Proline stereochemistry

As an extension of this work, the same authors have used polystyrene-supported proline as a recyclable catalyst in the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction of a range of aryl aldehydes with methyl or ethyl vinyl ketone. These reactions were performed in the presence of imidazole and provided a series of Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts in moderate to high yields (17 88%) combined with high enantioselectivities of up to 95% ee (Scheme 2.55). This study represented the first example of supported proline as heterogeneous catalyst for the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction. In addition, Zhou et al. reported that these reactions could be eatalysed by combinations of L-proline with chiral tertiary amines derived from various readily available chiral sources, such as L-proline or (5)-a-phenylethylamine. In these conditions, the Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts were obtained in reasonable chemical yields (34-97%) and low to good enantioselectivities (12 83% ee). In this study, it was demonstrated that the proline stereochemistry was the sole factor to determine the eonfiguration of the newly formed chiral centre. 

Dipolar addition to nitroalkenes provides a useful strategy for synthesis of various heterocycles. The [3+2] reaction of azomethine ylides and alkenes is one of the most useful methods for the preparation of pyrolines. Stereocontrolled synthesis of highly substituted proline esters via [3+2] cycloaddition between IV-methylated azomethine ylides and nitroalkenes has been reported.147 The stereochemistry of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides derived from aromatic aldehydes and L-proline alkyl esters with various nitroalkenes has been reported. Cyclic and acyclic nitroalkenes add to the anti form of the ylide in a highly regioselective manner to give pyrrolizidine derivatives.148... 

Synthesis of the common intermediate C (4), and its further conversion to 2 and 3 is illustrated in Scheme 7-3. Two racemic compounds, ( )-7 and ( + )-10, are prepared from readily available starting materials 5 and 8, respectively (Scheme 7-2). Coupling of 7 and 10 gives a mixture of diastereomers 11. An intramolecular aldol reaction of 11 catalyzed by D-proline yields diastereomers 12 and 13 in equal molar ratios (about 36% ee for each diastereomer). Compound 12, the desired ketone, is converted to 14, which is further purified by crystallization to give the compound in the desired stereochemistry in sterically pure form. Reduction of the ketone carbonyl group and subsequent methoxy... 

The optical purity and stereochemistry was established by conversion to the known A-BOC protected proline and by comparison of spectral data and rotation values161. Additionally, the optical purity was established by HPLC analysis of the 3,5-dinitrobenzoates on a Pirkle column and by Mosher ester analysis. 

Few structures have been solved for this kind of compound. A crystal structure of (2-R,5R,2 R,5 R)-bi(2,2 - / -butyl-1,1 -aza-3,3 -oxabicyclo[3.3.0] octan-4,4 -one prepared from the diastereoselective dimerization of the pivaloyl oxa-zolidin-5-one derivative of proline has been obtained for the determination of the absolute stereochemistry of the C-a atoms of compound 265. 

A method for highly efficient asymmetric cyclopropanation with control of both relative and absolute stereochemistry uses vinyldiazomethanes and inexpensive a-hydroxy esters as chiral auxiliaries263. This method was also applied for stereoselective preparation of dihydroazulenes. A further improvement of this approach involves an enantioselective construction of seven-membered carbocycles (540) by incorporating an initial asymmetric cyclopropanation step into the tandem cyclopropanation-Cope rearrangement process using rhodium(II)-(5 )-N-[p-(tert-butyl)phenylsulfonyl]prolinate [RhjtS — TBSP)4] 539 as a chiral catalyst (equation 212)264. 

Among other enantioselective alkylations, a series of 3-aminopyrrolidine lithium amides (67 derived from 4-hydroxy-L-proline) have been used to induce high ee% in the addition of alkyllithiums to various aldehydes. Structure-activity relationships are identified, and the role of a second chiral centre (in the R group) in determining the stereochemistry of the product is discussed. 

An extremely interesting and novel method has been described (91TL133). The principle involved is the intramolecular Diels-Alder addition of a 2,4-dienoic acid amide with an azodicarbonyl moiety. /V-Sorbyl-proline (27) was condensed with an acylhydrazine to form (28). Oxidation of this with lead tetraacetate (LTA) in boiling benzene resulted in the piperazinedione (30). This must have come about via (29), which could undergo an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction. The structure and stereochemistry of (30) were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The two new chiral centers have the R configuration as shown in (Scheme 9). 

The next classes of reagents developed are those for the cyclopropanation of unfunctionalized alkenes. After early attempts at getting high enantioselectivities for the cyclopropanation of /3-methylstyrene using a chiral alcohol (21), bis(iodo)methylzinc, diethylzinc, dichloromethane and a Lewis acid (equation 90) , Shi and coworkers made a major breakthrough when they found that a simple dipeptide (22) derived from valine and proline could be used (equation 91) . However, in either case, the absolute stereochemistry of the cyclopropane has not been determined. 

Refolding is generally found to proceed by a series of exponential phases. Many of these exponentials are a consequence of cis-trans isomerization about peptidyl-prolyl bonds.14,15 The equilibrium constant for the normal peptide bond in proteins favors the trans conformation by a factor of 103-104 or so. The peptidyl-prolyl bond is an exception that has some 2-20% of cis isomer in model peptides (see Chapter 1, Figure 1.3). Further, it is often found as the cis isomer in native structures. (Replacement of ds-prolines with other amino acids by protein engineering can retain the cis stereochemistry.16) The interconversion of cis to trans in solution is quite slow, having half-lives of 10-100 s at room temperature and neutral pH. This has two important consequences. First, a protein that has several... 

A large number of 13C NMR studies on proline derivatives and proline peptides have appeared in the literature [815-830]. As the electron charge density of cis-proline carbons is different from that of franx-prolinc carbons, these isomers can be differentiated by nCNMR spectroscopy [826, 830]. On the basis of calculations Tonelli [831] predicted four conformations for the dipeptide Boc-Pro-Pro-OBzl, three of which could be detected by 13C NMR spectroscopy [826, 830], In proline-containing peptides the stereochemistry of the proline residue plays an important role for the conformation of these oligomers. The 13C chemical shift data of cis and trans proline derivatives, collected in Table 5.29, are useful to determine the stereochemistry of the amino acid-proline bond, e.g. in cyclo-(Pro-Gly)3, melanocyte-stimulating hormone release-inhibiting factor or thyrotropin-releasing hormone. 

Thiruvazhi et al. [112] have shown interest in the area of (3-tum mimetics and the synthetic application of d- and L-proline for asymmetric synthesis of proline-derived spiro-(3-lactams. It has been shown that the asymmetric Staudinger reaction of optically active acid chloride of d- and L-proline with achiral imines is impossible due to the loss of stereochemistry at C-2. The authors have developed a strategy in which a chiral group at C-4 of the acid chloride of proline directs the stereoselectivity of the reaction and is sacrificed later to obtain optically active spiro-(3-lactams (Scheme 38). 

In the synthesis of l,2,5-triazepine-l,5-diones, which are expected to mimic the structural features of or-peptidyl prolin-amides, the preparation of N2,N3-disubstituted derivatives 213a from the reaction of (Z)-alanine with the N2-substituted triazepines 213 resulted in lower yields. It has been reported that these fused triazepinediones could be elaborated to give constrained rir-peptidyl proline peptide mimetics of defined stereochemistry and sequence <1997J(P1)2297>. 

With regard to the mechanism of the a-amination step, the stereochemistry has been explained on the basis of a transition state involving a proline-enamine struc-... 

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. 

The corresponding /i-amino aldehydes are reduced in situ and the corresponding amino alcohols are isolated in good yield with up to >99 % ee. The Mannich reactions proceed with excellent chemoselectivity and inline formation occurs with the acceptor aldehyde at a faster rate than C-C bond-formation. Moreover, the one-pot three-component direct asymmetric cross-Mannich reaction enables aliphatic aldehydes to serve as acceptors. The absolute stereochemistry of the reaction was determined by synthesis and reveled that L-proline provides syn /i-amino aldehydes with (S) stereochemistry of the amino group. In addition, the proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric Mannich-type reaction has been connected to one-pot tandem cyanation and allylation reaction in THF and aqueous media affording functional a-amino acid derivatives [39, 42]. 

The C-4 stereochemistry was assumed to be as required52 and catalytic hydrogenolysis of 61 was attempted using a Raney nickel catalyst in ethanol at elevated temperature. The reaction proceeded extremely slowly and appeared to give two products, one of which appeared to contain a cyclohexyl group. It was believed that the two products were the desired 4-phenyl proline derivative 62 and C-4 cyclohexyl derivative 63 although conclusive proof was not obtained (Scheme 26). 

For the aldol reactions of aldehyde donors using (S)-proline or diamine (S)-8-CF3C02H, the major products and the proposed most suitable transition state that explains the stereochemistries of the products are also shown in Scheme 2.12 [8, 29a]. 

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