Pseudoephedrine alkylation

A number of other types of chiral auxiliaries have been employed in enolate alkylation. Excellent results are obtained using amides of pseudoephedrine. Alkylation occurs anti to the a-oxybenzyl group.93 The reactions involve the Z-enolate and there is likely bridging between the two lithium cations, perhaps by di-(isopropyl)amine.94... 

The initial C-0 bond cleavage (by attack of a/the bromide ion at the benzylic carbon, followed by recyclization of the intermediate 301 by selective alkylation at sulfur) was suggested to be responsible for a stereospecific rearrangement of 2-substituted-1,3,2 -oxazaphospholidine-2-thiones 299 derived from (-) pseudoephedrine into... 

Asymmetric Synthesis of a-Amino Acids by the Alkylation of Pseudoephedrine Glycinamide. Preparation of L-Allylglycine and N-Boc L-Allylglycine. 

This procedure describes the use of pseudoephedrine as a chiral auxiliary for the asymmetric alkylation of carboxylic acid amides. In addition to the low cost and availability in bulk of both enantiomeric forms of the chiral auxiliary, pseudoephedrine, a particular advantage of the method is the facility with which the pseudoephedrine amides are formed. In the case of carboxylic acid anhydrides, the acylation reaction occurs rapidly upon mixing with pseudoephedrine. Because pseudoephedrine amides are frequently crystalline materials, the acylation products are often isolated directly by crystallization, as illustrated in the procedure above. 

The strategy presented above with phenyl cyclohexyl ketone has been established to be general by investigating a number of aryl alkyl ketones and diaryl ketones [281,283]. The best cases of % ee are summarized in Schemes 14 and 15. 2-Ethoxybenzophenone 32 gives intramolecular cyclization product 33 as the only product in solution as well as within NaY. However, in NaY in the presence of chiral amines, intermolecular reduction product 34, in addition to 33, was obtained (Scheme 16). More importantly, with pseudoephedrine and (l/ ,2/ )-... 

Based on the observation that the best ee is obtained with bifunctional chiral agents (ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, and valinol see Scheme 43), we tentatively conclude that a multipoint interaction between the reactant molecule, the chiral inductor, and the zeolite interior is necessary to induce preferential adsorption of tropolone alkyl ether from a single enantiotopic face. The dependence of chiral induction (% ee) on the nature of cations (Scheme 45) suggests a crucial role of the cation present in the supercages in the chiral induction process. This is further strengthened by the results observed with wet and dry zeolites. The presence of water decreases chiral selectivity (Scheme 45). Water molecules... 

Asymmetric Alkylation. 4-Pseudoephedrine ([IS, 2S]-(+)) is a commodity chemical employed in over-the-counter medications with annual worldwide production in excess of 300 metric tons. The enantiomer, /-pseudoephedrine, is also readily available in bulk and is inexpensive. Pseudoephedrine has been shown to be highly effective as a chiral auxiliary in asymmetric alkylation reactions. Treatment of either enantiomer of pseudoephedrine with carboxylic acid chlorides and anhydrides leads to efficient and selective iV-acylation to form the corresponding tertiary amide derivatives (Table 1). Typically, the only by-product in the acylation reactions is a small amount (<5%) of the A,0-diacylated product, which is easily removed by crystallization or flash column chromatography. Because intramolecular 0- -N acyl transfer within pseudoephedrine 3-amino esters occurs rapidly, and because the A-acyl form is strongly favored under neutral or basic conditions, products arising from (mono)acylation on oxygen rather than nitrogen are not observed. 

Table 2 Diastereoselective alkylation of pseudoephedrine amides with alkyl halides...

A useful mnemonic for deriving the preferred diastereomer formed in the alkylation reaction of pseudoephedrine amide eno-lates with alkyl halides is as follows the alkyl halide enters from the same face as the methyl group of the pseudoephedrine auxiliary when the (putative) ( -enolate is drawn in a planar, extended conformation (eq 1). ... 

The superior nucleophilicity and excellent thermal stability of pseudoephedrine amide enolates make possible alkylation reactions with substrates that are ordinarily unreactive with the corresponding ester and imide-derived enolates, such as (3-branched primary alkyl iodides. Also, alkylation reactions of pseudoephedrine amide enolates with chiral (J-branched primary alkyl iodides proceed with high diastereoselectivity for both the matched and mismatched cases (Table 3). ... 

Epoxides can also be used as substrates in pseudoephedrine amide enolate alkylation reactions, but react with opposite di-astereofacial selectivity (suggesting a change in mechanism, proposed to involve delivery of the epoxide electrophile by coordina-... 

Although alkylation reactions of pseudoephedrine amide enolates are successful with a broad range of electrophiles, a few problematic substrates have been identified. Among these are secondary alkyl halides, such as cyclohexyl bromide, and alkyl halides that are both (3-branched and (3-alkoxy substituted. However, there is evidence that the thermal stability of pseudoephedrine amide enolates may be such that extended reaction times at ambient temperature, or even heating, may be tolerated ... 

Table 3 Diastereoselcetive alkylation of pseudoephedrine amides p -branced electrophiles...

Pseudoephedrine amides with a wide variety of a-substituents, including aryl, branched alkyl,i" chloro, fluoro (described in... 

The diastereoselectivity of the reaction is lower than that obtained in benzylations of pseudoephedrine amide enolates lacking the a-hydroxyl group. Although an extensive series of 0-protected derivatives of a-hydroxyacetamide has been examined in a search for an alternative alkylation substrate [TBS, TBDPS, THP, Bn, BOM, Piv, and methy 1( 1 -methoxyethyl)], none has provided satisfactory results nor offered any improvement over pseudoephedrine a-hydroxyacetamide itself. ... 

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