Schiffbases alkylation

Soloshonok and co-workers have developed a method for the synthesis of a-(perfluoro-alkyl)amines from perfluoroalkyl carbonyl compounds by a transamination involving an azomethine a/omethine (Schiffbase) isomerization. They call this method a biomimetic, base-catalyzed 1,3-proton shift reaction, and have applied it to perfluoroaldehydes,12-15 perfluoroalkyl ketones,12 18 / -(perfluoroalkyl)-/l-oxo esters,15 16 19 24 and - -( perfluoroalkyl)-a-oxo es-ters2 " -26 to synthesize the corresponding a-(perfluoroalkyl)amincs, / -(perfluoroalkyl )-/i-amino acids, and 3 -(perfluoroalkyl)- x-amino acids. 

As a prochiral glycine-derived SchifFbase, not only esters but also amides can be used as suitable substrates for asymmetric alkylation under phase-transfer conditions. 

Since the stereochemistry of the newly created quaternary carbon center was apparently determined in the second alkylation process, the core of this method should be applicable to the asymmetric alkylation of aldimine Schiffbase 42 derived from the corresponding a-amino adds. Indeed, di-alanine-, phenylalanine- and leucine-derived imines 42 (R1 = Me, CH2Ph, i-Bu) can be alkylated smoothly under similar conditions, affording the desired non-coded amino acid esters 43 with excellent asymmetric induction, as exemplified in Table 5.7 [19]. 

Recently, Maeda and coworkers utilized the (S, S) -le-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation of phenylglycine-derived Schiffbase 42 (R1 = Ph) for the stereoselective synthesis of a 4-hydroxy-2-phenylproline framework [27]. After hydrolysis and transesterification, the resulting (S)-49 was derivatized to its N-tosylate 50. Subsequent treatment of 50 with Br2 in CH2C12 resulted in the formation of y-lactone 51 with high diastereos-electivity this was then treated with NaH in methanol to give essentially pure (2 S,4R)-4-hydroxy-2-phenylproline derivative 52 in 80% yield from 50 (Scheme 5.25). 

O Donnell, M. J. Cook, G. K. Rusterholz, D. B. Oxygen alkylation of Schiffbase derivatives of amino acids. Synthesis 1991, 989-993. 

Novel vanadium(V)-alkyl peroxide complexes with the general formula VO(OOBu )(ROPh-salR ) (197 ROPhsalR = tridendate N-(2-oxidophenyl)salicylidenaminato Schiffbase ligand) were found to epoxidize alkenes stoichiometrically with high selectivity. " ... 

Ooi and Maruoka developed an efficient phase transfer catalyst (46a-e), which consisted of chiral N-spiro ammonium salts with binaphthalene skeleton. 3,3 -(3,4,5-Trifluorophenyl)ammonium salt (46e) provided a perfect stereoselection in benzylation of benzophenone Schiffbase of glycine terf-butyl ester (47) (Scheme 5.13, Table 5.5) [19]. The perfect stereoselective alkylation is applicable for a variety of alkyl bromides in the presence of 1 mol% of the catalyst (46e). Not only monoalkylation but also the consecutive double alkylation of 49 was successful to give 50 in excellent enantioselectivities (Scheme 5.14) [20]. The protocol is useful for the enantioselective aldol reaction of 47 with aldehyde (51) [21] and a-imino ester [22], in which catalysts (46f) and (46g) were effective (Scheme 5.15) [23]. 

One class of application that readily highlights the enormous potential of asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis is the stereoselective ot-alkylation of different carbanion nucleophiles, in particular enolates. Although these types of transformations are most important in organic chemistry, there are stiU only a limited number of stereoselective catalytic methods available and the use of chiral PTCs represents one of the most versatile strategies to achieve such transformations. One example of special interest is the asymmetric a-alkylation of glycine Schiffbase 374 (Scheme 85)... 

Some examples of DKR based on racemization of secondary alkyl amine via Shiff base were shown in Scheme 5.9. Schiffbase formation of a-amino carboxylic esters significantly increases the acidity of the a-proton in comparison to that of the parent amino acid, thus enabling enantiomer-selective hydrolysis and ammonoly-sis through DKR [23]. For example, chymotrypsin catalyses the hydrolysis of a Schiff base of phenylalanine ethyl ester and an aromatic aldehyde (Scheme 5.9, Equation 5.6) [23b]. In this particular case, natural phenylalanine precipitates, leaving the aldehyde and unhydrolysed enantiomeric ester in solution. Addition of l,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) (as the Bronsted base) allows DKR to take place by promoting racemization of the Schiffbase. Similarly, Novozym 435... 

In the first step, glycine Schiffbase 1 reacts with the inorganic base at the interface of two phases to give the metal enolate 2, which remains at the interface due to its highly polar character. The metal enolate 2 then exchanges the cation to provide onium enolate 3. The sufficiently lipophilic 3 then moves into the organic phase to react with alkyl halide. After the reaction, onium halide (Q X ) is regenerated and enters the next catalytic cycle. The key issue to be considered here is the possibility of product racemization and dialkylation. In this example, the basicity... 

Representative chiral phase-transfer catalysts (Q X ) for the asymmetric alkylation of glycine Schiffbase 1 are summarized in Figure 14.2a [8-13]. These catalysts were also applied to other asymmetric alkylations with different nucleophiles (Figure 14.2b) [14—17]. 

The fate of the onium carbanion Q R incorporated into the organic phase depends on the electrophilic reaction partner. The most studied area in the asymmetric phase-transfer catalysis is that of asymmetric aikyiation of active methylene or methine compounds with alkyl halides, in an irreversibie manner. The reaction mechanism iiiustrated above is exemplified by the asymmetric alkylation of glycine Schiffbase (Scheme 14.2) [7]. 

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