Hajos-Parrish reaction, enamine proline

The Houk-List model was also applied to explain the origin of stereoselectivity in proline-catalyzed intermolecular aldol reactions [19c, 24]. Contrary to the Hajos-Parrish reaction, there is no restriction on the approach of the electrophile. Interestingly enough, theoretical calculations strongly favour an anti proline enamine... 

The delicateness of the aldol protocol has perhaps been one of the factors why enamine catalysis of the aldol reaction did not emerge nntil the 1970s. The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction [30] (Scheme 16) was an important early example of an intramolecular enamine-catalyzed aldol reaction. However, it was not nntil 2000 when List, Barbas and Lemer demonstrated that the same reaction can also be performed in an intermolecular fashion, using proline as a simple enamine catalyst [26]. 

Another key event in the history of organocatalytic reaction was the discovery of efficient r-proline-mediated asymmetric Robinson annulation reported during the early 1970s. The so-called Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction (an intramolecular aldol reaction) allowed access to some of the key intermediates for the synthesis of natural products (Scheme 1.4) [37, 38], and offered a practical and enantioselective route to the Wieland-Miescher ketone [39]. It is pertinent to note, that this chemistry is rooted in the early studies of Langenbeck and in the extensive investigations work of Stork and co-workers on enamine chemistry... 

S.C. PanandB. List s paper spans the whole field of current organocat-alysts discussing Lewis and Brpnsted basic and acidic catalysts. Starting from the development of proline-mediated enamine catalysis— the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction is an intramolecular transformation involving enamine catalysis—into an intermolecular process with various electrophilic reaction partners as a means to access cY-functionalized aldehydes, they discuss a straightforward classification of organocatalysts and expands on Brpnsted acid-mediated transformations, and describe the development of asymmetric counteranion-directed catalysis (ACDC). 

Experiments conducted in the mid-1980s by Agami indicated a small nonlinear effect in the asymmetric catalysis in the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction (Scheme 6.7). Agami proposed that two proline molecules were involved in the catalysis the first proline forms an enamine with the side chain ketone and the second proline molecule facilitates a proton transfer. Hajos and Parrish reported that the proline-catalyzed cyclization shown in Scheme 6.7 did not incorporate when run in the presence of labeled water. While both of these results have since been discredited—the catalysis is first order in catalyst and is incorporated into... 

Prior to 2001, when the first serious computational approaches to the problem appeared in print, four mechanistic proposals had been offered for understanding the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction (Scheme 6.8). Hajos and Parrish proposed the first two mechanisms Mechanisms A and B. Mechanism A is a nucleophilic substitution reaction where the terminal enol attacks the carbinolamine center, displacing proUne. The other three mechanisms start from an enamine intermediate. Mechanism B invokes an enaminium intermediate, which undergoes C-C formation with proton transfer from the aminium group. Mechanism C, proposed by Agamii to account for the nonlinear proline result, has the proton transfer assisted by the second proline molecule. Lastly, Mechanism D, proffered by Jung, proposed that the proton transfer that accompanies C-C bond formation is facilitated by the carboxylic acid group of proline. 

C. Thus, computation indicates that the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction proceeds by the carboxylic-acid-catalyzed enamine mechanism D, which is consistent with all of the computations for intermolecular proline-catalyzed aldol examples. 

One of the milestones in the development of organocatalysis is the intramolecular aldol reaction catalyzed by proline developed independently by two industrial research groups at Hoffmann-La Roche and Schering (Scheme 1.3). This reaction, also known as the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction, was reported in 1971 and is based on the foundations of stoichiometric enamine chemistry by Stork and the mechanistic conclusions driven by Langebeck himself on some enzymatic reactions, and outlines for the first time the reversible formation of a nucleophilic enamine as the key intermediate participating in the catalytic cycle. 

Even though the use of (S)-proline (1) for the synthesis of the Wieland-Miescher ketone, a transformation now known as the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaetion, was reported in the early 1970s, aminocatalysis - namely the catalysis promoted by the use of chiral second-aiy amines - was rediscovered only thirty years later. The renaissance of aminocatalysis was prompted by two independent reports by List et al. on the asymmetric intermolecular aldol addition catalysed by (S)-proline (1) and by MacMillan et al. on the asymmetric Diels-Alder cycloaddition catalj ed by a phenylalanine-derived imidazolidinone 2. These two reactions represented the archetypical examples of asymmetric carbonyl compound activation, via enamine (Figure ll.lA) and iminium-ion (Figure 11.IB), respectively. 

Agami s model was subsequently challenged by List, Lerner, and Barbas III in 2000 [8a], when they proposed a one-proline enamine mechanism for the proline-catalyzed intermolecular aldol reaction between ketones and aldehydes. Shortly afterwards, on the basis of DFT calculations, Houk and co-workers proposed a very similar mechanism for the Hajos-Parrish intramolecular aldol [19]. Using the B3LYP/6-31H-G(2df,p) level of DFT theory, Houk and co-workers [20] have seen that the energy difference between the two possible chair Zimmermann-Traxler-like transition states, which differ in the orientation of the enamine with... 

The mechanism of the Hajos-Wiechert reaction has not been without controversy. The original paper by Hajos and Parrish proposed two possible mechanisms. The first, via the carbinolamine 7, proposed addition of proline to a ketone, followed by a nucleophilic attack of the pendant, remote enol [transition state 8]. Calculations by Houk and Clemente show that this is one of the higher energy pathways. The second proposed mechanistic pathway proceeded via an enamine intermediate, followed by carbon-carbon bond formation via transition state 9 and a hydrogen transfer between nitrogen and... 

The originally proposed stereochemical model by Hajos and Parrish" was rejected by M.E. Jung and A. Eschenmoser. They proposed a one-proline aldolase-type mechanism involving a side chain enamine. The most widely accepted transition state model to account for the observed stereochemistry was proposed by C. Agami et al. suggesting the involvement of two (S)-(-)-proline molecules. " " Recently, K.N. Houk and co-workers reexamined the mechanism of the intra- and intermolecular (S)-(-)-proline catalyzed aldol reactions. Their theoretical studies, kinetic, stereochemical and dilution experiments support a one-proline mechanism where the reaction goes through a six-membered chairlike transition state. 

The term aminocatalysis has been coined [4] to designate reactions catalyzed by secondary and primary amines, taking place via enamine and iminium ion intermediates. The field of asymmetric aminocatalysis, initiated both by Hajos and Parrish [5] and by Eder, Sauer, and Wiechert [6] in 1971, has experienced a tremendous renaissance in the past decade [7], triggered by the simultaneous discovery of proline-catalyzed intermolecular aldol [8] and Mannich [9] reactions and of asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions catalyzed by chiral imidazolidinones [10]. Asymmetric enamine and iminium catalysis have been influential in creating the field of asymmetric organocatalysis [11], and probably for this reason aminocatalytic processes have been the object of the majority of mechanistic smdies in organocatalysis. 

Class 1 aldolase mimics consist of amino acid catalysts that presumably activate the donor via enamine formation and the acceptor through a hydrogen bond with an acid functionality. Repotted hrst by Wiechert et al. and then by Hajos and Parrish,-proline was found to catalyze intramolecular asymmetric aldol reactions. However, the... 

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