Intermolecular Michael reaction enantioselective

Scheme 2.20 Enantioselective intermolecular Michael reaction between aldehydes and alkyl vinyl ketones.

It is true that highly enantioselective reactions are possible with proline in the asymmetric a-amination of aldehydes by azodicarboxylates and in a-oxidation with nitrosobenzene. However, good rather than excellent yields and enantioselectivities are more common in intermolecular Michael and aldol reactions. Moreover, the high catalyst loadings required for proline-catalyzed aldol reactions (up to 30%), and low TOFs (from hours to days to achieve a good conversion, even at a high catalyst... 

Surprisingly, the catalytic potential of proline (1) in asymmetric aldol reactions was not explored further until recently. List et al. reported pioneering studies in 2000 on intermolecular aldol reactions [14, 15]. For example, acetone can be added to a variety of aldehydes, affording the corresponding aldols in excellent yields and enantiomeric purity. The example of iso-butyraldehyde as acceptor is shown in Scheme 1.4. In this example, the product aldol 13 was obtained in 97% isolated yield and with 96% ee [14, 15]. The remarkable chemo- and enantioselectivity observed by List et al. triggered massive further research activity in proline-catalyzed aldol, Mannich, Michael, and related reactions. In the same year, MacMillan et al. reported that the phenylalanine-derived secondary amine 5 catalyzes the Diels-Alder reaction of a,/>-un saturated aldehydes with enantioselectivity up to 94% (Scheme 1.4) [16]. This initial report by MacMillan et al. was followed by numerous further applications of the catalyst 5 and related secondary amines. 

An enantioselective intermolecular Michael addition of aldehydes (138) to enones (139), catalysed by imidazolidinones (140), has been reported. Chemoselectivity (Michael addition versus aldol) can be controlled through judicious choice of hydrogen bond-donating co-catalysts. The optimal imidazolidinone-hydrogen bond donor pair affords Michael addition products in <90% ee. Furthermore, the enamine intermediate was isolated and characterized and its efficacy as a nucleophile in the observed Michael addition reactions was demonstrated.172... 

Very recently, Chi and co-workers [58] reported the Stetter reaction of enals with 1,1-diactitvated Michael acceptors, providing the corresponding producst in good yields with high enantioselectivities (Scheme 7.38). (B.y-Unsaturated-a-ketoesters were also successfully employed as acceptors for the intermolecular Stetter reaction. A variety of aldehydes worked well under the optimized conditions and afforded die corresponding products in up to 92% yield with up to 91% ee (Scheme 7.39) [59]. 

A highly enantioselective synthesis of a-amino acid derivatives employs an NHC-catalysed intermolecular Stetter reaction of an o, /3-unsaturated ester with an aldehyde. The key steps of (i) C-C bond formation between Breslow intermediate 0 and Michael acceptor and (ii) asymmetric protonation are efficiently combined, giving ees of 85-99%. 

More recently, Enders et al. disclosed a facile access to tetracyclic double annulated indole derivatives 175, which basically relies on the chemistry of the acidic 2-substituted indole and its nitrogen nucleophilicity. Indeed, the employed quadruple cascade is initiated by the asymmetric aza-Michael-type A-alkylation of indole-2-methylene malono-nitrile derivative 174 to o,p-unsaturated aldehydes 95 under iminium activation (Scheme 2.57). The next weU-known enamine-iminium-enamine sequence, which practically is realized with an intramolecular Michael addition followed by a further intermolecular Michael and aldol reactions, gives access to the titled tetracyclic indole scaffold 175 with A-fused 5-membered rings annulated to cyclohexanes in both diastereo- and enantioselectivity [83]. 

The direct application of unmodified aldehydes in catalytic Michael additions can be severely hindered due to the presence of undesirable intermolecular self-aldol reactions (Hagiwara, Komatsubara et al. 2001 Hagiwara, Okabe et al. 2001). Barbas and co-workers achieved the first direct catalytic asymmetric Michael reaction between unmodified aldehydes and nitroolefins. The usage of an (S)-2-(morphohnomethyl) pyrrolidine catalyst in 20 % furnished the Michael addition products in 72 % enantioselectivity, 12 1 diastereoselectivity and 78 % yield (Betancort and Barbas 2001 Betancort, Sakthivel et aL 2004 Mosse, Andrey et al. 2006). The utilization of the ionic hquid tagged catalysts 25 and 26 in the Michael reactions of frans- -nitrostyrenes to aldehydes resulted in high yields but... 

The thiazolium-catalyzed addition of an aldehyde-derived acyl anion with a Michael acceptor (Stetter reaction) is a well-known synthetic tool leading to the synthesis of highly funtionalized products. Recent developments in this area include the thiazolylalanine-derived catalyst 191 for asymmetric intramolecular Stetter reaction of a,P-unsaturated esters <05CC195>. However, these cyclizations proceed only in moderate enantioselectivities and yields even under optimized conditions. Thiazolium salt 191 has been used successfully for enantioselective intermolecular aldehyde-imine cross coupling reactions <05JA1654>. Treatment of tosylamides 194 with aryl aldehydes in the presence of 15 mol% of 191 and 2... 

P. Lehwald, R. Michael, R. Caroline, L. Hung-Wen, M. Michael, Enantioselective intermolecular aldehyde-ketone cross-coupling through an enzymatic carboligation reaction, Angew. Chem. Int. 49 (2010) 2389-2392. 

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