Lanthanide enolates chiral

The most frequently encountered, and most useful, cycloaddition reactions of silyl enol ethers are Diels-Alder reactions involving silyloxybutadicncs (Chapter 18). Danishefsky (30) has reviewed his pioneering work in this area, and has extended his studies to include heterodienophiles, particularly aldehydes. Lewis acid catalysis is required in such cases, and substantial asymmetric induction can be achieved using either a chiral lanthanide catalyst or an a-chiral aldehyde. 

Scheme 2.25 shows some examples of additions of enolate equivalents. A range of Lewis acid catalysts has been used in addition to TiCl4 and SnCl4. Entry 1 shows uses of a lanthanide catalyst. Entry 2 employs LiC104 as the catalyst. The reaction in Entry 3 includes a chiral auxiliary that controls the stereoselectivity the chiral auxiliary is released by a cyclization using (V-methylhydroxylamine. Entries 4 and 5 use the triphenylmethyl cation as a catalyst and Entries 6 and 7 use trimethylsilyl triflate and an enantioselective catalyst, respectively. 

Although several research groups have been interested in transition metal enolates to use the metal centre as a potential site of asymmetry in the design of chiral catalysts, examples of well defined redox reaction involving middle to late transition elements and lanthanides are scarce in the literatnre. Based on Pearson s theory of hard and soft acids and bases", it has been proposed that combining a hard ligand with a soft late transition metal centre may lead to weak metal-heteroatom links, resnlting in reactive late metal-heteroatom bonds. 

A conceptually different [4-1-2] cycloaddition catalyzed by a chiral lanthanide complex has been disclosed. The inverse electron demand Diels Alder reaction of 3-methoxycarbonyl-2-pyrone (67) and enol ethers or sulfides [135] was catalyzed by a chiral ytterbium(III) triflate-binaphthol complex in the presence of diisopropylethylamine (Scheme 51) [136]. Thermal decarboxylations of bicyclic lactones such as 68 are known to yield dienes which may undergo subsequent pericyclic reactions [137] thus, the adducts of this process are potentially useful chiral building blocks. The nature of the substituent on the 2k component was found to be crucial for the realization of high enantioselectivity. 

By the reaction of theenolatc of camphor with carboxylic acid esters or chlorides, 1,3-diketones [better formulated as enols. such as (hydroxymethylene)camphor] are obtained. When trifluo-roacetic acid or heptafluorobutanoic acid are used, the corresponding diketones (abbreviated as tfc or hfc, respectively) have been successfully used as ligands for lanthanides and these are used as chiral shift reagents in NMR spectroscopy12. The complex Eu(hfc)3 [derived from ( + )-camphor)] 3 was used as a chiral catalyst for enantioselective Diels-Alder-type cycloadditions of aldehydes to dienes (Section D.l.6.1.1.1.2.4.). 

Although lanthanide triflates are the first metal salts which were foimd to catalyze aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers efficiently in aqueous media, it has been difficult to realize asymmetric versions of lanthanide triflate-catalyzed reactions in such media. Recently, the first example of this type of reaction using chiral bis-pyridino-18-crown-6 (1) has been developed [38]. In the reaction of benzaldehyde with silyl enol ethers in water-ethanol (1 9), the cation size of lanthanide triflates strongly affected the diastereo- and enantioselectivities of the aldol adduct. For the larger cations such as La, Ce, Pr, and Nd, both diastereo- and enantioselectivities were high, while the smaller cations such as Sc and Yb showed no enantioselection. 

The inorganic lanthanide triflate complexes Ln(OTf)3 (made in aqueous solution) have been shown by Kobayashi to be efficient Lewis-acid catalysts for hydroxy-methylation (using commercial aqueous formaldehyde solutions) of silicon enolates in aqueous medium (water -i- THF) or even in water alone in the presence of a surfactant. In these reactions, activation proceeds by coordination of the aldehyde oxygen atom by the Ln center that is a strong Lewis acid due to its hard character. Among the lanthanide triflates, ytterbium triflate was found to be the most active catalyst, but scandium triflate can sometimes also be efficiently used. Enantio-selective versions are also known in the presence of chiral macrocyclic ligands. The water-soluble catalyst is recovered in water after extraction of the organic products. 

In 1995, Shibasaki s group disclosed the first example of multifunctional heterobimetallic complex-catalyzed Michael reaction of malonate to enone. The chiral catalyst, lanthanum-sodium-BINOL complex (/ )-LSB, was prepared from La(Of-Pr)3, (/ )-BINOL, and NaOt-Bu. Two different metals indeed play their unique roles to enhance the reactivity of both substrate partners by locating them in designated positions. The Lewis acidic metal (lanthanides or group 13 elements) has been found capable to activate the acceptor, whereas the second metal center (alkali metals bound to a Brpnsted base) assists the coordination of enolate. The proposed catalytic cycle is shown in Scheme 9.5. 

Mukaiyama aldol reactions, whereby trimethylsilyl enol ethers react with aldehydes in aqueous solution to form -ketoalcohols, have been promoted by new chiral lanthanide-containing complexes and a chiral Fe(II)-bipyridine complex with 0 outstanding diastereo- and enantio-selectivities. Factors controlling the diastereoselec-tivity of Lewis-acid-catalysed Mukaiyama reactions have been studied using DFT to reveal the transition-state influences of substituents on the enol carbon, the a-carbon of the silyl ether, and the aldehyde. The relative steric effects of the Lewis acid and 0 trimethyl silyl groups and the influence of E/Z isomerism on the aldol transition state were explored. Catalytic asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reaction of difluoroenoxysilanes with /-unsaturated a-ketoesters has been reported for the first time and studied extensively. ... 

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