Secondary amino catalysis

Besides the effect of solvent polarity, the C=C rotation in many push-pull ethylenes is sensitive to acid catalysis (143). This is probably explained by protonation of the acceptor groups, for example, the oxygen atoms in C=0 groups (16), which increases their acceptor capacity. Small amounts of acids in halogenated solvents, or acidic impurities, may have drastic effects on the barriers, and it is advisable to add a small quantity of a base such as 2,4-lutidine to obtain reliable rate constants (81). Basic catalysis is also possible, but it has only been observed in compounds containing secondary amino groups (38). 

Both aldolization and dealdolization become significant side-reactions in alkaline reaction mixtures because of the pronounced catalysis of the aldol condensation by hydroxide ion. (Except for ammonia and compounds possessing a primary or secondary amino group, which exert a special catalytic effect, other bases do not seem to catalyze the aldol condensation in aqueous solution. )... 

Class I aldolase-like catalysis of the intermolecular aldol reaction with amines and amino acids in aqueous solution has been studied sporadically throughout the last century. Fischer and Marschall showed in 1931 that alanine and a few primary and secondary amines in neutral, buffered aqueous solutions catalyze the self-aldolization of acetaldehyde to give aldol (11) and crotonaldehyde (12) (Scheme 4.3, Eq. (1)) [41]. In 1941 Langenbeck et al. found that secondary amino acids such as sarcosine also catalyze this reaction [42]. Independently, Westheimer et al. and other groups showed that amines, amino acids, and certain diamines catalyze the retro-aldolization of diacetone alcohol (13) and other aldols (Scheme 4.3, Eq. (2)) [43-47]. More recently Reymond et al. [48] studied the aqueous amine catalysis of cross-aldolizations of acetone with aliphatic aldehydes furnishing aldols 16 (Scheme 4.3, Eq. (3)) and obtained direct kinetic evidence for the involvement of enamine intermediates. 

Such bifunctional catalysis by a chiral secondary amino alcohol catalyst is also effective for the direct asymmetric iodination of aldehydes with N-iodosuccinimide, in which a slightly modified catalyst [17b with a bis(pentafluorophenyl) hydroxymethyl group] displayed remarkable catalytic and chiral efficiencies (Scheme 7.30) [53]. 

Chiral amino alcohols are common structures in drug molecules for example, y-secondaiy aminoalcohols are key intermediates in the synthesis of several pharmaceuticals, examples of which are shown in Scheme 14.12. Zhang has shown that Rh-DuanPhos catalysts can be used to synthesise these key intermediates directly via asymmetric hydrogenation of the p-secondary amino ketone. Application to the synthesis of the antidepressant duloxetine is shown in Scheme 14.12. It should be noted that, to date, ruthenium catalysis has not been successfully applied to the reduction of secondary amino substrates a tertiary amino group is required resulting in a less efficient synthesis requiring extra S3mthetic steps. ... 

The functionalization of folded motifs is based on an understanding of secondary and tertiary structures (Fig. 2) and must take into account the relative positions of the residues, their rotamer populations and possible interactions with residues that do not form part of the site. For example, glutamic acid in position i has a strong propensity for salt-bridge formation, and thus reduced reactivity, if there is a Lys residue available i-4 in the sequence, but the probabihty is much less if the base is i-3 [60]. Fortunately, there is a wealth of structural information on the structural properties of the common amino acids from studies of natural proteins that provides considerable support for the design of new proteins. The naturally occurring amino acids have so far been used to construct reactive sites for catalysis [11-13], metal- and heme-binding sites [14,15,19,21,22] and for the site-selective functionalization of folded proteins [24,25]. 

L-Proline is perhaps the most well-known organocatalyst. Although the natural L-form is normally used, proline is available in both enantiomeric forms [57], this being somewhat of an asset when compared to enzymatic catalysis [58], Proline is the only natural amino acid to exhibit genuine secondary amine functionality thus, the nitrogen atom has a higher p Ka than other amino acids and so features an enhanced nucleophilicity compared to the other amino acids. Hence, proline is able to act as a nucleophile, in particular with carbonyl compounds or Michael acceptors, to form either an iminium ion or enamine. In these reactions, the carboxylic function of the amino acid acts as a Bronsted acid, rendering the proline a bifunctional catalyst. 

Alternative amino acids are easily conceived, both in theory and from experiment. Many alternative amino acids are known in meteorites (Figure 4.5). Several classes, including alpha-methylamino acids, form secondary structures more easily than do standard terran amino acids. Little is known, however, about the ability of polymers built from them to support catalysis. 

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