Iminium-Activated Diels-Alder Reactions

MacMillan s group advanced the iminium activation strategy to intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions with good diastereoselectivity (up to 20 1) and enantioselectivity [61]. The strategy was applied in the total synthesis of (-i-)-hapalindole Q [62]. A novel binaphthyl-based diamine was utilized to catalyze Diels-Alder reaction of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes with unprecedented high exo selectivity [63]. It was reported that the same reaction was also catalyzed by diphenylprolinol silyl ether and an acid as cocatalyst [64]. However, with the same reactants and the same catalyst, an ene reaction took place instead without an acid additive. Diels-Alder reactions of 2-vinylindoles and a,p-unsaturated aldehydes were also developed [65]. 

SCHEME 1.42 Mechanism proposed for organocatalyzed Diels-Alder reactions. 

Northrup and MacMillan extended the iminium-mediated Diels-Alder reactions to a,p-unsaturated ketones using a new chiral amine catalyst (Schane 1.43) [66]. They found that cycloaddition of a,P-unsaturated ketones was unsuccessful with the chiral amine salts previously identified as excellent catalysts for enal activation. In contrast, the 2-(5-methylfuryl)-derived imidazolidinone 118 afforded good levels of enantiofacial discrimination while maintaining high reaction efficiency (89% yield, 25 1 endo/exo, 90% ee). 

SCHEME 1.43 Diels-Alder reaction of enones with cyclopentadiene. 

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A limitation of MacMillan s approach towards iminium-activated Diels-Alder reactions has been the use of a-substituted a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes as dieno-philes. Recently, Ishihara and Nakano [31] succeeded in partially overcoming this problem by identifying a novel primary amine organocatalyst for this type of... 

Design of iminium-enamine cascade reactions Iminium-activated Diels-Alder reactions Iminium-activated sequential [4h-2] reactions Iminium-activated [3-h2] reactions Iminium-activated sequential [3-1-2] reactions Iminium-activated [2h-1] reactions... 

Following the seminal report of MacMillan et al. in 2000 (27), several applications of iminium ion-activated Diels-Alder reactions in complex natural product syntheses have been reported, either carrying out the cyclization in an intra- or an intermolecular fashion. 

In addition to the consecutive aldol reactions of aldehydes, Barbas s group also reported enamine-activated Diels-Alder reactions (or double Michael reactions) between a,P-unsaturated ketones and nitroolefm (Scheme 1.15) for the first time in 2002 [17], hi contrast to MacMillan s iminium catalysis for Diels-Alder reactions, wherein a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds were activated as dienophiles in a LUMO-lowering strategy based on iminium formation [3], an alternative strategy involving the in situ generation of 2-amino-1,3-dienes from a,P-unsaturated ketones... 

In all the reactions described so far a chiral Lewis acid has been employed to promote the Diels-Alder reaction, but recently a completely different methodology for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction has been published. MacMillan and coworkers reported that the chiral secondary amine 40 catalyzes the Diels-Alder reaction between a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes and a variety of dienes [59]. The reaction mechanism is shown in Scheme 1.73. An a,/ -unsaturated aldehyde reacts with the chiral amine 40 to give an iminium ion that is sufficiently activated to engage a diene reaction partner. Diels-Alder reaction leads to a new iminium ion, which upon hydrolysis af-... 

Fig. 2 Catalytic cycles for the iminium ion activated Diels-Alder and conjugate addition reactions...

Additionally, investigations into imidazolidinone catalysed Diels-Alder reactions (Schemes 2 and 6) [234] have shown that iminium ions of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones have lower activation barriers for the Diels-Alder reaction with cyclopentadiene than the parent compound (13 and 11 kCal mol", respectively). It was also noted that transition structures show the formation of the bonds is concerted but highly asynchronous. 

In order to test the iminium-activation strategy, MacMillan first examined the capacity of various amines to enantioselectively catalyze the Diels-Alder reaction between dienes and a,/ -unsaturated aldehyde dienophiles [6]. Preliminary experimental findings and computational studies proved the importance of four objectives in the design of a broadly useful iminium-activation catalyst (1) the chiral amine should undergo efficient and reversible iminium ion formation (2) high... 

As indicated from computational studies, the catalyst-activated iminium ion MM3-2 was expected to form with only the (E)-conformation to avoid nonbonding interactions between the substrate double bond and the gem-dimethyl substituents on the catalyst framework. In addition, the benzyl group of the imidazolidinone moiety should effectively shield the iminium-ion Si-face, leaving the Re-face exposed for enantioselective bond formation. The efficiency of chiral amine 1 in iminium catalysis was demonstrated by its successful application in several transformations such as enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions [6], nitrone additions [12], and Friedel-Crafts alkylations of pyrrole nucleophiles [13]. However, diminished reactivity was observed when indole and furan heteroaromatics where used for similar conjugate additions, causing the MacMillan group to embark upon studies to identify a more reactive and versatile amine catalyst. This led ultimately to the discovery of the second-generation imidazolidinone catalyst 3 (Fig. 3.1, bottom) [14],... 

In line with the mechanistic rationale of LUMO-lowering iminium activation, MacMillan hypothesized that intermediate 2, generated from the secondary amine 1 and an a,/f-un saturated aldehyde, could be activated towards cydoaddi-tion with an appropriate diene (Scheme 3.1). The Diels-Alder reaction would form iminium ion cydoadduct 5 that, in the presence of water, would hydrolyze to yield the enantioenriched product 6 and regenerate the chiral imidazolidinone catalyst 1. 

Aza Diels-Alder reactions of nonactivated imines have been investigated with regard to the effects of electronically neutral substituents and the influence of Lewis acids [179, 180]. Some of the synthetic applications described below nevertheless take use of the higher reactivity of iminium ions or imines activated by electron-withdrawing substituents, respectively. 

Catalysts (25) are the Lewis acid-Lewis base bifunctional catalysts in which Lewis acid-Al(III) moiety activates acyl iminium ion and the Lewis base (oxygen of phosphine oxide) does TMSCN, simultaneously (Scheme 5.7). Halogen atoms at the 6-position enhanced both yields and enantioselectivity in Reissert-type cyanation of the imino part of 26. However, the order for the activation is not parallel to the electronegativity of the halogen atoms and, moreover, the strong electron-withdrawing trifluoromethyl group provided unexpectedly the worst result for the activation [13]. It is not simple to explain this phenomenon only in terms of the increased Lewis acidity of the metal center. Trifluoromethylated BINOL-zirconium catalysts (28) for asymmetric hetero Diels-Alder reaction (Scheme 5.8) [14], trifluoromethylated arylphosphine-palladium catalyst (32) for asymmetric hydrosilylation (Scheme 5.9) [15], and fluorinated BINOL-zinc catalyst (35) for asymmetric phenylation (Scheme 5.10) [16] are known. 

Asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction and its applications based on catalysis by bis(oxa-zoline)copper(II) complexes have been published in full details. This method has been further extended to the synthesis of 2,3-dihydropyran-6-ylphosphonates, 4-aminodihy-dropyrans, and piperidones. Note that both epimeric amines are accessible by merely changing the diene substrate, that is, ( )- versus (Z)-configuration. Diazolidi-none 75 serves as a chiral catalyst that also activates enals (actual dienophiles being the iminium ions)." ... 

Aside from enamine activation to enhance the nucleophilicity of the carbonyl, proline can also interact with the carbonyl to increase electrophilicity via formation of an iminium ion. A common reaction where this reactivity mode is observed is the Diels-Alder reaction. Figure 5.7 contrasts the difference in iminium and enamine activations to form diene and dienophile... 

The introduction of an alternative organocatalytic strategy for the Diels-Alder reaction was an important contribution from MacMillan. This strategy is based on the LUMO-lowering activation of substrates via formation of an intermediate. The a,p-unsaturated fragment is activated towards reaction with the diene by the formation of the iminium ion (Scheme 18.3). 

Although Diels-Alder reactions provided the first examples for the great potential of asymmetric iminium catalysis, it must be pointed out that by far the most applications of this type of catalysis in natural product syntheses have been reported for conjugate additions of different nucleophiles to iminium-activated a, 3-tmsatu-rated acceptor molecules. The following sections will give an overview based on the type of nucleophiles employed in such transformations. 

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