 4.4. Proline-catalyzed addition of ketones to glyoxylate derived imines. 

SCHEME 4.7. ProUne-catalyzed addition of aldehydes to glyoxylate-derived imines. 

Figure 10.4. Preparation of glyoxylic acid derived imines [130].

A chiral Lewis acid prepared in situ from magnesium iodide and (/ ,f )-DPEN efficiently catalyzes asymmetric aza-Diels-Alder reaction of a methyl glyoxylate/p-anisidine derived imine with the Danishefsky diene to give the cyclic adduct in 97% ee (eq 11). ... 

Jia et al. [396] have recently disclosed an example of a solid-phase application of their ytterbium] 111) triflate-mediated cyclization of glyoxylate-derived unsaturated imines. Instead of the expected imino-ene products, the authors observed the sole formation of y-lactones, in good to high yields and with good trans stereoselectivity. An explanation of both the mechanism and the observed preferred trans selectivity was presented. The importance of using the lanthanide triflate in its hydrated form in order to fadhtate a catalytic process is also in accordance with the proposed mechanism, in which water plays a role in attacking the oxonium ion intermediate. 

Kresze and coworkers have found about a three order of magnitude rate increase in imino ene reactions when an N-tosyl group is replaced with an N-perfluoroalkanesulfonyl moiety [87]. Thus, with the glyoxylate ester-derived imine and the one from chloral 255 as the enophiles, reactions with acyclic olefins are very rapid and occur at room temperature [Eq. (60)]. In these ene reactions one stereoisomeric homoallylic amine 256 was typically generated, although the stereochemistry was not elucidated. However, in one reported case a 1 1 mixture of diastereomers was obtained. Mechanistic studies based upon kinetic isotope effects seem to indicate that this reaction may in fact be a two-step process rather than a concerted one [87b]. 

Imines - auxiliary on carbon 10.2.2.1 Glyoxal and glyoxylate derivatives... 

Other types of catalysts that are active in Mannich reactions include the Cu-bis-oxazolines.195 Most of the cases examined to date are for relatively reactive imines, such as those derived from glyoxylate or pyruvate esters. 

Reaction with Propargyl Halides. The indium-mediated coupling of propargyl bromide with a variety of imines and imine oxides afforded homo-propargylamine derivatives in aqueous media under mild conditions.78 Propargylation of glyoxylic oxime ether in the presence of a catalytic amount of palladium(O) complex and indium(I) iodide in aqueous media was also studied (Eq.11.47).79... 

Electron-rich 6-[(dimethyl(amino)methylene)amino uracil 82 underwent [4+2] cycloaddition reactions with various in situ generated glyoxylate imine and imine oxides to afford novel pyrinhdo[4,5-J]pyrimicline derivatives 83-84 after elimination of dimethylamine from the (1 1) cycloadducts and oxidative aromatization. This one-pot procedure yielded excellent yields when carried out in the solid state and under microwave irradiation <06BMCL3537>. 

The diastereoselective addition to imines proceeds well with aromatic enolsi-lanes (249). Propiophenone- and tetralone-derived enolsilanes provide good levels of diastereoselectivity (>95 5) and excellent enantioselectivity (>98% ee) with selective formation of the anti diastereomer. Nonaromatic enolsilanes are somewhat less selective although cyclohexanone enolsilane still provides useful levels of diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity (92 8 anti/syn and 88% ee at -78°C). A one-pot procedure using glyoxylate, sulfonamide, and enolsilane as coupling partners was developed subsequently, leading to the product in comparable yields and selectivities (250, 251). 

Imines derived from aniline and glyoxylic acid esters can be regarded as electron-poor 2-azadienes, in which an aromatic carbon—carbon double bond takes part of the diene system. In this context, Prato and Scorrano et al. were able to achieve the [4 + 2] cycloaddition of ethyl N-phenyl glyoxylate imines with dihydrofuran and indene leading to hexahydrof-uro[3,2-c]- and tetrahydro-7//-indeno[2,l-c]quinolines, respectively, in moderate to good yields (88JHC1831). Similarly, tetrahydroquinoline derivatives were formed by [4 + 2] cycloaddition of 1,2-bis(trimethylsily-... 

In 1998, a new type of Pd(II) binuclear complex was reported which was effective for Mannich reactions of an imine derived from glyoxylate and anisidine with silicon enolates [38,39]. In these reactions, use of solvents including a small amount of water was essential. It was shown that water played an important role in this system water not only activated the Pd(II) complex to generate a cation complex, but also cleaved the N-Pd bond of the intermediate to regenerate the chiral catalyst. This reaction reportedly proceeded via an optically active palladium enolate on the basis of NMR and ESIMS analyses. A unique binuclear palladium-sandwiched enolate was obtained in the reaction of the p-hydroxo palladium complex with the silyl enol ether [(Eq. (9)]. 

It was reported that proline catalyzed the direct catalytic asymmetric Mannich reactions of hydroxyacetone, aldehydes, and aniline derivatives [(Eq. (10)] [40-44]. Not only aromatic aldehydes but also aliphatic aldehydes worked well in this reaction, and good to excellent enantioselectivity and moderate to excellent yields were observed. Mannich reactions of glyoxylate imines with aldehydes or ketones were also successfully performed [45,46]. 

Some bifunctional 6 -OH Cinchona alkaloid derivatives catalyse the enantioselective hydroxyalkylation of indoles by aldehydes and a-keto esters.44 Indole, for example, can react with ethyl glyoxylate to give mainly (39) in 93% ee. The enan- tioselective reaction of indoles with iV-sulfonyl aldimines [e.g. (40)] is catalysed by the Cu(OTf)2 complex of (S)-benzylbisoxazoline (37b) to form 3-indolylmethanamine derivatives, in up to 96% ee [e.g. (41a)] 45 Some 9-thiourea Cinchona alkaloids have been found to catalyse the formation of 3-indolylmethanamines [e.g. (41b)] from indoles and /V-PhS02-phenyli mines in 90% ee.46 Aryl- and alkyl-imines also give enantioselective reactions. 

Imines derived from glyoxylic acid derivatives successfully lead to 3-lactams which are potential precursors of various antibiotics (equation 29). Conjugated imines have also been used in this context they give exclusively [2 -i- 2] cycloadducts with azido-, phthalimido-, phenoxy- and vinyl-ketene precursors (equations 30 and 31). However, [4 -i- 2] adducts are the only observed products with haloketene precursors (equation 32). - ... 

The reaction of imines derived from ethyl glyoxylate with activated dienes afforded a 70% yield of the cycloadduct, but no asymmetric induction was observed (Scheme 10.24) [47]. 

Reaction of alkenes with carbonyl compounds or carbonyl derivatives in the presence of Lewis acids, the ene reaction, enables the stereoselective preparation of highly functionalized compounds. Copper Lewis acids activate both aldehydes and imines in ene reactions. Evans has reported that Cu(II) Lewis acids catalyze glyoxylates in reactions with alkenes (Sch. 56) [103]. The homoallylic alcohols 257 and 259 are produced in high yield and enantioselectivity. The bis aquo complex 260 is a readily prepared and air-stable catalyst and gave high chemical yield and excellent selectivity in the ene reactions. Another point of note is that catalysts 260 and 261 furnish enantiomeric products even though they differ from each other only by the substituent at the 4-posi-tion of the oxazoline. 

Intermolecular alkyl radical addition to imine derivatives was studied in aqueous media using indium as a single electron transfer radical initiator. The one-pot reaction based on radical addition to glyoxylic hydrazone provided a convenient method for preparing the a-amino acids. Indium-mediated radical addition to an electron-deficient C=C bond also proceeded effectively to provide a new carbon-carbon bond-forming method in aqueous media (Scheme 7.11).15... 

Two groups have investigated N-sulfonyl imines of glyoxylate esters, derived from scalemic alcohols, in Diels-Alder reactions [67b, 73]. Prato and coworkers reported that glyoxylate N-sulfonyl imines bearing (-)-menthyl, (-)-bornyl and (-)-8-phenylmethyl auxiliaries reacted with cydopentadiene either thermally or using Lewis acids to give only very modest diastereomeric product ratios (56 44, 53 47,60 40, respectively) [67b]. 

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