Ketones enantioselective reduction using

Chiral Ligand of LiAlH4 for the Enantioselective Reduction of a,p-Unsaturated Ketones. Enantioselective reductions of a,p-unsaturated ketones afford optically active ally lie alcohols which are useful intermediates in natural product synthesis. Enantioselective reduction of a,p-unsaturated ketones with LiAlH4 modified with chiral amino alcohol (1) affords optically active (S)-allylic alcohols with high ee s. When 2-cyclohexen-l-one is employed, (5)-2-cyclohexen-l-ol with 100% ee is obtained in 95% yield (eq 2). This is comparable with the results obtained using LiAlH4-chiral binaphthol and chiral 1,3,2-oxazaborolidine. ... 

Enantioselective Ketone Reduction. Following Itsuno s lead for enantioselective reductions using diphenylvalinol, Kraatz was the first to describe the use of a 1 2 mixture of (5)-diphenylprolinol (1) and Borane-Tetrahydrofuran for the stoichiometric enantioselective reduction of ketone (2) to obtain the plant growth regulator triapenthenol (3) (eq 1). Although not characterized at the time, the species responsible for the enantiose-lectivity observed was presumed to be an oxazaborolidine-borane complex. ... 

The hydride-donor class of reductants has not yet been successfully paired with enantioselective catalysts. However, a number of chiral reagents that are used in stoichiometric quantity can effect enantioselective reduction of acetophenone and other prochiral ketones. One class of reagents consists of derivatives of LiAlH4 in which some of die hydrides have been replaced by chiral ligands. Section C of Scheme 2.13 shows some examples where chiral diols or amino alcohols have been introduced. Another type of reagent represented in Scheme 2.13 is chiral trialkylborohydrides. Chiral boranes are quite readily available (see Section 4.9 in Part B) and easily converted to borohydrides. 

The enantioselective 1,4-addition addition of organometaUic reagents to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, the so-called Michael reaction, provides a powerful method for the synthesis of optically active compounds by carbon-carbon bond formation [129]. Therefore, symmetrical and unsymmetrical MiniPHOS phosphines were used for in situ preparation of copper-catalysts, and employed in an optimization study on Cu(I)-catalyzed Michael reactions of di-ethylzinc to a, -unsaturated ketones (Scheme 31) [29,30]. In most cases, complete conversion and good enantioselectivity were obtained and no 1,2-addition product was detected, showing complete regioselectivity. Of interest, the enantioselectivity observed using Cu(I) directly in place of Cu(II) allowed enhanced enantioselectivity, implying that the chiral environment of the Cu(I) complex produced by in situ reduction of Cu(II) may be less selective than the one with preformed Cu(I). 

Catalytic Enantioselective Reduction of Ketones. An even more efficient approach to enantioselective reduction is to use a chiral catalyst. One of the most developed is the oxazaborolidine 18, which is derived from the amino acid proline.148 The enantiomer is also available. These catalysts are called the CBS-oxazaborolidines. 

Scheme 5.6. Enantioselective Reduction of Ketones Using CBS-Oxazaborolidine... 

Prochiral aryl and dialkyl ketones are enantioselectively reduced to the corresponding alcohols using whole-cell bioconversions, or an Ir1 amino sulfide catalyst prepared in situ.695 Comparative studies show that the biocatalytic approach is the more suitable for enantioselective reduction of chloro-substituted ketones, whereas reduction of a,/ -unsaturated compounds is better achieved using the Ir1 catalyst. An important step in the total synthesis of brevetoxin B involves hydrogenation of an ester using [Ir(cod)(py) P(cy)3 ]PF6.696... 

On the other hand a direct hydrogen transfer through a Meerwein-Ponndorf mechanism, involving coordination of both the donor alcohol and the ketone to the copper site may also be considered. In this case, by using alcohols other than 2-propanol, we could expect some difference in stereochemistry. This would also imply the possibility of carrying out the enantioselective reduction of a prochiral ketone with a chiral alcohol as donor. 

The synthesis of both enantiomers of vasicinone has been carried out using almost entirely polymer-supported reagents. The route was based on functionalisation of deoxyvasicinone by a highly selective bromination then via enantioselective reduction of the derived ketone <06SL2609>. 

In summary, many attempts have been made at achieving enantioselective reduction of ketones. Modified lithium aluminum hydride as well as the ox-azaborolidine approach have proved to be very successful. Asymmetric hydrogenation catalyzed by a chiral ligand-coordinated transition metal complex also gives good results. Figure 6-7 lists some of the most useful chiral compounds relevant to the enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones, and interested readers may find the corresponding applications in a number of review articles.77,96,97... 

In 1969, Fiaud and Kagan[U1 tested ephedrine boranes but achieved only 3.6-5% enantiomeric excess in the reduction of acetophenone. Itsuno et a/.[121 reported in 1981 an interesting enantioselective reduction of a ketone using an amino alcohol-borane complex as a catalyst. Buono[131 investigated and developed the reactivity of phosphorus compounds as ligands in borane complexes for asymmetric hydrogenation. 

Enantioselective reduction of ketones using n-arylsulfonyl oxazaborolidines... 

ENANTIOSELECTIVE REDUCTION OF KETONES USING N-ARYLSULFONYL OXAZABOROLIDINES... 

Enantioselective reduction of ketones.1 The ability of diborane in combination with the vic-amino alcohol (S)-2-amino-3-methyl-l,l-diphenyl-l-butanol (12, 31) to effect enantioselective reduction of alkyl aryl ketones involves formation of an intermediate chiral oxazaborolidine, which can be isolated and used as a catalyst for enantioselective borane reductions (equation I). 

A more versatile method to use organic polymers in enantioselective catalysis is to employ these as catalytic supports for chiral ligands. This approach has been primarily applied in reactions as asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral alkenes, asymmetric reduction of ketone and 1,2-additions to carbonyl groups. Later work has included additional studies dealing with Lewis acid-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions, asymmetric epoxidation, and asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions. Enantioselective catalysis using polymer-supported catalysts is covered rather recently in a review by Bergbreiter [257],... 

Homann, M.J., Vail, R.B., Previte, E., Tamarez, M., Morgan, B., Dodds, D.R. and Zaks, A., Rapid identification of enantioselective ketone reductions using targeted microbial libraries. Tetrahedron, 2004, 60,12,9-191. 

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