Sodium catalysts chiral heterobimetallic

Scheme 2.43 Enantioselective anti-selective nitroaldol reaction with the use of chiral heterobimetallic neodymium(iii) sodium(i) amidephenol catalyst.

Shibasaki developed the first catalytic enantioselective hydropho-sphonylation of aldimines with the use of chiral heterobimetallic lantha-num(iii) potassium(i) tris(binaphtholate) 89, which provides optically active a-amino phosphonates with high enantioselectivities (Scheme 2.50). Similar to lithium catalyst 26 and sodium catalyst 67, potassium catalyst 89 acts as an acid-base bifunctional catalyst to activate both nucleophiles and electrophiles. In particular, in this reaction, deprotonation of dimethyl phosphite by more basic potassium catalyst 89 was essential for increasing the reactivity and enantioselectivity, while less basic lithium catalyst 26 and sodium catalyst 67 were not effective. 

This idea was realized very successfully by Shibasaki and Sasai in their heterobimetallic chiral catalysts [17], Two representative well-defined catalysts. LSB 9 (Lanthanum/Sodium/BINOL complex) and ALB 10 (Aluminum/Lithium/BINOL complex), are shown in Figure 8D.2, whose structures were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. In these catalysts, the alkali metal (Na, Li, or K)-naphthoxide works as a Br0nsted base and lanthanum or aluminum works as a Lewis acid. 

The first chiral aluminum catalyst for effecting asymmetric Michael addition reactions was reported by Shibasaki and coworkers in 1986 [82], The catalyst was prepared by addition of two equivalents of (i )-BINOL to lithium aluminum hydride which gave the heterobimetallic complex 394. The structure of 394 was supported by X-ray structure analysis of its complex with cyclohexenone in which it was found that the carbonyl oxygen of the enone is coordinated to the lithium. This catalyst was found to result in excellent induction in the Michael addition of malonic esters to cyclic enones, as indicated in Sch. 51. It had previously been reported that a heterobimetallic catalyst prepared from (i )-BINOL and sodium and lanthanum was also effective in similar Michael additions [83-85]. Although the LaNaBINOL catalyst was faster, the LiAlBINOL catalyst 394 (ALB) led to higher asymmetric induction. 

Shibasaki developed chiral lanthanum(iii) sodium(i) tris(binaphtholate) 67, which was prepared from La(Oz-Pr)3, (J )-BINOL, and NaOf-Bu, as the first example of a chiral sodium-containing heterobimetallic catalyst (Scheme 2.39). X-ray analysis of 67 showed that it consists of LaNas-CeoHaeOe 6THF H2O, which contains a central La(iii) atom, three (1 )-BINOL molecules, and three sodium atoms in the core structure. Catalyst 67 efficiently promoted the highly enantioselective Michael reaction... 

In 1995, Shibasaki s group disclosed the first example of multifunctional heterobimetallic complex-catalyzed Michael reaction of malonate to enone. The chiral catalyst, lanthanum-sodium-BINOL complex (/ )-LSB, was prepared from La(Of-Pr)3, (/ )-BINOL, and NaOt-Bu. Two different metals indeed play their unique roles to enhance the reactivity of both substrate partners by locating them in designated positions. The Lewis acidic metal (lanthanides or group 13 elements) has been found capable to activate the acceptor, whereas the second metal center (alkali metals bound to a Brpnsted base) assists the coordination of enolate. The proposed catalytic cycle is shown in Scheme 9.5. 

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