Prochiral

Chiral aluminium hydride for the asymmetric reduction of prochiral ketones... 

Aldehydes are "prochiral", thus addition of an organometallic reagent to an aldehydes may be stereoselective,... 

A highly diastereoselective alkcnylation of c/s-4-cyclopentene-l,3>diols has been achieved with 0-protected (Z)-l-iodo-l-octen-3-ols and palladium catalyst (S. Torii, 1989). The ( )-isomers yielded 1 1 mixtures of diastcrcomcric products. The (Z)-alkenylpalladium intermediate is thought to undergo sy/i-addition to the less crowded face of the prochiral cyclopentene followed by syn-elimination of a hydropalladium intermediate. 

In cases where Noyori s reagent (see p. 102f.) and other enantioselective reducing agents are not successful, (+)- or (—)-chlorodiisopinocampheylborane (Ipc BCl) may help. This reagent reduces prochiral aryl and tert-alkyl ketones with exceptionally high enantiomeric excesses (J. Chandrasekharan, 1985 H.C. Brown, 1986). The initially formed boron moiety is usually removed hy precipitation with diethanolamine. Ipc2BCl has, for example, been applied to synthesize polymer-supported chiral epoxides with 90% e.e. from Merrifield resins (T. Antonsson, 1989). 

Achiral molecules which can be converted to chiral molecules by the chemical change of one atom — substitution on an sp -atom or addition on an sp -atom — are called prochiral molecules (Y. Izumi, 1977). The atom involved is a prochiral centre. Pairs of atorns or groups... 

Analogous definitions and designations apply to molecules containing a chiral centre and a prochiral tetrahedral or trigonal centre. The plane containing the chiral and prochiral centres is called a diastereo-zeroplane (Y. Izumi, 1977). 

The prochiral meso form of 2-cyclopenlen-1,4-diol (101) reacts with the (Z)-alkenyl iodide 102 to give the 3-substituted cyclopentanone 103 with nearly complete diastereoselectivity (98 2)[92], The reaction is used for the synthesis of prostaglandin. The alkenyl iodide 102 must be in the Z form in order to obtain the high diastereoselectivity. The selectivity is low when the corresponding (Z)-alkenyl iodide is used[93]. 

In this example addition to the double bond of an alkene converted an achiral mol ecule to a chiral one The general term for a structural feature the alteration of which introduces a chirality center m a molecule is prochiral A chirality center is introduced when the double bond of propene reacts with a peroxy acid The double bond is a prochi ral structural unit and we speak of the top and bottom faces of the double bond as prochiral faces Because attack at one prochiral face gives the enantiomer of the com pound formed by attack at the other face we classify the relationship between the two faces as enantiotopic... 

The pro in prochiral means before or in advance of in roughly the same way as in proactive... 

We can view this reaction as the replacement of one or the other of the two methylene protons at C 2 of butane These protons are prochiral atoms and as the red and blue protons m the Newman projection indicate occupy mirror image environments... 

The double bond m 2 methyl(methylene)cyclohexane is prochiral The two faces however are not enantiotopic as they were for the alkenes we discussed m Section 7 9 In those earlier examples when addition to the double bond created a new chirality cen ter attack at one face gave one enantiomer attack at the other gave the other enantiomer In the case of 2 methyl(methylene)cyclohexane which already has one chirality center attack at opposite faces of the double bond gives two products that are diastereomers of each other Prochiral faces of this type are called diastereotopic... 

FIGURE 17 14 (a) Binding sites of enzyme discriminate between prochiral faces of substrate One prochiral face can bind to the enzyme better than the other (b) Reaction attaches fourth group to substrate producing only one enantiomer of chiral product... 

Prochiral (Section 7 9) The capacity of an achiral molecule to become chiral by replacement of an existing atom or group by a different one... 

Among chiral dialkylboranes, diisopinocampheylborane (8) is the most important and best-studied asymmetric hydroborating agent. It is obtained in both enantiomeric forms from naturally occurring a-pinene. Several procedures for its synthesis have been developed (151—153). The most convenient one, providing product of essentially 100% ee, involves the hydroboration of a-pinene with borane—dimethyl sulfide in tetrahydrofuran (154). Other chiral dialkylboranes derived from terpenes, eg, 2- and 3-carene (155), limonene (156), and longifolene (157,158), can also be prepared by controlled hydroboration. A more tedious approach to chiral dialkylboranes is based on the resolution of racemates. /n j -2,5-Dimethylborolane, which shows excellent enantioselectivity in the hydroboration of all principal classes of prochiral alkenes except 1,1-disubstituted terminal double bonds, has been... 

Asymmetric Hydroboration. Hydroboration—oxidation of (Z)-2-butene with diisopinocampheylborane was the first highly enantioselective asymmetric synthesis (496) the product was R(—)2-butanol in 87% ee. Since then several asymmetric hydroborating agents have been developed. Enantioselectivity in the hydroboration of significant classes of prochiral alkenes with representative asymmetric hydroborating agents is shown in Table 3. 

Table 3. Enantioselectivity in the Hydroboration of Prochiral Alkenes with Various Hydroborating Agents ...

An efficient general synthesis of a-chiral (Z)- and (H)-a1kenes ia high enantiomeric purity is based on the hydroboration of alkynes and 1-bromoaIkynes, respectively, with enantiomericaHy pure IpcR BH readily available by the hydroboration of prochiral alkenes with monoisopiaocampheylborane, followed by crystallization (519). 

In the earlier, longer approach to (Z)-and (E)-alkenes, ThxR BH was used iastead of IpcR BH. It is also possible to prepare a-chiral acetylenes and alkanes by this method (76,520). In a shorter synthesis of a-chiral alkynes, a prochiral disubstituted (Z)-a1kene is hydroborated with... 

Efficient enantioselective asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral ketones and olefins has been accompHshed under mild reaction conditions at low (0.01— 0.001 mol %) catalyst concentrations using rhodium catalysts containing chiral ligands (140,141). Practical synthesis of several optically active natural... 

The strategy of the catalyst development was to use a rhodium complex similar to those of the Wilkinson hydrogenation but containing bulky chiral ligands in an attempt to direct the stereochemistry of the catalytic reaction to favor the desired L isomer of the product (17). Active and stereoselective catalysts have been found and used in commercial practice, although there is now a more economical route to L-dopa than through hydrogenation of the prochiral precursor. 

Fig. 4. Schematic representation of energy profiles for the pathways for the hydrogenation of a prochiral precursor to make L-dopa (19). The chiral...

The situation is different if the substrate is a prochiral or meso compound. Since these molecules have a center or plane of symmetry the binding of pro-S or pro-R forms is equivalent. The chirahty appears only as a result of the transformation. Hence, at least theoretically, the compound can be converted to one enantiomer quantitatively. 

It is generally beheved that selectivity of hydrolytic enzymes strongly depends on the proximity of the chiral center to the reacting carbonyl group, and only a few examples of successful resolutions exist for compounds that have the chiral center removed by more than three bonds. A noticeable exception to this rule is the enantioselective hydrolysis by Pseudomonasfluorescens Hpase (PEL) of racemic dithioacetal (5) that has a prochiral center four bonds away from the reactive carboxylate (24). The monoester (6) is obtained in 89% yield and 98% ee. 

Mono cylDiols. Enzymatic synthesis of chiral monoacyl diols can be carried out either by direct enzymatic acylation of prochiral diols or by hydrolysis of chemically synthesized dicarboxylates. 

A number of examples of monoacylated diols produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of prochiral carboxylates are presented in Table 3. PLE-catalyzed conversions of acycHc diesters strongly depend on the stmcture of the substituent and are usually poor for alkyl derivatives. Lipases are much less sensitive to the stmcture of the side chain the yields and selectivity of the hydrolysis of both alkyl (26) and aryl (24) derivatives are similar. The enzyme selectivity depends not only on the stmcture of the alcohol, but also on the nature of the acyl moiety (48). 

In contrast to the hydrolysis of prochiral esters performed in aqueous solutions, the enzymatic acylation of prochiral diols is usually carried out in an inert organic solvent such as hexane, ether, toluene, or ethyl acetate. In order to increase the reaction rate and the degree of conversion, activated esters such as vinyl carboxylates are often used as acylating agents. The vinyl alcohol formed as a result of transesterification tautomerizes to acetaldehyde, making the reaction practically irreversible. The presence of a bulky substituent in the 2-position helps the enzyme to discriminate between enantiotopic faces as a result the enzymatic acylation of prochiral 2-benzoxy-l,3-propanediol (34) proceeds with excellent selectivity (ee > 96%) (49). In the case of the 2-methyl substituted diol (33) the selectivity is only moderate (50). 

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