Imine additions catalyst preparation

Generally, the imine substrates are prepared from the corresponding ketone and amine and are hydrogenated as isolated (and purified) compounds. However, reductive animation where the C = N function is prepared in situ is attractive from an industrial point of view, and indeed there are some successful examples reported below [18, 19]. It is reasonably certain that most catalysts described in this chapter catalyze the addition of H2 directly to the C=N bond and not to the tautomeric enamine C = C bond, even though enamines can also be hydrogenated enantioselectively. 

Cyclic imines 8 and 9 are intermediates or models of biologically active compounds and can be reduced with ee-values of 88 to 96% using Ti-ebthi, Ir-bcpm or Ir-binap in the presence of additives (entries 5.7, 5.9), as well as with the transfer hydrogenation catalyst Ru-dpenTs (entries 5.8, 5.10-5.12). As pointed out earlier, Ru-diphosphine-diamine complexes are also effective for imines, and the best results for 7 and 8a were 88% and 79% ee, respectively [36]. Azirines 10 are unusual substrates which could be transfer-hydrogenated with a catalyst prepared in situ from [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2 and amino alcohol L12, with ee-values of 44 to 78% and respectable TOFs of up to 3000 (entry 5.13). 

Imines of acyclic and C10- to C15-membered carbocyclic ketones are prepared under the conditions described for cyclohexanone imines using trifluoromethanesulfonic acid or trifluoroacetic acid as additional catalyst. The reaction often takes several days in refluxing benzene or toluene9. 

Discussion Catalyst 52 is prepared from Boc-(L)-ter -leucine in five steps, with a 75% overall yield [41]. Details of imine and phosphite preparation are also provided by Jacobsen and co-workers [81]. The hydrophosphonylation reactions as reported by Jacobsen can be carried out without any special precautions, in unpurified commercial diethyl ether (Et20) and under an ambient atmosphere. A reduction in temperature was shown to have a beneficial effect on product enantiopurities, but with a decrease in reaction rates. Unbranched aliphatic aldehydes were incompatible with the reaction conditions as reported, due to their rapid decomposition prior to phosphonylation. Although phosphite ester groups that are more electron-withdrawing than o-nitrobenzyl significantly increase the overall reaction rates, products are obtained with diminished optical purities, possibly due to a retro-addition pathway. 

An alternative approach to aziridine synthesis involves transfer of a carbenoid species to imines. Jacobsen achieved the first asymmetric aziridination of imines by transfer of copper carbenoids derived from copper bis-oxazohne catalysts and ethyl diazoacetate onto imines, but this process only proceeds with moderate yield and selectivity. Better results have been achieved by addition of ethyl diazoacetate to imines in the presence of enantiopure Lewis acids such as the boron-based catalysts prepared from vaulted biaryls such as VAPOL (4.154) and B(OPh)3. A range of aryl and alkyl N-benzylaldimines, for example (4.155) and (4.156), undergo aziridination to give ds-aziridines with high ee using this procedure. 

Reductive alkylation with chiral substrates may afford new chiral centers. The reaction has been of interest for the preparation of optically active amino acids where the chirality of the amine function is induced in the prochiral carbonyl moiety 34,35). The degree of induced asymmetry is influenced by substrate, solvent, and temperature 26,27,28,29,48,51,65). Asymmetry also has been obtained by reduction of prochiral imines, using a chiral catalyst 44). Prediction of the major configurational isomer arising from a reductive alkylation can be made usually by the assumption that amine formation comes via an imine, not the hydroxyamino addition compound, and that the catalyst approaches the least hindered side (57). 

Azirines (three-membered cyclic imines) are related to aziridines by a single redox step, and these reagents can therefore function as precursors to aziridines by way of addition reactions. The addition of carbon nucleophiles has been known for some time [52], but has recently undergone a renaissance, attracting the interest of several research groups. The cyclization of 2-(0-tosyl)oximino carbonyl compounds - the Neber reaction [53] - is the oldest known azirine synthesis, and asymmetric variants have been reported. Zwanenburg et ah, for example, prepared nonracemic chiral azirines from oximes of 3-ketoesters, using cinchona alkaloids as catalysts (Scheme 4.37) [54]. 

Reduction of iV-(3-bromopropyl) imines gives a bromo-amine in situ, which cyclizes to the aziridine. Five-membered ring amines (pyrrolidines) can be prepared from alkenyl amines via treatment with N-chlorosuccinimide (NCS) and then BusSnH. " Internal addition of amine to allylic acetates, catalyzed by Pd(PPh3)4, leads to cyclic products via a Sn2 reaction. Acyclic amines can be prepared by a closely related reaction using palladium catalysts. Three-membered cyclic amines (aziridines)... 

New electrophilic substitution reaction methods for the preparation of dipyrromethanes have been reported. The condensation of IV-methylpyrrole with benzaldehyde leading to the corresponding dipyrromethane was promoted by the addition of the organic catalyst, pyrrolidinium tetrafluoroborate <06T12375>. The reaction between pyrrole and N-tosyl imines promoted by metal triflates gave dipyrromethanes whereas tripyrromethane byproducts were not observed <06T10130>. 

The studies summarized above clearly bear testimony to the significance of Zr-based chiral catalysts in the important field of catalytic asymmetric synthesis. Chiral zircono-cenes promote unique reactions such as enantioselective alkene alkylations, processes that are not effectively catalyzed by any other chiral catalyst class. More recently, since about 1996, an impressive body of work has appeared that involves non-metallocene Zr catalysts. These chiral complexes are readily prepared (often in situ), easily modified, and effect a wide range of enantioselective C—C bond-forming reactions in an efficient manner (e. g. imine alkylations, Mannich reactions, aldol additions). 

A number of groups have reported the preparation and in situ application of several types of dendrimers with chiral auxiliaries at their periphery in asymmetric catalysis. These chiral dendrimer ligands can be subdivided into three different classes based on the specific position of the chiral auxiliary in the dendrimer structure. The chiral positions may be located at, (1) the periphery, (2) the dendritic core (in the case of a dendron), or (3) throughout the structure. An example of the first class was reported by Meijer et al. [22] who prepared different generations of polypropylene imine) dendrimers which were substituted at the periphery of the dendrimer with chiral aminoalcohols. These surface functionalities act as chiral ligand sites from which chiral alkylzinc aminoalcoholate catalysts can be generated in situ at the dendrimer periphery. These dendrimer systems were tested as catalyst precursors in the catalytic 1,2-addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde (see e.g. 13, Scheme 14). 

Chiral amines, ArCH(R)NH2, can be prepared by addition of a dialkylzinc to A-(diphenylphosphinoyl)imines, ArCH=N—P(=0)Ph2, using a suitable auxiliary, followed by acid hydrolysis to cleave the phosphorus moiety. A series of 2-azanorbornylmethanols (65) give ee% up to 92%, and they also induce some enantioselectivity in additions to benzaldehyde. A highly organized transition state with two zincs is proposed one coordinates the nitrogens of substrate and catalyst and the other coordinates the oxygens. 

Optically active a-amino acids are prepared by a cyanide addition to imines, known as the Strecker reaction. Several organobase catalysts and metal complex catalysts have been successfully applied to the asymmetric catalytic Strecker amino... 

The enantioselective hydrogenation of olefins, ketones and imines still represents an important topic and various highly enantioselective processes based on chiral Rh, Ru or Ir complexes have been reported. However, most of these catalysts failed to give satisfactory results in the asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds and examples of efficient catalysts are rare. This is especially the case for the partial reduction of quinoline derivatives which provide 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines, important synthetic intermediates in the preparation of pharmaceutical and agrochemical products. Additionally, many alkaloid natural products consist of this stmctural key element. 

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