Natural products chiral aldehydes

Advantages of Brown s chiral allylboranes (isopinocampheyl and later caranyl borane) are the easy access to the ligands (a-pinene is a natural product, chiral pool), the availability of both enantiomers and their low price. Excellent selectivities (96-99% ee) can be obtained at reaction temperatures of -100 °C. Other important mediators for enantioselective allylation of aldehydes are shown below.14... 

Chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed HDA reactions have foimd application in the asymmetric synthesis of THP-containing natural products. Chiral chromium complexes, especially the adamantyl-Cr(III) complexes discovered by Jacobsen et al., have been applied to the use of unactivated aldehyde dienophiles with various diene partners [111]. Paterson and coworkers employed this variation in the synthesis of... 

The reaction is used for the chain extension of aldoses in the synthesis of new or unusual sugars In this case the starting material l arabinose is an abundant natural product and possesses the correct configurations at its three chirality centers for elaboration to the relatively rare l enantiomers of glucose and mannose After cyanohydrin formation the cyano groups are converted to aldehyde functions by hydrogenation m aqueous solution Under these conditions —C=N is reduced to —CH=NH and hydrolyzes rapidly to —CH=0 Use of a poisoned palladium on barium sulfate catalyst prevents further reduction to the alditols... 

Among the many chiral Lewis acid catalysts described so far, not many practical catalysts meet these criteria. For a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes, Corey s tryptophan-derived borane catalyst 4, and Yamamoto s CBA and BLA catalysts 3, 7, and 8 are excellent. Narasaka s chiral titanium catalyst 31 and Evans s chiral copper catalyst 24 are outstanding chiral Lewis acid catalysts of the reaction of 3-alkenoyl-l,2-oxazolidin-2-one as dienophile. These chiral Lewis acid catalysts have wide scope and generality compared with the others, as shown in their application to natural product syntheses. They are, however, still not perfect catalysts. We need to continue the endeavor to seek better catalysts which are more reactive, more selective, and have wider applicability. 

The [ 2 + 4]-cycloaddition reaction of aldehydes and ketones with 1,3-dienes is a well-established synthetic procedure for the preparation of dihydropyrans which are attractive substrates for the synthesis of carbohydrates and other natural products [2]. Carbonyl compounds are usually of limited reactivity in cycloaddition reactions with dienes, because only electron-deficient carbonyl groups, as in glyoxy-lates, chloral, ketomalonate, 1,2,3-triketones, and related compounds, react with dienes which have electron-donating groups. The use of Lewis acids as catalysts for cycloaddition reactions of carbonyl compounds has, however, led to a new era for this class of reactions in synthetic organic chemistry. In particular, the application of chiral Lewis acid catalysts has provided new opportunities for enantioselec-tive cycloadditions of carbonyl compounds. 

A reiterative application of a two-carbon elongation reaction of a chiral carbonyl compound (Homer-Emmonds reaction), reduction (DIBAL) of the obtained trans unsaturated ester, asymmetric epoxidation (SAE or MCPBA) of the resulting allylic alcohol, and then C-2 regioselective addition of a cuprate (Me2CuLi) to the corresponding chiral epoxy alcohol has been utilized for the construction of the polypropionate-derived chain ]R-CH(Me)CH(OH)CH(Me)-R ], present as a partial structure in important natural products such as polyether, ansamycin, or macro-lide antibiotics [52]. A seminal application of this procedure is offered by Kishi s synthesis of the C19-C26 polyketide-type aliphatic segment of rifamycin S, starting from aldehyde 105 (Scheme 8.29) [53]. 

Perhaps the most investigated reaction of organozinc compounds is their addition to the carbonyl group of aldehydes. A broad range of simple and functionalized diorganozincs and a great variety of aldehydes have been studied in this transformation. The reaction furnishes chiral secondary alcohols, which are essential building blocks in the synthesis of natural products and other important compounds. Recent studies of this transformation have been devoted to its asymmetric catalytic versions (Scheme 103). 

In the asymmetric total synthesis of the marine natural product, methyl sarcoate, the key step for the introduction of the chirality, was achieved by using an asymmetric Michael addition. Asymmetric addition of /-PrMgCl to aminal ester 93 in the presence of a catalytic amount of Cul, followed by acidic hydrolysis of the aminal function, afforded the chiral aldehyde 94 in 60% yield (Equation 10) <2005TL1263>. 

The addition of an enolsilane to an aldehyde, commonly referred to as the Mukaiyama aldol reaction, is readily promoted by Lewis acids and has been the subject of intense interest in the field of chiral Lewis acid catalysis. Copper-based Lewis acids have been applied to this process in an attempt to generate polyacetate and polypropionate synthons for natural product synthesis. Although the considerable Lewis acidity of many of these complexes is more than sufficient to activate a broad range of aldehydes, high selectivities have been observed predominantly with substrates capable of two-point coordination to the metal. Of these, benzy-loxyacetaldehyde and pyruvate esters have been most successful. 

Additions of enantioenriched allenylzinc reagents to chiral aldehydes provide intermediates that can be employed in the synthesis of polyketide natural products. Matched and mismatched pairing of reagent and substrate can result in enhanced or diminished diastereoselectivity (Eqs. 9.132 and 9.133) [114]. 

The efficiency and convenience of the chiral allenylzinc reagents are demonstrated in the synthesis of subunits of several natural products. In a total synthesis of bafilomydn Vi, seven of the 13 stereogenic centers were introduced by means of allenylzinc chemistry [112]. Three centers of chirality in the C5-C11 fragment were constructed from the precursor (R)-mesylate and the (R)-aldehyde (Eq. 9.134). The TBS protecting group of the aldehyde is important for high diastereoselectivity. Four of the five stereogenic centers in the Cl 5-C25 subunit were likewise established (Eq. 9.135). 

Acetalization of oxo aldehydes is used to protect sensitive aldehyde products, especially in asymmetric hydroformylation preventing racemization of an a-chiral aldehyde product [18-22,27]. Acetal formation can also be applied to the synthesis of monocyclic or spirocyclic pyranes as potential precursors and building blocks for natural products such as pheromones or antibiotics. A representative example is the synthesis of the pyranone subunit of the Prelog-Djerassi lactone. For this purpose, various 1,2-disubstituted homoal-lylic alcohols were used (Scheme 3) [32],... 

The addition of doubly deprotonated HYTRA to achiral4 5 as well as to enantiomerically pure aldehydes enables one to obtain non-racemic (3-hydroxycarboxylic acids. Thus, the method provides a practical solution for the stereoselective aldoi addition of a-unsubstituted enolates, a long-standing synthetic problem.7 As opposed to some other chiral acetate reagents,7 both enantiomers of HYTRA are readily available. Furthermore, the chiral auxiliary reagent, 1,1,2-triphenyl-1,2-ethanediol, can be recovered easily. Aldol additions of HYTRA have been used in syntheses of natural products and biological active compounds, and some of those applications are given in Table I. (The chiral center, introduced by a stereoselective aldol addition with HYTRA, is marked by an asterisk.)... 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine yUdes with olefins gives rise to pyrrolidines which represent structural elements of organocatalysts, natural products, and drug candidates. Asymmetric metal-catalyzed variants attracted considerable attention over the last few years [64], Recently, Vicario et al. reported an organo-catalytic [3 -i- 2] cycloaddition of azomethine ylides and a,p-unsaturated aldehydes mediated by a chiral secondary amine [65]. 

Recently, the first examples of catalytic enantioselective preparations of chiral a-substituted allylic boronates have appeared. Cyclic dihydropyranylboronate 76 (Fig. 6) is prepared in very high enantiomeric purity by an inverse electron-demand hetero-Diels-Alder reaction between 3-boronoacrolein pinacolate (87) and ethyl vinyl ether catalyzed by chiral Cr(lll) complex 88 (Eq. 64). The resulting boronate 76 adds stereoselectively to aldehydes to give 2-hydroxyalkyl dihydropyran products 90 in a one-pot process.The diastereoselectiv-ity of the addition is explained by invoking transition structure 89. Key to this process is the fact that the possible self-allylboration between 76 and 87 does not take place at room temperature. Several applications of this three-component reaction to the synthesis of complex natural products have been described (see section on Applications to the Synthesis of Natural Products ). 

The powerful directing effect of bis(isopinocampheyl) allylic boranes has been put to great use in the context of several applications of double diaster-ereoselective allylations in the total synthesis of natural products. As discussed in a previous section, the Brown allylation can be exploited to overcome the stereodirecting effect of chiral a-stereogenic aldehydes, including a-aUcoxy substituted ones. Thus, the simple allylation of aldehyde 154 provides as major product the desired diastereomer needed towards a total synthesis of brasilenyne (Scheme 14). The yield and stereoselectivity is even increased to over 97 3 under the low-temperature, magnesium-free conditions described before. 

Non-racemic a-substituted allylic silanes, in particular crotylsilanes, are very attractive reagents despite their rather tedious preparation. They were found to provide very high transfer of chirality in their additions to achiral aldehydes under Lewis acid catalysis (Eq. 114). These reagents have been tested several times in the context of natural product synthesis. Their diastereoselectivity (syn/anti) depends on several factors, including the natme of the aldehyde substrate, the reagent, and the natme of the Lewis acid employed. For example, the syn product can be obtained predominantly in the reaction of Eq. 114 by switching to the use of a monodentate Lewis acid such as BF3. 

From the 1980s on, many efforts were directed toward asymmetric induction of nitrile oxide cycloadditions to give pure (dia)stereoisomeric isoxazolines, and acyclic products derived from them (17,18,20-23). The need to obtain optically active cycloaddition products for use in the synthesis of natural products was first served by using chiral olefins, relying on 1,2-asymmetric induction, and then with optically active aldehydes or nitro compounds for the nitrile oxide part. In the latter case, insufficient induction occurs using chiral nitrile oxides, a problem still unsolved today. Finally, in the last 5 years, the first cases of successful asymmetric catalysis were found (29), which will certainly constitute a major area of study in the coming decade. 

A striking example of the power of A -heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-bearing catalysts with sterically demanding substrates was disclosed by Chavez and Jacobsen, " who presented a route to several iridoid natural products, exemplified by the enantio- and diastereoselective synthesis of boschnialactone 31 outlined in Scheme 5. Chiral aldehyde 27, available from citronellal by Eschenmoser-methylenation in a single step, reacted despite the presence of an isoprenyl moiety and a gi OT-disubstituted double bond, in the presence of catalyst C smoothly to form... 

---