Prolines organocatalysts

Stereoselective Aldol Reactions Using Proline Organocatalysts... 

In 2004, Hayashi and coworkers found trans-4-TBSO-(5)-proline 29 to be more active than the parent proline organocatalyst for the asymmetric a-aminojylation of enolisable aldehydes 8 (R = H) or cyclic ketones 11 (X=-CH2-, -C(Me)2-, -S-) with nitrosobenzene to prepare optically pure (>99% ee) hydrojylamine derivatives 12 or 13 in 50-76% yield (Scheme 10.2). Compound 29 (30 mol%) also efficiently catalysed the a-aminojylation/intramolecular Michael cascade reaction of cyclohexenones 34 with nitrosobenzene to afford bicyclic compounds 35 with veiy high enantioselectivity (Scheme 10.7). Furthermore, in the presence of organocatalyst 29, three-component Mannich reactions of acetone 8 (R = Me, R = H) with benzaldehyde derivatives 9 (R = Ar) and 4-metho3yaniline produced the corresponding enantiomers (90-98% ee) of p-amino ketones 16 in mild experimental conditions (—20 °C) (Scheme 10.3). 

The 1,2,3-triazole-linked fluorous proline organocatalyst 32 was introduced by Pericas and coworkers in 2013 for the asymmetric aldol reactions of acetone with aromatic aldehydes, giving higher enantioselectivities than other proline derivatives (Scheme 11.27). ° The fluorous tag and the use of a per-fluorinated solvent allowed the easy recycling and reuse of 32, for at least six times. 

Scheme 10.34 Addition of ketones to THIQs using CdS with proline organocatalyst.

Three-component Mannich reactions of cyclohexanone and anilines with aromatic aldehydes, in the presence of HjO, have been promoted by amphiphilic isosteviol-proline organocatalysts with excellent de and eef DFT calculations indicate that the proline-catalysed single and double Mannich reactions between acetaldehyde and A-Boc imines, to give (5) and (5,5)-conformation products, respectively, are stereochemically controlled by hydrogen bonding." High enantioselectivity has been reported for L-proline-catalysed addition of aldehydes to 2-aryl-3//-indol-3-ones," ... 

Gruttadauria, M., Giacalone, F. and Noto, R. (2008) Supported proline and proline-derivatives as recyclable organocatalysts. Chemical Society Reviews, 37 (8), 1666-1688. 

A very important development in multicomponent domino reactions is the enan-tioselective approach using organocatalysts which has been recently discussed in an excellent review by Yus and Ramon [2c]. The latest great success in this field stem from Enders and coworkers, presence of an enantiopure proline derivative to give polyfunctionalized cyclohexenes with 99% ee [111]. 

Michael additions using proline (2) as the organocatalyst have proven disappointing in terms of enantiocontrol, ° ° ° stimulating the search for a more selective enamine catalyst system. In this context, imidazolidinones (initially... 

A newer method of oxidation that is attracting considerable attention is the reaction of ketones with nitrosobenzene and proline-based organocatalysts (Figure 1.52). Effective hydroxylation of the ketone is achieved in exceptionally high... 

Low cost Organocatalysts from Nature, such as proline and quinine acetate, are inexpensive and bio-renewable... 

Economic and practical reasons, in addition to green concerns, have meant that many of the first generation of asymmetric organocatalysts have been either natural molecules, such as nomicotine [52] and proline [40], derived directly from the chiral pool (Figure 7.1), or simple derivatives thereof, such as quinine acetate [53] and 5,5-dimethyl thiazolidinium-4-carboxylate (DMTC) [54], which are expected to be either biodegradable or biotransformable, with little impact on the environment. [54]. 

When it comes to the development of an organocatalyst, the most thoroughly documented case is proline - an amino acid which can catalyze the asymmetric... 

Even considering only the example of the proline family of aldol catalysts, it is dear that there will soon be hundreds of cases of organocatalysts described in the literature. Direct, organocatalytic aldol reactions do not yet have the generality of traditional stoichiometric methods, which can offer predictable results for a wide variety of substrates. However, companies already offer to screen substrates against panels of up to 200 enzymes to find the optimum biocatalyst for a reaction, and the same approach could be applied to identify rapidly the best organocatalyst for a process. 

Zhou, L. and Wang, L. (2007) Chiral ionic liquid containing L-proline unit as a highly efficient and recyclable asymmetric organocatalyst for aldol reaction. Chem. Lett., 36 (5), 628-629. 

The use of L-proline, amides derived from it, and related amino acids and small peptides as asymmetric organocatalysts for aldols - and indeed many other reactions mentioned elsewhere in this chapter - expanded hugely in 2006. A review deals with the direct aldol case.96... 

Sterically and electronically tuneable and bifunctional organocatalysts based on diamides derived from proline are particularly selective in reactions of heterocyclic ketones with aldehydes.109... 

A range of proline derivatives have been employed as enamine-based organocatalysts of direct aldols in water, without organic co-solvent.111 Using the reaction of cyclohexanone with benzaldehydes as a test bed, lipophilic diamine (40) in the presence of TFA proved to be an excellent bifunctional catalyst system, giving performance up to 99/90/99% in terms of conversion/r/c/ee. Alkyl chains of (40) make an organic microphase likely. 

The origin of the dramatically increased enantioselectivity of a-alkylation of aldehydes when 2-methylproline is substituted for proline as organocatalyst has been investigated using DFT.299... 

A series of diaryl-2-pyrrolidinemethanols have been tested as catalysts for the enan-tioselective Michael addition of malonate esters to nitroalkenes.30 Bis-(3,5-dimethyl-phenyl)[(S)-pyrrolidin-2-yl]methanol (6), easily prepared from L-proline, has been found the most efficient bifunctional organocatalyst, providing up to 56% ee. 

The proline-derived thiourea organocatalyst (154) (20 mol%) in conjunction with n-butyric acid (10 mol%) exhibited high stereoselectivity (<99 1 syn. anti and <98% ... 

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). 

Very recently, the first catalytic asymmetric intramolecular a-alkylation of an aldehyde has been achieved by the List group [70]. In the presence of a-methyl-substituted L-proline, (S)-61, as organocatalyst, ring-forming reactions leading to chiral cyclopentanes, cyclopropanes, and pyrrolidines proceed with high enantioselectivity - in the range 86-96% ee. Selected examples are shown in Scheme... 

An asymmetric Mannich reaction was recently successfully achieved by means of different types of catalyst, metal- and organocatalysts [20, 21]. With the latter the reaction can be performed asymmetrically by use of L-proline and related compounds as chiral organocatalyst [22-35]. A key advantage of the proline-catalyzed route is that unmodified ketones are used as donors, which is synthetically highly attractive. In contrast, many other asymmetric catalytic methods require preformed enolate equivalents as nucleophile. 

Under the reaction conditions used in the one-pot Mannich reaction described above, L-proline (S)-27 was clearly found to be the preferred organocatalyst. As is apparent from Scheme 5.14, the best yield (90%) and enantioselectivity (93% ee) were obtained by use of this organocatalyst [23]. The suitability of all other organo-catalysts used in this one-pot reaction, using 3-methylbutanal as aldehyde, was poor. Remarkably lower yields and poor enantioselectivity were obtained when the thiazolidine catalyst (S)-31 and other pyrrolidine-based organocatalysts were used. 

Interestingly, however, another comparative study [24] revealed the capacity of other amines related to L-proline (S)-27 to function as organocatalysts in the Mannich reaction under modified reaction conditions [24]. As shown for a model reaction using preformed imines derived from o-anisidine, the thiazolidine carboxylic... 

Use of hydroxyacetone as donor in the asymmetric Mannich reaction led to the formation of optically active syn /i-amino alcohols bearing two stereogenic centers [22, 23], In the presence of 35 mol% L-proline as organocatalyst several types of syn / -amino alcohol syn-35 were successfully synthesized with enantioselectivity up to 99% ee and high diastereomeric ratio. For example, a high yield of 92%, a diaster-eomeric ratio of 20 1, and enantioselectivity >99% ee were observed by List et al. for formation of the syn yfi-amino alcohol 35a (Scheme 5.17) [23]. In addition to hydroxyacetone the methylated derivative methoxyacetone was also applied successfully in this reaction (93% yield, d.r. > 39 1, >99% ee). 

In addition to proline, other types of organocatalyst have been found to catalyze the Mannich-type reaction efficiently. The Jacobsen group developed an elegant and highly enantioselective route to N-Boc-/i-amino acid esters via nucleophilic ad-... 

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