Lewis acid catalysis Mukaiyama aldol reaction

Asymmetric Lewis-Acid Catalyzed. Another important advance in aqueous Mukaiyama aldol reaction is the recent success of asymmetric catalysis.283 In aqueous ethanol, Kobayashi and co-workers achieved asymmetric inductions by using Cu(OTf)2/chiral >A(oxazoline) ligand,284 Pb(OTf)2/chiral crown ether,285 and Ln(OTf)3/chiral Mv-pyridino-18-crown-6 (Eq. 8.105).286... 

The addition of an enolsilane to an aldehyde, commonly referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction, is readily promoted by Lewis acids and has been the subject of intense interest in the field of chiral Lewis acid catalysis. Copper-based Lewis acids have been applied to this process in an attempt to generate polyacetate and polypropionate synthons for natural product synthesis. Although the considerable Lewis acidity of many of these complexes is more than sufficient to activate a broad range of aldehydes, high selectivities have been observed predominantly with substrates capable of two-point coordination to the metal. Of these, benzy-loxyacetaldehyde and pyruvate esters have been most successful. 

In the Mukaiyama cross-aldol reaction, an aldehyde and a ketene silyl acetal [e.g. (43)] react via Lewis acid catalysis to give a jS-silyloxy ester (44). The reaction... 

The Mukaiyama Reaction. The Mukaiyama reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of enol derivatives. The initial examples involved silyl enol ethers.40 Silyl enol ethers do not react with aldehydes because the silyl enol ether is not a strong enough nucleophile. However, Lewis acids do cause reaction to occur by activating the ketone. The simplest mechanistic formulation of the Lewis acid catalysis is that complexation occurs at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

Studies of catalytic asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reactions were initiated in the early 1990s. Until recently, however, there have been few reports of direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reactions [1]. Several groups have reported metallic and non-metallic catalysts for direct aldol reactions. In general, a metallic catalysis involves a synergistic function of the Bronsted basic and the Lewis acidic moieties in the catalyst (Scheme 2). The Bronsted basic moiety abstracts an a-pro-ton of the ketone to generate an enolate (6), and the Lewis acidic moiety activates the aldehyde (3). 

In the Mukaiyama aldol reaction an aldehyde (1) reacts with a silyl enol ether (3) under Lewis-acid catalysis to yield the aldol adduct (4). The use of a chiral Lewis acid (L offers the opportunity to perform the reaction in an a.sym-metric manner (Scheme 1) [5]. 

A useful synthetic alternative to the Mukaiyama aldol addition is the carbonyl-ene reaction [17], This reaction of an aldehyde 51 with an enol ether 55, bearing at least one hydrogen atom in the allylic position, under Lewis-acid catalysis, yields a ff-hydroxy-enol ether of type 56 (Scheme 10). By use of a chiral Lewis acid (L ) enantioselectivity can be achieved. For the... 

LLC networks containing catalytic headgroups have also been shown to be useful for heterogeneous Lewis acid catalysis. The Sc(III)-exchanged cross-linked Hu phase of a taper-shaped sulfonate-functionalized LLC monomer has been shown to be able to catalyze the Mukaiyama aldol and Mannich reactions [115] with enhanced diastereoselectivity. This Sc(III)-functionalized Hu network affords condensation products with syn-to-anti diastereoselectivity ratios of 2-to-l, whereas Sc(III) catalysts in solution or supported on amorphous polymers show no reaction diastereoselectivity at all. 

Even more efficient catalysis of the Mukaiyama aldol reaction is possible with complexes of transition metals. A number of titanium-based Lewis acids with binaphthyl hgands have been reported to give high enantioselectivities. For example, only 2 mol% of the Lewis acid 80 is required to effect the aldol reaction of... 

Previously unknown (biaryl)hydroxyl acid catalysts, disulfonimides 196 were prepared in five steps from BINOL (14AGE8765). These Lewis acid precursors allowed for the catalysis of Mukaiyama aldol reactions at unprecedented rates. A microwave-assisted protocol was described for the preparation of cyclic sulfamides 197 these reactions do not use catalysts and show increased yields, shorter reaction times, and less polymeric by-product than traditional heating (14PS285). 

A number of Lewis acids such as PhsCOTf and TiCp2(OT02 which apparently catalyse Mukaiyama cross-aldols actually proceed via catalysis by trimethyl triflate, due to exchange with the silyl enol ether under the influence of adventitious moisture. The range of mechanisms operating in this reaction is also reviewed (23 references). 

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