Reactivity iminium/enamine-catalyzed

Our theoretical investigation regarding the understanding of the conversion of iminium into enamine in the framework of a proline-catalyzed aldol reaction emphasizes that the reactive force field (FF), ReaxFF, used in combination with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is a relevant method to investigate the mechanism of proton transfers in iminium-enamine conversions. This approach should be extended to model other steps of proline-catalyzed... 

This catalytic cascade was first realized using propanal, nitrostyrene and cinnamaldehyde in the presence of catalytic amounts of (9TMS-protected diphenylprolinol ((.S )-71,20 mol%), which is capable of catalyzing each step of this triple cascade. In the first step, the catalyst (S)-71 activates component A by enamine formation, which then selectively adds to the nitroalkene B in a Michael-type reaction (Hayashi et al. 2005). The following hydrolysis liberates the catalyst, which is now able to form the iminium ion of the a, 3-unsaturated aldehyde C to accomplish in the second step the conjugate addition of the nitroalkane (Prieto et al. 2005). In the subsequent third step, a further enamine reactivity of the proposed intermediate leads to an intramolecular aldol condensation. Hydrolysis returns the catalyst for further cycles and releases the desired tetrasubstituted cyclohexene carbaldehyde 72 (Fig. 8) (Enders and Hiittl 2006). 

Moyano, Rios, and co-workers [38] have shown that the beneficial effect of hydrogen-bond donors in proline-catalyzed aldol reactions in nonpolar solvents [39] is due both to the facilitation of proline solubilization by formation of an oxazolidinone with the ketone and to the stabilization of the iminium carboxylate zwitterionic form that is the direct precursor of the reactive enamine intermediate,... 

The cyclobutane intermediate is not an irreversible sink for the catalyst, but remains reversibly linked to the catalytic cycle. In this mechanistic scenario, the enantioselectivity of the reaction does not depend on the difference of the activation energies for the electrophilic attack on the two diastereotopic faces of the enamine intermediate and is controlled, according to the Curtin—Hammett principle, by the relative stability and reactivity of the diastereomeric intermediates (cyclobutane and enamine of the Michael adduct) downstream in the catalytic cycle [58, 60]. A very recent detailed mechanistic study of another reaction catalyzed by diarylproUnol sdyl ethers, the a-chlorination of aldehydes by iV-chlorosuccinimide, also suggests that the stereochemical outcome of this process is not determined by the transition state of the electrophilic attack to the enamine, but instead is correlated with the relative stability and reactivity of the diastereomeric 1,2-addition products from the resulting iminium intermediate [60]. 

Michael additions [63] and is now established as a general strategy for the asymmetric conjugate addition of nucleophiles at the (3-position of a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. The standard catalytic cycle for a chiral pyrrolidine-catalyzed (3-functionalization of an a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compound is shown in Scheme 2.12, and it begins with the acid-promoted condensation of the carbonyl with the amine to form an unsaturated iminium ion, more electrophilic than the starting unsaturated carbonyl. This reactive intermediate suffers then the addition of the nucleophile at the (3-position, leading to a (3-functionalized enamine in tautomeric equilibrium with an iminium ion. Hydrolysis of this intermediate releases both the product and the chiral ammonium salt, which can reenter the catalytic cycle. 

More recently, Jang et al. reported a cascade Michael/a-oxyamination reaction of malonates, enals, and a TEMPO-type stable radical by combining iminium catalysis, enamine catalysis, and photoredox catalysis [56], The reaction unified a secondary amine-catalyzed Michael addition of diethyl malonates to enals and a following supported Ru-based photoredox-SOMO catalysis involving a radical trapping event of TEMPO (Scheme 9.61), generating the chiral a, 3-functionalized propanal derivatives with high reactivity and excellent selectivity. 

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