Organolithium reagents, addition enantioselectivity

In order to prove the utility of this method and to ascertain the absolute configuration of the products, (S)-alanine has been enantioselectively prepared. The key step is the addition of methyllithium to the AjA -dimethyl hydrazone acetal 4c, derived from diol 3c. In accordance with 13C-NMR investigations it can therefore be assumed that all major diastereomers resulting from the addition of organolithium reagents to hydrazone acetals 4a-c derived from diols 3a, 3b or 3c (Table 3, entries 1 -6) have an S configuration at the newly formed stereogenic center. 

The reaction of butyllithium with 1-naphthaldehyde cyclohexylimine in the presence of (/C )-l,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol dimethyl ether in toluene at —78 °C, followed by treatment with acetate buffer, gave 2-butyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene-l-carbaldehyde, which was then reduced with sodium borohydride in methanol to afford (1 R,2.S)-2-butyl-1 -hydroxymcthyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene in 80% overall yield with 91 % ee83. Similarly, the enantioselective conjugate addition of organolithium reagents to several a,/J-unsaturated aldimines took place in the presence of C2-symmetric chiral diethers, such as (/, / )-1,2-butanediol dimethyl ether and (/, / )- ,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol dimethyl ether. 

Organolithium Reagents/Sparteine Combinations as Chiral Nucleophiles for Enantioselective Additions... 

Organolithium compounds are highly reactive and have been used in a variety of organic transformations. A major problem in the development of catalytic asymmetric conjugate additions of organolithium reagents to a,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds is that the high reactivity of RLi may cause both low chemoselectivity (1,2- vs. 1,4-addition) and low enantioselectivity. 

The enantioselective addition of the amino organolithium reagents consists of two stereo-controlled reactions, the asymmetric deprotonation (equation 14) and the following addition to electrophiles. The stereochemical course of the addition depends on the electrophile E. In the cases where heterocyclic enone or a,-unsaturated lactones are the electrophiles (entries 5-7), the addition proceeds with retention of configuration. In contrast, with the other electrophiles in Table 10 and trimethyltin chloride in equation 15, the addition proceeds with inversion of configuration. In the addition which proceeds with retention of configuration, a pre-complexation between the electrophiles and lithium may be involved (equation 16). 

Several asymmetric 1,2-additions of various organolithium reagents (methyllithium, n-butyllithium, phenyllithium, lithioacetonitrile, lithium n-propylacetylide, and lithium (g) phenylacetylide) to aldehydes result in decent to excellent ee% (65-98%) when performed in the presence of a chiral lithium amido sulfide [e.g. (14)], 75 The chiral lithium amido sulfides invariably have exhibited higher levels of enantioselectivity compared to the structurally similar chiral lithium amido ethers and the chiral lithium amide without a chelating group. 

Table 29 Enantioselective Additions of Organolithium Reagents (RLi) to Benzaldehyde in the Presence of (108)...

The first prominent catalytic asymmetric Michael-type addition reaction of an organolithium reagent was shown by the reaction of 1-naphthy[lithium with 1-fluoro-2-naphthylaldehyde imine in the presence of 6 to afford the binaphthyls in high ee. Only catalytic amounts of 6 (0.05 mol%) effects the reaction to give 82% ee, in which an enantioselective Michael-type addition-elimination mechanism is operative (Eq. (12.12)) [31],... 

The first prominent catalytic asymmetric addition of an organolithium reagent was realized in the reaction of 1-naphthyllithinmwith l-fluoro-2-naphthy-laldehyde imine in the presence of the chiral diether 1 to afford chiral binaphthyls in over 82% ee (Scheme 2). Merely a catalytic amount of 1 (5 mol %) is required to effect the reaction, in which an enantioselective conjugate addition-elimination mechanism is operative [18]. 

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