Rhodium catalysts asymmetric reactions

Efficient enantioselective asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral ketones and olefins has been accompHshed under mild reaction conditions at low (0.01— 0.001 mol %) catalyst concentrations using rhodium catalysts containing chiral ligands (140,141). Practical synthesis of several optically active natural... 

Nitroalkenes are good candidates for the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of organoboronic acids. Hayashi et al. reported that the reaction of 1-nitrocyclohexene with phenylboronic acid in the presence of rhodium/ -BINAP catalyst gave 99% ee of 2-phenyl-1-nitrocyclohexane (Scheme 38).117... 

Rhodium catalysts have also been used with increasing frequency for the allylic etherification of aliphatic alcohols. The chiral 7r-allylrhodium complexes generated from asymmetric ring-opening (ARO) reactions have been shown to react with both aromatic and aliphatic alcohols (Equation (46)).185-188 Mechanistic studies have shown that the reaction proceeds by an oxidative addition of Rh(i) into the oxabicyclic alkene system with retention of configuration, as directed by coordination of the oxygen atom, and subsequent SN2 addition of the oxygen nucleophile. 

In comparison with the platinum catalysts, rhodium catalysts are much more reactive to effect addition of bis(catecholato)diboron even to non-strained internal alkenes under mild reaction conditions (Equation (5)).53-55 This higher reactivity prompted trials on the asymmetric diboration of alkenes. Diastereoselective addition of optically active diboron derived from (li ,2i )-diphenylethanediol for />-methoxystyrene gives 60% de (Equation (6)).50 Furthermore, enantioselective diboration of alkenes with bis(catecolato)diboron has been achieved by using Rh(nbd)(acac)/(A)-QUINAP catalyst (Equation (7)).55,56 The reaction of internal (A)-alkenes with / //-butylethylene derivatives gives high enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee), whereas lower ee s are obtained in the reaction of internal (Z)-alkenes, styrene, and a-methylstyrene. 

Asymmetric cyclization-hydrosilylation of 1,6-enyne 91 has been reported with a cationic rhodium catalyst of chiral bisphosphine ligand, biphemp (Scheme 30).85 The reaction gave silylated alkylidenecyclopentanes with up to 92% ee. A mechanism involving silylrhodation of alkyne followed by insertion of alkene into the resulting alkenyl-rhodium bond was proposed for this cyclization. 

Cyclopropanation reactions can be promoted using copper or rhodium catalysts or indeed systems based on other metals. As early as 1965 Nozaki showed that chiral copper complexes could promote asymmetric addition of a carbenoid species (derived from a diazoester) to an alkene. This pioneering study was embroidered by Aratani and co-workers who showed a highly enantioselective process could be obtained by modifying the chiral copper... 

The treatment of [Cp MCl2]2 (M = Rh and Ir) with (S,S)-TsDPEN gave chiral Cp Rh and Cp Ir complexes (12a and 12b Scheme 5.9). An asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones using complex 12 was carried out in 2-propanol in the presence of aqueous KOH (1 equiv.) the results obtained are summarized in Table 5.4. In all of the reactions, the (S)-alcohols were obtained with more than 80% enantiomeric excess (ee) and in moderate to excellent yields. The rhodium catalyst 12a was shown to be considerably more active than the iridium catalyst... 

The discovery of Wilkinson complex, RhCl[P(C6H5)3]3, acting as an effective catalyst for hydrogenation of olefins opened the door for developing asymmetric reaction catalyzed by rhodium complexes with a chiral phosphine ligand. 

As another way of constructing nitrogen-containing heterocycles enantioselec-tively, the use of 3-aIkoxycarbonyl-3-pyrrolines as substrates has also been described in the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions (Figure 3.41). Among the conditions examined, it was found that [Rh(OH)(cod)]2/(5)-binap catalyst is uniquely effective for achieving high yield of the 1,4-adducts. 

Oi and Inoue recently described the asymmetric rhodium-catalyzed addition of organosilanes [35]. The addition of aryl- and alkenyltriaUcoxysilanes to u,y9-unsaturated ketones takes place, in the presence of 4 mol% of a cationic rhodium catalyst generated from [Rh(COD)(MeCN)2]BF4 and (S)-B1NAP in dioxane/H20 (10 1) at 90°C, to give the corresponding conjugate addition products (Eq. 3). The enantioselectivity is comparable to that observed with the boronic acids, as the same stereochemical pathway is applicable to these reactions (compare Scheme 3.7). 

Muller has explored enantioselective C-H insertion using optically active rhodium complexes, NsN=IPh as the oxidant, and indane 7 as a test substrate (Scheme 17.8) [35]. Chiral rhodium catalysts have been described by several groups and enjoy extensive application for asymmetric reactions with diazoalkanes ]46—48]. In C-H amination experiments, Pirrung s binaphthyl phosphate-derived rhodium system was found to afford the highest enantiomeric excess (31%) of the product sulfonamide 8 (20equiv indane 7, 71% yield). 

Asymmetric C-H insertion using chiral rhodium catalysts has proven rather elusive (Scheme 17.30). Dimeric complexes derived from functionalized amino acids 90 and 91 efficiently promote oxidative cychzation of suifamate 88, but the resulting asymmetric induction is modest at best ( 50% ee with 90). Reactions conducted using Doyle s asymmetric carboxamide systems 92 and 93 give disappointing product yields ( 5-10%) and negligible enantiomeric excesses. In general, the electron-rich carboxamide rhodium dimers are poor catalysts for C-H amination. Low turnover numbers with these systems are ascribed to catalyst oxidation under the reaction conditions. 

Asymmetric C-H amination has progressed through the apphcation of rathenium(II) porphyrin catalysts. Che has employed fluorinated ruthenium porphyrin complexes with added AI2O3 (in place of MgO) to catalyze suifamate ester insertion (Scheme 17.31) [98]. These systems show exceptional catalyst activity (>300 turnovers) and afford product yields that are comparable to rhodium tetracarboxylate-promoted reactions. Of perhaps greater significance is that the use of the chiral rathenium complex... 

One of the success stories of transition metal catalysis is the rhodium-complex-catalyzed hydrogenation reaction. Asymmetric hydrogenation with a rhodium catalyst has been commercialized for the production of L-Dopa, and in 2001 the inventor, Knowles, together with Noyori and Sharpless, was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. After the initial invention, (enantioselective) hydrogenation has been subject to intensive investigations (27). In general, hydrogenation reactions proceed... 

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