Lewis acids nitrone cycloadditions

The reaction of nitrostyrene with cyclopentadiene gives the normal Diels-Alder adduct. However, the Lewis acid-catalyzed cycloaddition affords two isomeric nitronates, syn and anti in an 80-to-20 ratio. The major isomer is derived from an endo transition state. The preference of yy/i-fused cycloadducts can be understood by considering secondary orbital interactions (Eq. 8.95).152... 

Nitrone 1,3-DC reactions are still the most general approach to isoxazolidines. The stereocontrol is usually achieved by the use of chiral nitrones and/or dipolarophiles, but new interesting achievements on Lewis acid catalyzed cycloadditions are also frequently reported. Tris(6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octanatedionate) europium(III) [Eu(fod)3] selectively activated the Z-isomer of C-alkoxycarbonyl nitrone 75 existing as an E,Z-equilibrium mixture by forming the (Z)-75-Eu(fod)3 complex. (Z)-75-Eu(fod)3 reacted with electron-rich dipolarophiles such as vinyl ethers to give the trans-adducts with excellent diastereoselectivity <06T12227>. 

The Denmark laboratory has developed an elegant tandem [4 + 2]/[3 + 2]-cyclo-addition strategy for the synthesis of a variety of alkaloid natural products (96CR137). Nitroethylene (166) readily undergoes a Lewis acid promoted cycloaddition with vinyl ethers that contain a chiral auxiliary group to give nitronates 168... 

A major advantage of the non-Lewis acid catalyzed cycloaddition is the possibility of carrying out the domino [4 + 2]/[3 + 2] cycloaddition in a one-pot fashion, since electron-poor alkenes react much faster with the nitronate formed in situ than electron-rich alkenes [14c, 20, 21[. This multicomponent reaction then provides the nitroso acetals in a single transformation, without the need to isolate the nitronate which was formed first, prior to the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. 

Scheme 2.11 Lewis acid-catalyzed cycloadditions of A -sulfonyl nitrones.

For the examples on Lewis acid catalyzed cycloaddition of nitrones with vinyl ethers, see (a) Seerden, J. G. Boeren, M M. M. Scheeren, H. W. Tetrahedron 1997, 53, 11843-11852... 

As the examples in Scheme 16.18 illustrate, one of the problems with cycloadditions that are not promoted by Lewis acids is that the isolation of the nitronate intermediate after the [4 + 2] step is not always possible. Lewis-acid promoted cycloadditions often allow for the isolation of the nitronate because such [4 + 2] cycloadditions usually proceed at temperatures too low for the nitronate to react further. Moreover, the nitronate is usually the strongest Lewis base in the reaction mixture. Thus, the nitronate successfully competes for the Lewis acid (which is used stoichiometrically) and becomes deactivated toward the [3 + 2] cycloaddition step. The [3 + 2] cycloadditions of... 

Gothelf presents in Chapter 6 a comprehensive review of metal-catalyzed 1,3-di-polar cycloaddition reactions, with the focus on the properties of different chiral Lewis-acid complexes. The general properties of a chiral aqua complex are presented in the next chapter by Kanamasa, who focuses on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones, nitronates, and diazo compounds. The use of this complex as a highly efficient catalyst for carbo-Diels-Alder reactions and conjugate additions is also described. 

Scheeren et al. reported the first enantioselective metal-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with alkenes in 1994 [26]. Their approach involved C,N-diphenylnitrone la and ketene acetals 2, in the presence of the amino acid-derived oxazaborolidinones 3 as the catalyst (Scheme 6.8). This type of boron catalyst has been used successfully for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions [27, 28]. In this reaction the nitrone is activated, according to the inverse electron-demand, for a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with the electron-rich alkene. The reaction is thus controlled by the LUMO inone-HOMOaikene interaction. They found that coordination of the nitrone to the boron Lewis acid strongly accelerated the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with ketene acetals. The reactions of la with 2a,b, catalyzed by 20 mol% of oxazaborolidinones such as 3a,b were carried out at -78 °C. In some reactions fair enantioselectivities were induced by the catalysts, thus, 4a was obtained with an optical purity of 74% ee, however, in a low yield. The reaction involving 2b gave the C-3, C-4-cis isomer 4b as the only diastereomer of the product with 62% ee. 

Several titanium(IV) complexes are efficient and reliable Lewis acid catalysts and they have been applied to numerous reactions, especially in combination with the so-called TADDOL (a, a,a, a -tetraaryl-l,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanol) (22) ligands [53-55]. In the first study on normal electron-demand 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions between nitrones and alkenes, which appeared in 1994, the catalytic reaction of a series of chiral TiCl2-TADDOLates on the reaction of nitrones 1 with al-kenoyloxazolidinones 19 was developed (Scheme 6.18) [56]. These substrates have turned out be the model system of choice for most studies on metal-catalyzed normal electron-demand 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones as it will appear from this chapter. When 10 mol% of the catalyst 23a was applied in the reaction depicted in Scheme 6.18 the reaction proceeded to give a yield of up to 94% ee after 20 h. The reaction led primarily to exo-21 and in the best case an endo/ exo ratio of 10 90 was obtained. The chiral information of the catalyst was transferred with a fair efficiency to the substrates as up to 60% ee of one of the isomers of exo3 was obtained [56]. 

The enantioselective inverse electron-demand 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with alkenes described so far were catalyzed by metal complexes that favor a monodentate coordination of the nitrone, such as boron and aluminum complexes. However, the glyoxylate-derived nitrone 36 favors a bidentate coordination to the catalyst. This nitrone is a very interesting substrate, since the products that are obtained from the reaction with alkenes are masked a-amino acids. One of the characteristics of nitrones such as 36, having an ester moiety in the a position, is the swift E/Z equilibrium at room temperature (Scheme 6.28). In the crystalline form nitrone 36 exists as the pure Z isomer, however, in solution nitrone 36 have been shown to exists as a mixture of the E and Z isomers. This equilibrium could however be shifted to the Z isomer in the presence of a Lewis acid [74]. 

Nitronates derived from primary nitroalkanes can be regarded as a synthetic equivalent of nitrile oxides since the elimination of an alcohol molecule from nitronates adds one higher oxidation level leading to nitrile oxides. This direct / -elimination of nitronates is known to be facilitated in the presence of a Lewis acid or a base catalyst [66, 72, 73]. On the other hand, cycloaddition reactions of nitronates to alkene dipolarophiles produce N-alkoxy-substituted isoxazolidines as cycloadducts. Under acid-catalyzed conditions, these isoxazolidines can be transformed into 2-isoxazolines through a ready / -elimination, and 2-isoxazolines correspond to the cycloadducts of nitrile oxide cycloadditions to alkenes [74]. 

The Lewis acid-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones to a,/ -un-saturated carbonyl compound in the presence of Lewis acids has been investigated by Tanaka et al. [31]. Ab-initio calculations were performed in a model reaction of the simple nitrone 18 reacting with acrolein 1 to give the two cycloadducts 19 and 20 (Scheme 8.7). 

The other catalytic approach to the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction is the inverse electron-demand (Fig. 8.17, right), in which the nitrone is coordinated to the Lewis acid, which for the reaction in Scheme 8.7 was found to be deactivated compared to the uncatalyzed reaction. In order for a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to proceed under these restrictions the alkene should be substituted with electron-donating substituents. 

The Lewis acid-catalyzed reaction of nitrone 21 with ethyl vinyl ether 22 (Scheme 8.8) was also investigated for BH3 and AlMe3 coordinated to 21 [32]. The presence of BH3 decreases the activation energy for the formation of 23 by 3.1 and 4.5 kcal mol to 9.6 kcal mol for the exoselective reaction and 11.6 kcal-mol for the endo-selective reaction, respectively, while the activation energy for the formation of 24 increases by >1.4 kcal mol , compared to those for the uncatalyzed reaction. The transition-state structure for the BH3-exo-selective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrone 21 with ethyl vinyl ether 22 is shown in Fig. 8.19. 

The theoretical investigations of Lewis acid-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions are also very limited and only papers dealing with cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with alkenes have been investigated. The Influence of the Lewis acid catalyst on these reactions are very similar to what has been calculated for the carbo- and hetero-Diels-Alder reactions. The FMOs are perturbed by the coordination of the substrate to the Lewis acid giving a more favorable reaction with a lower transition-state energy. Furthermore, a more asynchronous transition-structure for the cycloaddition step, compared to the uncatalyzed reaction, has also been found for this class of reactions. 

High-pressnre promoted cycloadditions of nitroalkenes and enol ethers eliminate the nse of Lewis acids fEq 8 106 "Thus, even sterically hmdered nitroalkenes react with 2,3-thhydro-furan to give the exo cyclic nitronates stereoselecdvely without using Lewis acids... 

Viton F, Bemardinelli G, Kiindig EP (2002) Iron and ruthenium Lewis acid catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions between nitrones and enals. J Am Chem Soc 124 4968-4969... 

Scheme 6.7 shows some other examples of enantioselective catalysts. Entry 1 illustrates the use of a Co(III) complex, with the chirality derived from the diamine ligand. Entry 2 is a silver-catalyzed cycloaddition involving generation of an azome-thine ylide. The ferrocenylphosphine groups provide a chiral environment by coordination of the catalytic Ag+ ion. Entries 3 and 4 show typical Lewis acid catalysts in reactions in which nitrones are the electrophilic component. 

Nitro compounds have been converted into various cyclic compounds via cycloaddition reactions. In particular, nitroalkenes have proved to be useful in Diels-Alder reactions. Under thermal conditions, they behave as electron-deficient alkenes and react with dienes to yield 3-nitrocy-clohexenes. Nitroalkenes can also act as heterodienes and react with olefins in the presence of Lewis acids to yield cyclic alkyl nitronates, which undergo [3+2] cycloaddition. Nitro compounds are precursors for nitrile oxides, alkyl nitronates, and trialkylsilyl nitronates, which undergo [3+2]cycloaddition reactions. Thus, nitro compounds play important roles in the chemistry of cycloaddition reactions. In this chapter, recent developments of cycloaddition chemistry of nitro compounds and their derivatives are summarized. 

Nitronates show a similar reactivity to that of nitrones, and nitrones are one of 1,3-dipoles that have been successfully developed to catalyzed asymmetric versions, as discussed in the section on nitrones (Section 8.2.1). However, asymmetric nitronate cycloadditions catalyzed chiral metal catalysts have not been reported. Kanemasa and coworkers have demonstrated that nitronate cycloaddition is catalyzed by Lewis acids (Eq. 8.93).146 This may open a new way to asymmetric nitronate cycloaddition catalyzed by chiral catalysts. 

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