Oxazoline ligands pyridine-oxazolines

Associated to copper(II) pre-catalysts, bis(oxazolines) also allowed the asymmetric Diels-Alder and hetero Diels-Alder transformations to be achieved in nearly quantitative yield and high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. Optically active sulfoximines, with their nitrogen-coordinating site located at close proximity to the stereogenic sulfur atom, have also proven their efficiency as copper ligands for these asymmetric cycloadditions. Other precursors for this Lewis acid-catalyzed transformation have been described (e.g., zinc salts, ruthenium derivatives, or rare earth complexes) which, when associated to bis(oxazolines), pyridine-oxazolines or pyridine-bis(oxazolines), led to efficient catalysts. 

In conclusion, many chiral pyridine-based ligands have been prepared from the chiral pool and have been successfully tested as ligands for the copper- or rhodium-catalyzed cyclopropanation of olefins. Alfhough efficient systems have been described, sometimes leading interestingly to the major cis isomer, the enantioselectivities usually remained lower than those obtained with the copper-bis(oxazoline) system. 

Ghosh et al. [70] reviewed a few years ago the utihty of C2-symmetric chiral bis(oxazoline)-metal complexes for catalytic asymmetric synthesis, and they reserved an important place for Diels-Alder and related transformations. Bis(oxazoline) copper(II)triflate derivatives have been indeed described by Evans et al. as effective catalysts for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction [71]. The bis(oxazoline) Ugand 54 allowed the Diels-Alder transformation of two-point binding N-acylimide dienophiles with good yields, good diastereos-electivities (in favor of the endo diastereoisomer) and excellent ee values (up to 99%) [72]. These substrates represent the standard test for new catalysts development. To widen the use of Lewis acidic chiral Cu(ll) complexes, Evans et al. prepared and tested bis(oxazoHnyl)pyridine (PyBOx, structure 55, Scheme 26) as ligand [73]. 

Numerous articles have been devoted to the synthesis of structurally modified bis(oxazoline) ligands and to their ability to promote enantios-elective Diels-Alder transformations. For example, Davies et al. [74] synthesized and tested several Evans-type auxiliaries, i.e., bis(oxazolines) or pyridine-bis(oxazolines), bearing various sterically-hindering substituents. The best results were obtained according to the conditions presented in Scheme 26, and afforded the endo diastereomer with 95% ee by using ligand 58 (Scheme 28). 

In 2004, ruthenium-catalysed asymmetric cyclopropanations of styrene derivatives with diazoesters were also performed by Masson et al., using chiral 2,6-bis(thiazolines)pyridines. These ligands were prepared from dithioesters and commercially available enantiopure 2-aminoalcohols. When the cyclopropanation of styrene with diazoethylacetate was performed with these ligands in the presence of ruthenium, enantioselectivities of up to 85% ee were obtained (Scheme 6.6). The scope of this methodology was extended to various styrene derivatives and to isopropyl diazomethylphosphonate with good yields and enantioselectivities. The comparative evaluation of enantiocontrol for cyclopropanation of styrene with chiral ruthenium-bis(oxazolines), Ru-Pybox, and chiral ruthenium-bis(thiazolines), Ru-thia-Pybox, have shown many similarities with, in some cases, good enantiomeric excesses. The modification... 

Hydrosilylation of 1,6-dienes accompanied by cyclization giving a five-membered ring system is emerging as a potential route to the synthesis of functionalized carbocycles.81,81a,81b 82 As its asymmetric version, diallylmalonates 86 were treated with trialkylsilane in the presence of a cationic palladium catalyst 88, which is coordinated with a chiral pyridine-oxazoline ligand. As the cyclization-hydrosilylation products, //ww-disubstituted cyclopentanes 87 were obtained with high diastereoselectivity (>95%), whose enantioselectivity ranged between 87% and 90% (Scheme 25).83 83a... 

Scheme 28 explains the stereochemical outcome from the tandem radical cyclization in the presence of the [Yb(Ph-pybox)(OTf)3] (pybox = 2,6-bis(2-oxazolin-2-yl)pyridine). The ytterbium complex 107 is shown in an octahedral geometry (with one triflate still bound to the metal) where re-face cyclization is favored due to the steric interactions of the substrate and the ligand s phenyl groups. The 6-endo cyclization takes place via a chair-like transition state to yield a tertiary radical 108 followed by a ring flip and... 

Optically active namral and unnamral amino acids as well as various cyclic amino alcohols have been utilized in the synthesis of a wide variety of bis(oxazo-line) ligands. As previously mentioned, the first bis(oxazoline) ligands, py-box la-d, were synthesized by Nishiyama and co-workers in 1989. The common material for their syntheses was pyridine 2,6-dicarboxylic acid 19. Conversion of 19 to the acid chloride was achieved by treatment with thionyl chloride, as illustrated in Figure 9.4. This was followed by condensation with (5)-valinol in the presence of triethylamine. Conversion of the resulting bis(amidodiol) 20 to py-box-ip lb was achieved by sequential treatment of 20 with thionyl chloride at 50 °C followed by cyclization with aqueous sodium hydroxide in methanol to afford py-box-/p lb in 60% overall yield. The same synthetic scheme can be used to obtain the other... 

Widenhoefer and co-workers have developed an effective Pd-catalyzed protocol for the asymmetric cyclization/ hydrosilylation of functionalized 1,6-dienes that employed chiral, non-racemic pyridine-oxazoline ligands." " " Optimization studies probed the effect of both the G(4) substituent of the pyridine-oxazoline ligand (Table 7, entries 1-6) and the nature of the silane (Table 7, entries 6-15) on the yield and enantioselectivity of the cyclization/ hydrosilylation of dimethyl diallylmalonate. These studies revealed that employment of isopropyl-substituted catalyst (N-N)Pd(Me)Gl [N-N = (i )-( )-4-isopropyl-2-(2-pyridinyl)-2-oxazoline] [(i )-43f and a stoichiometric amount of benzhydryldimethylsilane provided the best combination of asymmetric induction and chemical yield, giving the corresponding silylated cyclopentane in 98% yield as a single diastereomer with 93% ee (Table 7, entry 15). 

Various chiral bis-oxazolines have been prepared in attempts to supercede results achieved with 6-9 and, especially, 7b. These ligands have utilized linkers such as pyridine, as in pybox structures 10 [45], 1,2-ethanediol, as in 11 [46], and biphenyl, as in 12 [47]. However, from results obtained mainly with styrene, these less conveniently accessed ligands are inferior to 7b in enantiocontrol and diastereocontrol. 

The C2-symmetric 2,6-bis(2-oxazolin-2-yl)pyridine (pybox) ligand was originally applied with Rh for enantioselective hydrosilylation of ketones [79], but Nishiyama, Itoh, and co-workers have used the chiral pybox ligands with Ru(II) as an effective cyclopropanation catalyst 31 [80]. The advantages in the use of this catalyst are the high enantiocontrol in product formation (>95 % ee) and the exceptional diastereocontrol for production of the trans-cyclopropane isomer (>92 8) in reactions of diazoacetates with monosubstituted olefins. Electronic influences from 4-substituents of pyridine in 31 affect relative reactivity (p = +1.53) and enantioselectivity, but not diastereoselectivity [81]. The disadvantage in the use of these catalysts, at least for synthetic purposes, is their sluggish reactivity. In fact, the stability of the intermediate metal carbene has allowed their isolation in two cases [82]. 

The reaction became enantioselective in the presence of a chiral pyridine-bis-(oxazoline) ligand yielding trans-(3-lactam with ee of 50%. 

Simple bis(oxazoline) ligands, especially azabis(oxazolines), can catalyse the addition of indoles to benzylidene malonates in up to 99% ee, provided that excess of the chiral ligand is avoided.166 The paradigm followed in many asymmetric catalytic reactions that an excess of the chiral ligand with respect to the metal should improve enantioselectivity because the background reaction catalysed by a free metal is suppressed, was shown not to be applicable here,166 which might call for revisiting some of the many copper(II)-bis(oxazoline)-catalysed processes known. Enantioselective additions of pyrroles and indoles to ,/9-unsaturated 2-acylimidazoles catalysed by the bis(oxazolinyl)pyridine-scandium(III) triflate complex have been accomplished.167... 

Davies and co-workers have explored the role of ligand conformation in the ruthenium(II)-catalyzed cyclopropanation of styrene.10 This study was based on results reported by Nishiyama in which the catalyst prepared in situ from pyridine-bis(oxazoline) 62 and RuCI2(/>cymene) 2 was found to be highly active and selective in the reaction of ethyl diazoacetate with styrene (66% yield, 84% de, and 89% ee of major trans-isomer).52 Several ligands hindered on the oxazoline ring, including 3, were tested and poorer yields and selectivities were obtained (for 3, 50% yield, 81% de, and 59.5% ee of major trans-isomer), which indicated unfavorable steric interactions between styrene and the Ru(in-pybox) carbene complex (Scheme 17.22).10... 

The additions of indoles to ethenetricarboxylates as Michael acceptors in the presence of copper(II) complexes (10%) of chiral bisoxazolines (97-100) under mild conditions gave the alkylated products in high yield and up to 96% ee [101]. The observed enantioselectivity could be explained by secondary orbital interaction on approach of indole to the less hindered side of the 102-Cu(II)-ligand complex. The chiral ligands 97-99 of the catalyst gave similar ee%. The phenyl derivative 100 produced inferior results compared to 97-99, while (S,S)-2,6-bis(4-isopropyl-2-oxazoline-2-yl)pyridine (101) gave no reaction (Scheme 29) [56]. The enantioselective alkylation of indoles with arylidene malonates catalyzed by z-Pr-bisoxazoline-Cu(OTf)2 was also reported [102],... 

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