Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction

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. 

We next turn our attention to the intramolecular aldol reaction, typified by the Hajos-Parrish-Wiechert-Eder-Sauer reaction (Scheme 6.7). Houk ° first examined the intramolecular proline-catalyzed aldol reaction of 4-methyl-2,6-hexadione... 

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. 

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]. 

Scheme 16 The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction...

Further breakthroughs in enantioselectivity were achieved in the 1970s and 1980s. For example, 1971 saw the discovery of the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction, i.e. the proline (l)-catalyzed intramolecular asymmetric aldol cyclodehydration of the achiral trione 11 to the unsaturated Wieland-Miescher ketone 12 (Scheme 1.3) [12, 13]. Ketone 12 is an important intermediate in steroid synthesis. 

In addition to the many intermolecular asymmetric (organo)catalytic aldol reactions, analogous intramolecular syntheses are also possible. In this connection it is worthy of note that the first example of an asymmetric catalytic aldol reaction was an intramolecular reaction using an organic molecule, L-proline, as chiral catalyst. This reaction - which will be discussed in more detail below - is the so-called Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction [97-101], which was discovered as early as the beginning of the 1970s. 

The intramolecular aldol reaction of triketones with asymmetric desymmetrization has been known for a long time. When Eder, Sauer, and Wiechert [97, 98], and in parallel Hajos and Parrish [99-101] reported this reaction in the early 1970s it was the first example of an asymmetric catalytic aldol reaction, and one of the first examples of an organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis [104]. 

Case Study 4 The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Wiechert-Sauer Reaction 405 References 406... 

Triketone (29) undergoes an intramolecular aldol reaction - the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction - to give (30) and subsequently enone (31), in high ee with the stereochemistries indicated being found for D-proline catalysis.128 Now ahomochi-ral /3-amino acid, (1 W,2.S )-cispentacin (32) has been found to give comparable ee, and indeed does so for the cyclohexyl substrate also. 

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... 

In addition to catalyzing the well-known Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction (Scheme 3 Eq. 1), we found in early 2000 that proline also catalyzes intermolecular aldolizations (e.g. Eq. 2). Thereafter, our reaction has been extended to other substrate combinations (aldehyde to aldehyde, aldehyde to ketone, and ketone to ketone Eqs. 3-5) and to enolexo-aldolizations (Eq. 6 Northrup and MacMillan 2002a ... 

Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Wiechert-Sauer Reaction... 

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). 

Recent experiments and computations, however, suggest that the rate-limiting step of the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction is not the step forming the new C-C bond. Meyer and Houk determined the kinetic isotope... 

Hoffman-La Roche in the USA [28]. The so-called Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction provided access to key intermediates for the synthesis of natural products and offered a practical route to the Wieland-Miescher ketone (Equation 10.12). 

Scheme 1-13 Collection of formulae relevant to a synthesis of (—)-desogestrel 40 opened by the asymmetric Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction.

It has an odd name too the cyclization is sometimes called the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction, after its discoverers, but only by those who want to impress their friends. 

HAJOS-PARRISH-EDER-SAUER-WIECHERT REACTION... 

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. 

The foundations of this concept (enamine activation) lie in the fundamental studies by Stork and Robinson covering the stoichiometric use of enamine nucleophiles for the formation of C-C bonds. The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction reported in 1971 (Scheme 2.2), which consisted of a... 

The initial spark for proline catalysis was provided independently and simultaneously by two groups in 1971. Hajos and Parrish on the one hand (Scheme 5.1), and Eder, Sauer and Wiechert (Scheme 5.2) on the other developed an asymmetric aldol cyclisation of triketones such as 1 to bicyclic allq l ketones 2. In the former report, (S)-proline was applied at 3 mol%, a low organocatalyst loading, even to date. The quantitative cyclisation reaction was completed in the reasonable time of 20 h, and provided the product in 93.4% ee. Dehydration to enone 3 completed the synthesis of a valuable building block in steroid chemistry. 

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