Ketone kinetic resolution

A kinetic resolution was also observed in the reduction of racemic a-ketosulphoxides 277 by fermenting yeast337 (equation 153). Both the starting ketones 277 and the corresponding /1-hydroxysulphoxides 278 formed have been recovered in almost enan-tiomerically pure form. 

CHMO is known to catalyze a number of enantioselective BV reactions, including the kinetic resolution of certain racemic ketones and desymmetrization of prochiral substrates [84—87]. An example is the desymmetrization of 4-methylcyclohexanone, which affords the (S)-configurated seven-membered lactone with 98% ee [84,87]. Of course, many ketones fail to react with acceptable levels of enantioselectivity, or are not even accepted by the enzyme. 

The synthesis of a-amino acids by reaction of aldehydes or ketones with ammonia and hydrogen cyanide followed by hydrolysis of the resulting a-aminonitrile is called the Strecker synthesis. Enzymatic hydrolysis has been applied to the kinetic resolution of intermediate a-aminonitriles [90,91]. The hydrolysis of (rac)-phenylglycine nitrile... 

Dynamic kinetic resolution of racemic ketones proceeds through asymmetric reduction when the substrate does racemize and the product does not under the applied experimental conditions. Dynamic kinetic resolution of a-alkyl P-keto ester has been performed through enzymatic reduction. One isomer, out of the four possible products for the unselective reduction (Figure 8.38), can be selectively synthesized using biocatalyst, and by changing the biocatalyst or conditions, all of the isomers can be selectively synthesized [29]. 

Another example of dynamic kinetic resolution is the reduction of a sulfur-substituted ketone. Thus, yeast reduction of (R/S)-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-l, 5-benzothiazepin-3,4(2H, 5H)-dione gave only (2S, 3S)-alcohol as a product out of four possible isomers as shown in Figure 8.39c [29kj. Only (S)-ketone was recognized by the enzyme as a substrate and reduction of the ketone proceeded... 

Scheme 9.23 Kinetic resolution of noncyclic ketones to chiral esters.

The identification of a novel BVMO from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (BVMOMtbs) complements this toolbox, as this particular biocatalyst performs a classical kinetic resolution instead of a regiodivergent oxidation vith complete consumption of substrate [140]. Notably, this enzyme accepts only one ketone enantiomer and converts it selectively to the abnormal lactone while the antipodal substrate remains unchanged (Scheme 9.24) [141]. 

In the case of the ketone (12), a racemic mixture was converted to an optically active mixture (optical yield 46%) by treatment with the chiral base (13). This happened beeause 13 reacted with one enantiomer of 12 faster than with the other (an example of kinetic resolution). The enolate (14) must remain coordinated with the chiral amine, and it is the amine that reprotonates 14, not an added proton donor. 

The complex Pd-(-)-sparteine was also used as catalyst in an important reaction. Two groups have simultaneously and independently reported a closely related aerobic oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols. The oxidation of secondary alcohols is one of the most common and well-studied reactions in chemistry. Although excellent catalytic enantioselective methods exist for a variety of oxidation processes, such as epoxidation, dihydroxy-lation, and aziridination, there are relatively few catalytic enantioselective examples of alcohol oxidation. The two research teams were interested in the metal-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones and became involved in extending the scopes of these oxidations to asymmetric catalysis. 

Optically active 5-(hydroxymethyl)-3-phenyl-2-isoxazoline 13 is a versatile key intermediate for the syntheses of /3-hydroxy ketones, y-amino alcohols,and y-amino acids. However, the Upase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of isoxazoline ( )-13 has not been reported so far probably because of the low enantioselectivity expected for primary alcohols (Scheme 3). The enantioselectivity was found to be very low E value = 4-5 in /-Pr20) at room temperature however, it could be markedly improved up to an value of 249 at —60°C by using lipase PS-C 11 in acetone, which was the best solvent among those tested (THF, /-Pt20) 1 )-... 

Enantioselective enolate formation can also be achieved by kinetic resolution through preferential reaction of one of the enantiomers of a racemic chiral ketone such as 2-(f-butyl)cyclohcxanone (see Section 2.1.8 of Part A to review the principles of kinetic resolution). 

These ketones can also be used in kinetic resolutions.107 The carbohydrate-derived ketones have been used in conjunction with acetonitrile and H202. The reactions are believed to proceed through dioxiranes generated by a catalytic cycle involving a peroxyimidic acid.108... 

The dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of a-sulfur-substituted ketones such as 31 and 33 was investigated. When the MOM protected mercaptol ketone 31 was treated with the BINOL-LiAlH4 complex, a moderate diastereoselectivity of 5 1 favoring the desired anti isomer was observed. The major diastereomer had 70%... 

Scheme 9.10 Proposed dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of ketone rac-13.

Kinetic resolution results of ketone and imine derivatives are indicated in Table 21.19. In the kinetic resolution of cyclic ketones or keto esters, ruthenium atrop-isomeric diphosphine catalysts 25 induced high enantiomer-discriminating ability, and high enantiopurity is realized at near 50% conversion [116, 117]. In the case of a bicyclic keto ester, the presence of hydrogen chloride in methanol served to raise the enantiomer-discriminating ability of the Ru-binap catalyst (entry 1) [116]. 

Dynamic kinetic resolution is possible for a-alkyl or a-alkoxy cyclic ketones in the presence of KOH, which causes mutation of the stereogenic center syn-alco-hols were obtained selectively with high enantioselectivity using ruthenium-3,5-xyl-binap. Dynamic kinetic resolution of 2-arylcycloalkanones also proceeded with extremely high syn-selectivity and with high enantioselectivity using ruthenium-binap-diamine as catalyst (Table 21.23) [12, 139, 140]. 

Chiral amines can also be produced using aminotransferases, either by kinetic resolution of the racemic amine or by asymmetric synthesis from the corresponding prochiral ketone. The reaction involves the transfer of an amino group, a proton and two electrons from a primary amine to a ketone, and proceeds via an intermediate imine adduct. A variety of chiral amines can be obtained with high to very high ee-values. Several transformations have been developed and can be carried out on a 100-kg scale [94]. 

The hydrogenation of a-amino ketones was also a key step for the synthesis of three more pharma actives (Fig. 37.25). Roche [95] divulged a pilot process involving the hydrogenation/dynamic kinetic resolution of a cyclic a-amino ketone using an optimized MeO-biphep ligand. The Ru-catalyzed reaction was carried out on a 9-kg scale with excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivities, and very... 

Various catalytic or stoichiometric asymmetric syntheses and resolutions offer excellent approaches to the chiral co-side chain. Among these methods, kinetic resolution by Sharpless epoxidation,14 amino alcohol-catalyzed organozinc alkylation of a vinylic aldehyde,15 lithium acetylide addition to an alkanal,16 reduction of the corresponding prochiral ketones,17 and BINAL-H reduction18 are all worth mentioning. 

TABLE 8-1. Yeast-Mediated Kinetic Resolution of 2-Substituted Ketones via Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation... 

Bolm et al. (130) reported the asymmetric Baeyer-Villiger reaction catalyzed by Cu(II) complexes. Aerobic oxidation of racemic cyclic ketones in the presence of pivalaldehyde effects a kinetic resolution to afford lactones in moderate enan-tioselectivity. Aryloxide oxazolines are the most effective ligands among those examined. Sterically demanding substituents ortho to the phenoxide are necessary for high yields. Several neutral bis(oxazolines) provide poor selectivities and yields in this reaction. Cycloheptanones and cyclohexanones lacking an aryl group on the a carbon do not react under these conditions. 

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