Stereoselective alkyl addition

An asymmetric synthesis of estrone begins with an asymmetric Michael addition of lithium enolate (178) to the scalemic sulfoxide (179). Direct treatment of the cmde Michael adduct with y /i7-chloroperbenzoic acid to oxidize the sulfoxide to a sulfone, followed by reductive removal of the bromine affords (180, X = a and PH R = H) in over 90% yield. Similarly to the conversion of (175) to (176), base-catalyzed epimerization of (180) produces an 85% isolated yield of (181, X = /5H R = H). C8 and C14 of (181) have the same relative and absolute stereochemistry as that of the naturally occurring steroids. Methylation of (181) provides (182). A (CH2)2CuLi-induced reductive cleavage of sulfone (182) followed by stereoselective alkylation of the resultant enolate with an allyl bromide yields (183). Ozonolysis of (183) produces (184) (wherein the aldehydric oxygen is by isopropyUdene) in 68% yield. Compound (184) is the optically active form of Ziegler s intermediate (176), and is converted to (+)-estrone in 6.3% overall yield and >95% enantiomeric excess (200). 

Unsubstituted or alkyl-substituted 2-alkenyllithium, -sodium and -potassium derivatives are of little value in stereoselective carbonyl addition reactions. In general, these reagents exhibit high... 

The requirement that an enolate have at least one bulky substituent restricts the types of compounds that give highly stereoselective aldol additions via the lithium enolate method. Furthermore, only the enolate formed by kinetic deprotonation is directly available. Whereas ketones with one tertiary alkyl substituent give mainly the Z-enolate, less highly substituted ketones usually give mixtures of E- and Z-enolates.7 (Review the data in Scheme 1.1.) Therefore efforts aimed at increasing the stereoselectivity of aldol additions have been directed at two facets of the problem (1) better control of enolate stereochemistry, and (2) enhancement of the degree of stereoselectivity in the addition step, which is discussed in Section 2.1.2.2. 

The syntheses in Schemes 13.45 and 13.46 illustrate the use of oxazolidinone chiral auxiliaries in enantioselective synthesis. Step A in Scheme 13.45 established the configuration at the carbon that becomes C(4) in the product. This is an enolate alkylation in which the steric effect of the oxazolidinone chiral auxiliary directs the approach of the alkylating group. Step C also used the oxazolidinone structure. In this case, the enol borinate is formed and condensed with an aldehyde intermediate. This stereoselective aldol addition established the configuration at C(2) and C(3). The configuration at the final stereocenter at C(6) was established by the hydroboration in Step D. The selectivity for the desired stereoisomer was 85 15. Stereoselectivity in the same sense has been observed for a number of other 2-methylalkenes in which the remainder of the alkene constitutes a relatively bulky group.28 A TS such as 45-A can rationalize this result. 

Until recently only a few examples of stereoselective alkylation reactions of localized carban-ions which proceed under auxiliary control have been reported. The reason is obviously to be found in the difficulty of generating such carbanions having no additional stabilization and, if generated, in the low nucleophilicity of these strongly basic reagents. 

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. 

Treatment of the potentially electrophilic Z-xfi-unsaturated iron-acyl complexes, such as 1, with alkyllithium species or lithium amides generates extended enolate species such as 2 products arising from 1,2- or 1,4-addition to the enone functionality are rarely observed. Subsequent reaction of 2 with electrophiles results in regiocontrolled stereoselective alkylation at the a-position to provide j8,y-unsaturated products 3. The origin of this selective y-deproto-nation is suggested to be precoordination of the base to the acyl carbonyl oxygen (see structures A), followed by proton abstraction while the enone moiety exists in the s-cis conformation23536. 

In an important new application of crown ethers Cram and Sogah have recently reported that potassium bases complexed to chiral crown ethers catalyze the stereoselective Michael addition of a /3- ketoester to methyl vinyl ketone in high optical yields (81CC625). With chiral crown (46), carbanion (47) gave alkylated products with an optical yield of about 99% enantiomeric excess. These impressive results were rationalized by complex structure (48) in which the crown-complexed K+ and the carbanion form an ion pair. One face of the associated carbanion is shielded from electrophilic attack by the flanking binaphthyl groups and the approach of methyl vinyl ketone occurs in a stereoselective manner. 

Some examples of the synthetic usefulness of zincate reagents in organic synthesis are stereoselective alkylation reactions of cyclic ketones, conjugate-addition reactions... 

Reviews on stoichiometric asymmetric syntheses M. M. Midland, Reductions with Chiral Boron Reagents, in J. D. Morrison, ed., Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 2, Chap. 2, Academic Press, New York, 1983 E. R. Grandbois, S. I. Howard, and J. D. Morrison, Reductions with Chiral Modifications of Lithium Aluminum Hydride, in J. D. Morrison, ed.. Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 2, Chap. 3, Academic Press, New York, 1983 Y. Inouye, J. Oda, and N. Baba, Reductions with Chiral Dihydropyridine Reagents, in J. D. Morrison, ed., Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 2, Chap. 4, Academic Press, New York, 1983 T. Oishi and T. Nakata, Acc. Chem. Res., 17, 338 (1984) G. Solladie, Addition of Chiral Nucleophiles to Aldehydes and Ketones, in J. D. Morrison, ed., Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 2, Chap. 6, Academic Press, New York, 1983 D. A. Evans, Stereoselective Alkylation Reactions of Chiral Metal Enolates, in J. D. Morrison, ed., Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 3, Chap. 1, Academic Press, New York, 1984. C. H. Heathcock, The Aldol Addition Reaction, in J. D. Morrison, ed., Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 3, Chap. 2, Academic Press, New York, 1984 K. A. Lutomski and A. I. Meyers, Asymmetric Synthesis via Chiral Oxazolines, in J. D. Morrison, ed., Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol. 3, Chap. 

Additionally, 1,2-dihydroxyethylene dipeptide analogues without the C-terminal carboxylic acid have been used to obtain aspartyl proteases inhibitors.[641 These efforts include stereoselective alkylation of imines, one-pot reductive amination of epoxy ketones, ring opening of epoxides with sodium azide, diastereoselective dihydroxylation of allylic amines, and enzymatic resolution and stereocontrolled intramolecular amidation. 

In an another mechanistic study, Foote and co-workers reported a possible charge-transfer mechanism for the photochemical [2+2] cycloadditions of electron-rich ynamines [56-58]. Further studies on the regio- and stereoselectivity upon addition of less electron-rich substrates such as alkyl-substituted 1,3-bu-tadienes [59], acyclic enones [60], and aryl alkenes [61] to C60 were performed in more recent years. 

The backbone modification of dedicated peptides through the regio- and stereoselective alkylation of their polylithiated enolates was essentially addressed by Seebach s group200,481 483. Critical to the success of this procedure was the ability to solubilize the peptides and their polylithio derivatives in THF by the addition of lithium salts. 

Stereoselective Michael addition of lunctionalized zinc-copper reagents to cycloheptatrienone iron tricarbonyl complexes is observed (Scheme 146). A pendant nitrile can participate in an alkylation reaction of the intermediate enolate forming a fused bicyclic ring system (Scheme 147). Addition in a 1,2- or 1,4-fashion depends on the nucleophile. Harder nucleophiles tend to form 1,2-adducts (Scheme 148). 

Recent studies have suggested that coordination with a lithium cation may be responsible for the stereochemical outcome in Meyers-type enolate alkylations . In fact, the hypothesis that the diastereofacial selectivity observed in these reactions might result from specific interactions with a solvated lithium cation was already proposed in 1990 . Nevertheless, the potential influence exerted by solvation and lithium cation coordination was not supported by a series of experimental results reported by Romo and Meyers , who stated that it would appear that neither the aggregation state of the enolate nor the coordination sphere about lithium plays a major role in the observed selectivity. This contention is further supported by recent theoretical studies of Ando , who carried out a detailed analysis of the potential influence of solvated lithium cation on the stereoselective alkylation of enolates of y-butyrolactones. The results showed conclusively that complexation with lithium cation had a negligible effect on the relative stability of the transition states leading to exo and endo addition. The stereochemical outcome in the alkylation of y -butyrolactones is determined by the different torsional strain in the endo and exo TSs. 

Two different chiral auxiliary approaches have been applied to the synthesis of NPS 1407 and it s enantiomer (119) (147). NPS 1407 is an antagonist of the glutamate NMDA receptor that has in vivo activity in neuroprotection and anti-convulsant assays. The J2-en-antiomer was synthesized in four steps from (116)with the chiral center introduced by. a completely stereoselective alkylation of hydra-zone (117). The chiral auxiliary, jS-( )-l-ami-no-2-(methoxylmethyl)pyrrolidine (SAMP), was introduced by condensation with aldehyde (116) and removed by catalytic hydro-genolysis. In the second method, the S-enan-tiomer was formed in a four-step sequence with the chiral center installed by the Michael addition of chiral amine (121) (formed in one step from the readily available a-methylben-zylamine) to benzyl crotonate (120). NPS 1407 (123) was found to be 12 times more potent than it s enantiomer (119)at the NMDA receptor in an in vitro assay. 

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