Riccis Thiourea Catalyst

Ricci et al studied a series of thiourea catalysts for the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds with nitroalkenes. They have succeeded in developing the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with nitroalkenes for the first time by means of a novel thiourea catalyst (13) (Scheme 2.48) [101]. The authors proposed the bifunctional nature of the thiourea catalyst, where thiourea activates the nitro group and at the same time the free alcoholic function interacts with the indole proton through a weak hydrogen bond, directing the attack of the incoming nucleophile on the Si face of the nitroalkene (Figure 2.18). 

Ricci et al. [85] reported the use of a quinidine-derived chiral catalyst in the asymmetric addition of nitromethane to iV-Boc imine 40. At around the same time, S chans and co-workers used a dihydroquinidine-derive chiral thiourea DHQD-134 applicable to nitromethane and nitroethane 149 [86]. The application of nitroethane conveniently generates a tertiary stereogenic center in the P-nitroamine product 151. The methodology presented by Schaus is also applicable to novel... 

Ricci and co-workers introduced a new class of amino- alcohol- based thiourea derivatives, which were easily accessible in a one-step coupling reaction in nearly quanitative yield from the commercially available chiral amino alcohols and 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl isothiocyanate or isocyanate, respectively (Figure 6.45) [307]. The screening of (thio)urea derivatives 137-140 in the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indole with trans-P-nitrostyrene at 20 °C in toluene demonstrated (lR,2S)-cis-l-amino-2-indanol-derived thiourea 139 to be the most active catalyst regarding conversion (95% conv./60h) as well as stereoinduction (35% ee), while the canditates 137, 138, and the urea derivative 140 displayed a lower accelerating effect and poorer asymmetric induction (Figure 6.45). The uncatalyzed reference reaction performed under otherwise identical conditions showed 17% conversion in 65 h reaction time. 

In addition to chiral PTCs, cinchona-based thioureas have also been proved to serve as catalysts for nitro-Mannich reactions. In 2006, Ricci and coworkers first reported that the quinine-based thiourea 40 (20mol%) can catalyze the aza-Henry reaction between nitromethane and the N-protected imines 93 derived from aromatic aldehydes [40]. N-Boc-, N-Cbz-, and N-Fmoc protected imines gave the best results in terms of the chemical yields and enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee at —40°C) (Scheme 8.30). 

In 2005, Ricci and coworkers published the first organocatalytic enantio-selective Friedel-Crafts allylation of indoles with nitroalkenes utilising simple thiourea 66. In general, moderate yields and enantioselectivities were observed for this difficult transformation, utilising 20 mol% catalyst... 

At almost the same time, Ricci and coworkers reported an asymmetric aza-Michael addition of O-benzylhydroxyamines to chalcones catalyzed by a thiourea derived from cinchona alkaloids. The amine derivatives were obtained in good yields but low enantioselectivities (up to 60% ee) [103]. Interestingly, the thiourea moiety has a major role in the catalyst activity. When alkaloids lacking the thiourea moiety were used the reaction resulted in very poor conversions. 

---