Henry reaction functionalized

Recently, enantioselective organo-catalytic procedures for the aza-Henry reaction have been disclosed. The presence of either an acidic or a basic function appears to be a requisite of the catalyst. In fact, the condensation of ni-tromethane with M-phosphinoyl arylimines 72 is catalyzed by the chiral urea 85 derived from (R,R)-l,2-diaminocyclohexane and gives the product (R)-74 with good yield and moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 15) [50]. The N-phosphinoyl substituent is determinant, as the addition of nitromethane to the N-phenyl benzaldimine failed and the reaction of the N-tosyl ben-zaldimine gave the expected adduct with quantitative yield but almost no... 

Nitromethylation of aldehydes has been carried out in a one pot procedure consisting of the Henry reaction, acetylation, and reduction with sodium borohydride, which provides a good method for the preparation of l-nitroalkanes.16b 79 It has been improved by several modifications. The initial condensation reaction is accelerated by use of KF and 18-crown-6 in isopropanol. Acetylation is effected with acetic anhydride at 25 °C and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) as a catalyst. These mild conditions are compatible with various functional groups which are often... 

Nitro alcohols prepared by the Henry reaction are important precursors for (3-amino alcohols. The reduction of the nitro group to the amino function is commonly carried out by hydrogenation in the presence of Raney Ni in EtOH or Pd/C in THF and MeOH (see Section 4.2). The conversion into 3-amino alcohols is also described in the Sections 3.2.5 and 3.3. 

The Michael addition of nitroalkanes to election-deficient alkenes provides a powerful synthetic tool in which it is perceived that the nitro group can be transformed into various functionalities. Various kinds of bases have been used for this transformation in homogeneous solutions, or, alternatively, some heterogeneous catalysts have been employed. In general, bases used in the Henry reaction are also effective for these additions (Scheme 4.18).133... 

The base-catalyzed reaction of nitroalkanes and sugar-based aldehydes (the Henry reaction) is one of the most common procedures for the lengthening of the carbon skeleton of a carbohydrate.16 The mild reaction conditions required for the formation of C C bonds by this method are usually compatible with most of the protective groups and masked functionalities involved in multistep synthesis from sugars.17... 

The nitroaldol (Henry) reaction constitutes a powerful C-C bond-forming process in organic chemistry, providing efficient access to valuable functionalized organic compounds such as 1,2-amino-alcohols, a-hydroxy-carboxylic acids and 3-hydroxy-nitroalkanes [215, 216]. 

Papai et al. selected as model reaction the addition of 2,4-pentanedione (acetylacetone) to trans-(R)-mtrostyvQnQ, catalyzed by the bifunctional thiourea catalyst shown in Scheme 6 [46]. The analogous Michael-addition involving dimethyl malonate and nitroethylene as substrates, and a simplified catalyst was calculated at the same level of theory by Liu et al. [47]. Himo et al. performed a density functional study on the related cinchona-thiouTQa catalyzed Henry-reaction between nitromethane and benzaldehyde [48]. 

The aza-Henry reaction of imines to nitroalkanes promoted by modified Cinchona alkaloids has been investigated by several groups. Optically active p-nitroamine products are versatile functional building blocks. In 2005 and 2006, several reports regarding use of chiral thioureas emerged, using nitroalkanes in the aza-Henry reaction to various imines. 

Scheme 6.146 Representative adducts obtained from the asymmetric Henry reaction between nitromethane and (hetero)aromatic aldehydes under bifunctional catalysis of C6 -thiourea-functionalized cinchona alkaloid 131.

Reaction at the C atom of nitronate salts is known with a variety of electrophiles, such as aldehydes (Henry reaction) and epoxides (191-193). Thus the incorporation of the nitro moiety and the cyclization event can be combined into a tandem sequence. Addition of the potassium salt of dinitromethane to an a-haloaldehyde affords a nitro aldol product that can then undergo intramolecular O-alkylation to provide the cyclic nitronate (208, Eq. 2.17) (59). This process also has been expanded to a-nitroacetates and unfunctionalized nitroalkanes. Other electrophiles include functionalized a-haloaldehydes (194,195), a-epoxyaldehydes (196), a-haloenones (60), and a-halosulfonium salts (197), (Chart 2.2). In the case of unsubstituted enones, it is reported that the intermediate nitronate salt can undergo formation of a hemiacetal, which can be acetylated in moderate yield (198). 

The Henry reaction (addition of a nitroalkane to a carbonyl) is synthetically very useful, as the nitro group of the nitro alcohol product provides many routes to a variety of functional groups. An ah initio study of the stereochemical outcomes of the reaction yields the following 73... 

In the synthesis we should not wish to make 21 as it would cyclise and, in any case, we d rather reduce nitrile, nitro and alkene all in the same step by catalytic hydrogenation. The very simple method used for the conjugate addition is possible only because of the slow aldol reaction of the hindered aldehyde 24. The aldol 25, also called a Henry reaction, needs a separate dehydration step but the three functional groups in 26 are reduced in one step in good yield.7... 

Cyclohexanediamine-derived amine thiourea 70, which provided high enantio-selectivities for the Michael addition [77] and aza-Henry reactions [78], showed poor activity in the MBH reaction. This fact is not surprising when one considers that a chiral urea catalyst functions by fundamentally different stereoinduction mechanisms in the MBH reaction, and in the activation of related imine substrates in Mannich or Streclcer reactions [80]. In contrast, the binaph-thylamine thiourea 71 mediated the addition of dihydrocinnamaldehyde 74 to cyclohexenone 75 in high yield (83%) and enantioselectivity (71% ee) (Table 5.6, entry 2) [79]. The more bulky diethyl analogue 72 displayed similar enantioselectivity (73% ee) while affording a lower yield (56%, entry 3). Catalyst 73 showed only low catalytic activity in the MBH reaction (18%, entry 4). 

The nitroaldol (Henry) reaction, first described in 1859, is a carbon-carbon bondforming reaction between an aldehyde or ketone and a nitroalkane, leading to a nitroalcohol adduct [29]. The nitroalcohol compounds, synthetically versatile functionalized structural motifs, can be transformed to many important functional groups, such as 1,2-amino alcohols and a-hydroxy carboxylic acids, common in chemical and biological structures [18, 20, 30, 31]. Because of their important structural transformations, new synthetic routes using transition metal catalysis and enzyme-catalyzed reactions have been developed to prepare enantiomerically pure nitroaldol adducts [32-34]. 

After the reaction reached completion, the solid product was filtered off and identified by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. By analyzing the data, the unexpected formation of amide product 40 from benzaldehyde 37C and its corresponding intermediate 39C was revealed. This represented a new transformation pathway, for which only a few related systems have been reported [58-60]. Scheme 14 displays the proposed mechanistic formation of amide product 40, supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations [61]. In the presence of triethylamine as catalyst, the key intermediate 39C was formed from nitroaldol (Henry) reaction of 2-cyanobenzaldehyde 37C and nitroethane 38. The nitroaldol adduct 39C then underwent internal cyclization (5-exo-dig) to give iminolactone 41,... 

In 2009, the Magnus group disclosed the synthesis of racemic codeine [50]. In their synthesis (1) an intramolecular phenol alkylation generating an A-C bicyclic ring system with a quaternary carbon, (2) a stereo-controlled, one-pot formation of a B-ring by way of the combination of Henry reaction and Michael addition of nitromethane with a cyclohexadienone-aldehyde, and (3) an introduction of the requisite functionalities in the C-ring by the epoxide-mediated selenylation followed by oxidation, were employed as the key transformations. 

By employing the primary amine catalyst 160, Zhong and coworkers developed the tandem Michael-Henry reaction of ketones with nitroalkenes to provide highly functionalized chiral hexanes and pentanes with high diastereo- and enantioselec-tivity [49]. The selected examples depicted in Scheme 9.56 show that, in the presence of 160 (10-15 mol%), various Michael donors and nitroalkenes smoothly underwent the tandem reaction with almost quantitative yield and extremely high enantios-electivity with the complete diastereoselectivity of the products. Further details of this reaction can be seen in Section 10.4. 

In their extensive efforts to devise a new strong nonionic base, Verkade and coworkers found that a highly basic dendrimer containing a PAPT base fragment could act as an efficient catalyst for Michael addition reactions, nitroaldol (Henry) reactions and aryl isocyanate trimerization reactions [42] (Figure 6.3). In view of the characteristic nature of this dendrimer, which has sixteen catalytic sites per molecule, the attachment of other superbase functionalities might also be attractive. 

A different approach to methyl ohvosides (24), starting from L-arabinose, is much more laborious and involves chain extension through the Henry reaction (Scheme 2). The 2-deoxy function is introduced by elimination/hydro-genation and 6-deoxygenation is achieved either via tosylation/LAH reduction or iodination/Raney nickel reductive dehalogenation of the primary hydroxyl group [52]. 

The nitroaldol (Henry) reaction involves the addition of nitronates to aldehydes and ketones to give a P-nitroalcohol. These products are usefrd synthetic building blocks as the nitro group can be transformed into a range of other functional groups, and this has stimulated some recent research into the development of a catalytic asymmetric variant. Some of the catalyst systems used in the asymmetric aldol rection have been successfully employed in the catalytic asymmetric nitroaldol process. 

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