Enantioselective organic synthesis

Cyanohydrination (addition of a cyano group to an aldehyde or ketone) is another classic reaction in organic synthesis. Enantioselective addition of TMSCN to aldehyde, catalyzed by chiral metal complexes, has also been an active area of research for more than a decade. The first successful synthesis using an (5,)-binaphthol based complex came from Reetz s group142 in 1986. Their best result, involving Ti complex, gave 82% ee. Better results were reported shortly thereafter by Narasaka and co-workers.143 They showed that by... 

Maddrell, S.J., Turner, N.J., Kerridge, A., Willetts, A.J. and Crosby, J., Nitrile hydratase enzymes in organic synthesis enantioselective s3mthesis of the lactone moiety of the mevinic... 

Enantioselective catalysis that rivals enzymes in selectivity is a major development in homogeneous catalysis. As a result, many earlier processes in the pharmaceutical and perfumery industries are being replaced by more elegant syntheses using soluble catalysts in which handedness is introduced in the critical step of the process, thus avoiding the costly separation of racemic mixtures. In view of its importance in organic synthesis, enantioselective (or asymmetric) catalysis was briefly introduced in Chapter 6 and is again considered as a powerful synthetic tool in Chapter 9. 

Stavenger, R.A. and Schreiber, S.L., Asymmetric catalysis in diversity-oriented organic synthesis enantioselective synthesis of 4320 encoded and spatially segregated dihydropyrancarboxamides, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 40, 3417, 2001. 

The variety of enzyme-catalyzed kinetic resolutions of enantiomers reported ia recent years is enormous. Similar to asymmetric synthesis, enantioselective resolutions are carried out ia either hydrolytic or esterification—transesterification modes. Both modes have advantages and disadvantages. Hydrolytic resolutions that are carried out ia a predominantiy aqueous medium are usually faster and, as a consequence, require smaller quantities of enzymes. On the other hand, esterifications ia organic solvents are experimentally simpler procedures, aHowiag easy product isolation and reuse of the enzyme without immobilization. 

The overall result of the sequence hydroboration -I- oxidation is a regioselective and-Markownikoff-addition of water to an alkene. This reaction is an important method in organic synthesis, since it can be made stereoselective and even enantioselective. 

With the use of chiral reagents a differentiation of enantiotopic faces is possible, leading to an enantioselective reaction. The stereoselective version of the Michael addition reaction can be a useful tool in organic synthesis, for instance in the synthesis of natural products. 

The tartrate ester modified allylboronates, the diisopropyl 2-allyl-l,3,2-dioxaborolane-4,5-di-carboxylates, are attractive reagents for organic synthesis owing to their ease of preparation and stability to storage71. In the best cases these reagents are about as enantioselective as the allyl(diisopinocampheyl)boranes (82-88% ee with unhindered aliphatic aldehydes), but with hindered aliphatic, aromatic, a,/l-unsaturated and many a- and /5-alkoxy-substituted aldehydes the enantioselectivity falls to 55-75% ee71a-b... 

Like many other antibodies, the activity of antibody 14D9 is sufficient for preparative application, yet it remains modest when compared to that of enzymes. The protein is relatively difficult to produce, although a recombinant format as a fusion vdth the NusA protein was found to provide the antibody in soluble form with good activity [20]. It should be mentioned that aldolase catalytic antibodies operating by an enamine mechanism, obtained by the principle of reactive immunization mentioned above [15], represent another example of enantioselective antibodies, which have proven to be preparatively useful in organic synthesis [21]. One such aldolase antibody, antibody 38C2, is commercially available and provides a useful alternative to natural aldolases to prepare a variety of enantiomerically pure aldol products, which are otherwise difficult to prepare, allovdng applications in natural product synthesis [22]. 

The same reasoning applies to the synthesis of pure enantiomers as to organic synthesis in general processes should be atom efficient and have low E factors, i.e. involve catalytic methodologies. This is reflected in the increasing attention being focused on enantioselective catalysis, using either enzymes or chiral metal complexes. 

In addition to the enhanced rate of hydroalumination reactions in the presence of metal catalysts, tuning of the metal catalyst by the choice of appropriate ligands offers the possibility to influence the regio- and stereochemical outcome of the overall reaction. In particular, the use of chiral ligands has the potential to control the absolute stereochemistry of newly formed stereogenic centers. While asymmetric versions of other hydrometaUation reactions, in particular hydroboration and hydrosi-lylation, are already weU established in organic synthesis, the scope and synthetic utiHty of enantioselective hydroalumination reactions are only just emerging [72]. 

The methods of organic synthesis have continued to advance rapidly and we have made an effort to reflect those advances in this Fifth Edition. Among the broad areas that have seen major developments are enantioselective reactions and transition metal catalysis. Computational chemistry is having an expanding impact on synthetic chemistry by evaluating the energy profiles of mechanisms and providing structural representation of unobservable intermediates and transition states. 

There is increased emphasis throughout Part B on the representation of transition structures to clarify stereoselectivity, including representation by computational models. The current practice of organic synthesis requires a thorough knowledge of molecular architecture and an understanding of how the components of a structure can be assembled. Structures of enantioselective reagents and catalysts are provided to help students appreciate the three-dimensional aspects of the interactions that occur in reactions. 

Abstract Recent advances in synthetic aspects of the rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of alkenes are reviewed. Emphasis is given to practical improvements, efficient new catalysts for regioselective and enantioselective hydroformylation, and to applications of the reaction in organic synthesis. Furthermore, new developments in directed hydroformylation are covered as well as new approaches toward efficient hydroformylation catalysts employing the concept of self-assembly. 

Catalytic enantioselective nucleophilic addition of nitroalkanes to electron-deficient alke-nes is a challenging area in organic synthesis. The use of cinchona alkaloids as chiral catalysts has been studied for many years. Asymmetric induction in the Michael addition of nitroalkanes to enones has been carried out with various chiral bases. Wynberg and coworkers have used various alkaloids and their derivatives, but the enantiomeric excess (ee) is generally low (up to 20%).199 The Michael addition of methyl vinyl ketone to 2-nitrocycloalkanes catalyzed by the cinchona alkaloid cinchonine affords adducts in high yields in up to 60% ee (Eq. 4.137).200... 

The synthesis of a variety of chiral aliphatic aldehydes of high optical purity through the enantioselective isomerization of allylamines found many applications in organic synthesis. The enantioselective isomerization of diethylgeranylamine, which was prepared from myrcene, furnished (R, )-diethylenamine in >98% yield with >98% ee. This enamine is converted to (—(-menthol stereospecifically in high chemical yield (yield of each step >92%, Scheme 4).9 11... 

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