Lithium enolates diastereofacial selectivity

An excellent method for the diastereoselective synthesis of substituted amino acids is based on optically active bislactim ethers of cyclodipeptides as Michael donors (Schollkopf method, see Section 1.5.2.4.2.2.4.). Thus, the lithium enolates of bislactim ethers, from amino acids add in a 1,4-fashion to various a,/i-unsaturated esters with high diastereofacial selectivity (syn/anti ratios > 99.3 0.7-99.5 0.5). For example, the enolate of the lactim ether derivative 6, prepared from (S)-valine and glycine, adds in a highly stereoselective manner to methyl ( )-3-phenyl-propenoate a cis/trans ratio of 99.6 0.4 and a syn/anti ratio of 91 9, with respect to the two new stereogenic centers, in the product 7 are found105, los. 

As with the above pyrrolidine, proline-type chiral auxiliaries also show different behaviors toward zirconium or lithium enolate mediated aldol reactions. Evans found that lithium enolates derived from prolinol amides exhibit excellent diastereofacial selectivities in alkylation reactions (see Section 2.2.32), while the lithium enolates of proline amides are unsuccessful in aldol condensations. Effective chiral reagents were zirconium enolates, which can be obtained from the corresponding lithium enolates via metal exchange with Cp2ZrCl2. For example, excellent levels of asymmetric induction in the aldol process with synj anti selectivity of 96-98% and diastereofacial selectivity of 50-200 116a can be achieved in the Zr-enolate-mediated aldol reaction (see Scheme 3-10). 

Darzens reaction of (-)-8-phenylmethyl a-chloroacetate (and a-bromoacetate) with various ketones (Scheme 2) yields ctT-glycidic esters (28) with high geometric and diastereofacial selectivity which can be explained in terms of both open-chain or non-chelated antiperiplanar transition state models for the initial aldol-type reaction the ketone approaches the Si-f ce of the Z-enolate such that the phenyl ring of the chiral auxiliary and the enolate portion are face-to-face. Aza-Darzens condensation reaction of iV-benzylideneaniline has also been studied. Kinetically controlled base-promoted lithiation of 3,3-diphenylpropiomesitylene results in Z enolate ratios in the range 94 6 (lithium diisopropylamide) to 50 50 (BuLi), depending on the choice of solvent and temperature. ... 

Asymmetric aldol reactions5 (11, 379-380). The lithium enolate of the N-propionyloxazolidinone (1) derived from L-valine reacts with aldehydes with low syn vs. anti-selectivity, but with fair diastereofacial selectivity attributable to chelation. Transmetallation of the lithium enolate with ClTi(0-i-Pr)3 (excess) provides a titanium enolate, which reacts with aldehydes to form mainly the syn-aldol resulting from chelation, the diastereomer of the aldol obtained from reactions of the boron enolate (11, 379-380). The reversal of stereocontrol is a result of chelation in the titanium reaction, which is not possible with boron enolates. This difference is of practical value, since it can result in products of different configuration from the same chiral auxiliary. 

Recent studies have suggested that coordination with a lithium cation may be responsible for the stereochemical outcome in Meyers-type enolate alkylations . In fact, the hypothesis that the diastereofacial selectivity observed in these reactions might result from specific interactions with a solvated lithium cation was already proposed in 1990 . Nevertheless, the potential influence exerted by solvation and lithium cation coordination was not supported by a series of experimental results reported by Romo and Meyers , who stated that it would appear that neither the aggregation state of the enolate nor the coordination sphere about lithium plays a major role in the observed selectivity. This contention is further supported by recent theoretical studies of Ando , who carried out a detailed analysis of the potential influence of solvated lithium cation on the stereoselective alkylation of enolates of y-butyrolactones. The results showed conclusively that complexation with lithium cation had a negligible effect on the relative stability of the transition states leading to exo and endo addition. The stereochemical outcome in the alkylation of y -butyrolactones is determined by the different torsional strain in the endo and exo TSs. 

The stereoselectivity of the antibody-catalyzed addition of acetone to aldehyde 67 revealed that the ketone was added to the re-face of 67 regardless of the stereochemistry at C2 of this substrate. The aldol process follows a classical Cram-Felkin mode of attack on (S)-67 to generate the (4S,5S)-68 diastereomer and the anti-Cram-Felkin mode of attack on the (R)-67 to yield the (4S,5R)-69 diastereomer. The products are formed at a similar rate and yield, therefore there is no concomitant kinetic resolution of the racemic aldehyde. The two antibodies differ in their diastereofacial selectivity, reflecting the ability of the antibodies to orient the 67 on opposite sides of the prochiral faces of the nucleophilic antibody-enamine complex of acetone. Heath cock and Flippin [79] have shown that the chemical reaction of the lithium enolate of acetone with (S)-67 yields the (4S,5S)-68 diastereomer a 5% de for this Cram-Felkin product. The generation of the (4S,5R)-69 and (4R,5R)-70 products in a ratio of 11 1 by the... 

Lactone enolates typically show poor simple diastereoselection. For example, in connection with a synthesis of ( )-podorhizol, Ziegler and Schwartz added the lithium enolate of butyrolactone (82) to 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde (equation 74). Although the diastereofacial selectivity of the chiral enolate is complete, aldols (83) and (84) are formed in a ratio of 50 50 in THF and 25 75 in an equimolar mixture of dimethoxyethane and ether. ... 

The dianion of the hydroxybutyrolactone (87) reacts with aldehydes with high diastereofacial selectivity to give mixtures of dihydroxy lactones (88) and (89) (equation 76 Table 5). ° The lithium enolate shows little simple stereoselection with the sterically undemanding aldehydes phenylacetaldehyde and tetradecanal. Significant stereoselectivity is seen in the reaction with benzaldehyde, and pivalaldehyde gives only a single product. Because the aldol relative stereochemistry in the reactions with benzalde-... 

In the Woodward erythromycin synthesis, the lithium enolate of t-butyl thiopropionate was added to aldehyde (151) aldol (152) was obtained in 85% yield (equation 99). The remarkable diastereofacial selectivity observed in this reaction may be a general property of thioester enolates. (v/de infra). 

The major and minor products obtained in aldol reactions of chiral aldehyde (168 equation 109) are not those predicted by Cram s rule, presumably because the lithium cation is chelated by the alkoxy and aldehyde oxygens, leading to a rigid six-meml red intermediate that undergoes attack primarily from its unsubstituted face. " Similar behavior, with somewhat higher diastereofacial selectivity (5 1), is seen with the magnesium enolate (equation 50). 

Although alkylation of 3-hydFoxy ester dianions occurs with high diastereofacial selectivity, the aldol reaction of the dianion obtained from methyl 3-hydroxybutanoate with benzaldehyde gives all four dia-stereomeric aldols in a ratio of 43 34 14 9 (equation 117). On the other hand, dianions of 8-hydroxy esters show rather good diastereofacial preferences under the proper conditions. Deprotonation of t-butyl-5-hydroxyhexanoate with lithium diethylamide in the presence of lithium triflate gives an enolate that reacts with benzaldehyde to give aldols (196) and (197) in a ratio of 91 9 (equation 118). Use of the r-butyldimethylsilyl ether instead of the alcohol resulted in no facial preference. 

Chiral acetate (204) shows excellent diastereofacial selectivity and has obvious utility as a reagent for asymmetric aldol reactions. As shown in equation (122), reaction of (204) with benzaldehyde provides diastereomers (205) and (206). As shown in Table 23, entry 1, the diastereoselectivity is 83% if the lithium enolate is formed in the conventional manner and the aldol reaction is carried out in THF at -78 C. A significant improvement is obtained by using the magnesium enolate (Table 23, entry 5), and diastereoselectivity of up to 98% is obtained by the use of very low reaction temperatures (Table 23, entries 10-13). 

Chiral amides (222) and (223) and imides (224) and (225) have also been studied as reagents for asymmetric aldol reactions. These reagents show excellent diastereofacial preferences as their boron and zirconium enolates, but generally show poor selectivity as their lithium enolates. The reader is referred to other chapters in this volume for a discussion of these and related reagents. 

The lithium enolate of amide (226) shows reasonable diastereofacial selectivity in its reactions with several aldehydes (equation 127 Table 26). The hydroxymethyl group is important, as N-acetylphen-ethylamine has almost no diastereofacial preference. ... 

The aldol reactions of titanium enolates have been the best studied of all the transition metal enol-ates."- In many cases they show higher stereoselectivity and chemoselectivity in their reactions than lithium enolates and are easily prepared using inexpensive reagents. They also promote high levels of diastereofacial selectivity in reactions of chiral reactants. The Lewis acidity of the titanium metal center can be easily manipulated by variation of the ligands (chloro, alkoxy, amino, cyclopentadienyl, etc.) attached to titanium, which leads to enhanced selectivity in appropriate cases. Moreover, the incorporation of chiral ligands on titanium makes possible efficient enantioselective aldol reactions. 

In addition to the excellent diastereofacial selectivity observed with the boron enolate, an unusual result was obtained concerning the absolute stereochemistry of the syn products (ratio of 131 132). Interestingly, the stereochemistry of the newly formed chiral centers in tiie major products derived from tin(II) and boron enolates (131) is reversed from that obtained from lithium, tin(IV) and zinc enolates. Several examples of the reaction are shown in Table 14. 

Cainelli, Martelli and coworkers have reported an interesting case of combined syn-anti and dia-stereofacial selectivity using chiral A/-silylimine (199), prepared in situ from (S)-O-TBDMS-lactic aldehyde (198). 2 As shown in Scheme 41, condensation of the lithium enolate of r-butyl butyrate with A -silylimine (199) affords essentially a single p-lactam (2(M)), contaminated with only 4% of the corresponding other trans diastereomeric 3-lactam. The authors propose that the high level of diastereofacial selectivity (14 1) is due to the formation of lithium chelate (201), which undergoes attack by the enolate from the least hindered ir-face of the imine. The authors do not discuss the unusual anti selectivity of this reaction. 

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