Morita thiourea catalysts

Thiourea catalyst 139 was also screened in the asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction between 2-naphthol trans-nitrostyrene (73% yield 0% ee 18 h in toluene at -20 °C and 10 mol%) [277], in the asymmetric aza-Michael reaction of O-benzyl-hydroxylamine to chalcone (72% conv. 19% ee 72 h in toluene at 20 °C and 20mol% catalyst loading) [293], and in the asymmetric Morita-BayUs-HiUman [176, 177] reaction between cyclohexenecarbaldehyde and 2-cyclohexene-l-one (20% yield 31% ee 46 h at rt and 20mol% DABCO and 139) [310]. In aU these transformations, thiourea 139 proved to be not competitive to the organocatalysts probed for these transformations under identical screening conditions and thus was not employed in the optimized protocols. 

The cooperative effect of Brpnsted acid catalysts and thiourea catalysts has been noticed by the Shi group (Fig. 18) [74]. In their 2007 paper on chiral thiourea-phosphine catalyzed asymmetric aza-Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction, Shi and co-workers described that when they used a freshly prepared 77-benzylidene-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide substrate, much lower yield and enantioselectivity of the aza-Morita-Baylis-Hillman product was obtained compared with their initial result when using a long-stored substrate. They subsequently found that the long-stored substrate contained a small amount of 4-methylbenzenesulfonamide and... 

A novel bifunctional thiourea catalyst (11), bearing binaphthyl backbone, was synthesized by Wang et al They reported enantioselective Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction of cyclohexenone with a range of aldehydes by means of (11) (Scheme 2.45) [98]. 

P-Amino carbonyl compounds containing an a-atkyUdene group are densely functionalized materials, which are widely applied in the synthesis of medicinal reagents and natural products [265]. These products are usually prepared through the classic aza-Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction [176, 177] of activated imines and electron-deficient alkenes catalyzed by tertiary amines or phosphines. Chen and co-workers, in 2008, identified bis-thiourea 106 as a suitable catalyst for the... 

Organocatalytic asymmetric hydrophosphonylation/Mannich reactions using thiourea, cinchona and Bronsted acid catalysts 12SL1108. Organocatalytic asymmetric transformations of modified Morita—Bayhs— HiUman adducts 12CSR4101. 

In 2005, Wang and coworkers reported a new bifunctional binaphthyl-derived amine thiourea 16 as an efficient organocatalyst for the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction of cyclohexenone with aliphatic, aromatic and sterically hindered aldehydes. The design of the catalyst follows Takemoto s design of a bifunctional motif. This catalytic protocol provided access to useful chiral allylic alcohol building blocks in high yields and high enan-tioselectivities (Scheme 19.21). 

Amino-a-methylene carbonyl compounds have been prepared in up to 92% ee via an aza-Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction. A-Tosyl imines of, y-unsaturated a-ketoesters have been reacted with acrolein in the presence of two catalysts / -isocupridine (a chiral quinolol containing a DABCO moiety) and a bifunctional BINOL (or a 3 amine-thiourea). NMR and MS evidence supports a self-assembly of the catalysts, giving a multi-functional supramolecular catalyst. 

A novel bis-thiourea-type catalyst (7) was synthesized by Berkessel et al. [83]. The catalyst turned out to be effective in the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction (Scheme 2.32). 

Wu and coworkers have developed phosphine-squaramate-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular Morita-Baylis-HiUman reactions [106]. UtiUzing a chiral squaramate containing tertiary phosphine as catalyst (28), a wide range of (O-formylenones was converted into the cycUc hydroxyl enones in high yield and high enantioselectivity (Scheme 10.28). The reaction afforded low yield and selectivity when the corresponding phosphine-squaramide or phosphine-amide was used as a catalyst The authors noted that the phosphine-squaramate catalyst provided a better enantioselectivity than the phosphine-thiourea analog [107]. 

The asymmetric allylic substitution reaction of Morita-Baylis-Hillman carbonates (226) with diphenyl phosphite in the presence of chiral multifunctional thiourea-phosphine catalyst (228) provided allylic phosphites (227) in high yields and with excellent enantioselectivities (Scheme 76). 

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