Chiral Monodentate Ligands

Figure 4.21. Early examples of monodentate chiral ligands...

In a recent review on predetermined chirality at metal centers, Khof and von Zelewsky described the chiral quadruply bonded species A and A-[Mo2Cl4(5,5-dppb)2] (where dppb = 2,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane) as M-configurational double helices. Such twisted multiply bonded complexes are paradigm examples of intrinsically chiral chromophores where the chiral center is not located at the metal atom but embraces the whole twisted M02X4P4 unit. The CD spectra of a range of chiral quadruply bonded compounds, with a variety of bidentate and monodentate chiral ligands (phosphines and amines) have been reported and can be explained by a simple metal localized theory. ... 

Although, in the past, most attention was paid to the use of bidentate ligands and especially diphosphines, several monodentate phosphines have also been developed and applied in the enantioselective hydrogenation of alkenes. The earlier developed monodentate chiral ligands have an asymmetric phosphorus center as sole source of chirality (Figure among them 13 MPPP -... 

In 2008, Grisi et al. reported three ruthenium complexes 65-67 bearing chiral, symmetrical monodentate NHC ligands with two iV-(S)-phenylethyl side chains [74] (Fig. 3.26). Three different types of backbones were incorporated into the AT-heterocyclic moiety of the ligands. When achiral triene 57 was treated with catalysts 65-67 under identical reaction conditions, a dramatic difference was observed. As expected, the absence of backbone chirality in complex 65 makes it completely inefficient for inducing enantioselectivity in the formation of 58. Similarly, the mismatched chiral backbone framework of complex 66 was not able to promote asymmetric RCM of 57. In contrast, appreciable albeit low selectivity (33% ee) was observed when the backbone possessed anti stereochemistry. 

The enantioselective conjugate addition of dialkylzinc to nitroalkenes using other phosphoramidite,79,79a 83a sulfonamide,84 and binaphthol-based thioether ligands65 has also been studied in the past few years. Particularly noteworthy are the efficient chiral monodentate phosphoramidite ligands (S,R,R)-29 and (A,A)-55 developed by Feringa et al. and Alexakis et al., respectively, for this reaction. (S,R,R)-29 provided excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee) for acyclic nitroalkenes (Scheme 25).80 It also worked well for other nitroolefin substrates such as 3-nitrocoumarin 7068 and methyl 3-nitropropenoate 7185. 

The asymmetric hydrosilylation that has been most extensively studied so far is the palladium-catalyzed hydrosilylation of styrene derivatives with trichlorosilane. This is mainly due to the easy manipulation of this reaction, which usually proceeds with perfect regioselectivity in giving benzylic silanes, 1-aryl-1-silylethanes. This regioselectivity is ascribed to the formation of stable 7t-benzylpalladium intermediates (Scheme 3).1,S Sa It is known that bisphosphine-palladium complexes are catalytically much less active than monophosphine-palladium complexes, and, hence, asymmetric synthesis has been attempted by use of chiral monodentate phosphine ligands. In the first report published in 1972, menthyldiphenylphosphine 4a and neomenthyldiphenylphosphine 4b have been used for the palladium-catalyzed reaction of styrene 1 with trichlorosilane. The reactions gave l-(trichlorosilyl)-l-phenylethane 2 with 34% and 22% ee, respectively (entries 1 and 2 in Table l).22 23... 

In 1968, Knowles et al. [1] and Horner et al. [2] independently reported the use of a chiral, enantiomerically enriched, monodentate phosphine ligand in the rhodium-catalyzed homogeneous hydrogenation of a prochiral alkene (Scheme 28.1). Although enantioselectivities were low, this demonstrated the transformation of Wilkinson s catalyst, Rh(PPh3)3Cl [3] into an enantioselective homogeneous hydrogenation catalyst [4]. 

Scheme 28.3 Chiral monodentate phosphine ligands (men = menthyl, see 2).

For a perspective on the use of chiral monodentate phosphorus ligands in enantioselective olefin hydrogenations see ... 

Catalytic asymmetric hydrosilylation of prochiral olefins has become an interesting area in synthetic organic chemistry since the first successful conversion of alkyl-substituted terminal olefins to optically active secondary alcohols (>94% ee) by palladium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrosilylation in the presence of chiral monodentate phosphine ligand (MOP, 20). The introduced silyl group can be converted to alcohol via oxidative cleavage of the carbon-silicon bond (Scheme 8-8).27... 

An asymmetric version of the Pd-catalyzed hydroboration of the enynes was reported in 1993(118]. The monodentate phosphine (S)-MeO-MOP was used as a chiral ligand for the palladium catalyst. Enantioselectivity of the asymmetric hydroboration was estimated from the enantiopurity of homopropargyl alcohols, which were obtained from the axially chiral allenylboranes and benzaldehyde via an SE pathway (Scheme 3.78). 

Breakthroughs that took place around the year 2000 have shown, in contrast to the common view, that indeed chiral monodentate phosphorus ligands can also lead to high enantioselectivities in a number of asymmetric hydrogenations. In the years following, monophosphines, monophos-phonites, monophosphoramidites, and monophosphites have been successfully used in the enantioselective hydrogenation of a-dehydroamino acids and itaconic acid derivatives [25],... 

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