Enantioselective Michael Additions

Pracejus and coworkers reported the first Michael addition/enantioselective protonation mediated by cinchona alkaloids [15]. The authors put a special emphasis on the requirement of using chiral P-N,N-dialkylamino alcohol to achieve significant inductions. The addition of benzyl thiol 16 on 2-phthalimidoacrylate 17 catalyzed by 5 mol% of quinidine 3 gave the best selectivity (Scheme 7.10). 

Scheme 7.15 Deng s tandem Michael addition/enantioselective protonation [19].

Scheme 7.16 Deng s Michael addition/enantioselective protonation with acyclic cyanoacetates [19].

As shown above, it was not so easy to optimize the Michael addition reactions of l-crotonoyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazole in the presence of the l ,J -DBFOX/ Ph-Ni(C104)2 3H20 catalyst because a simple tendency of influence to enantio-selectivity is lacking. Therefore, we changed the acceptor to 3-crotonoyl-2-oxazolidi-none in the reactions of malononitrile in dichloromethane in the presence of the nickel(II) aqua complex (10 mol%) (Scheme 7.49). For the Michael additions using the oxazolidinone acceptor, dichloromethane was better solvent than THF and the enantioselectivities were rather independent upon the reaction temperatures and Lewis base catalysts. Chemical yields were also satisfactory. 

Finally we have performed the Michael addition reactions of malononitrile and 3-(2-alkenoyl)-2-oxazolidinones in dichloromethane in the presence of the R,R-DBF0X/Ph-Ni(C104)2-31 20 and TMP (10 mol% each). Enantioselectivities were a little lower than 90% ee for acceptors having a variety of / -substituents. The best selectivity was 94% ee in the reaction of t-butyl-substituted acceptor (Scheme 7.50). 

With the use of chiral reagents a differentiation of enantiotopic faces is possible, leading to an enantioselective reaction. The stereoselective version of the Michael addition reaction can be a useful tool in organic synthesis, for instance in the synthesis of natural products. 

Methods for the catalytic enantioselective Michael addition have been developed using three different approaches ... 

High enantioselectivities may be reached using the kinetic controlled Michael addition of achiral tin enolates, prepared in situ, to a,/i-unsaturated carbonyl compounds catalyzed by a chiral amine. The presence of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate as an activator is required in these reactions236. Some typical results, using stoichiometric amounts of chiral amine and various enolates are given below. In the case of the l-(melhylthio)-l-[(trimethylsilyl)thio]ethene it is proposed that metal exchange between the tin(II) trifluoromethanesulfonate and the ketene acetal occurs prior to the 1,4-addition237,395. 

The highest enantioselectivities in the base-catalyzed Michael additions have so far been obtained using achiral bases complexed to chiral crown ethers. The addition of methyl 2,3-dihydro-l-oxo-1//-indene-2-carboxylate (1) to 3-buten-2-one using 4 mol% of a [l,T-binaphthalcnc]-2,2 -diol derived optically active crown ether 3 in combination with potassium AY/-butoxide as the base illustrates this successful method 259 260 It is assumed that the actual Michael donor is the potassium enolate complex of 1 and crown ether 3. 

Fig. 32 Proposed cooperative bimetallic intramolecular mechanism for the enantioselective Michael addition of a-cyanoesters 57 to vinylketones...

Jautze S, Peters R (2008) Enantioselective bimetallic catalysis of Michael additions forming quaternary stereocenters. Angew Chem Int Ed 47 9284-9288... 

An enantioselective Michael addition reaction was also accomplished in an inclusion complex with a chiral host compound. Treatment of a 1 1 complex of 10c and 66b with 2-mercaptopyridine (137) in the solid state gave (+)-138 of 80% ee in 51% yield. By a similar method, 3-methyl-3-buten-2-one (139) gave (+)-140 of 49% ee in 76% yield [30]. 

In a recently published report by MacMillan s group [121] on the enantioselective synthesis of pyrroloindoline and furanoindoline natural products such as (-)-flustramine B 2-219 [122], enantiopure amines 2-215 were used as organocatalysts to promote a domino Michael addition/cyclization sequence (Scheme 2.51). As substrates, the substituted tryptamine 2-214 and a, 3-unsaturated aldehydes were used. Reaction of 2-214 and acrolein in the presence of 2-215 probably leads to the intermediate 2-216, which cyclizes to give the pyrroloindole moiety 2-217 with subsequent hydrolysis of the enamine moiety and reconstitution of the imidazolid-inone catalyst. After reduction of the aldehyde functionality in 2-217 with NaBH4 the flustramine precursor 2-218 was isolated in very good 90 % ee and 78 % yield. 

The asymmetric Michael addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to nitrostyrene is promoted by chiral alkaloid catalysts to give the addition products in good chemical yield, but the enantioselectivity is rather low (Eq. 4.47).62... 

Enantioselective synthesis of the antidepressant rolipram can be done by the asymmetric Michael addition of the enolate of IV-acetyloxazolidone to nitrostyrene. Chirally branched pyrrolidones like rolipram are highly active antidepressants with novel postsynaptic modes of action. The synthesis is shown in Scheme 4.13.78... 

The chiral enamines provide the opportunity for the enantioselective Michael addition to nitroalkenes, as shown in Eq. 4.68, where the ketone is obtained as a single diastereomer with... 

A short enantioselective synthesis of (-)-(R,R)-pyrenophorin, a naturally occurring anti-fun-gal 16-membered macrolide dilactone, is prepared from (S)-5-nitropentan-2-ol via the Michael addition and Nef reaction (Scheme 4.23).162 The choice of base is important to get the E-alkene in the Michael addition, for other bases give a mixture of E and Z-alkenes. The requisite chiral (S)-5-nitropentan-2-ol is prepared by enantioselective reduction of 5-nitropentan-2-one with baker s yeast.163... 

Catalytic enantioselective nucleophilic addition of nitroalkanes to electron-deficient alke-nes is a challenging area in organic synthesis. The use of cinchona alkaloids as chiral catalysts has been studied for many years. Asymmetric induction in the Michael addition of nitroalkanes to enones has been carried out with various chiral bases. Wynberg and coworkers have used various alkaloids and their derivatives, but the enantiomeric excess (ee) is generally low (up to 20%).199 The Michael addition of methyl vinyl ketone to 2-nitrocycloalkanes catalyzed by the cinchona alkaloid cinchonine affords adducts in high yields in up to 60% ee (Eq. 4.137).200... 

L2909>. An organocatalytic addition of 2-trimethylsilyloxyfuran to aldehydes using 10 mol% of l,3-bis(3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)urea provided adducts with modest threo selectivity <06TL8507>. A syn-selective, enantioselective, organocatalytic vinylogous Mukaiyama-Michael addition of 2-trimethylsilyloxyfuran to (E)-3-... 

The C2-symmetric bifunctional tridentate bis(thiazoline) 222 has been shown to promote the zinc(II)-catalyzed asymmetric Michael addition of nitroalkanes to nitroalkenes in high enantioselectivity <06JA7418>. The corresponding bis(oxazoline) ligand provides comparable enantioselectivity but higher product yield. The same bis(thiazoline) ligand has also been evaluated in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles, but the enantioselectivity is moderate <06OL2115>. 

Silylketene acetals and enolsilanes can also undergo conjugate addition to a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl derivatives. This reaction is referred to as the Mukaiyama-Michael addition and can also be used as a mild and versatile method for C-C bond formation. As shown in Scheme 8-34, in the presence of C2-symmetric Cu(II) Lewis acid 94, asymmetric conjugate addition proceeds readily, giving product with high yield and enantioselectivity.75... 

The utilization of copper complexes (47) based on bisisoxazolines allows various silyl enol ethers to be added to aldehydes and ketones which possess an adjacent heteroatom e.g. pyruvate esters. An example is shown is Scheme 43[126]. C2-Symmetric Cu(II) complexes have also been used as chiral Lewis acids for the catalysis of enantioselective Michael additions of silylketene acetals to alkylidene malonates[127]. 

The first successful results of the asymmetric Michael addition under phase transfer catalyzed conditions were achieved by use of ingeniously designed chiral crown ethers 13 and 52.1441 The 3-keto ester 49 reacted with methyl vinyl ketone by use of 13 to give the Michael product 50 with excellent enantioselectivity but in moderate yield, as shown in Scheme 18. The Michael addition of methyl 2-phenylpropionate 51 to methyl acrylate afforded the diester 53 by use of another crown ether 52 in good yield with good enantioselectivity.1441 Various chiral crown ethers were studied to... 

Some chiral quaternary ammonium salts are also effective in Michael addition reactions. The Merck catalysts 7 (R=4-CF3, X=Br) and 9 (R=4-CF3, X=Br, 10,11-dihydro) were used tor the Michael additions of 59,61, and 64 to vinyl ketones to give the adducts 60,62, and 65 (isolated as 66), respectively,148,491 with excellent enantioselectivity, as shown in Scheme 19. The Michael addition of the O Donnell imine 23 to the a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds also efficiently proceeded by use of the N-anthracenyl-methyl catalyst 12 (R=allyl, X=Br), giving the Michael adducts 67 (Scheme 20).1251... 

E. Brunet, A. M. Poveda, D. Rabasco, E. Oreja, L. M. Font, M. S. Batra, J. C. Rodrigues-Ubis, New Chiral Crown Ethers derived from Camphor and Their Application to Asymmetric Michael Addition. First Attempts to Rationalize Enantioselection by AMI and AMBER Calculations , Tetrahedron Asymmetry 1994, 5, 935-948. 

P. Bako, T. Kiss, L. Toke, Chiral Azacrown Ethers derived from D-Glucose as Catalysts for Enantioselective Michael Addition , Tetrahedron Lett. 1997, 38, 7259-7262. 

Several examples exist of the application of chiral natural N-compounds in base-catalyzed reactions. Thus, L-proline and cinchona alkaloids have been applied [35] in enantioselective aldol condensations and Michael addition. Techniques are available to heterogenize natural N-bases, such as ephedrine, by covalent binding to mesoporous ordered silica materials [36]. 

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