Methyl ketones, chiral, aldolization

By the use of chiral oxazolidines derived from a chiral norephedrine and methyl ketones, an asymmetric aldol reaction proceeds in a highly enantioselective manner. In the case of ethyl or a-methoxy ketones, the corresponding anti aldol products were obtained with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. A chiral titanium reagent, generated from... 

The development of enantioselective aldol reactions has been widely studied in conjunction with the synthesis of natural products. Highly enantioselective aldol reactions have been achieved by employing chiral enolates of ethyl ketones and propionic acid derivatives.(1) On the other hand, achieving high asymmetric induction in the asymmetric aldol reaction of methyl ketones is still a problem.(2)... 

Based on this assumption, the asymmetric aldol reaction of chiral 1,3-oxazolidines 1 of methyl ketones was examined. It was found that the corresponding aldol products were obtained in good optical purity when divalent tin chloride was used as an additive metal salt. 

To address limitations in the use of glyceraldehyde acetonide (43) as a three-carbon chiral building block, butane-2,3-diacetal-protected glyceraldehyde (44, R1 = R2 = H) has been prepared. It undergoes diastereoselective aldol reactions with a range of carbonyl compounds esters, thioesters, and ketones. The work has been extended (g) to other derivatives such as the a-substituted aldehyde (44, R1 = Me, allyl) and the methyl ketone (44, R2 = Me).122a,b... 

In 2003, Paterson and co-workers reported a second-generation strategy for the synthesis of discodermolide, which aimed to eliminate the use of all chiral reagents and auxiliaries, and reduce the total number of synthetic steps (Scheme 24) [58, 59], These specific aims were achieved by employing an unprecedented aldol coupling at C5-C6 between C1-C5 aldehyde 118 and the advanced C6-C24 methyl ketone 119 and utilising diol 120 as a common precursor for the synthesis of the three subunits 118, 121 (C9-C16) and 98 (C17-C24). 

On the other hand, with heterosubstituted chiral aldehydes, the product distribution for the reaction with methyl ketone enolates is strongly influenced by the nature of the metal, the nature of the heteroatom and its position within the molecule. A chair-like transition state explained the formation of the Felkin adduct, while a boat-like transition state was invoked for the formation of the anti-Felkin adduct. However, this assumption was recently challenged by Roush and coworkers using deuterated pinacolone lithium enolate565. Performing a set of aldolizations with chiral and non chiral aldehydes led these authors to show that the isomeric purity of the enolate correlates almost perfectly with the ratio and pattern of deuterium labeling in the 2,3-an/t-aldol formed consistent with a highly favoured chair-like transition state (Scheme 115). 

In recent years the synthetic potential and mechanistic aspects of asymmetric catalysis with chiral Lewis base have been investigated. Aldol addition reactions between trichlorosilyl enolates with aldehydes have been also intensively studied. Now, full investigations of the trichlorosilyl enolates derived from achiral and chiral methyl ketones, in both uncatalysed and catalysed reactions with chiral and achiral aldehyde acceptors have been reported. The aldol addition is dramatically accelerated by the addition of chiral phosphoramides, particularly (137) and proceed with good to high enantioselectivity with achiral enolates and aldehydes (Scheme 34). ... 

The TiCLrmediated Mukaiyama aldol reactions between 7r-allyltricarbonyliron lactone complexes and chiral aldehydes were well documented by Ley and coworkers [37]. (/ )-Trimethylsilyl enol ether 23 (>96% ee) was prepared from the methyl ketone complex 22 by treatment with MesSiOTf/EtsN in CH2CI2 and this was then reacted with (R)- and (5)-2-benzyloxypropanal 24 under the influence of TiCl4 in CH2CI2 at -78 °C. Although the reactions proceeded very slowly and apparent hydrolysis of the silyl enol ether occurred, the aldol products 25 and 26 were isolated in excellent diastereoselectivity in both cases (Scheme 1-8). Interest-... 

Boron-mediated aldol reactions of -oxygenated methyl ketones are normally unselective, and chiral ligands are needed to achieve useful levels of control. However, as shown in Scheme 9-6, a Mukaiyama aldol reaction can be used where induction from silyl enol ether 13 is high, favouring adduct 14 [7, 8]. 

Given this problem, the attachment of the butanone synthon to aldehyde 74 prior to the methyl ketone aldol reaction was then addressed. To ovenide the unexpected. vTface preference of aldehyde 74, a chiral reagent was required and an asymmetric. syn crotylboration followed by Wacker oxidation proved effective for generating methyl ketone 87. Based on the previous results, it was considered unlikely that a boron enolate would now add selectively to aldehyde 73. However, a Mukaiyama aldol reaction should favour the desired isomer based on induction from the aldehyde partner. In practice, reaction of the silyl enol ether derived from 87 with aldehyde 73, in the presence of BF3-OEt2, afforded the required Felkin adduct 88 with >97%ds (Scheme 9-29). This provides an excellent example of a stereoselective Mukaiyama aldol reaction uniting a complex ketone and aldehyde, and this key step then enabled the successful first synthesis of swinholide A. 

As previously mentioned, certain methyl ketone aldol reactions enable the stereocontrolled introduction of hydroxyl groups in a, 5-anti relationship (Scheme 9-7) [9], and this was now utilized twice in the synthesis. Hence, methyl ketones 48 and 98 were converted to their respective Ipc boron enolates and reacted with aldehydes 97 and 99 to give almost exclusively the, 5-anti aldol adducts 100 and 101, respectively (Scheme 9-34). In the case of methyl ketone 48, the j -silyl ether leads to reduced stereoinduction however, this could be boosted to >97%ds with the use of chiral ligands. In both examples, the y9-stereocenter of the aldehyde had a moderate reinforcing effect (1,3-syn), thus leading to triply matched aldol reactions. Adducts 100 and 101 were then elaborated to the spiro-acetal containing aldehyde 102 and ketone 103, respectively. 

The Evans group s synthesis of the C1-C28 fragment 105 of spongistatin 2 [55] has several features in common with that described above. As with our synthesis, methyl ketone aldol reactions were used to assemble spiroacetal fragments 106 and 107 (Scheme 9-35). Hence, methyl ketones 108 and 109 were converted to their dibutylboron enolates and reacted with aldehydes 110 and 111, respectively. In the case of methyl ketone 108, the reaction was non-selective, which was not detrimental to the synthesis as the C7 alcohol was subsequently oxidized. As already noted, use of chiral ligands would usually be required for high selectivity... 

When we discussed how -enolates of ethyl ketones such as 207 gave 1,3-control in the aldol reaction, we noted that there was 1,4-control too. Paterson did the same reaction on the corresponding methyl ketones and found that the lithium enolate (M = Li in 234) was unselective. The boron enolate with an achiral group 9 (M = dicyclohexyl-B) was selective giving 88 12 syn anti-235 in 84% yield but with a chiral group [M = (-)-(Ipc)2B] the stereoselectivity was significantly better35 (92 8). 

Thus, the aldol shown, which is susceptible to Sharpless-type epoxidation, has been obtained from phytal and the protected hydroquinone (ref. 120). Formation of the epoxide presumably with a chiral peracid (or perhaps with a conventional peracid relying on the asymmetry of the substrate) and then cleavage reductively in t-butyl methyl ketone containing lithium aluminium hydride led to a diol. The benzylic hydroxyl group of this was hydrogenolysed to afford the hydroquinone dimethyl ether in 85% yield. Ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) oxidation afforded the intermediate benzoquinone hydrogenation of which was reported to result in 2R,4 R,8 R-a-tocopherol by, presumably, avoidance of a racemisation step. 

Enantioselective aldol reactions. Enders et ul. have reported a regiospecific and enantioselective aldol synthesis. The method involves conversion of a methyl ketone into the chiral hydrazone 2, a-metalation, reaction with a carbonyl compound, and silylation to form a doubly protected ketol 3. The chiral ketols 4 are obtained by oxidative hydrolysis with H2O2 (30%) at pH 7 or by sensitized photooxidation in THF followed by reduction with dimethyl sulfide. Optical yields are 30-60%. The absolute configuration of the ketols is not known at present. 

Retrosynthetically, spiroketal precursor 8 would be accessed via a diaster-eoselective aldol reaction between chiral aldehyde 9 and a-chiral (3-arylated methyl ketone 10 (Scheme 3). Aldehyde 9 would be readily accessible from commercially available ethyl (S)-hydroxybutyrate, while methyl ketone 10 would be constmcted by the Suzuki cross-coupling of trifluoroboratoamide 11 and rotationally symmetric aryl halides 12/13. The use of Br or I in place of Cl in halides 12/13 was intended to increase the reactivity of 12/13 toward oxidative insertion and overcome the steric hindrance imparted by the ortho-disubstituted aromatic framework. The required functionalization of the aromatic ring to install the phthalide motif was envisioned to be possible via iridium-catalyzed CH-borylation either before or after formation of the spiroketal core. Our group already had experience with this remarkable transformation in the context of naphthalene chemistry. 

Attention now turned to the aldol reaction of methyl ketone 27 with chiral aldehyde 9d. Motivated by our previous success with a Mukaiyama aldol reaction (see Section 2.3), we aimed to employ an analogous procedure with methyl ketone 27. Formation of silyl enol ether 37 was achieved by treatment with tri-methylsilyl triflate and triethylamine. The Lewis acid-mediated aldol reaction proceeded smoothly once more, although full conversion to aldol 26 could not be attained. Reaction of 37 with aldehyde 9d at -78 °C in the presence of boron trifluoride diethyl etherate provided aldol 26 in 58% yield over two steps together with 38% recovered methyl ketone 27 (Scheme 12). In an effort to improve the yield, the reaction time was extended to 3 h. Interestingly, this did not result in any significant increase in the yield of aldol 26 (56% yield). 

Dialkylzincs promote direct aldol-type reaction of ethyl diazoacetate with trilluoro-methyl ketones to give highly functionalized products, R-C(0H)(CF3)-C(=N2)-C02Et, in good to excellent yield. Preliminary screening of chiral catalysts gives some good ccs. ... 

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