Equivalent Stereogenic Centers

Stereochemical Control by the Enolate or Enolate Equivalent. The facial selectivity of aldol addition reactions can also be controlled by stereogenic centers in the nucleophile. A stereocenter can be located at any of the adjacent positions on an enolate or enolate equivalent. The configuration of the substituent can influence the direction of approach of the aldehyde. 

In 2007, Terada et al. extended their previously described chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed aza-ene-type reaction of M-acyl aldimines with disubstituted enecarbamates (Scheme 28) to a tandem aza-ene-type reaction/cyclization cascade as a one-pot entry to enantioenriched piperidines 121 (Scheme 48). The sequential process was rendered possible by using monosubstituted 122 instead of a disubstituted enecarbamate 76 to produce a reactive aldimine intermediate 123, which is prone to undergo a further aza-ene-type reaction with a second enecarbamate equivalent. Subsequent intramolecular cychzation of intermediate 124 terminates the sequence. The optimal chiral BINOL phosphate (R)-3h (2-5 mol%, R = 4-Ph-C H ) provided the 2,4,6-sub-stituted M-Boc-protected piperidines 121 in good to exceUent yields (68 to > 99%) and accomplished the formation of three stereogenic centers with high diastereo- and exceUent enantiocontrol (7.3 1 to 19 1 transicis, 97 to > 99% ee(trans)) [72]. 

In the absence of degeneracy the number of possible stereosequences is equal to 2" (n being the number of stereogenic centers present in the sequence). In vinyl polymers, because of the equivalence of the two directions of the chain, many sequences differ only in the way they are observed (e.g., rrmr and rmrr) and must, therefore, be considered only once. The number of independent sequences, calculated by the Frisch, Mallows, and Bovey formula 10, 44) is shown in Table 2. In hemiisotactic polymers, where strict selection criteria exist, this number is drastically reduced (100). 

It is important to note (see Example 3) that a tree graph is not an equivalent of a molecule. It is, rather, a device to define ligands, via pathways in the network of bonds, for individual stereogenic centers. Accordingly, each center requires its own tree graph and the various tree graphs can be identical or different. 

Treatment of the pyrrolidone mixture 5 with 2.1 equivalents of lithium diisopropylamide at — 78 °C for 1 hour, and then — 25 °C for 1 hour, yields the dianionic enolate. Alkylation at -117 °C or - 78 °C then provides a 50-80% yield of the (3S)-alkylated 3,4-tran.v-product as a 85 15 mixture of the 5-epimers19,20. No trace of the 3,4-a.s-product could be detected by NMR. The electrophile attacks from the side opposite to the alkoxide group. Evidently, in this case, the stereogenic center in the 5-position has no influence on the stereoselectivity. 

Birch reduction-alkylation of (2S)-2-methoxymethyl-l-(2-phenylbenzoyl)pyrrolidine (1) gives products 2 in high diastereoselectivities29. In contrast to the previous examples, only one double bond remains in the product (if one equivalent of rm-butyl alcohol is used as proton donor). Formally this procedure is a stereoselective cis addition, and is thus particularly useful. Thus, two stereogenic centers are created in the same reaction step with high diastereoselectivities. Subsequent hydrolysis furnishes acids, whereas reaction with methyllithium yields chiral ketones29. 

As shown in equation 53, when the zincated hydrazone, prepared from hydrazone by treatment with 2 equivalents of f-butyllithium and zinc(II) bromide, is treated with alkenylborane, the a-borylorganozinc is obtained with high diastereoselectivity. This pseudo-gem-dimetal species reacts with allyl halide stereospecifically. Through the transformation, three stereogenic centers are constructed diastereoselectively77. 

Scheme 3 illustrates retrosynthetic analysis of the E and F series of PGs. The widely used Corey synthesis (2) takes notice of the presence of the two olefinic bonds in the side chains of PGF2a. The actual synthesis consists of a two-fold Wittig-type chain extension of a chiral dialdehyde equivalent with four defined stereogenic centers derived from cyclopentadiene via a series of bicyclic intermediates. A similar sequential synthesis has been developed at Upjohn Co. (la). These chemical syntheses are much more economical than enzymatic methods and are used for commercial synthesis of certain PGs. An alternative pathway pioneered by Sih is the conjugate addition approach (3). Nucleophilic addition of an E-olefinic co side-chain unit to a cyclopentenone in which the a side chain is already installed leads directly to PGE-type compounds. Untch and Stork used an co chain unit with a Z-olefinic bond (4). The most direct and flexible synthesis is the convergent three-component coupling synthesis via consecutive linking of the two side chains to unsubstituted 4-hydroxy-2-cyclopentenone derivatives (5, 6). 

Examine the structural formula of each compound for equivalently substituted stereogenic centers. The only one capable of existing in a meso form is 2,4-dibromopentane. 

None of the other compounds has equivalently substituted stereogenic centers. No meso forms are possible for ... 

The tartaric acids incorporate two equivalently substituted stereogenic centers. (+)-Tartaric acid, as noted in the text, is the 2R,3R stereoisomer. There will be two additional stereoisomers, the enantiomeric ( )-tartaric acid (2S,3S) and an optically inactive meso form. 

To make the DERA-catalyzed process commercially attractive, improvements were required in catalyst load, reaction time, and volumetric productivity. We undertook an enzyme discovery program, using a combination of activity- and sequence-based screening, and discovered 15 DERAs that are active in the previously mentioned process. Several of these enzymes had improved catalyst load relative to the benchmark DERA from E. coli. In the first step of our process, our new DERA enzymes catalyze the enantioselective tandem aldol reaction of two equivalents of acetaldehyde with one equivalent of chloroacetaldehyde (Scheme 20.6). Thus, in 1 step a 6-carbon lactol with two stereogenic centers is formed from achiral 2-carbon starting materials. In the second step, the lactol is oxidized to the corresponding lactone 7 with sodium hypochlorite in acetic acid, which is crystallized to an exceptionally high level of purity (99.9% ee, 99.8% de). 

Although considerable effort has been expended on asymmetric routes to the structural motif within a number of beta-blocker drugs, there has been little financial reward. Through the use of a chiral equivalent of epichlorohydrin (X = Cl), a substitution reaction at the sp3 center followed by epoxide opening allows for entry into this class of drugs. The stereogenic center of the epoxide is retained throughout this sequence (Scheme 22.8).11... 

Olefin metathesis does not generate stereogenic centers, however, the reaction may be employed in the desymmetrization of prochiral (poly)olefins of the kinetic resolution of racemates. In the example depicted in Scheme 17, a trialkene is desymmetrized, and the preference for the cyclization reaction with one of the two symmetry-equivalent C = C double bonds leads to the enantioselective formation of the reaction product, a chiral dihydrofuran. The following principal conclusions can be drawn from this study ... 

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