Silyl enol ether, Mukaiyama aldol reaction

Keck also investigated asymmetric catalysis with a BINOL-derived titanium complex [102,103] for the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. The reaction of a-benzyloxyalde-hyde with Danishefsky s dienes as functionalized silyl enol ethers gave aldol products instead of hetero Diels-Alder cycloadducts (Sch. 40) [103], The aldol product can be transformed into hetero Diels-Alder type adducts by acid-catalyzed cyclization. The catalyst was prepared from BINOL and Ti(OPr )4, in 1 1 or 2 1 stoichiometry, and oven-dried MS 4A, in ether under reflux. They reported the catalyst to be of BINOL-Ti(OPr% structure. 

The role of the ligand has been found to be crucial in the silyl Lewis acid Mukaiyama aldol reaction, which opens interesting applications for synthetic organic chemistry. When TMSOTf induces the reaction, the silyl group of TMSOTf remains in the product and that of the silyl enol ether becomes the catalyst for the next catalytic cycle however, if the reaction is promoted by TMSNTf2, the silyl group of the catalyst is not released from... 

The Mukaiyama aldol reaction refers to Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol addition reactions of silyl enol ethers, silyl ketene acetals, and similar enolate equivalents,48 Silyl enol ethers are not sufficiently nucleophilic to react directly with aldehydes or ketones. However, Lewis acids cause reaction to occur by coordination at the carbonyl oxygen, activating the carbonyl group to nucleophilic attack. 

Scheme 2.2 illustrates several examples of the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. Entries 1 to 3 are cases of addition reactions with silyl enol ethers as the nucleophile and TiCl4 as the Lewis acid. Entry 2 demonstrates steric approach control with respect to the silyl enol ether, but in this case the relative configuration of the hydroxyl group was not assigned. Entry 4 shows a fully substituted silyl enol ether. The favored product places the larger C(2) substituent syn to the hydroxy group. Entry 5 uses a silyl ketene thioacetal. This reaction proceeds through an open TS and favors the anti product. 

The crossed aldol reaction of silyl enol ethers with carbonyl compounds (Mukaiyama-aldol) was studied by Lubineau and co-workers... 

Under classical Mukaiyama conditions, silyl enol ether 2-372 and the Michael acceptors 2-373 and 2-374 underwent a twofold 1,4-addition to form an enolate in which an ideal set-up exists for an intramolecular aldol reaction. This led to 2-375 with the desired structural core of 2-376 in an overall yield of 42%. 

In aldol reactions, especially Mukaiyama aldol reactions, TiIV compounds are widely employed as efficient promoters. The reactions of aldehydes or ketones with reactive enolates, such as silyl enol ethers derived from ketones, proceed smoothly to afford /3-hydroxycarbonyl compounds in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of TiCl4 (Scheme 17).6, 66 Many examples have been reported in addition to silyl enol ethers derived from ketones, ketene silyl acetals derived from ester derivatives and vinyl ethers can also serve as enolate components.67-69... 

Mukaiyama aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers are amongst the most widely used Lewis-acid-mediated or -catalyzed reactions. However, trimethylsilyl triflate is not active enough to promote these reactions,66 and more active silicon-based Lewis acids have been developed. One example is the species generated by mixing trimethylsilyl triflate (or chloride) and B(OTf)3,319,320 for which the formulation R3Si + [B(OTf)4] is suggested by NMR experiments. Only a catalytic amount of this was needed to complete Mukaiyama aldol reactions of... 

The aldol reactions introduced thus far have been performed under basic conditions where enolate species are involved as the reactive intermediate. In contrast to the commonly accepted carbon-anion chemistry, Mukaiyama developed another practical method in which enol species can be used as the key intermediates. He is the first chemist to successfully demonstrate that acid-catalyzed aldol reactions using Lewis acid (such as TiCU) and silyl enol ether as a stable enol equivalent can work as well.17 Furthermore, he developed the boron tri-fluoromethane sulfonate (triflate)-mediated aldol reactions via the formation of formyl enol ethers. 

Activities of various metallosilicates for Mukaiyama aldol reaction of benzaldehyde with silyl enol ether... 

Although the saturated ketone can be obtained in nearly quantitative yields, the loss of synthetically valuable functionality is unfavorable and can be overcome by a modification of the tandem sequence. The use of the corresponding unsaturated silyl enol ethers in a tandem hydroformyla-tion/Mukaiyama aldol reaction gives the desired aldol adduct with complete... 

This method can also be applied to silyl enol ethers of homologous unsaturated ketones as well as of unsaturated aldehydes or esters [85-87]. While unmodified unsaturated esters give only the corresponding aldehydes without cyclization under tandem hydroformylation/aldol reaction conditions, the corresponding silylated ester enolates smoothly cyclize in a tandem hy-droformylation/ Mukaiyama aldol reaction (Scheme 32) [85-87]. 

Although in the recent years the stereochemical control of aldol condensations has reached a level of efficiency which allows enantioselective syntheses of very complex compounds containing many asymmetric centres, the situation is still far from what one would consider "ideal". In the first place, the requirement of a substituent at the a-position of the enolate in order to achieve good stereoselection is a limitation which, however, can be overcome by using temporary bulky groups (such as alkylthio ethers, for instance). On the other hand, the ( )-enolates, which are necessary for the preparation of 2,3-anti aldols, are not so easily prepared as the (Z)-enolates and furthermore, they do not show selectivities as good as in the case of the (Z)-enolates. Finally, although elements other than boron -such as zirconium [30] and titanium [31]- have been also used succesfully much work remains to be done in the area of catalysis. In this context, the work of Mukaiyama and Kobayashi [32a,b,c] on asymmetric aldol reactions of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes promoted by tributyltin fluoride and a chiral diamine coordinated to tin(II) triflate... 

On the other hand, the method of Mukaiyama can be succesfully applied to silyl enol ethers of acetic and propionic acid derivatives. For example, perfect stereochemical control is attained in the reaction of silyl enol ether of 5-ethyl propanethioate with several aldehydes including aromatic, aliphatic and a,j5-unsaturated aldehydes, with syir.anti ratios of 100 0 and an ee >98%, provided that a polar solvent, such as propionitrile, and the "slow addition procedure " are used. Thus, a typical experimental procedure is as follows [32e] to a solution of tin(II) triflate (0.08 mmol, 20 mol%) in propionitrile (1 ml) was added (5)-l-methyl-2-[(iV-l-naphthylamino)methyl]pyrrolidine (97b. 0.088 mmol) in propionitrile (1 ml). The mixture was cooled at -78 °C, then a mixture of silyl enol ether of 5-ethyl propanethioate (99, 0.44 mmol) and an aldehyde (0.4 mmol) was slowly added to this solution over a period of 3 h, and the mixture stirred for a further 2 h. After work-up the aldol adduct was isolated as the corresponding trimethylsilyl ether. Most probably the catalytic cycle is that shown in Scheme 9.30. 

Using chiral catalysts, not only various enantioselective Mukaiyama and vinylogous Mukaiyama aldol reactions have been developed but also asymmetric reactions of a,a-difluoro silyl enol ethers (1) with carbonyl compounds have been reported ... 

Lewis acids are quite often used as catalysts in organic synthesis. Although most Lewis acids decompose in water, it was found that rare earth triflates such as Sc(OTf)3, Yb(OTf)3, etc. can be used as Lewis acid catalysts in water or water-containing solvents (water-compatible Lewis acids) [6-9]. For example, the Mukaiyama aldol reactions of aldehydes with silyl enol ethers were catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3 in water-THF (1 4) to give the corresponding aldol adducts in high yields [10, 11]. Interestingly, when the reactions were carried out in dry THF (without water), the yield of the aldol adducts was very low (ca. 10%). Thus, this catalyst is not only compatible with water but also is activated by water, probably due to dissociation of the counteranions from the Lewis acidic metal. Furthermore, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused. 

Bismuth triflate has been reported by Dubac as an efficient catalyst for the Mukaiyama aldol reaction with silyl enol ethers [27] and was recently used with a chiral ligand, as reported by Kobayashi in an elegant hydroxymethylation reaction... 

Mukaiyama aldol condensation (6, 590-591).8 This reaction can be effected in the absence of a Lewis acid catalyst under high pressure (10 kbar). Surprisingly the stereoselectivity is the reverse of that of the TiCl4-catalyzed reaction (equation I). The reaction can also be effected in water with the same stereoselectivity, but the yield is low because of hydrolysis of the silyl enol ether. Yields are improved by use of water-oxolane (1 1) and by sonication.9... 

Figure 8C.7. Transition states of Mukaiyama-type aldol reaction of ketone silyl enol ethers.

BINOL-derived titanium complex was found to serve as an efficient catalyst for the Mukaiyama-type aldol reaction of ketone silyl enol ethers with good control of both absolute and relative stereochemistry (Scheme 8C.24) [57]. It is surprising, however, that the aldol products were obtained in the silyl enol ether (ene product) form, with high syn-diastereoselec-tivity from either geometrical isomer of the starting silyl enol ethers. 

It appears likely that the reaction proceeds through the ene reaction pathway, although such an ene reaction pathway has not been previously recognized as a possible mechanism in the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. In general, an acyclic antiperiplanar transition-state model has been used to explain the formation of the syn-diastereomer from either ( )- or (Z)-silyl enol ethers [58]. However, the cyclic ene mechanism now provides another rationale for the. vyra-diastereose-lection regardless of the enol silyl ether geometiy (Figure 8C.7). 

The silatropic ene pathway, that is, direct silyl transfer from an silyl enol ether to an aldehyde, may be involved as a possible mechanism in the Mukaiyama aldol-type reaction. Indeed, ab initio calculations show that the silatropic ene pathway involving the cyclic (boat and chair) transition states for the BH3-promoted aldol reaction of the trihydrosilyl enol ether derived from acetaldehyde with formaldehyde is favored [60], Recently, we have reported the possible intervention of a silatropic ene pathway in the catalytic asymmetric aldol-type reaction of silyl enol ethers of thioesters [61 ]. Chlorine- and amine-containing products thus obtained are useful intermediates for the synthesis of carnitine and GABOB (Scheme 8C.26) [62],... 

The Mukaiyama reaction is a versatile crossed-aldol reaction that uses a silyl enol ether of an aldehyde, ketone, or ester as the carbon nucleophile and an aldehyde or ketone activated by a Lewis acid as the carbon electrophile. The product is a /1-hydroxy carbonyl compound typical of an aldol condensation. The advantages to this approach are that it is carried out under acidic conditions and elimination does not usually occur. 

Mukaiyama found that Lewis acids can induce silyl enol ethers to attack carbonyl compounds, producing aldol-like products.22 The reaction proceeds usually at -78 °C without selfcondensation and other Lewis acids such as TiCl4 or SnCI4 are commonly used. The requisite silyl enol ether 27 was prepared by treatment of ketone 13 with lithium hexamethyl disilazide (LiHMDS) and trapping the kinetic enolate with chlorotrimethylsilane. When the silyl enol ether 27 was mixed with aldehyde 14 in the presence of BF3-OEt2 a condensation occurred via transition state 28 to produce the product 29 with loss of chlorotrimethylsilane. The induced stereochemistry in Mukaiyama reactions using methylketones and a, -chiral aldehydes as substrates... 

---