Mandelic acid derivatives chiral auxiliaries

Control over the absolute configuration in cyclohexenone photocycloadditions has been achieved by auxiliary-induced diastereoselectivity. In particular, esters related to compound 26, which are derived from a chiral alcohol but not from methanol, lend themselves as potential precursors, from which the chiral auxiliary can be effectively cleaved [42, 43]. In a recent study, the use of additives was advertised to increase the diastereomeric excess in these reactions [44], An intriguing auxiliary-induced approach was presented by Piva et al., who employed chiral 13-hydroxy-carboxylic adds as tethers to control both the regioselectivity and the diastereoselectivity of intramolecular [2 + 2]-photocycloaddition reactions [45]. In Scheme 6.14 the reaction of the (S)-mandelic acid derived substrate 38 is depicted, which led with very good stereocontrol almost exclusively to product 39a, with the other diastereoisomer 39b being formed only in minor quantities (39a/39b = 96/4). Other acids, such as (S)-lactic acid, performed equally well. The chiral tether could be cleaved under basic conditions to afford enantiomerically pure cydobutane lactones in good yields. 

Mandelic acid and its derivatives are utilized as convenient precursors for the introduction of a chiral center, and they possess the extra advantage of bearing a useful functional group. Many mandelic acid derivatives also act as chiral auxiliaries for the induction of a chiral center in stereoselective transformations. Numerous natural products, such as macrolides and ionophore antibiotics, possess a carbon framework that may be viewed synthetically as arising from a sequence of highly stereo- and enantioselective aldol condensations. Boron enolates, chiral auxiliaries derived from mandelic acids 1 or 2, provide remarkably high aldol stereoselectivity. 

Chiral heterodienes, e.g., 12, for inverse Diels-Alder reactions were obtained from a-mer-capto ketones as shown14,15,37. In one case, the chiral heterodiene not only included the O-methyl-L-mandelic acid subunit as chiral auxiliary, but also a chiral C4-unit derived from ascorbic acid or tartaric acid, respectively, which is incorporated in the final product (deoxy-ga/octo-heptose)15. 

These boron enolates can be considered as chiral nucleophiles wherein chirality observed in the products of the aldol reactions arises from the chiral auxiliary mandelic acid. An alternative approach to the diastereo- and enantioselective carbon-carbon bond forming reaction is to react an achiral anion precursor with an electrophilic equivalent containing a chiral auxiliary derived from mandelic acid. 

Reactions of dienes containing optically active auxiliary groups have not been so widely studied as those of chiral dienophiles. There are, however, examples of the use of various chiral auxiliaries attached to either C-1 or C-2 of the diene. The 1-substituted diene 130, derived from mandelic acid, undergoes cycloaddition with dienophiles in the presence of boron trifluoride or boron triacetate (3.94). With the dienophile juglone, the adduct 131 was formed with virtually complete asymmetric induction. The absolute configuration of the product corresponds to reaction of the diene in the conformation in which one face of the diene is shielded by the phenyl substituent. 

One of the pervasive problems in asymmetric synthesis has been the development of stereoselective acetate ester aldol reactions. Although a number of chiral auxiliaries perform superbly well in diastereoselective propionate aldol additions, these have, with rare exceptions, been unsuccessful in the corresponding additions of unsubstituted acetate-derived enolates [19, 63, 64). Braun s disclosure of a stereoselective acetate aldol addition reaction with 103 was an important milestone in the development of the field (Scheme 4.11) [63, 65]. The diol auxiliary can easily be prepared from mandelic acid esterification of the secondary alcohol is obsei ved, without interference from the tertiary counterpart. Its use has been showcased in a number of syntheses [53]. The high yield and diastereoselectivity generally obtained with 103 were highlighted by investigators at Merck in the construction of the chiral lactone fragment that is common in a number of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, such as compactin (105) [66]. 

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