Non-catalyzed aldol reactions

Non-catalyzed aldol reactions via hypervalent silicon species have also been studied. An aldol reaction between aldehydes and silyl enol ethers of amides was reported by Myers [105]. The reaction can be conducted under mild conditions to produce anti aldol without Lewis acid or base catalysts (Sch. 62). Asymmetric induction was particularly high when the (Z)-silyl ketene A/,0-acetal derived from prolinol was used. 

Denmark et al. have reported that trichlorosilyl enolates also undergo non-catalyzed aldol reaction with aldehydes (Scheme 10.30) [95]. The sense of diastereoselectivity depends on the geometry of the enolates - ( )-enolate 33 adds to aldehydes with high. syn selectivity, whereas low anti selectivity is observed for (Z)-enolate 35 [96], The stereochemical outcomes can be rationalized by boat-like transition structures arranged by the Lewis acidity of the silicon atom, in which the configuration around silicon is trigonal bipyramidal with aldehyde binding in the apical position. In the transition structure from 35 there are severe steric interactions caused by the enolic Z substituent, which is attributable to the low anti selectivity. 

It is also known that non-catalyzed aldol reactions using silyl ketene acetals proceed at high temperature [52], or in H2O [53], DMSO, DMF, and DME [54], or under high pressure [55]. 

It is worthy of note that - similarly to the proline catalyzed aldol reaction - the Mannich reaction can also be extended to an enantio- and diastereoselective process in which two stereogenic centers are formed in one step, although using non-chiral starting materials (Scheme 5.16) [22, 23, 26, 27, 28]. In these reactions substituted acetone or acetaldehyde derivatives, rather than acetone, serve as donor. In contrast with the anti diastereoselectivity observed for the aldol reaction (Section 6.2.1.2), the proline-catalyzed Mannich reaction furnishes products with syn diastereoselectivity [23]. A proline-derived catalyst, which led to the formation of anti Mannich products has, however, been found by the Barbas group [29]. 

In this system, the chiral phase transfer catalyst (PTC) is able to recognize one aldolate selectively. There is an equilibrium between syn- and anti-aldolates via retro-aldol addition, and the formation of a stable, chelated lithium salt blocks the non-catalyzed subsequent reaction from yielding the epoxide product ... 

Sc(() l f) ( is an effective catalyst of the Mukaiyama aldol reaction in both aqueous and non-aqueous media (vide supra). Kobayashi et al. have reported that aqueous aldehydes as well as conventional aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes are directly and efficiently converted into aldols by the scandium catalyst [69]. In the presence of a surfactant, for example sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) or Triton X-100, the Sc(OTf)3-catalyzed aldol reactions of SEE, KSA, and ketene silyl thioacetals can be performed successfully in water wifhout using any organic solvent (Sclieme 10.23) [72]. They also designed and prepared a new type of Lewis acid catalyst, scandium trisdodecylsulfate (STDS), for use instead of bofh Sc(OTf) and SDS [73]. The Lewis acid-surfactant combined catalyst (LASC) forms stable dispersion systems wifh organic substrates in water and accelerates fhe aldol reactions much more effectively in water fhan in organic solvents. Addition of a Bronsted acid such as HCl to fhe STDS-catalyzed system dramatically increases the reaction rate [74]. 

Myers et al. found that silyl enolates derived from amides undergo a facile non-catalyzed aldol addition to aldehydes at or below ambient temperature [90]. In particular, the use of cyclic silyl enolate 27, derived from (S)-prolinol propionamide, realizes high levels of diastereoface-selection and simple diastereoselection (anti selectivity) (Scheme 10.27). It has been proposed that this non-catalyzed highly stereoselective reaction proceeds via attack of an aldehyde on 27 to produce a trigonal bipyramidal intermediate 29 in which the aldehyde is apically bound 29 then turns to another isomer 30 by pseudorotation and 30 is then converted into 28 through a six-membered boat-like transition state (rate-determining step). 

Chirality amplification in the proline-catalyzed a-aminoxylation of aldehydes was uncovered and analyzed by Blackmond and co-workers in 2004 [29]. These researchers found that, contrary to what happens in proline-catalyzed aldol reactions, when the reaction was carried out with non-enantiopure proline, the enantiomeric excess of the product was higher than that expected from a linear relationship, and this enantiomeric excess rose over the course of the reaction. These results were rationalized by assuming an autoinductive behavior of the a-aminoxylation product, which formed a new catalytic species via enamine formation with proline, with the additional hypothesis of a matched interaction of L-Pro with the (/ )-enantiomer of the product (Scheme 2.3). 

In contrast to transketolase and the DHAP-dependent aldolases, deoxyribose aldolase (DERA) catalyzes the aldol reaction with the simple aldehyde, acetaldehyde. In vivo it catalyzes the formation of 2-deoxyribose-5-phosphate, the building block of DNA, from acetaldehyde and D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, but in vitro it can catalyze the aldol reaction of acetaldehyde with other non-phosphorylated aldehydes. The example shown in Scheme 6.28 involves a tandem aldol reaction... 

The second major class of non-umpolung nucleophilic carbene catalysis comprises reactions by initial NHC-activation of various silicon compounds. Their proposed common pathway is thought to lead to a hypervalent silicon complex4 and thus provide carbene-catalyzed activation of the corresponding nucleophiles such as TMSCN, TMSCF3 etc. (Kano et al. 2006 Song et al. 2005 2006). It is not only certain carbon-silicon bonds that can be effectively activated, but a comparable activation of Si-O bonds, e.g. of trimethylsily enol ethers etc., allows for mild, NHC-promoted Mukaiyama aldol reactions (Scheme 6 Song et al. 2007). 

The enzymatic aldol reaction represents a useful method for the synthesis of various sugars and sugar-like structures. More than 20 different aldolases have been isolated (see Table 13.1 for examples) and several of these have been cloned and overexpressed. They catalyze the stereospecific aldol condensation of an aldehyde with a ketone donor. Two types of aldolases are known. Type I aldolases, found primarily in animals and higher plants, do not require any cofactor. The x-ray structure of rabbit muscle aldolase (RAMA) indicates that Lys-229 is responsible for Schiff-base formation with dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) (Scheme 13.7a). Type II aldolases, found primarily in micro-organisms, use Zn as a cofactor, which acts as a Lewis acid enhancing the electrophilicity of the ketone (Scheme 13.7b). In both cases, the aldolases accept a variety of natural (Table 13.1) and non-natural acceptor substrates (Scheme 13.8). 

The same group described the Yb(OTf)3 catalyzed Mukaiyama aldol reaction of aldehyde 43 with silyl enol ether 435 in an aqueous medium [161] (O Scheme 88). This results in the formation of two non-separable diastereomeric aldols 436 and 437 in a 95% combined yield. Finally, NaBH4 reduction leads to isolation of pure 440 and a mixture of 438 and 439. 

The use of these auxiliaries in anti aldol reactions has been described, though not by generation of the anticipated ( )-enolate. Instead, the typical (Z)-enolate is formed, and then precomplexation of a Lewis acid with the reacting aldehyde diverts the reaction away from a cyclic transition state [23]. The contrasting stereochemical trends of the catalyzed and non-catalyzed reactions are evident in an early approach to muamvatin (Scheme 9-13) [24]. Alternatively, Oppolzer has reported the Lewis acid catalyzed anti aldol reaction of a silyl enol ether derived from sultam 38 [25]. In general, however, this methodology has seen limited use in the synthesis of complex natural products. 

The synthesis of the C1-C9 fragment 120 began with an auxiliary controlled aldol reaction of the chloroacetimide 121, where chlorine is present as a removable group to ensure high diastereoselectivity in what would otherwise have been a non-selective addition (Scheme 9-39). The Lewis acid-catalyzed, Mukaiyama aldol reaction of dienyl silyl ether 122 with / -chiral aldehyde 123 proceeded with 94%ds, giving the 3-anti product 124, as predicted by the opposed dipoles model [3]. Anti reduction of the aldol product and further manipulation then provided the C1-C9 fragment 120 of the bryostatins. 

Denmark et al. used non-linear effects to identify a higher order molecularity of the catalyst with respect to substrate in one of the pathways for a chiral Lewis base-catalyzed aldol addition reaction [60]. The reaction generates mainly a syn or an anti aldol, according to the catalysts used (A or B, Scheme 9). It was proposed that the formation of the anfi-adduct involved two molecules of a chiral phosphoramide A (the catalyst) bound to a cationic sihcon intermediate. In contrast, only one molecule of the more bulky catalyst B can bind to silicon, favoring the formation of the syw-adduct. This interpretation is in agreement with the NLE curve observed for catalyst A and the linear behavior observed with catalyst B. 

Sinou and co-workers [73] studied the influence of different surfactants on the palladium-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation of l,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate with dimethyl malonate in presence of potassium carbonate as base and non-water-soluble chiral ligands. Best results in activity and enatioselectivity (> 90% ee) were observed with 2,2 -bis(diphenylphosphino)-l,l -binaphthyl (BINAP) as ligand and cetyltrimethylammonium hydrogen sulfate as surfactant in aqueous medium. Water-stable Lewis acids as catalysts for aldol reactions were developed by Kobayashi and co-workers [74]. An acceleration of the reaction was indicated in presence of SDS as anionic surfactants. An additional promotion could be observed by combination of Lewis acid and surfactant (LASCs = Lewis acid-surfactant-combined catalysts) as shown in Eq. (3). Surfactant the anion of dodecanesulfonic acid. 

There are two common side reactions that were mentioned previously. One is migration of a non-conjuga-ted double bond into conjugation, and the other is condensation of the aldehyde product with the carbonyl hydrogen acceptor (this is an acid catalyzed aldol condensation - sec. 9.4.A). 

Huorous compounds are also potentially useful as additives to promote organic reactions in carbon dioxide. For example, a fluorous alcohol RfCH20H assists asymmetric hydrogenations with non-fluorous ruthenium BINAP catalysts, and a fluorous aryl alkyl ether (C8F17C6H4-P-OC12H25) does so in scandium-triflate-catalyzed aldol and Friedel-Crafts reactions. These additives are presumed to act as solubilizers or emulsifiers to promote contact among the various reaction components. Since they are fluorous, they can be readily recovered from the otherwise organic reaction mixtures for reuse. 

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