Pictet-Spengler cyclization reactions, asymmetric

The Pictet-Spengler (PS) reaction is an important method to construct biologically important tetrahydroisoquinoline and tetrahydro- 3-carboline skeletons. Since it represents the intramolecular Friedel-Crafts cyclization of arenes and imines, we cover the asymmetric organocatalytic PS reaction in this chapter [61]. 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction is the method of choice for the preparation of tetrahydro-P-carbolines, which represent structural elements of several natural products such as biologically active alkaloids. It proceeds via a condensation of a carbonyl compound with a tryptamine followed by a Friedel-Crafts-type cyclization. In 2004, Jacobsen et al. reported the first catalytic asymmetric variant [25]. This acyl-Pictet-Spengler reaction involves an N-acyliminium ion as intermediate and is promoted by a chiral thiourea (general Brpnsted acid catalysis). 

List and coworkers reasoned that BINOL phosphates (specific Brpnsted acid catalysis) could be suitable catalysts for an asymmetric direct Pictet-Spengler reaction [26], Preliminary experiments revealed that unsubstituted tryptamines do not undergo the desired cyclization. Introduction of two geminal ester groups rendered the substrates more reactive which might be explained by electronic reasons and a Thorpe-Ingold effect. Tryptamines 39 reacted with aldehydes 40 in the presence of phosphoric acid (5)-3o (20 moI%, R = bearing 2,4,6-triisopropyI-... 

In 2007, Hiemstra et al. established a catalytic asymmetric Pictet-Spengler reaction that proceeds via (V-sulfenyliminium ions (Scheme 15) [27], Treatment of iV-sulfenylated tryptamines 42 with aldehydes 40 and BINOL phosphate (R)-3f (5 mol%, R = 3,5-(CF3)2-CgH3) afforded tetrahydro-P-carbohnes. After completion of the cyclization the sulfenyl group was cleaved by the use of HCl. This one-pot... 

Chirality can be induced at the C-l position by the cyclization of o-vinylphenethylamine in the presence of a chiral selenium reagent (Equation 68) <1998S162>. Removal of the selenide gives the 2-methyltetrahydroisoquinoline. The use of the Pictet-Spengler reaction in the asymmetric synthesis of tetrahydroisoquinolines remains active. Therefore the intramolecular reaction of /3-iminosulfoxide 33 yields the chiral product 34 (Equation 69) <1998EJ0435>. 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction, the cyclization of an electron-rich aryl or heteroaryl group onto an imine electrophile, is the established method for the synthesis of tetrahydroisoquinoline and tetrahydro-/ -carboline ring systems. Catalytic asymmetric approaches to these synthetically important structures are mostly restricted to asymmetric hydrogenations of cyclic imines [77, 78]. In a noteworthy... 

Asymmetric induction in ring closure reactions of central chiral ferrocene derivatives has been reported. Moderate diastereoselectivity was found in the ring closure of the enantiomeric 4-ferrocenyl-2-methyl-2-phenyl-butanoic acids by treatment with trifluoroacetic anhydride (Fig. 4-211) [10]. The diastereoisomeric ketones could be separated by chromatography. A higher induction was observed in an asymmetric Pictet — Spengler type cyclization of a reactive imine formed from enantiomerically pure 2-ferrocenyl-2-propylamine and formaldehyde, as only one isomer of the product was detected (Fig. 4-21 g) [135, 136]. 

The second procedure worth presenting involves the Michael addition of tryptophan ester (22) to pro-pynoate ester (33 R = H) to give (34 R = H), and subsequent acid-induced cyclization via the iminium salt (35 R = H Scheme 19), to afford tetrahydro-P-carboline (36 R = H), which could not be prepared by the simple Pictet-Spengler reaction with malonic hemialdehyde. Again, asymmetric induction can be achieved through the amino acid derived ester function. Extension of this procedure to... 

New modifications of the traditional approach to isoquinoline synthesis via carbocation intermediates continue to be reported. Abnormal products of the Bischler-Napieralski reaction were observed <97JCS(P1)2217>. A stereoselective introduction of a quaternary carbon center in the A-acyliminium cyclization (Scheme 14) of the chiral enamide 46 affords an asymmetric synthesis of tetrahydroisoquinolines <97T2449,3045>. An asymmetric Pictet-Spengler reaction has been developed mediated by the chiral urethane 47 <97T16327>. A Pummerer reaction of A-acyl-A-(aryl)methyl-2-(phenylsulfinyl)ethylamine allows cyclization to the 4-phenylthio-... 

Another important set of bi-component reactions involving C-N and C-C bond formation is based on the Pictet-Spengler reaction, consisting in the cycUzation of electron-rich aromatic moieties onto iminium intermediates. This weU-known sequence constitutes an important domino transformation used for the synthesis of bioactive polyheterocycles. Its organocatalytic asymmetric version was pioneered by Jacobsen and revisited by List, who developed two complementary highly enantioselective accesses to tetrahydro- 3-carbolines from tryptamine-derived imines (Scheme 16.33). Thus, Taylor and Jacobsen [64] reported an enantiomerically pure thiourea-catalyzed cyclization of an acyl iminium intermediate, whereas List and co-workers [65] described the cyclization of an iminium diester intermediate in the presence of a chiral phosphoric acid catalyst. Recently, this methodology has been applied to the synthesis of chiral pyrrolopiperazines [66]. 

Kinetic isotope measurements for the cyclocondensation step of the Knorr pyrrole synthesis suggest that two protic solvent molecules participate in a rate-determining ketone protonation before cyclization and dehydration. Chiral SPDqOL-phosphoric acids (39) promote asymmetric Pictet-Spengler reactions (Scheme 27). i... 

---