Imidazoles chiral imidazole nucleophilic catalyst

Zhang and coworkers have designed a new structural type of nitrogen-based nucleophilic catalyst, based on chiral bicyclic imidazoles. Compound (R)-14 was a good catalyst for the Steglich rearrangement of azlactone carbonates (Scheme 40.20) [27]. A limitation of this methodology is the rather difficult preparation of the catalyst in enantiopure form (low yield resolution of the racemic with tartaric acid or by preparative HPLC). 

As an efficient bifunctional catalyst, proline has been used as a Br0nsted acid in combination with a nucleophilic Lewis base catalyst in the asymmetric BH reaction. Miller and co-workers [119] disclosed that in the L-proline-catalyzed BH reaction of MVK and electron-deficient aldehydes the imidazole-tailed peptide 67 was an efficient co-catalyst. A matched/mismatched phenomenon of two chiral catalysts was observed in this reaction. Furthermore, Zhou and co-workers [120] synthesized various chiral amines and screened them as co-catalysts of L-proline in the BH reaction of MVK and aldehydes, revealing that chiral benzodiazepine 68 and aminoalcohol 69 were efficient catalysts. Interestingly, the intramolecular reaction shown in Scheme 9.34 could be directly catalyzed by L-proline in DMF solvent, while the addition of imidazole resulted in enhancement of the enantioselectivity with opposite configurational product [121]. A similar process was realized in the intramolecular reaction shown in Scheme 9.35 with 70 as co-catalyst of iV-methylimidazole. Moreover, Cordova and co-workers [122] reported in 2007 the first example of asymmetric aza-BH reaction between (3-mono- or disubstituted acroleins and aldimines. By utilizing L-proline as catalyst in combination with... 

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