Oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane

Scheme 11.1 also summarizes other impressive examples of the performance of the CBS method [1-8]. Several excellent reviews on the CBS method have appeared recently [1, 2], and no detailed discussion of the development of the process or substrate scope shall be presented in this review. Please note, however, that the oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of ketones is a prime example of bi-functional catalysis [2, 9] - as shown in Scheme 11.2, the current mechanistic picture involves simultaneous binding of both the ketone and the borane to the Lewis-acidic (boron) and Lewis-basic (nitrogen) sites of the catalyst A. In the resulting ternary complex B, the reaction partners are synergistically activated toward hydride transfer. 

After the identification of aprepitant as a clinical candidate, Merck invested considerable process research toward an improved synthesis of aprepitant, which culminated in the elegant manufacturing process shown in Scheme 6.21,22 The key step relies on displacement of a trifluoroacetate from intermediate 48 by the optically active alcohol intermediate 49. The synthesis of 49 was accomplished via an oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of the corresponding acetophenone. Although the displacement resulted in an almost equal mixture of the two diastereomers 50 and 51, the desired diastereomer 50 could be recovered in high yield by base-catalyzed equilibration of the mixture and crystallization. Addition of p-fluorophenyl magnesium bromide followed by hydrogenolysis afforded the key intermediate 40, which can be readily converted to 1 as detailed in the previous synthesis. 

The oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction to prepare (R)-1 is an improvement over existing methods such as the p-chlorodiisopinocampheylborane reduction,6 and enzymatic resolution14 for several reasons. First, the reaction uses an easily obtained catalytic reducing agent that provides the chiral alcohol in 92% ee. Secondly, the reaction proceeds at a reasonable rate (6-8 hr) and affords the chiral alcohol (92% ee) In nearly quantitative yield (97%). Finally, the work-up, isolation and purification of the product is straightforward and requires no column chromatography, only bulb-to-bulb distillation and recrystallization, affording (R)-1 in 75% yield with 97% ee. In addition, the catalyst precursor, (S)-a,a-diphenylpyrrolidinemethanol. can be easily recovered in excellent yield. 

In many stereoselective reactions, the effect of temperature on the selectivity is as expected, with better results being obtained at lower temperature. A lower tempertaure is often required to increase the selectivitty. From the practical point of view, one of the most attractive feature of this enantioselective reduction is that excellent enantioselectivity is obtained at a relatively high temperature such as room temperature. In some cases, the selectivity of the oxazaborolidine catalyzed borane reduction increases with increasing temperature until an optimal range is reached (30-50 °C) where the selectivity then begins to decrease [76]. Interpretation of this phenomena is not so easy. The amount of catalyst dimer that exists in a temperature-dependent equiUbrium with the monomeric form, might have an effect on the selectivity. 

In the oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of ketones, the effect of additives has been investigated. For example, addition of triethylamine was found to improve the enantioselectivity in the stoichiometric reduction [77]. Some alcohols, e.g., f-PrOH, also efficiently enhanced the enantioselectivity of the reduction [78]. When the stoichiometric amount of the oxazaborolidine was used. 

Some aluminum Lewis acids such as triisobutylaluminum exhibited a rate enhancing effect in the oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of ketones... 

The term CBS-reduction refers to the enantioselective, oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction for a review, see Corey EJ, Helal C (1998) Angew Chem 110 2093 Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 37 1986... 

The enantioselective reduction of ketones has become a key reaction not only for the production of chiral alcohols, but for the production of fimctionalized compounds in general, thanks to the versatility of the hydroxyl fimctionality. The oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of ketones [2] has become an important reaction due to the fact that the stereochemistry of the alcohols can be predicted and because of the wide substrate acceptance of this catalytic system (it works with aromatic as well as with aliphatic ketones). Among all the known oxazaboroUdine catalysts, the proline-based one is very interesting not only because it is one of the most selective catalysts, but also because another related reagent, the 4-hydroproline, is commercially available and possesses a functional group which could be used for the linkage to a polymer. 

Asymmetric reductions of a-fiinctionalized ketones, such as a-hydroxy ketones, a-halo ketones, a-sulfonoxy ketones, 1,2-diketones, a-keto acetals or thio ketals, acyl cyanides and a-amino or imino ketones with boron-based chiral reducing agents in a stoichiometric or catalytic manner have been reviewed. The oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction of protected a-hydroxy ketones, a-keto acetals and a-sulfonoxy ketones has been discussed in more detail. 

In summary, this chapter shows that organoboron-based asymmetric reducing agents, such as K Glucoride (1), K Xylide (2), Alpine-borane (3), Dip-Chloride (4) and oxazaborolidine-catalyzed boranes are highly effective for the reduction of a variety of a-functionalized ketones. We have established a convenient and simple procedure for the preparation of terminal 1,2-diols, a-hydroxy acetals and epoxides with very high optical purity via oxazaborolidine-catalyzed borane reduction using /V-phenylamine-borane complexes as the hydride source. 

Gajda T (1994) Enantioselective synthesis of diethyl 1-hydroxyalkylphosphonates via oxazaborolidine catalyzed borane reduction of diethyl a-ketophosphonates. Tetrahedron Asym 5 1965-1972... 

Oxazaborolidine catalyzed reductions are generally performed in an aprotic solvent, such as dichloromethane, THF, or toluene. When the reactions are run in a Lewis basic solvent, such as THF, the solvent competes with the oxazaborolidine to complex with the borane, which can have an effect on the enantioselectivity and/or rate of the reaction. The solubility of the oxazaborolidine-borane complex can be the limiting factor for reactions run in toluene, although this problem has been circumvented by using oxazaborolidines with more lipophilic... 

The mode of addition and the reaction temperature both affect the enantioselectivity of the reaction. The best results are obtained when the ketone is added slowly to a solution of the oxazaborolidine (or oxazaborolidine-borane complex) and the borane source, at as low a temperature that provides a reasonable reaction rate. This is in contrast to a previous report that indicated that oxazaborolidine-catalyzed reductions lose stereoselectivity at lower temperatures . With unsubstituted (R = H) oxazaboro-... 

E.J. Corey and co-workers synthesized the cdc25A protein phosphatase inhibitor dysidiolide enantioselectively. In the last phase of the total synthesis, the secondary alcohol functionality of the side-chain was established with a highly diastereoselective oxazaborolidine-catalyzed reduction using borane-dimethylsulfide complex in the presence of the (S)-6-methyl CBS catalyst. Finally, a photochemical oxidation generated the y-hydroxybutenolide functionality. This total synthesis confirmed the absolute stereochemistry of dysidiolide. 

Reduction using boranes. A practical modification of the oxazaborolidine-catalyzed reduction of ketones with borane is to replace the trialkylborane component with trimethyl borate. For the reduction of (3-silyl and ( -stannyl enones the use of 80 is advocated. ... 

The pioneering work from Itsuno group [11-14] on stoichiometric 1,2-aminoalcohol-borane complex-mediated borane reduction of ketones led to the discovery of well-defined oxazaborolidine catalyzed asymmetric reduction by Corey and coworkers [15-18]. Known as Corey-Bakshi-Shibata reaction, or CBS reduction, this reaction has become a standard method for making chiral secondary alcohols for complex molecule synthesis [19]. The generally accepted mechanism of this reaction is shown in Fig. 2. Coordination of the electrophilic reductant BH3 to the nitrogen atom of... 

Enantioselective borane reduction of ketones catalyzed by chiral oxazaborolidines. 

Borane reduction catalyzed by chiral oxazaborolidines (CBS reduction, CBS = Corey, Bakshi, and Shibata) exhibits excellent enantio- and chemoselectiv-ity for a wide variety of ketonic substrates (Figure 1.27). This reaction was originally developed as a stoichiometric system consisting of diphenylvalinol and borane, ° but was later extended to a useful catalytic method. Because of the high efficiency of this reaction, many chiral oxazaborolidines have been synthesized from p-amino alcohols.Among them the prolinol-derived oxazaboro-lidine is one of the most widely used catalysts. ... 

Figure 1.27. Asymmetric reduction of ketones with borane catalyzed by oxazaborolidines.

A modified oxazaborolidine 2 catalyzing the enantioselective reduction of acetophenone or tetralone with borane proved to give ttn values in the same order of magnitude [10, 11]. Using a special hydroxyproUne-based polymer-enlarged oxazaborolidine 3, a ttn of 1400 for the reduction of tetralone was achieved (Fig. 3.1.3, 3) [5, 12]. 

The characteristic feature of the aforementioned oxazaborolidine catalyst system consists of a-sulfonamide carboxylic acid ligand for boron reagent, where the five-membered ring system seems to be the major structural feature for the active catalyst. Accordingly, tartaric acid-derived chiral (acyloxy)borane (CAB) complexes can also catalyze the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes with a high level of asymmetric induction [10] (Eq. 8A.4). Similarly, a chiral tartrate-derived dioxaborolidine has been introduced as a catalyst for enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction of 2-bromoacrolein [11] (Eq. 8A.5). 

Borane Reduction Catalyzed by Oxazaborolidines and Phosphorus-based Catalysts... 

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