Oxazaborolidine reduction

In particular, reduction of unsymmetric ketones to alcohols has become one of the more useful reactions. To achieve the selective preparation of one enantiomer of the alcohol, chemists first modified the classical reagents with optically active ligands this led to modified hydrides. The second method consisted of reaction of the ketone with a classical reducing agent in the presence of a chiral catalyst. The aim of this chapter is to highlight one of the best practical methods that could be used on an industrial scale the oxazaborolidine catalyzed reduction.1 1 This chapter gives an introductory overview of oxazaborolidine reductions and covers those of proline derivatives in-depth. For the oxazaborolidine derivatives of l-amino-2-indanol for ketone reductions see Chapter 17. 

Since the discoveries of Itsuno32 and Corey,33 remarkable advances have been made in the enantio-selective reduction of prochiral ketones using amino alcohol-derived oxazaborolidines (see Chapter 16).34 35 In most cases, these amino alcohols were obtained from chiral pool sources. Consequently, extensive synthetic manipulations were often necessary to access their unnatural antipode. Didier and co-workers were first to examine the potential of m-aminoindanol as a ligand for the asymmetric oxazaborolidine reduction of ketones.36 Several acyclic and cyclic amino alcohols were screened for the reduction of acetophenone (Scheme 17.2), and m-aminoindanol led to the highest enantioselectivity (87% ee). 

Halo-substituted acetophenones such as m-bromo- [74] or p-chloroacetophe-none [46] were reduced with borane in high enantioselectivity in the presence of oxazaborolidines 4b and 47, respectively. Other important halogen-containing ketones are chloromethyl or bromomethyl ketones. Oxazaborolidine reduction of co-chloro- or co-bromoacetophenone gives enantio-enriched halohydrins that can be converted into chiral oxiranes [20]. Martens found that the sulfur-containing oxazaborolidine catalysts 60 show high enantioselectivity in this kind of reduction [44, 86, 87]. Enantiopure halohydrins were obtained as shown in Scheme 8. 

Instead of amino alcohols, enantiopure P-hydroxysulfoximines are also efficient chiral auxiliaries for the ketone reduction with borane [110]. Treatment of P-hydroxysulfoximine 72 with borane would form a boron-containing six-mem-bered heterocycle as a catalyst as shown in Scheme 16. The mechanism may be analogous to that for the oxazaborolidine reduction. a-Haloacetophenone and... 

Reiff EA, Nair SK, Reddy BSN, Inagaki J, Henri JT, Greiner JF, Georg GI. Practical syntheses of the C12-C21 epothilone subunit via catalytic asymmetric reductions Itsuno-Corey oxazaborolidine reduction and asymmetric Noyori hydrogenation. Tetrahedron Lett. 2004 45(30) 5845-5847. 

The most successful of the Lewis acid catalysts are oxazaborolidines prepared from chiral amino alcohols and boranes. These compounds lead to enantioselective reduction of acetophenone by an external reductant, usually diborane. The chiral environment established in the complex leads to facial selectivity. The most widely known example of these reagents is derived from the amino acid proline. Several other examples of this type of reagent have been developed, and these will be discussed more completely in Section 5.2 of part B. 

Enantioselective reductions of prochiral ketones by means of oxazaborolidines 97CLY9. 

Recent advances in the asymmetric catalytic reduction of ketones using chiral oxazaborolidines as ligands 98MI64. 

Reduction of carbonyl compounds with chiral oxazaborolidine catalysts 98AG(E)1987. 

The synthesis of the trisubstituted cyclohexane sector 160 commences with the preparation of optically active (/ )-2-cyclohexen-l-ol (199) (see Scheme 49). To accomplish this objective, the decision was made to utilize the powerful catalytic asymmetric reduction process developed by Corey and his colleagues at Harvard.83 Treatment of 2-bromocyclohexenone (196) with BH3 SMe2 in the presence of 5 mol % of oxazaborolidine 197 provides enantiomeri-cally enriched allylic alcohol 198 (99% yield, 96% ee). Reductive cleavage of the C-Br bond in 198 with lithium metal in terf-butyl alcohol and THF then provides optically active (/ )-2-cyclo-hexen-l-ol (199). When the latter substance is treated with wCPBA, a hydroxyl-directed Henbest epoxidation84 takes place to give an epoxy alcohol which can subsequently be protected in the form of a benzyl ether (see 175) under standard conditions. 

The aziridine carbinols are also effective ligands in the preparation of oxazaborolidine catalysts for the asymmetric ketone reduction with borane (Fig. 4) [551. 

Corey, E.J. Helal, C.J. (1998) Reduction of Carbonyl Compounds with Chiral Oxazaborolidine Catalysts A New Paradigm for Enantioselective Catalysis and a Powerful New Synthetic Method. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 37, 1986-2012. 

Other S/N ligands have been investigated in the enantioselective catalytic reduction of ketones with borane. Thus, Mehler and Martens have reported the synthesis of sulfur-containing ligands based on the L-methionine skeleton and their subsequent application as new chiral catalysts for the borane reduction of ketones." The in situ formed chiral oxazaborolidine catalyst has been used in the reduction of aryl ketones, providing the corresponding alcohols in nearly quantitative yields and high enantioselectivities of up to 99% ee, as shown in Scheme 10.60. 

Catalytic Enantioselective Reduction of Ketones. An even more efficient approach to enantioselective reduction is to use a chiral catalyst. One of the most developed is the oxazaborolidine 18, which is derived from the amino acid proline.148 The enantiomer is also available. These catalysts are called the CBS-oxazaborolidines. 

Scheme 5.6. Enantioselective Reduction of Ketones Using CBS-Oxazaborolidine... 

Liao and Li enantioselectively synthesized and studied the antifungal activity of optically active miconazole and econazole. The key step was the enan-tioselective reduction of 2-chloro-l-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)ethanone catalyzed by chiral oxazaborolidine [10]. 

Another soluble polymer-enlarged catalyst was synthesized and tested by Wandrey et a/.[57] The catalyst was prepared by a coupling of an oxazaborolidine via a hydrosilylation reaction to a methyl hydrosiloxane-dimethylsiloxane copolymer (Figure 4.40). The catalyst was used in the enantioselective borane reduction of ketones. 

The use of such an oxazaborolidine system in a continuously operated membrane reactor was demonstrated by Kragl et /. 58] Various oxazaborolidine catalysts were prepared with polystyrene-based soluble supports. The catalysts were tested in a deadend setup (paragraph 4.2.1) for the reduction of ketones. These experiments showed higher ee s than batch experiments in which the ketone was added in one portion. The ee s vary from 84% for the reduction of propiophenone to up to >99% for the reduction of L-tetralone. The catalyst showed only a slight deactivation under the reaction conditions. The TTON could be increased from 10 for the monomeric system to 560 for the polymer-bound catalyst. 

Kragl and Wandrey made a comparison for the asymmetric reduction of acetophenone between oxazaborolidine and alcohol dehydrogenase.[59] The oxazaborolidine catalyst was bound to a soluble polystyrene [58] and used borane as the hydrogen donor. The carbonyl reductase was combined with formate dehydrogenase to recycle the cofactor NADH which acts as the hydrogen donor. Both systems were run for a number of residence times in a continuously operated membrane reactor and were directly comparable. With the chemical system, a space-time yield of 1400 g L"1 d"1 and an ee of 94% were reached whereas for the enzymatic system the space-time yield was 88 g L 1 d"1 with an ee of >99%. The catalyst half-life times were... 

One common approach incorporates an oxazaborolidine-mediated catechol-borane reduction starting from a-ketophosphonates (146).155 The reaction proceeds with good yield and gives excellent ee (up to 99%). 

Boranes have opened the door to asymmetric reduction of carbonyl compounds. The first attempt at modifying borane with a chiral ligand was reported by Fiaud and Kagan,75 who used amphetamine borane and desoxyephedrine borane to reduce acetophenone. The ee of the 1-phenyl ethanol obtained was quite low (<5%). A more successful borane-derived reagent, oxazaborolidine, was introduced by Hirao et al.76 in 1981 and was further improved by Itsuno and Corey.77 Today, this system can provide high stereoselectivity in the asymmetric reduction of carbonyl compounds, including alkyl ketones. 

Oxazaborolidine catalysts behave like an enzyme in the sense of binding with both ketone and borane, bringing them close enough to undergo reaction and releasing the product after the reaction. Thus these compounds are referred to as chemzymes by Corey.78 The oxazaborolidines listed in Figure 6-6 are representative catalysts for the asymmetric reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols. 

Addition of triethylamine to the oxazaborolidine reaction system can significantly increase the enantioselectivity, especially in dialkyl ketone reductions.79 In 1987, Corey et al.80 reported that the diphenyl derivatives of 79a afford excellent enantioselectivity (>95%) in the asymmetric catalytic reduction of various ketones. This oxazaborolidine-type catalyst was named the CBS system based on the authors names (Corey, Bakshi, and Shibata). Soon after, Corey s group81 reported that another fi-methyl oxazaborolidine 79b (Fig. 6-6) was easier to prepare and to handle. The enantioselectivity of the 79b-catalyzed reaction is comparable with that of the reaction mediated by 79a (Scheme 6-36).81 The -naphthyl derivative 82 also affords high enantioselectivity.78 As a general procedure, oxazaborolidine catalysts may be used in 5-10 mol%... 

Figure 6-6. Representative oxazaborolidines for the asymmetric reduction of prochiral ketones.

New chiral oxazaborolidines that have been prepared from both enantiomers of optically active inexpensive a-pinene have also given quite good results in the asymmetric borane reduction of prochiral ketones.92 Borane and aromatic ketone coordinate to this structurally rigid oxazaborolidine (+)- or (—)-94, forming a six-membered cyclic chair-like transition state (Scheme 6-41). Following the mechanism shown in Scheme 6-37, intramolecular hydride transfer occurs to yield the product with high enantioselectivity. With aliphatic ketones, poor ee is normally obtained (see Table 6-9). 

The reduction of dialkylketones and alkylaryl ketones is also conveniently accomplished using chiral oxazaborolidines, a methodology which emerged from relative obscurity in the late 1980s. The type of borane complex (based on (,V)-diphenyl prolinol)[39] responsible for the reductions is depicted below (10). Reduction of acetophenone with this complex gives (/ )-1 -phenylethanol in 90-95% yield (95-99% ee) [40]. Whilst previously used modified hydrides such as BiNAL-H (11), which were used in stoichiometric quantities, are generally unsatisfactory for the reduction of dialkylketones, oxazaborolidines... 

Enantioselective reduction of ketones using n-arylsulfonyl oxazaborolidines... 

The reduction using oxazaborolidine borane needs to be done in anhydrous... 

ASYMMETRIC REDUCTION OF BROMOKETONE CATALYZED BY C/X-AMINOINDANOL OXAZABOROLIDINE... 

ENANTIOSELECTIVE REDUCTION OF KETONES USING N-ARYLSULFONYL OXAZABOROLIDINES... 

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