Michael donors

Table 23.1 Some Michael Acceptors and Michael Donors Michael acceptors Michael donors...

The conjugate addition of a carbon nucleophile to an a./3-unsiituratcd acceptor is known as the Michael reaction. The best Michael reactions take place between unusually acidic donors (/3-keto esters or /3-diketones) and unhindered n,/3-unsaturated acceptors. Knamines, prepared by reaction of a ketone with a disu Instituted amine, are also good Michael donors. 

A variety of Michael donors such as ketones, esters, thioesters, amides, lactones and lactams may be used and in all of these cases the problems of stereoselectivity apply. 

Several attractive methods, leading to syn-5,7 or anti-6,8-adducts, with excellent diaslereoselec-tivities have been developed using azaallyl-type Michael donors derived from hydrazones, imines, nitriles and laclim ethers. 

Two closely related methods for the diastereoselective preparation of <5-oxo esters have been developed. The first method uses the chelated lithio enamine 2. These Michael donors are readily available from the tert-butyl ester of L-valine and jS-oxo esters. The Michael addition of this lithio enamine 2 to 2-(arylmethylene)propanedioates, followed by hydrolytic removal of the auxiliary, provides d-oxo esters with contiguous quaternary and tertiary carbon centers with high diastereoselectivity59 60. 

In general, metalated 2-azaallyl anions derived from imines of a-amino esters serve both as Michael donors and as 1,3-dipolar reagents the course of the reaction, as well as the stereochemical outcome depends upon the base and the reaction conditions82,83. 

Ethyl (bornylideneamino)acetate (2) and the imines of (-)-(lf ,2, 5 )-2-hydroxy-3-pinanone and glycine, alanine and norvaline methyl esters were particularly successful as Michael donors. The chiral azaallyl anions, derived from these imines by deprotonation with lithium diisopropylamide in THF at — 80 C, add to various a,/i-unsaturated esters with modest to high diastereoselectivity (see Section 1.5.2.4.2.2.5.). Thus, starting with the imine 2, (R1 = CH,) and ethyl ( )-2-butcnoate, the a,/i-dialkylated glutamate derivative 3 is obtained as a single diastercomer in 90% yield91-92. 

Diastereoselective preparation of a-alkyl-a-amino acids is also possible using chiral Schiff base nickel(II) complexes of a-amino acids as Michael donors. The synthetic route to glutamic acid derivatives consists of the addition of the nickel(II) complex of the imine derived from (.S )-,V-[2-(phenylcarbonyl)phenyl]-l-benzyl-2-pyrrolidinecarboxamide and glycine to various activated olefins, i.e., 2-propenal, 3-phenyl-2-propenal and a,(f-unsaturated esters93- A... 

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. 

I.5.2.4.I.2.6. Azaallyl Michael Donors Derived from a-Substituted Acetonitriles... 

In addition to the examples described in the previous section, various azaallyl Michael donors, successfully used in diastereoselective 1,4-additions, may be obtained by lithiation of arene acetonitriles117l llS, protected cyanohydrins 1 19 - 12 1,385, and a-amino-122 123 and a-phosphi-... 

The intramolecular Michael addition of acyclic systems is often hampered by competing reactions, i.e., aldol condensations. With the proper choice of Michael donor and acceptor, the intramolecular addition provides a route to tram-substituted cyclopentanones, and cyclopentane and cyclohexane derivatives. Representative examples are the cyclizations of /3-oxo ester substituted enones and a,/J-unsaturated esters. 

Several methods for asymmetric C —C bond formation have been developed based on the 1,4-addition of chiral nonracemic azaenolates derived from optically active imines or enamines. These methods are closely related to the Enders and Schollkopf procedures. A notable advantage of all these methods is the ready removal of the auxiliary group. Two types of auxiliaries were generally used to prepare the Michael donor chiral ketones, such as camphor or 2-hydroxy-3-pinanone chiral amines, in particular 1-phenylethanamine, and amino alcohol and amino acid derivatives. 

Addition of the imine of camphor and glycine, as the Michael donor, to a,/i-unsaturated esters yields, after removal of the auxiliary, anP -(22 )-3-substituted glutamates208. 

Oxo esters are accessible via the diastereoselective 1,4-addition of chiral lithium enamine 11 as Michael donor. The terr-butyl ester of L-valine reacts with a / -oxo ester to form a chiral enamine which on deprotonation with lithium diisopropylamide results in the highly chelated enolate 11. Subsequent 1,4-addition to 2-(arylmethylene) or 2-alkylidene-l,3-propanedioates at — 78 °C, followed by removal of the auxiliary by hydrolysis and decarboxylation of the Michael adducts, affords optically active -substituted <5-oxo esters232 (for a related synthesis of 1,5-diesters, see Section 1.5.2.4.2.2.1.). In the same manner, <5-oxo esters with contiguous quaternary and tertiary carbon centers with virtually complete induced (> 99%) and excellent simple diastereoselectivities (d.r. 93 7 to 99.5 0.5) may be obtained 233 234. 

Chinchona alkaloids, such as quinine, are readily available quinuclidine chiral bases which have been used extensively in catalytic Michael additions239 243. Methy 1-2,3-dihydro-1-oxo-l/f-in-dene-2-carboxylate (1) is most frequently used as the Michael donor in these studies. Enantiose-lectivities as high as 76% are reached in the additions to 3-buten-2-one. Modest enantioselec-tivities (< 67%) were also obtained with ethyl 2-oxo-l-cyclohexanecarboxylate and methyl l,3-dihydto-3-oxo-l-isobcnzol urancarboxylate244 245. 

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. 

Consecutive Michael additions and alkylations can also be used for the diastereoselective synthesis of 5- and 6-membered ring systems. For instance when 6-iodo-2-hexenoates or 7-iodo-2-heptenoates are employed the enolate of the Michael adduct is stereoselectively quenched in situ to provide the cyclic compound with trans stereochemistry (>94 6 diastereomeric ratio). As the enolate geometry of the Michael donor can be controlled, high stereoselectivity can also be reached towards either the syn or anti configuration at the exocyclic... 

The mechanism of the cyanide- and thioazolium ion-catalyzed conjugate addition reactions is considered to be analogous to the Lapworth mechanism for the cyanide-catalyzed benzoin condensation. Thus the cyano-stabilized carbanion resulting from deprotonation of the cyanohydrin of the aldehyde is presumed to be the actual Michael donor. After conjugate addition to the activated olefin, cyanide is eliminated to form the product and regenerate the catalyst. 

Ferrocen-l,l -diylbismetallacycles are conceptually attractive for the development of bimetal-catalyzed processes for one particular reason the distance between the reactive centers in a coordinated electrophile and a coordinated nucleophile is self-adjustable for specific tasks, because the activation energy for Cp ligand rotation is very low. In 2008, Peters and Jautze reported the application of the bis-palladacycle complex 56a to the enantioselective conjugate addition of a-cyanoacetates to enones (Fig. 31) [74—76] based on the idea that a soft bimetallic complex capable of simultaneously activating both Michael donor and acceptor would not only lead to superior catalytic activity, but also to an enhanced level of stereocontrol due to a highly organized transition state [77]. An a-cyanoacetate should be activated by enolization promoted by coordination of the nitrile moiety to one Pd(II)-center, while the enone should be activated as an electrophile by coordination of the olefinic double bond to the carbophilic Lewis acid [78],... 

The initial rate of the model reaction follows a first-order dependence for the activated catalyst, the Michael donor, and the Michael acceptor. The rate determining step is not the C-C bond formation or protonolysis but the decomplexation of the bidentate product. This was evidenced by the relationship between the initial conversion and the reaction time. Extrapolation to fg = 0 h provides a positive intercept. In other words, upon addition of the reagents, the C-C bond formation occurs almost instantaneously. The amount of product at fo correlates within the experimental error to the double precatalyst loading since the dimeric precatalyst forms two active monomeric catalyst species. 

Tridachiahydropyrone belongs to the family of marine polypropionates [69]. Efforts towards its total synthesis have recently led to a revision of the structure with the new proposal 2-147 [70]. The construction of the highly substituted cyclohex-enone moiety 2-146 which could be incorporated into this natural product [71] has been described by Perkins and coworkers (Scheme 2.33) [70, 72]. The conjugate addition/ Dieckmann-type cydization utilizing organocopper species as Michael donors afforded the enantiopure 2-145 in 68% yield. A further methylation of the (3-ketoester moiety in 2-145 followed by an elimination led to the desired cydohex-enone 2-146. 

Electron-rich aromatic systems can act efficiently as Michael donors, as shown recently by Krohn s group (Scheme 2.46) [111]. For example, reaction of the enone 2-193 with the resorcine derivative 2-194 in a domino Michael/acetalization process led to various naturally occurring xyloketals of type 2-196 in excellent yield. 

The Ni-mediated alkyne carboxylation/Zn-transmetallation can be applied for the construction of heterocycles (when appropriate Michael-donor-containing terminal alkynes are used). As shown in Scheme 18, carboxylation of 60... 

Comparison with the Hajos-Parrish asymmetric version of the Robinson annulation [81] (Scheme 7.25(a)) shows the following distinct differences between the two methods. Firstly, the cycloalkenone in the Cu(OTf)2/ligand 18-catalyzed procedure is the Michael acceptor, whereas the cycloalkanone is the Michael donor in the proline-mediated annulation. Secondly, the asymmetric induction occurs in the 1,4-addition step in the new method, in contrast to the asymmetric aldol-cyclization in the Hajos-Parrish procedure. 

The wide range of Michael donors and acceptors in 1,4-additions are of great utility. Consequently, fnrther exploration on the addition of a-snbstituted P-ketoester addition to a,p-nnsatnrated ketones have captured the attention of many chemists. The transformation is a versatile methodology to access all-carbon qnatemary stereocenters. 

The conjugate addition of nitro olefins under chiral Cmc/mna-thiourea catalysis has shown promising results with a variety of Michael donors. Dixon conducted a screen of various chiral thioureas and identified catalyst 117 as a versatile catalyst that works well with p-substituted nitro-olefms (78) [74]. Aromatic, heteroaromatic... 

Dicarbonyl donors are excellent Michael donors in asymmetric conjugate addition to a,p-nnsatnrated ketones. Wang and co-workers [79] applied chiral Cinchona-thiourea catalyst 131 to various carbon donors in the addition to aromatic enones. A diverse array of nucleophiles, mainly 1,3-dicarbonyls proceeded smoothly in the conjugate addition to a,p-unsaturated enone 132 (Scheme 29). 

Extension to cyclic Michael donors also met with marked success using imida-zolidine catalyst 54 (10 mol%) (Scheme 22) [95]. Conveniently, the reactions proceeded at room temperature using dichloromethane as the solvent and 1.05 equivalents of the Michael donor, representing a substantial improvement in the atom efficiency of the process. The synthetic utility of this transformation was exemplified by the one-step preparation of the anticoagulant (5)-warfarin (R = Ph, = Me, R = H 90% yield 80% ee) which could be recrystallised to optical purity (>99.9% ee) from acetone/water. 

J0rgensen [111] and Vicario [112] independently described the conjugate addition of both triazole and tetrazole based nucleophiles to a,P-unsaturated aldehyde substrates as an alternative method for C-N bond formation. These reactions were catalysed by the diarylprolinol and imidazolidinone scaffolds with equal efficiency showing the complementarity and efficacy of both these catalyst architectures. In addition, Jprgensen has also shown succinimide to be an effective Michael donor (see Sect. 2.3.5 Scheme 49 for further details) [113]. 

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