Scandium triflate catalysis

The enantioselective addition of ally organometallics to carbonyls has become one of the workhorses of organic synthesis. Dennis Hall of the University of Alberta reports (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125 10160, 2003) the scandium triflate catalysis chiral allylboronic acids become more effective tools. The best of these, the Hoffmann camphor derivative 2, adds to aldehydes under Sc(OTf), catalysis with excellent enantiomeric excess. The reaction works equally well for methallyl, and for the E and Z crotyl boronic acids. The crotyl derivatives react with the expected high diastereocontrol. A limitation to the boronate additions is that branched chain aldehydes give low yields. 

Giuseppone N, Schmitt J-L, Schwartz E, Lehn J-M (2005) Transaminations under scandium triflate catalysis. Independent and constitutionally coupled reactions. J Am Chem Soc 127 5528-5539... 

The enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-hemiasterlin, a marine tripeptide with cytotoxic and antimitotic activity, was achieved by E. Vedejs and co-workers. The asymmetric Strecker reaction was used to construct the key tetramethyltryptophan subunit. The aldehyde substrate was first converted to the corresponding chiral imine with (R)-2-phenylglycinol under scandium triflate catalysis. The addition of tributyltin cyanide resulted in the formation of a-amino nitriles as an 8 1 mixture of diastereomers. Subsequently the cyano group was converted to a primary amide, and the chiral auxiliary was removed under catalytic hydrogenation conditions. 

The benzoylation of both activated and deactivated aromatic compounds with benzoic acids (BACs) is achieved by using bismuth triflate (10% mol) in the presence of TFAA or heptafluorobutyric anhydride (HFBA).27 meffl-Xylene undergoes acetylation with 100% yield by using acetic acid (AAC) in the presence of TFAA under bismuth or scandium triflate catalysis (10% mol). The bismuth-triflate-catalyzed reaction can be extended to different aromatics as well as to aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids, giving ketones in nearly quantitative yield. Benzene and chlorobenzene are benzoylated with a BAC/HFBA mixture in the presence of bismuth triflate (10% mol), giving the corresponding BPs in 90%... 

Recently, scandium triflate [Sc(OTf)3] was found to be stable in water and successful Lewis acid catalysis was carried out in both water and organic solvents [6-8]. Sc(OTf)3 coordinates to Lewis bases under equilibrium conditions, and thus activation of carbonyl compounds using a catalytic amount of the acid has been achieved [6,7]. In addition, effective activation of nitrogen-containing compounds such as imines, amino aldehydes, etc. has been performed successfully [8]. Encouraged by the characteristics and the usefulness of Sc(OTf)3 as a Lewis acid catalyst, a polymer-supported scandium catalyst was prepared. 

In 2012, Chi et al. disclosed an oxidative y-addition of enals to tri-fluoroacetophenone for the synthesis of unsaturated 5-lactones 114 under NHC catalysis. Scandium triflate/magnesium triflate as relatively strong Lewis acid cocatalysts were found to be effective for enantiocontrol involving the relatively remote enal y-carbon (Scheme 20.49). 

Harmata further developed this reaction by demonstrating that triisopropylsiloxyacrolein 79 could undergo [4+3] cycloadditions under scandium (111) triflate catalysis (Scheme 18.16) [22]. Not only was this reaction catalytic in Lewis acid, the cycloaddition yields with furan and cyclo-pentadiene were significantly improved, and the triisopro-pylsilyl group was completely transferred to yield a-siloxycycloadducts 80 and 81, respectively. The reaction... 

The surfactant-aided Lewis acid catalysis was first demonstrated in the model reaction shown in Table 13.1 [22]. While the reaction proceeded sluggishly in the presence of 10 mol% scandimn triflate (ScfOTOs) in water, a remarkable enhancement of the reactivity was observed when the reaction was carried out in the presence of 10 mol% Sc(OTf)3 in an aqueous solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS, 20 mol%, 35 mM), and the corresponding aldol adduct was obtained in high yield. It was found that the type of surfactant influenced the yield, and that Triton X-100, a non-ionic surfactant, was also effective in the aldol reaction (but required longer reaction time), while only a trace amount of the adduct was detected when using a representative cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The effectiveness of the anionic surfactant is attributed to high local concentration of scandium cation on the surfaces of dispersed organic phases, which are surroimded by the surfactant molecules. 

Finally, Inanaga reported a rare example of scandium catalysis with a preformed complex bearing a fluorinated axial chiral phosphonate. This fluorination of 3-keto esters employed N-fluoro pyridinum triflate as reagent, a rare case in which NFSl did not represent the superior reagent [46]. 

BiCfr [34b] proved to be a better catalyst than scandium [76] or ytterbium triflates [77] for this rearrangement which is also catalyzed by Bronsted acids [78]. Other functionalities such as Boc, allyl, and propargyl are compatible with bismuth catalysis (Section 11.2.6). 

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