Aldol reactions proline catalysis

The development of enamine catalysis parallels that of iminium catalysis (Scheme 3) [24], Like iminium catalysis, the concept took a long time to mature, and also required a key discovery - the discovery of intermolecular proline-catalyzed aldol reactions by List and coworkers in 2000 [23] - to set the field in motion. The timeline of historical developments of enamine catalysis is outlined in Scheme 4. 

List B (2004) Enamine catalysis is a powerful strategy for the catalytic generation and use of carbanion equivalents. Acc Chem Res 37 548-557 List B, Hoang L, Martin HJ (2004) New mechanistic studies on the proline-catalyzed aldol reaction. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101 5839-5842... 

Gruttadauria et al. [71a] utilized the previously described supported ionic liquid catalysis (SILC) concept for the L-proline-catalyzed aldol reaction (Scheme 2.33). 

Another issue is the formation of oxazolidinones, which has been the subject of study by several research groups and is considered to be part of a parasitic equilibrium for proline-catalysed aldol reactions. More recent studies have indicated that this parasitic equilibrium may not be true, and that reversible oxazolidinone formation may help keep proline in solu-tion. Figure 5.3 illustrates a generalised mechanism for proline catalysis involving enamine intermediates. As aforementioned, the formation of oxazolidinones may or may not be part of a parasitic equilibrium. 

The delicateness of the aldol protocol has perhaps been one of the factors why enamine catalysis of the aldol reaction did not emerge nntil the 1970s. The Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction [30] (Scheme 16) was an important early example of an intramolecular enamine-catalyzed aldol reaction. However, it was not nntil 2000 when List, Barbas and Lemer demonstrated that the same reaction can also be performed in an intermolecular fashion, using proline as a simple enamine catalyst [26]. 

The aldehyde-aldehyde aldol reactions were first nsed in a natural product synthesis setting by Pihko and Erkkila, who prepared prelactone B in only three operations starting from isobutyraldehyde and propionaldehyde (Scheme 40). Crossed aldol reaction under proline catalysis, followed by TBS protection, afforded protected aldehyde 244 in >99% ee. A highly diastereoselective Mukaiyama aldol reaction and ring closure with aqueous HE completed the synthesis [112]. 

On the basis of encouraging work in the development of L-proline-DMSO and L-proline-ionic liquid systems for practical asymmetric aldol reactions, an aldolase antibody 38C2 was evaluated in the ionic liquid [BMIM]PF6 as a reusable aldolase-ionic liquid catalytic system for the aldol synthesis of oc-chloro- 3-hydroxy compounds (288). The biocatalytic process was followed by chemical catalysis using Et3N in the ionic liquid [BMIM]TfO at room temperature, which transformed the oc-chloro-(3-hydroxy compounds to the optically active (70% ee) oc, (3-epoxy carbonyl compounds. The aldolase antibody 38C2-ionic liquid system was also shown to be reusable for Michael additions and the reaction of fluoromethylated imines. 

Aminocatalysis is a biomimetic strategy used by enzymes such as class I aldolases. Application of aminocatalysis in an asymmetric aldol reaction was reported in the early 1970s. Proline (19) efficiently promoted an intramolecular direct aldol reaction to afford Wieland-Miescher ketone in 93% ee [17,18]. More than 25 years later, in 2000, List, Barbas, and co-workers reported that proline (19) is also effective for intermolecular direct aldol reactions of acetone (le) and various aldehydes 3. Notably, the reaction proceeded smoothly in anhydrous DMSO at an ambient temperature to afford aldol adducts in good yield and in modest to excellent enantioselectivity (up to >99% ee, Scheme 9) [19-22]. The chemical yields and selectivity of proline catalysis are comparable to the best metallic catalysts, although high catalyst loading (30 mol %) is required. Proline (19)... 

Important extensions of proline catalysis in direct aldol reactions were also reported. Pioneering work by List and co-workers demonstrated that hydroxy-acetone (24) effectively serves as a donor substrate to afford anfi-l,2-diol 25 with excellent enantioselectivity (Scheme 11) [24]. The method represents the first catalytic asymmetric synthesis of anf/-l,2-diols and complements the asymmetric dihydroxylation developed by Sharpless and other researchers (described in Chap. 20). Barbas utilized proline to catalyze asymmetric self-aldoli-zation of acetaldehyde [25]. Jorgensen reported the cross aldol reaction of aldehydes and activated ketones like diethyl ketomalonate, in which the aldehyde... 

The formation of covalent substrate-catalyst adducts might occur, e.g., by single-step Lewis-acid-Lewis-base interaction or by multi-step reactions such as the formation of enamines from aldehydes and secondary amines. The catalysis of aldol reactions by formation of the donor enamine is a striking example of common mechanisms in enzymatic catalysis and organocatalysis - in class-I aldolases lysine provides the catalytically active amine group whereas typical organocatalysts for this purpose are secondary amines, the most simple being proline (Scheme 2.2). 

Schering chemists demonstrated that the target molecules 32 and 33 can also be synthesized in a one-pot reaction with enantioselectivity up to 84% ee when using 10-200 mol% proline as catalyst [65, 66], Because of easy access to the steroid precursors 28 and 29 from readily available raw materials, and the use of the economically attractive catalyst L-proline, this intramolecular aldol reaction has attracted commercial attention. At Schering L-proline catalysis has been conducted on a multi-kilogram scale [67]. 

Triketone (29) undergoes an intramolecular aldol reaction - the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction - to give (30) and subsequently enone (31), in high ee with the stereochemistries indicated being found for D-proline catalysis.128 Now ahomochi-ral /3-amino acid, (1 W,2.S )-cispentacin (32) has been found to give comparable ee, and indeed does so for the cyclohexyl substrate also. 

Although experimental support exists for one proline molecule in the transition state of proline-catalyzed intramolecular aldol reactions was later developed [6, 51], reaction rates and stereoselectivities are not fully explained by a simple transition-state model. For example, the insoluble portion of the catalyst cannot participate in the catalysis. However, when a catalyst with a low enantiopurity is used, the solubilized portion of the catalyst can have a higher enantiopurity (i.e., racemic... 

The first highly enantioselective examples of this catalysis strategy were reported by MacMillan et al. in 2000 (Ahrendt et al. 2000 also see Wilson et al. 2005 Northrup and MacMillan 2002b), shortly after our first report on the proline-catalyzed intermolecular aldol reaction had appeared. The MacMillan group has quickly established that Diels-... 

Agami C, Puchot C (1986) Kinetic analysis of dual catalysis by proline in an asymmetric intramolecular aldol reaction. J Mol Catal 38 341-343 Agami C, Puchot C, Sevestre H (1986) Is the mechanism of the proline-cata-lyzed enantioselective aldol reaction related to biochemical processes Tetrahedron Lett 27 1501-1504... 

Surprisingly, little follow-up work on this idea of small molecule asymmetric catalysis appeared for the next 25 years. In the late 1980s, Agami reported the asymmetric intramolecular aldol reaction of acyclic diketones with (S)-proline as the catalyst. It was not nntil the twenty-first centnry, however, when this notion of organocatalysts became fnlly exploited. List and Barbas ° pioneered enam-ines as catalysts for aldol and Mannich and related reactions. MacMillan has developed a variety of imininm-based catalysts prodncing large asymmetric indnction for Diels-Alder chemistry, Friedel-Crafts alkylations, Mnkaiyama-Michael and cyclopropanation " reactions. 

Simple L-alanine, L-valine, L-norvaline, L-isolecucine, L-serine and other linear amino acids [ 121 ] or chiral amino acids with a binaphthyl backbone [ 122] and peptides have also been used as asymmetric catalysts [123,124,125,126]. Solid-supported proline-terminated peptides have been used for heterogeneous catalysis of the asymmetric aldol reaction [ 127]. Apart from proline and derivatives, other cyclic compounds such as 5,5-dimethyl thiazolidinium-4-car-boxylate (DMTC) [128], 2-fert-butyl-4-benzyl imidazolidinones [129], (l/ ,25)-2-aminocy-clopentanecarboxylic acid [130], (5 -5-(pyrrolidin-2-yl)tetrazole, (5)-l,3-thiazolidine-4-car-boxylic acid, (5)-5,5-dimethyl-l,3-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid, and (5)-hydroxyproline are effective catalysts in asymmetric aldol reactions [126,131,132,133,134,135]. 

Type I aldolases activate the aldol donor by the formation of enamines with active site amino acids and an alternate approach to the direct catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction centres on mimicking this process using proline-based organocatalysts. In fact, one of the earliest examples of asymmetric catalysis uses (S)-profine (7.66) as a catalyst for the intramolecular aldol reaction (the Hajos-Eder-Saeur-Wiechert reaction).As an example the achiral triketone (7.67) cyclises to give the aldol product (7.68) with good enantioselectivity. 

It was in 2000 that Barbas and List reported their well-known proline-cat-alyzed enantioselective intermolecular aldol reaction (Scheme 1.4), as the culmination of a research which started in the 1990s with the use of aldolase antibodies as catalysts for the aldol reaction. Trying to provide a mechanistic rationale for understanding these reactions, and with the evidence of enamine intermediates participating in the reaction in hand, they developed the proline-catalyzed intermolecular aldol reaction in an attempt to mimic the enzyme s behavior. Another important landmark in this context was the introduction of the iminium catalysis concept by MacMillan, related to the enantioselective... 

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