Rhodium-chiral amide catalysts

The use of chiral amide ligands has been restricted to rhodium, where the catalyst precursor is [Rh(BH4)(amide)py2Cl2]. The work has been reviewed (10, 35) cinnamate derivatives were reduced to up to 57% ee, and hydrogenation of a carbon- nitrogen double bond in folic acid leads to tetrahydrofolic acid with high biological activity (308). 

Striking examples of this phenomenon are presented for allyl and homoallyl alcohols in Eqs. (5) to (7). The stereodirection in Eq. (5) is improved by a chiral (+)-binap catalyst and decreased by using the antipodal catalyst [60]. In contrast, in Eq. (6) both antipode catalysts induced almost the same stereodirection, indicating that the effect of catalyst-control is negligible when compared with the directivity exerted by the substrate [59]. In Eq. (7), the sense of asymmetric induction was in-versed by using the antipode catalysts, where the directivity by chiral catalyst overrides the directivity of substrate [52]. In the case of chiral dehydroamino acids, where both double bond and amide coordinate to the metal, the effect of the stereogenic center of the substrate is negligibly small and diastereoface discrimination is unsuccessful with an achiral rhodium catalyst (see Table 21.1, entries 9 and 10) [9]. 

Abley and McQuillin (44) have reported asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenations catalyzed by rhodium complexes of chiral amides. In initial experiments the catalyst was generated in situ by treating trichlorotripyridylrhodium(III) with sodium borohydride in an optically active amide solvent (Fig. 20). In later work a 5% solution of the amide in diethylene glycol monoethyl ether was used and products with the same optical purities were obtained. This evidence indi-... 

FIG. 20. Synthesis of rhodium catalysts containing chiral amide ligands. 

As shown in the previous two sections, rhodium(n) dimers are superior catalysts for metal carbene C-H insertion reactions. For nitrene C-H insertion reactions, many catalysts found to be effective for carbene transfer are also effective for these reactions. Particularly, Rh2(OAc)4 has demonstrated great effectiveness in the inter- and intramolecular nitrene C-H insertions. The exploration of enantioselective C-H amination using chiral rhodium catalysts has been reported by several groups.225,244,253-255 Hashimoto s dirhodium tetrakis[A-tetrachlorophthaloyl-(A)-/ r/-leuci-nate], Rh2(derived rhodium complex, Rh2(i -BNP)4 48,244 afforded moderate enantiomeric excess for amidation of benzylic C-H bonds with NsN=IPh. 

Allylic amide isomerization, 117 Allylic amine isomerization ab initio calculations, 110 catalytic cycle, 104 cobalt-catalyzed, 98 double-bond migration, 104 isotope-labeling experiments, 103 kinetics, 103 mechanism, 103 model system, 110 NMR study, 104 rhodium-catalyzed, 9, 98 Allylnickel halides, 170 Allylpalladium intermediates, 193 Allylsilane protodesilylation, 305 Aluminum, chiral catalysts, 216, 234, 310 Amide dimers, NMR spectra, 282, 284 Amines ... 

The approach that we have taken for the design of chiral rhodium(II) catalysts is based on the selectivity obtained in the preparation of geometric isomers with a limited number of rhodium(II) carboxamides. Although four different orientations of amide... 

The catalyst is a cationic complex of rhodium with another diphosphine, DIPAMP. DIPAMP s chirality resides in the two stereogcnic phosphorus atoms unlike amines, phosphines are configurationally stable, rather like sulfoxides (which we will discuss in the next chapter). The catalyst imposes chirality on the hydrogenation by coordinating to both the amide group and the double bond of the substrate. Two diastereoisomeric complexes result, since the chiral catalyst can coordinate to either of the enantiotopic faces of the double bond. 

Though it is often difficult to say exactly how asymmetric induction occurs, the complex probably adopts a C2 symmetric conformation 15 allowing the enamine to bind to the rhodium both at the alkene and at the amide group 16. Transfer of hydrogen from Rh to the bound alkene gives 13. The enantiotopic alkene faces in 12 become diastereotopic by complexation with the chiral catalyst. 

Only a few chiral catalysts based on metals other than rhodium and ruthenium have been reported. The titanocene complexes used by Buchwald et al. [109] for the highly enantioselective hydrogenation of enamines have aheady been mentioned in Section 3.4 (cf. Fig. 32). Cobalt semicorrin complexes have proven to be efficient catalysts for the enantioselective reduction of a,P-unsaturated carboxylic esters and amides using sodium borohydride as the reducing agent [ 156, 157]. Other chiral cobalt complexes have also been studied but with less success... 

In a useful extension of this methodology for enantioselection in intramolecular cyclopropanation, Doyle s group have used chiral rhodium (II) carbox-amidates to effect enantiomer differentiation in reactions of racemic secondary allylic diazoacetates [47]. The catalyst-enantiomer matching approach has also been applied very successfully to intramolecular C-H insertion reactions vide infra). The (R)- and (S)-enantiomers, (10) and (11), respectively, of cyclohex-2-en-1 -yl diazoacetate are displayed in Scheme 7. On exposure to Rh2(4i -MEOX)4 the (R)-enantiomer (10) undergoes cyclopropanation to form tricyclic ketone... 

Asymmetric cyclopropanation. The ability to effect ligand exchange between rhodium(II) acetate and various amides has lead to a search for novel, chiral rhodium(II) catalysts for enantioselective cyclopropanation with diazo carbonyl compounds. The most promising to date are prepared from methyl (S)- or (R)-pyroglutamate (1), [dirhodium(ll) tetrakis(methyl 2-pyrrolidone-5-carboxylate)]. Thus these complexes, Rh2[(S)- or (R)-l]4, effect intramolecular cyclopropanation of allylic diazoacetates (2) to give the cyclo-propanated y-lactones 3 in 65 S 94% ee (equation 1). In general, the enantioselectivity is higher in cyclopropanation of (Z)-alkenes. 

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