Organocatalysis Michael reactions

Even if organocatalysis is a common activation process in biological transformations, this concept has only recently been developed for chemical applications. During the last decade, achiral ureas and thioureas have been used in allylation reactions [146], the Bayhs-Hillman reaction [147] and the Claisen rearrangement [148]. Chiral organocatalysis can be achieved with optically active ureas and thioureas for asymmetric C - C bond-forming reactions such as the Strecker reaction (Sect. 5.1), Mannich reactions (Sect. 5.2), phosphorylation reactions (Sect. 5.3), Michael reactions (Sect. 5.4) and Diels-Alder cyclisations (Sect. 5.6). Finally, deprotonated chiral thioureas were used as chiral bases (Sect. 5.7). 

Figure 1.15 Supramolecular catalysts for organocatalysis (a) Route to catalyst libraries (b) asymmetric nitro-Michael reaction.

Activation of enones by formation of an iminium cation is an interesting strategy that has been highlighted for organocatalysis in recent publications. A similar concept has been investigated for the enantioselective Michael reaction of malo-... 

Alternatively, the iminium-activation strategy has also been apphed to the Mukaiyama-Michael reaction, which involves the use of silyl enol ethers as nucleophiles. In this context, imidazolidinone 50a was identified as an excellent chiral catalyst for the enantioselective conjugate addition of silyloxyfuran to a,p-unsaturated aldehydes, providing a direct and efficient route to the y-butenolide architecture (Scheme 3.15). This is a clear example of the chemical complementarity between organocatalysis and transition-metal catalysis, with the latter usually furnishing the 1,2-addition product (Mukaiyama aldol) while the former proceeds via 1,4-addition when ambident electrophiles such as a,p-unsaturated aldehydes are employed. This reaction needed the incorporation of 2,4-dinitrobenzoic acid (DNBA) as a Bronsted acid co-catalyst assisting the formation of the intermediate iminium ion, and also two equivalents of water had to be included as additive for the reaction to proceed to completion, which... 

With the development of the enantioselective allylic-allylic alkylation of a,a-dicyanoalkenes and MBH carbonates by dual organocatalysis of commercially available modified cinchona alkaloids and (5)-BINOL, Chen and co-workers have delivered an elegant construction of cyclohexene derivatives. The intramolecular Michael reaction of allylic allylic alkylation product 75a could be cyclized to give the desired cyclohexene 76 in the presence of DBU (Scheme 4.25). In the presence of nucleophile BnNH2, allylic compound 75b furnished an imexpected cyclic product 77 rather than the formal double Michael adduct. Interestingly, the reaction of a,a-dicyanoalkene 79 and MBH carbonate 80 under optimized catalytic conditions directly afforded cyclohexene derivatives 81a-c in... 

Hayashi, Y., Gotoh, H., Hayashi, T., Shoji, M. (2005). Diphenylprolinol silyl ethers as efficient organocatalysis for the asymmetric Michael reaction of aldehydes and nitroalkenes. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 44, 4212-4215. 

One of the first reported C-S organocatalytic bond formations was reported by Pracejus in 1977. In this pioneering work benzylthiol, a-phthalimidomethacrylate, and catalytic amounts of chiral amines reacted to form several cysteine derivatives. With the advent of organocatalysis and iminium catalysis, several sulfa-Michael reactions have been developed. 

Organocatalysis have emerged recently as one of the cornerstones for the enanti-oselective synthesis of C-C or C-heteroatom bonds. Owing to the easy prediction of the stereochemical outcome of the reactions, iminium activation and specific Michael reactions is one of the most studied reaction types in organocatalysis. In the literature, we can find multiple approaches to the organocatalytic Michael reaction using different catalysts or nucleophiles, most of them with exceptional levels of stereoselectivity. Moreover, these simple additions to enals or enones have inspired multiple organocatalytic tandem and cascade reactions and, in our view, open up a new pathway for the enantioselective construction of complex scaffolds in one-pot procedures. 

Chiral secondary amines are another important class of privileged functional component in dual organocatalysis that has been widely used in asymmetric catalysis [39]. For example, in 2008, Cordova et al. [40] reported the combinational use of (S)-diphenylprolinol TMS ether (127) and Br0nsted base DABCO (128) as dual organocatalysts to promote the asymmetric domino double Michael addition reaction (nitro-Michael/Michael reaction) of 5-nitropentenoate (125) to a,(i-unsaturated aldehydes (Scheme 43.26), which gave the corresponding nitrogen-,... 

Organocatalysis Continuing efforts to harness the cooperative activity of bifunctional organocatalysts have led to the examinations of chiral calix[4]arenes containing amino phenol stractures and chiral per-6-amino-P-cyclodextrin in the asymmetric sulfa-Michael reactions to cyclic and acylic enones.The preliminary results indicated that further structural modification would be required to allow more efficient asymmetric catalyst systems. 

During the past decades, the scope of Lewis acid catalysts was expanded with several organic salts. The adjustment of optimal counter anion is of significant importance, while it predetermines the nature and intensity of catalytic Lewis acid activation of the reactive species. Discovered over 100 years ago and diversely spectroscopically and computationally investigated [131-133], carbocations stiU remain seldom represented in organocatalysis, contrary to analogous of silyl salts for example. The first reported application of a carbenium salt introduced the trityl perchlorate 51 (Scheme 49) as a catalyst in the Mukaiyama aldol-type reactions and Michael transformations (Scheme 50) [134-142]. 

Notz W, Tanaka F, Barbas CF (2004) Enamine-based organocatalysis with proline and diamines the development of direct catalytic asymmetric aldol, Mannich, Michael, and Diels-Alder reactions. Acc Chem Res 37(8) 580-591... 

Tandem intramolecular Michael addition - intramolecular alkylation can lead to cyclopropanes. Matthew J. Gaunt of the University of Cambridge has shown (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004,43, 2681) that this intramolecular Michael addition also responds to organocatalysis. In this case, the catalyst, a quinine-derived amine, covalently binds to the substrate, then is released at the end of the reaction. 

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