Mechanistic effects, asymmetric amplification

Carbonyl-Ene Reaction. BINOL-TiX2 reagent exhibits a remarkable level of asymmetric catalysis in the carbonyl-ene reaction of prochiral glyoxylates, thereby providing practical access to a-hydroxy esters. These reactions exhibit a remarkable positive nonlinear effect (asymmetric amplification) that is of practical and mechanistic importance (eq 19). The desymmetrization of prochiral ene substrates with planar symmetry by the enantiofacial selective carbonyl-ene reaction provides an efficient solution to remote internal asymmetric induction (eq 20). The kinetic resolution of a racemic allylic ether by the glyoxylate-ene reaction also provides efficient access to remote but relative asymmetric induction (eq 21). Both the dibromide and dichloride catalysts provide the (2R,5S)-syn product with 97% diastereoselectivity and >95% ee. 

Nonlinear effects is becoming very common (see Ref. [115] for a review) and is often a mechanistic tool. Asymmetric amplification has been discovered in many different kinds of catalytic reactions (for a recent review, see Ref. [ 116]). It has also been very useful in the devising of efficient asymmetric autocatalytic systems [117]. 

The presence of a nonlinear effect, either negative or positive, is a useful piece of information for the mechanistic study of a reaction. It implies that diastereomeric species are formed from the chiral auxiliary. If an asymmetric amplification is observed, it can be indicative of the formation of meso dimers (or tetramers etc.) of low reactivity. When the kinetic study of an asymmetric catalysis shows a rate second order with respect to catalyst concentration, it may be useful to investigate the possibility of nonlinear effects in the system. Jacobsen et al., for example, studied the... 

One of the most exciting and recently emerging areas in asymmetric synthesis is asymmetric amplification. This topic has extraordinarily broad implications from mechanistic insights provided by non-linear effects to the enhancement of enantiomeric composition of important compounds to new hypotheses for the origin of biomolecular homochirality. The final chapter by Henri Kagan and David Fenwick provides a thorough and insightful analysis of the basic principles of asymmetric amplification and illustrations of some of the more important applications in synthesis. 

Non-linear effects were discovered in 1986 [5]. They are now widely recognized in many catalytic reactions, and provide a useful tool for mechanistic investigations. Moreover, they can have some practical applications. For example, in the case of asymmetric amplification it is not necessary to perform a costly complete resolution of a chiral ligand if the reaction involves a strong (-i-)-NLE. The concept of non-linearity has been extended to mixtures of diastereomeric ligands (vide supra). Finally, asymmetric amplification is very useful in reactions which display asymmetric autocatalysis, giving high levels of enantioselectivity after initiation with a catalyst of very low ee. 

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