Prochiral esters

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). 

In contrast to the oxidation of prochiral esters and amides, which induces only moderate ee, sodium enolates of ketones give high stereoselectivity with (+)-147 or (—)-147 as the oxidant (Scheme 4-56 and Table 4-21). The highest stereoselectivity has been observed in the oxidation of the sodium enolate of deoxybenzoin 150, in which benzoin 149 can be obtained in over 95% optical purity. 

The preparation of protected (/ )-2-methyl-cysteine by Fukuyama starts with the enantio-selective discrimination of the prochiral ester groups in 6 with pig liver esterase (Scheme 3) [5]. The ester function of the resulting product 7 is selectively reduced (7 16). Cyclization to the )9-lactone gives compound 17. Attack of the thioacetate at the )9-lactone methylene carbon atom provides the (/f)-compound 18. Selective reduction of the carboxylic acid function in 7 gives the (S)-compound 19 in an analogous fashion. 

Table 11.1-9. Subtilisin-catalyzed hydrolysis of racemic and prochiral esters.

Scheme 2.13 shows a few examples of resolutions and desymmetrization using esterases. Entry 1 shows the partial resolution of a chiral ester using a crude enzyme source. The enantioselectivity is only moderate. Entries 2 to 5 are examples of desymmetrization, in which prochiral ester groups are selectively hydrolyzed. Entries 6 and 7 are examples of selective hydrolysis of unsaturated esters that lead to isomeric monoesters. These cases are examples of diastereoselectivity. In Entry 8, the f ,f -enantiomer of a racemic diester is selectively hydrolyzed. In all these cases, the... 

Esterases, proteases, and some lipases are used in stereoselective hydrolysis of esters bearing a chiral or a prochiral acyl moiety. The substrates are racemic esters and prochiral or meso-diesters. Pig liver esterase (PLE) is the most useful enzyme for this type of reaction, especially for the desymmetrization of prochiral or meso substrates. 

Reaction of optically active a-sulphinyl acetate 298a with prochiral carbonyl compounds proceeds with a high asymmetric induction - , the degree of which depends on the nature of substituents at the carbonyl group (equation 252 Table 22) . The jS-hydroxy sulphoxides 422 formed may be transformed to optically active p-hydroxycarboxylic esters 423 (equation 253) and optically active long-chain lactones 424 99 (equation 254). Corey and coworkers have used this method to introduce a chiral centre at C-3 in their synthesis of maytansin °°, and Papageorgiou and Benezra for the synthesis of chiral a-hydroxyalkyl acrylates 425 ° (equation 255). 

The efficiency of the new ligands was examined in enantioselective hydrogenation of some prochiral substrates. Itaconic ester hydrogenation using in situ prepared Rh-complexes was the first test reaction chosen. The best results from... 

Prochiral aryl and dialkyl ketones are enantioselectively reduced to the corresponding alcohols using whole-cell bioconversions, or an Ir1 amino sulfide catalyst prepared in situ.695 Comparative studies show that the biocatalytic approach is the more suitable for enantioselective reduction of chloro-substituted ketones, whereas reduction of a,/ -unsaturated compounds is better achieved using the Ir1 catalyst. An important step in the total synthesis of brevetoxin B involves hydrogenation of an ester using [Ir(cod)(py) P(cy)3 ]PF6.696... 

Prochiral organic acids were hydrogenated on clay-supported Rh-chiral phosphine complexes.205,206 Hectorite-supported chiral Rh(I)-phosphine complexes were used for the asymmetric hydrogenation of a,P-unsaturated carboxylic acids.207 It was found that the interaction between the a-ester group of itaconates and phenyl groups of phosphine can play an important role in the determination of the configuration of products. 

Ethyl 2-phenylcyclopropanecarboxylate, obtained in the presence of 207a, has S configuration at C-l in both the cis- and trans-isomer. As that carbon has been furnished by the diazo ester, this result indicates enantiofacial selection at the carbenoid. In contrast, hardly any discrimination between the enantiofaces of the prochiral olefin occurs. Only when the ester substitutents become bulkier, does this additional stereochemical feature gain importance, and the S configuration at C-2 of the cyclopropane is favored. 

Ruthenium complexes of (129) and (130)336 were investigated for the asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral 2-R-propenoic acids (Scheme 62a) rhodium complexes of these ligands were used for hydrogenation of acetoamido-cinnamic acid methyl ester (Scheme 62c) and hydrogenation of acetophenone-benzylamine (Scheme 62b). The results obtained with these... 

In a report describing the first enzymatic synthesis of a chiral nonracemic tetraorgano germane, Tacke and coworkers subjected the prochiral cis-hydroxymethyl derivative (10) to acetylation catalyzed by pig liver esterase (Scheme 3)6. The resulting monoacetate (11) was shown to be of 55% ee through 11 NMR analysis of the Mosher ester derivative. 

The enantioselective hydrogenation of prochiral substances bearing an activated group, such as an ester, an acid or an amide, is often an important step in the industrial synthesis of fine and pharmaceutical products. In addition to the hydrogenation of /5-ketoesters into optically pure products with Raney nickel modified by tartaric acid [117], the asymmetric reduction of a-ketoesters on heterogeneous platinum catalysts modified by cinchona alkaloids (cinchonidine and cinchonine) was reported for the first time by Orito and coworkers [118-121]. Asymmetric catalysis on solid surfaces remains a very important research area for a better mechanistic understanding of the interaction between the substrate, the modifier and the catalyst [122-125], although excellent results in terms of enantiomeric excesses (up to 97%) have been obtained in the reduction of ethyl pyruvate under optimum reaction conditions with these Pt/cinchona systems [126-128],... 

Following their success with chiral ketone-mediated asymmetric epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins, Zhu et al.113 further extended this chemistry to prochiral enol silyl ethers or prochiral enol esters. As the resultant compounds can easily be converted to the corresponding a-hydroxyl ketones, this method may also be regarded as a kind of a-hydroxylation method for carbonyl substrates. Thus, as shown in Scheme 4-58, the asymmetric epoxidation of enol silyl... 

Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Enol Esters. Prochiral ketones represent an important class of substrates. A broadly effective and highly enantioselective method for the asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones can produce many useful chiral alcohols. Alternatively, the asymmetric hydrogenation of enol esters to yield a-hydroxyl compounds provides another route to these important compounds. 

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