Nucleophilic conjugate addition stereoselection

Stereoselection of Nucleophilic Conjugate Addition 6.1 Bicyclic Systems... 

In 2012, Alexakis and co orkers disclosed the first stereoselective annulation reaction between ynals and a-cyano-l,4-diketones which is mediated by a catalytic amount of a triazolium salt precatalyst and a weak carboxylate base. This transformation proceeds smoothly under mild reaction conditions and generates three contiguous stereogenic centers, one of which is a quaternary acetal carbon, and affords privileged bicyclic scaffolds in 61-90% yields with up to 20 1 diastereomeric preference. A mechanistic rationalization for the NHC-catalyzed annulation of a-cyano-l,4-diketones with ynals is proposed as the following. Initially, the free carbene condenses with a molecule of ynal to form the key d,p-unsaturated acylazolium intermediate followed by a direct nucleophilic conjugate addition of 1,4-diketone. Subsequent intramolecular H-migration and an irreversible lactonization furnish the observed bicyclic product and liberate free carbene for the next catalytic cycle (Scheme 7.98). 

As is the case for aldol addition, chiral auxiliaries and catalysts can be used to control stereoselectivity in conjugate addition reactions. Oxazolidinone chiral auxiliaries have been used in both the nucleophilic and electrophilic components under Lewis acid-catalyzed conditions. (V-Acyloxazolidinones can be converted to nucleophilic titanium enolates with TiCl3(0-/-Pr).320... 

Diastereoselective conjugate addition of nucleophiles to enones, enals, and enoates occurs with high stereocontrol and constitutes a powerful method in stereoselective synthesis.185... 

Preliminary mechanistic studies show no polymerization of the unsaturated aldehydes under Cinchona alkaloid catalysis, thereby indicating that the chiral tertiary amine catalyst does not act as a nucleophilic promoter, similar to Baylis-Hilhnan type reactions (Scheme 1). Rather, the quinuclidine nitrogen acts in a Brpnsted basic deprotonation-activation of various cychc and acyclic 1,3-dicarbonyl donors. The conjugate addition of the 1,3-dicarbonyl donors to a,(3-unsaturated aldehydes generated substrates with aU-carbon quaternary centers in excellent yields and stereoselectivities (Scheme 2) Utility of these aU-carbon quaternary adducts was demonstrated in the seven-step synthesis of (H-)-tanikolide 14, an antifungal metabolite. 

The first organocatalyzed conjugate addition of a-substituted p-ketoester to a,P-unsaturated ketones was presented by Deng et al. [42] (Scheme 3). Although traditional Cinchona alkaloids were efficient catalysts for conjugate addition of carbon nucleophiles to nitroalkenes and sulfones, replacement of the C(9)-OH with an ester group (Q-7b) showed great improvement in stereoselectivity. The reaction is applicable to a variety of cyclic and acyclic enones (16,18). 

Oxazoline-directed conjugate addition of nucleophiles to a naphthalene nucleus is one of the most useful methods to prepare dihydronaphthalenes. Since Meyers last comprehensive review, the focus has been directed to stereoselective synthesis of these important compounds. Meyers laboratory has continued their preeminence in this field and has expanded the scope and applications of this reaction. 

The stereochemistry of conjugate additions requires similar considerations to those used to predict nucleophilic attack on a carbonyl. Acyclic substrates may yield up to three contiguous chiral centres (Scheme 18). The relative stereochemistry of carbons C(l) and C(2) will depend upon the approach of the two reagents. The stereochemistry of carbon C(3) will depend upon the lifetime of the intermediate 30 if it has even a short lifetime it will take up the most stable conformation. For example, the base-catalysed additions of ethanol-d and 2-methyl-2-propanethiol-d to ethyl crotonate give a (2R, 3R )/(2R, 3S ) diastereoisomeric ratio of the addition products of approximately 10 190. The authors90 suggest the reaction proceeds in two steps and the protonation of the enolate determines the stereoselectivity. 

Enantiopure a, ft -unsaturated 5-lactams react stereoselectively with carbon-, nitrogen-, sulfur-, and oxygen-centred nucleophiles [N3-, Me(CH2)nS, MeO-, and n-Bu-]. The synthetic potential of these conjugate additions has been demonstrated through the synthesis of two new substituted indolizidines, (7/f)-7-amino-8-deoxy-swainsonine and (7/ )-7-acetylaminoswainsonin.133... 

A strictly nucleophilic approach can also be used for an [(N) + (C=C)] protocol Thus the chiral iodo-unsaturated bicyclic lactam 89 undergoes stereoselective conjugate addition with primary amines to give the tricyclic aziridine 90, which can be subsequently transformed into the chiral 3,4-aziridinopyrrolidine 91 by reductive cleavage. Yields of up to 90% can be achieved and facial selectivity is greater than 98 2 [95TL3491],... 

A. Berkessel, Formation of C-O Bonds by Conjugate Addition of O-Nucleophiles , in Stereoselective Synthesis (Houben-Weyl) 4th ed. 1996, (G. Helmchen, R. W. Hoffinann, J. Mulzer, E. Schaumann, Eds.), 1996, Vol. E21 (Workbench Edition), 8, 4818—4856, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart. 

Selenium-stabilized carbanions can be also generated by 1,4-addition of nucleophilic reagents to a-selanyl a,[3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. The conjugate addition of trialkylsilyllithium compounds to 133, followed by reaction with allyl iodide, afforded the addition products 134 with good m-stereoselectivity (R = Me dr 86 14 R = Ph dr 94 6) (Scheme 34).214 The addition of lithium dialkylcuprates to 2-phenylselanylcycloalk-2-enones has also been used for the synthesis of natural products.215,216... 

These results are analogous to the pioneering work of Posner, who initially developed highly stereoselective conjugate additions of carbon nucleophiles to chiral 2-(arylsulfinyl)-2-cycloalkenones.25 This methodology has been extended to include novel diastereomer differentiating radical (3-additions in which the two... 

Acyclic stereocontrol remains a challenging problem in synthesis. While enan-tiomerically pure sulfoxides are valuable synthetic intermediates for enantiocon-trolled carbon-carbon bond formation by conjugate addition in cyclic cases, their usefulness for such alkylations in acyclic cases has not been firmly established. Moreover, most sulfoxide directed alkylation protocols utilize the valuable sulfur auxiliary just once, which limits the synthetic versatility of the process. Marino et al. have recently reported SN2 displacements of acyclic allylic mesyloxy vinyl sulfoxides with organocopper reagents (Scheme 10).33 In addition to the excellent observed stereoselectivities, the newly created chiral center is adjacent to a vinyl sulfoxide which should allow for subsequent chirality transfer operations. On treatment with organocopper nucleophiles, both sulfoxide diastereoisomers 40b and 43b underwent SN2 displacements with high Z selectivity to yield products 42b and 45b, respectively (Table 2). The oxidation state on the sulfur was varied... 

Dondoni, A, Fantin, G, Fogagnolo, M, Merino, P, Regio- and stereoselective conjugate addition of nitrogen nucleophiles to 2-alkenyl iV-methylthiazolium iodides. Synthesis of 3-epi-daunosamine and some lincosamine analogues. Tetrahedron, 46, 6167-6184, 1990 see also Ref. [97b]. 

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