Lewis lanthanide triflates

A combination of the promoting effects of Lewis acids and water is a logical next step. However, to say the least, water has not been a very popular medium for Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reactions, which is not surprising since water molecules interact strongly with Lewis-acidic and the Lewis-basic atoms of the reacting system. In 1994, when the research described in this thesis was initiated, only one example of Lewis-acid catalysis of a Diels-Alder reaction in water was published Lubineau and co-workers employed lanthanide triflates as a catalyst for the Diels-Alder reaction of glyoxylate to a relatively unreactive diene . No comparison was made between the process in water and in organic solvents. 

Although the Lewis acids used as co-reagents in Friedel-Crafts acylations are often referred to as catalysts, they are, in fact, consumed in the reaction, with the generation of strong acids. There has been considerable interest in finding materials which could function as true catalysts. Considerable success has been achieved using lanthanide triflates. ... 

To achieve catalytic enantioselective aza Diels-Alder reactions, choice of metal is very important. It has been shown that lanthanide triflates are excellent catalysts for achiral aza Diels-Alder reactions [5]. Although stoichiometric amounts of Lewis acids are often required, a small amount of the triflate effectively catalyzes the reactions. On the basis of these findings chiral lanthanides were used in catalytic asymmetric aza Diels-Alder reactions. The chiral lanthanide Lewis acids were first developed to realize highly enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions of 2-oxazolidin-l-one with dienes [6]. 

Whereas lanthanide triflates are strong Lewis acids, lanthanide complexes such as Yb(fod)3 and Eu(fod)3 are mild catalysts that can be used when the cycloaddition involves acid-sensitive reagents and/or cycloadducts [34]. 

Interest in the aqueous medium spread quickly and many, sometimes surprising, discoveries were made [3]. Today pericyclic [4], condensation [5], oxidation [6] and reduction [7] reactions are routinely carried out in aqueous medium. The recent discovery of water-tolerant Lewis acids such as lanthanide triflates, Bi(OTf)j, Sc(OTf)j and Y(OTf)j has revolutionized organometallic chemistry [5a, 7]. 

As mentioned several times Lewis acids are highly valuable catalysts but the most commonly used ones such as aluminium chloride and boron trifluoride are highly water sensitive and are not usually recovered at the end of a reaction, leading to a significant source of waste. In recent years there has been much research interest in lanthanide triflates (trifluoro-methanesulfonates) as water stable, recyclable Lewis acid catalysts. This unusual water stability opens up the possibility for either carrying out reactions in water or using water to extract and recover the catalyst from the reaction medium. 

The lanthanide salts are unique among Lewis acids in that they can be effective as catalysts in aqueous solution.61 Silyl enol ethers react with formaldehyde and benzaldehyde in water-THF mixtures using lanthanide triflates such as Yb(03SCF3)3. The catalysis reflects the strong affinity of lanthanides for carbonyl oxygen, even in aqueous solution. 

Kobayashi has found that scandium triflate, Sc(OTf)3,36 and lanthanide triflate, Ln(OTf)3, are stable and can be used as Lewis catalysts under aqueous conditions. Many other Lewis acids have also been reported to catalyze Diels-Alder reactions in aqueous media. For example, Engberts reported37 that the cyclization reaction in Eq. 12.7 in an aqueous solution containing 0.010 M Cu(N03)2 is 250,000 times faster than that in acetonitrile and about 1,000 times faster than that in water alone. Other salts, such as Co2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+, also catalyze the reaction, but not as effectively as Cu2+. However, water has no effect on the endo-exo selectivity for the Lewis-acid catalyzed reaction. 

As in the case of Diels-Alder reactions, aqueous aza-Diels-Alder reactions are also catalyzed by various Lewis acids such as lanthanide triflates.113 Lanthanide triflate-catalyzed imino Diels-Alder reactions of imines with dienes or alkenes were developed. Three-component aza-Diels-Alder reactions, starting from aldehyde, aniline, and Danishefsky s diene, took place smoothly under the influence of HBL4 in aqueous media to afford dihydro-4-pyridone derivatives in high yields (Eq. 12.46).114... 

S. Kobayashi, H. Ishitani, M Ueno, Facile Synthesis of a-Amino Nitriles Using Lanthanide Triflate as a Lewis Acid Catalyst Synlett. 1997,115-116. 

Another example of the use of Lewis acids in organic reactions in water is the lan-thanide(III) triflate catalysed aza-Diels-Alder reaction, exemplified in Scheme 14. In this reaction the hetero-dienophile is formed in situ from a primary ammonium hydrochloride and a carbonyl compound followed by the actual Diels-Alder reaction288,289. This type of reaction proceeds readily in aqueous media290-296, and a dramatic increase in the yield upon addition of lanthanide triflates was observed288,289. The exact role of the catalyst, however, is not entirely clear. Although it was suggested that the catalyst binds to the dienophile, other mechanisms, such as simple proton catalysis, are also plausible. Moreover, these reactions are further complicated since they are often heterogeneous. 

Although several Lewis acids are known to catalyze the hetero-Diels-Alder reaction involving imino-dienes or imino-dienophiles (aza-Diels-Alder reaction), a large amount of the catalyst is often necessary. Bi(0Tf)3-xH20 showed higher activity than lanthanide triflates in catalyzing the reactions of imines with Danishefsky s diene (Scheme 15) [72]. 

As in conventional AlCl3-promoted acylations the ketone product forms a strong complex with the chloroaluminate IL. Lanthanide triflates, in particular Sc(OTf)3, have been widely studied as water-tolerant Lewis acids in a variety of transformations, including Friedel-Crafts alkylations and... 

Bismuth(m) salts, such as BiCl3, BiBr3, Bi(OCOR)3, Bi(N03)3, Bi(OTf)3, and Bi(NTf2)3, have been used as Lewis acid catalysts to mediate a variety of carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions.85 In some cases, true catalysts differ from the bismuth salts initially added. The most effective and frequently used catalyst is Bi(OTf)3, which is obtained as a hydrated or dehydrated form depending on the preparation methods.86,86a,86b Like lanthanide triflates, Bi(OTf)3 is water stable and reusable. 

As mentioned earlier (Section 1.5) another example of novel catalysis in an aqueous medium is the use of lanthanide triflates as water-tolerant Lewis acid catalysts for a variety of organic transformations in water [39]. 

The lanthanide triflate remains in the aqueous phase and can be re-used after concentration. From a green chemistry viewpoint it would be more attractive to perform the reactions in water as the only solvent. This was achieved by adding the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS 20 mol%) to the aqueous solution of e.g. Sc(OTf)3 (10 mol%) [145]. A further extension of this concept resulted in the development of lanthanide salts of dodecyl sulfate, so-called Lewis acid-surfactant combined catalysts (LASC) which combine the Lewis acidity of the cation with the surfactant properties of the anion [148]. These LASCs, e.g. Sc(DS)3, exhibited much higher activities in water than in organic solvents. They were shown to catalyze a variety of reactions, such as Michael additions and a three component a-aminophosphonate synthesis (see Fig. 2.44) in water [145]. 

Although Lewis add-catalyzed carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions are now of great interest in organic synthesis, these reactions must be conducted under strictly anhydrous conditions, because most Lewis adds react immediately with water rather than the substrates, and are decomposed or deactivated. Sc(OTf)3, however, was found to be stable in water, and effectively activated carbonyl and related compounds as a Lewis add in water. Although it had already been found that lanthanide triflates (Ln(OTf)3 Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) and yttrium triflate (Y(OTf)3) are stable in water and can act as Lewis acid catalysts in aqueous media [3], Sc(OTf)3 occasionally has even better properties even than Ln(OTf)3. Sc(OTf)3, moreover, worked well as a Lewis acid catalyst in several organic solvents, and chiral scandium triflates have also been developed. 

Kobayashi et al. found that lanthanide triflates were excellent catalysts for activation of C-N double bonds —activation by other Lewis acids required more than stoichiometric amounts of the acids. Examples were aza Diels-Alder reactions, the Man-nich-type reaction of A-(a-aminoalkyl)benzotriazoles with silyl enol ethers, the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrones to alkenes, the 1,2-cycloaddition of diazoesters to imines, and the nucleophilic addition reactions to imines [24], These reactions are efficiently catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3. The arylimines reacted with Danishefsky s diene to give the dihydropyridones (Eq. 14) [25,26], The arylimines acted as the azadienes when reacted with cyclopentadiene, vinyl ethers or vinyl thioethers, providing the tet-rahydroquinolines (Eq. 15). Silyl enol ethers derived from esters, ketones, and thio-esters reacted with N-(a-aminoalkyl)benzotriazoles to give the /5-amino carbonyl compounds (Eq. 16) [27]. The diastereoselectivity was independent of the geometry of the silyl enol ethers, and favored the anti products. Nitrones, prepared in situ from aldehydes and N-substituted hydroxylamines, added to alkenes to afford isoxazoli-dines (Eq. 17) [28]. Addition of diazoesters to imines afforded CK-aziridines as the major products (Eq. 18) [29]. In all the reactions the imines could be generated in situ and the three-component coupling reactions proceeded smoothly in one pot. 

Mukaiyama aldol reactions are useful means of constructing complex molecules for the total synthesis of natural products. Although catalytic asymmetric Mukaiyama aldol reactions have been achieved by use of a variety of chiral Lewis acids [42], no report of the use of chiral lanthanide catalysts was available until recently, despite the potency of these catalysts. Shibasaki and co-workers reported the first examples of chiral induction with chiral lanthanide complexes (Sch. 7) [43]. Catalysts prepared from lanthanide triflates and a chiral sulfonamide ligand afforded the corresponding aldol products in moderate enantiomeric excess (up to 49% ee). 

Rare earth metal triflates are recognized as a very efficient Lewis acid catalysts of several reactions including the aldol reaction, the Michael reaction, allylation, the Diels-Alder reaction, the Friedel-Crafts reaction, and glycosylation [110]. A polymer-sup-ported scandium catalyst has been developed and used for quinoline library synthesis (Sch. 8) [111], because lanthanide triflates were known to be effective in the synthesis of quinolines from A-arylimines [112,113]. This catalyst (103) was readily prepared from poly(acrylonitrile) 100 by chemical modification. A variety of combinations of aldehydes, amines, and olefins are possible in this reaction. Use of the polymer-supported catalyst has several advantages in quinoline library construction. 

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