Other Asymmetric Aldols

Asymmetric aldol reactions between acetone and benzaldehyde use a chiral zinc(II) complex of aminoacyl 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane with pendant amino-acid sidechains.  

Sodium f-butoxide promotes reaction of isobutyrophenone, Ph-C(=0)-CHMe2, with an excess of benzaldehyde ( 4mol), to give flnri-l,3-dibenzoyloxy-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-diphenylpropane (70). This easy access to a useful C2-symmetric chiral 1,3-diol 0 occurs via sequenbal aldol-Tishchenko and Tishchenko reactions. 

Malonic acid half thioesters, H02C-CH(R )-C0-SR (R =H/Me), undergo an enantioselective decarboxylative aldol reaction with aldehydes, using a chiral catalyst bearing a hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor. In situ ESI-MS evidence supports a complex between the conjugate base of the substrate and the conjugate acid of the 

5yn-/ -hydroxy-a-vinyl carboxylate esters (73) have been prepared via an enantio-and diastereo-selective reductive aldol of ethyl allenecarboxylate with a chiral 0 a-trimethylsilyl borane. ° A 1,4-hydroboration pathway is supported by DFT 0 and NMR. 

The memory of chirality concept has been employed in a strategy for the synthesis of chiral a,/ -diamino- and a-amino-/ -hydroxy ester derivatives via asymmetric imino-aldol and aldol reactions, starting from protected aminoesters. The route can 0 be extended to the enantioselective synthesis of aziridines. 

A bifunctional catalyst consisting of a primary amine and metal Lewis acid (60) gives yield/de/ee of 65-90/up to 96/often 99% in direct aldols of ketones in aqueous media, and the aldehyde reactant can be electron rich or electron poor.  

Tin(IV)-chloride-mediated double aldol reaction of acyclic ketones is rendered stereoselective by a chiral phosphine oxide, (5)-BE JAPO it is proposed that the catalyst controls the first aldol and the substrate controls the second. Another chiral diphosphine oxide, this one based on thiophene, catalyses direct aldols in high delee Chiral a-silyloxy ketones derived from lactate (61) undergo titanium(IV)-mediated aldols giving diastereomerically pure syn-syn adducts (62) in high yield, irrespective of the alkyl groups fianking the silyl or carbonyl. 

Trichlorosilyl triflate and a chiral Lewis base catalyse direct aldols in high de and 

Thioamides can undergo direct enantio- and diastereo-selective aldol reaction with aldehydes, by means of a soft Lewis acid/hard Brpnsted base cooperative catalysis. 

Dialkylzincs promote direct aldol-type reaction of ethyl diazoacetate with trilluoro-methyl ketones to give highly functionalized products, R-C(0H)(CF3)-C(=N2)-C02Et, in good to excellent yield. Preliminary screening of chiral catalysts gives some good ccs.  

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OTHER ASYMMETRIC ALDOL REACTIONS INVOLVING TRANSITION METALS 317... 

Other reactions adapted from asymmetric aldol reactions suffer in comparison from the fact that (probably due to the strength of the boron-nitrogen bond) boron-mediated processes generally yield the intermediate 2-halo-3-aminoester products rather than aziridine products directly [51]. 

Other asymmetric syntheses, based on aldol condensation of chiral a-sulfinyl carbanions with carbonyl compounds, are the formation of / -hydroxyketones from /J-sulfinylhydrazones 166211-214, of /3, /l -dihydroxyketones from 3-(p-tolylsulfinyl-methyl)-A2-methylisoxalinones 167215, of /1-hydroxyacids from 2-(p-tolylsulfinylmethyl)oxazolines 168216 and of /J-hydroxyesters from ethyl-p-tolylsulfinyl-W-methoxyacetamide 169217. 

Other asymmetric syntheses, based on aldol condensation of chiral a-sulfinyl carbanions with carbonyl compounds, are the formation of -hydroxyketones from -sulfinylhydrazones of -dihydroxyketones from 3-(p-tolylsulfmyl-... 

Compound 17 is the so-called (+)-Prelog-Djerassi lactonic acid derived via the degradation of either methymycin or narbomycin. This compound embodies important architectural features common to a series of macrolide antibiotics and has served as a focal point for the development of a variety of new stereoselective syntheses. Another preparation of compound 17 is shown in Scheme 3-7.11 Starting from 8, by treating the boron enolate with an aldehyde, 20 can be synthesized via an asymmetric aldol reaction with the expected stereochemistry at C-2 and C-2. Treating the lithium enolate of 8 with an electrophile affords 19 with the expected stereochemistry at C-5. Note that the stereochemistries in the aldol reaction and in a-alkylation are opposite each other. The combination of 19 and 20 gives the final product 17. 

Several other chiral Lewis acids have also been reported to effect asymmetric aldol reactions. Kruger and Carreira59 reported a catalytic aldol addition of silyl dienolate to a range of aldehydes in the presence of a bisphosphanyl-Cu(II) fluoride complex generated in situ from (iS )-Tol-BINAP, Cu(OTf)2, and (Bu4N)Ph3SiF2. Aromatic, heteroaromatic, and a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes provided the aldol adducts with up to 95% ee and 98% yield (Scheme 3-33). 

Related catalytic enantioselective processes [84] As the examples in Scheme 6.26 show, a wide variety of catalytic asymmetric aldol additions have been reported that can be considered as attractive alternatives to the Zr-catalyzed process summarized above. The Ti-cata-lyzed version due to Carreira (84) [85], the Cu-catalyzed variant of Evans (85) [86], and the protocol reported by Shibasaki (86) [87] have all been used in syntheses of complex molecules. More recently, Trost (87) [88] and Shibasaki (88) [89] have developed two additional attractive asymmetric catalytic aldol protocols. Other related technologies (not represented in Scheme 6.26) have been described by Morken [90] and Jorgensen [91]. 

Although in the recent years the stereochemical control of aldol condensations has reached a level of efficiency which allows enantioselective syntheses of very complex compounds containing many asymmetric centres, the situation is still far from what one would consider "ideal". In the first place, the requirement of a substituent at the a-position of the enolate in order to achieve good stereoselection is a limitation which, however, can be overcome by using temporary bulky groups (such as alkylthio ethers, for instance). On the other hand, the ( )-enolates, which are necessary for the preparation of 2,3-anti aldols, are not so easily prepared as the (Z)-enolates and furthermore, they do not show selectivities as good as in the case of the (Z)-enolates. Finally, although elements other than boron -such as zirconium [30] and titanium [31]- have been also used succesfully much work remains to be done in the area of catalysis. In this context, the work of Mukaiyama and Kobayashi [32a,b,c] on asymmetric aldol reactions of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes promoted by tributyltin fluoride and a chiral diamine coordinated to tin(II) triflate... 

The development of enantioselective aldol reactions has been widely studied in conjunction with the synthesis of natural products. Highly enantioselective aldol reactions have been achieved by employing chiral enolates of ethyl ketones and propionic acid derivatives.(1) On the other hand, achieving high asymmetric induction in the asymmetric aldol reaction of methyl ketones is still a problem.(2)... 

A similar chiral bis(oxazoline)/Cu(II) catalyst is useful for the asymmetric hetero Diels-Alder reaction of Danishefsky s diene and glyoxylates [63] (Eq. 8A.39). Other bis(oxa-zoline)/M(OTf)2 (M = Sn, Mg) complexes are not effective. This method provides new routes to asymmetric aldol synthesis upon hydrolysis of the resulting adducts. 

Carbonyl Addition Diethylzinc has been added to benzaldehyde at room temperature in the presence of an ephedra-derived chiral quat (8) to give optically active secondary alcohols, a case in which the chiral catalyst affords a much higher enantioselectivity in the solid state than in solution (47 to 48, Scheme 10.6) [30]. Asymmetric trifluoromethylation of aldehydes and ketones (49 to 50, Scheme 10.6 [31]) is accomplished with trifluoromethyl-trimethylsilane, catalyzed by a quaternary ammonium fluoride (3d). Catalyst 3d was first used by the Shioiri group for catalytic asymmetric aldol reactions from silyl enol ethers 51 or 54 (Scheme 10.6) [32]. Various other 1,2-carbonyl additions [33] and aldol reactions [34] have been reported. 

Aldol reactions using a quaternary chinchona alkaloid-based ammonium salt as orga-nocatalyst Several quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alkaloids have proven to be excellent organocatalysts for asymmetric nucleophilic substitutions, Michael reactions and other syntheses. As described in more detail in, e.g., Chapters 3 and 4, those salts act as chiral phase-transfer catalysts. It is, therefore, not surprising that catalysts of type 31 have been also applied in the asymmetric aldol reaction [65, 66], The aldol reactions were performed with the aromatic enolate 30a and benzaldehyde in the presence of ammonium fluoride salts derived from cinchonidine and cinchonine, respectively, as a phase-transfer catalyst (10 mol%). For example, in the presence of the cinchonine-derived catalyst 31 the desired product (S)-32a was formed in 65% yield (Scheme 6.16). The enantioselectivity, however, was low (39% ee) [65],... 

Other reviews deal with aldol additions of group 1 and 2 enolates,103 direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reactions catalysed by chiral metal complexes,104 the exploitation of multi-point recognition in catalytic asymmetric aldols,105 and recent progress in asymmetric organocatalysis of aldol, Mannich, Michael, and other reactions.106... 

A stereocontrolled synthesis of the biologically active neolignan (+)-dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol, which was isolated from several Taxus species, was achieved via Evans asymmetric aldol condensation [58] using ferulic acid amide derived from D-phenylalanine. The reaction steps are shown in Fig. 9. This stereocontrolled reaction is also useful for preparing the enantiomer of (+)-dehydroconiferyl alcohol using chiral auxiliary oxazolidinone prepared from L-phenylalanine. This reaction also enables the syntheses of other natural products that possess the same phenylcoumaran framework. 

Independently, Yamamoto, Yanagisawa, and others reported the asymmetric aldol reaction using trimethoxysilyl enol ethers.19 The reaction was conducted with aldehydes and trimethoxysilyl enol ethers in the presence of Tol-BINAP-AgF to give the corresponding adducts with high enantioselectivities and diastereoselectiv-ities. They obtained vyra-aldol adducts as major products even when silyl enol ethers derived from cyclic ketones were used. Moreover, when a,(3-unsaturated aldehydes were employed as substrates, 1,2 adducts were obtained exclusively (Table 9.10). From an NMR study and correlation between the E Z ratio of the enol ethers and diastereoselectiviy, they proposed a cyclic transition state (Fig. 9.5). Thus, the reaction of E enol ethers proceeded via a boat form, whereas the reaction of Z enol ethers took place via a chair form. 

Asymmetric aldol cyclization of the triketone with (S)-(-)-proline can also be effected in solvents other than N,N-dimethylformamide acetonitrile 1s outstanding. ... 

Having noticed certain limitations of chlorotitanium aldol reactions on Evans et al. s chiral auxiliary,21 in 1997 Crimmins and others developed a brilliant protocol to achieve a highly diastereoselective aldol reaction.22 Asymmetric aldol... 

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