Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridine, catalysis

The use of iminium-catalysis to facilitate highly asymmetric transfer hydrogenations has already been covered in some detail previously (Sect. 3.2.1) (203-205, 210) and the interested reader is referred to the original literature cited therein. Besides iminium activation in combination with Hantzsch dihydropyridines as hydride donors, the use of chiral phosphoric acids in... 

Based on previous studies where the imines were reduced with Hantzsch dihydropyridines in the presence of achiral Lewis [43] or Brpnsted acid catalysts, [44] joined to the capacity of phosphoric acids to activate imines (for reviews about chiral phosphoric acid catalysis, see [45-58]), the authors proposed a reasonable catalytic cycle to explain the course of the reaction (Scheme 3) [41]. A first protonation of the ketimine with the chiral Brpnsted acid catalyst would initiate the cycle. The resulting chiral iminium ion pair A would react with the Hantzsch ester lb giving an enantiomerically enriched amine product and the protonated pyridine salt B (Scheme 3). The catalyst is finally recovered and the byproduct 11 is obtained in the last step. Later, other research groups also supported this mechanism (for mechanistic studies of this reaction, see [59-61]). 

A brief discussion of some aspects of alcohol dehydrogenase will be used to illustrate the potential for catalysis. This system is chosen for illustration because it has been studied so extensively. Lessons drawn can be applied in a broader context. The 1,4-dihydropyridine (2a) is the reductant and this affords a nico-tinium ion (1) on transfer of hydride, as illustrated in equation (1). This process is mimicked in many abiotic systems by derivatives of (2 R = alkyl or benzyl), by Hantzsch esters (7), which are synthetically readily accessible, and 1,4-dihydro derivatives (8) of pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid. A typical abiotic reaction is the reduction of the activated carbonyl group of an alkyl phenylglyoxylate (9), activated by a stoichiometric amount of the powerful electrophile Mg(CI04)2, by, for example, (2b equation 8). After acrimonious debate the consensus seems to be that such reactions involve a one-step mechanism (i.e. equation 5), unless the reaction partner strongly demands a radical intermediate, as in the reduction of iron(II) to iron(III). 

A diverse range of carbocycles and heterocycles has been aromatized by aerobic dehydrogenation under AC catalysis [80]. Substrates include 9,10-dihydroanthracenes [81], a l,8-diaza-9,10-dihydroanthracene [82], Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridines [83], pyrazolines [83], 2-arylimidazolines [84, 85], indolines [86], 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(l//)-ones [87, 88], and various... 

Dihydropyridine from the condensation of aldehyde, p-ketoester and ammonia. Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridines are popular reducing reagents in organo-catalysis. 

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