Optically active fluorinated compounds

Recent employment of optically active fluorinated compounds for biologically active substances (7-2) or ferroelectric liquid crystals (3-5) has emphasized the versatility of these chiral molecules, while few methods have been reported for the preparation of such materials in a highly diastereo- as well as enantioselective manner. On the other hand, recent investigations in this field have opened the possibility for the introduction of chirality via asymmetric reduction or optical resolution by employing biocatalysts such as baker s yeast (6-75) or hydrolytic enzymes (16-20), respectively (27-23), along with the conventional chemical methodology (24-27). Chiral materials thus obtained may also be utilized in diastereoselective reactions which create new chiral centers (77). In this paper, the authors would like to discuss our recent progress in the preparation of optically active fluorinated compoounds and the effect of fluorine atom(s) on the reactivity and selectivity. 

As the demand for optically active fluorinated compounds increases, the importance of the development of asymmetric synthetic methods for fluorinated building blocks grows. On the other hand, sulfur functionalities such as phenylthio and dithianyl groups have been used as useful reactive units for a variety of chemical transformations. Therefore, various trifluoromethyl ketones containing a sulfur functionality have been reduced with various microorganisms l182-185 . 

If viewed from the oxygen, most optically active carbonyl compounds have their substituents only in the rear octants. The appearance of the plane that separates the rear octants from the front octants is not determined by the symmetry of the isolated chromophore. Calculations have shown that it has approximately the shape depicted in Figure 3.4b. Many examples have verified the validity of the octant rule, but there are also cases where it is not applicable, at least not in its original, simple form. This is true for ketones with a cyclopropane ring in the a, jS-position and for fluorosubstituted ketones, for which the experimentally observed sign can be reproduced only if the perturbation due to the fluorine atom is assumed to be smaller than that due to the hydrogen atom. More recent detailed calculations solved some of these problems. (Cf. Charney, 1979.)... 

S-Ofloxacin is an optically active fluorinated quinolone with antibacterial properties. U.S. 5,053,407 describes the preparation of the API. Estimate the cost of production of this compound. Which stages of the process would you operate in batch mode and which stages would you operate continuously ... 

Conclusion. In this article, we have described our recent results on the preparation of optically active fluorinated molecules as well as the use of these compounds in diastereoselective reactions. It is our hope that this information will be helpful in attaining a deeper understanding of the nature of this "special" atom. We also look forward to the future when it will be possible to easily construct the desired optically active fluorinated molecules with the exact relative as well as absolute stereochemistry. 

Pubhcations have described the use of HFPO to prepare acyl fluorides (53), fluoroketones (54), fluorinated heterocycles (55), as well as serving as a source of difluorocarbene for the synthesis of numerous cycHc and acycHc compounds (56). The isomerization of HFPO to hexafluoroacetone by hydrogen fluoride has been used as part of a one-pot synthesis of bisphenol AF (57). HFPO has been used as the starting material for the preparation of optically active perfluorinated acids (58). The nmr spectmm of HFPO is given in Reference 59. The molecular stmcture of HFPO has been deterrnined by gas-phase electron diffraction (13). 

Preliminary fluorination experiments using optically active A -fluoro compounds ( —)-2b and ( + )-2c show that there is reaction with various metal enolates (Table 16) generated under standard reaction conditions to give the anticipated a-fluoro carbonyl compounds with enantiomeric excesses depending strongly on the structure of the metal enolate.119... 

A wide range of fluorinated compounds are applied as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Several stereoselective methods are used for synthesis of optically active molecules bearing a C-F bond at the stereogenic carbon atom [72, 73]. These are mainly based on diastereoselective fluorination of chiral molecules or enantioselective alkylation of fluoroorganic compounds. Asymmetric introduction of a fluorine... 

Perfluoroalkylated a,/ -unsaturated ketones have been transformed with baker s yeast mainly into the saturated ketones (5). Only small amounts of the corresponding optically active carbinols (6) were obtained52. This transformation of polyfluoroorganic substances produces versatile building blocks for the synthesis of fluorinated bioactive compounds and these reactions have been patented53. 

Aziridines are commonly prepared from imine precursors. Carbene addition to the C=N bond is illustrated by the formation of aziridine 127 from imine 126. ° Difluorocarbene, generated from HFPO (1), also adds to imines such as 128 to give the highly fluorinated aziridine 129. In the presence of Lewis acids, diazo compounds react with imines to produce aziridines. Ethyl diazoacetate and imine 130 gave aziridine 131 in 93% yield, with a cis/trans ratio of 95 5. Chiral diazo compound 132 reacted with the aldimine precursor 133 to afford aziridine 134 in 81 % yield.The reaction displayed both high cis selectivity (>95 5) and excellent diasteroselectivity (94% de). Reductive removal of the chiral auxiliary gave the optically active hydroxymethylaziridine 135. 

The nucleophilic fluorination by substitution of halogen, oxygen, or nitrogen functions with fluoride in compounds, which are already optically active, is a common approach to getting fluorinated stereogenic carbon centers. Typically,... 

Kitazume and Yamazaki have published a stellar detailed review (33) which describes the transformations of organoflnorine compounds into optically active functionalized fluorinated materials using microorganisms which are capable of discriminating between enantiomers. The review is strongly recommended to the reader. 

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