Stereoselective racemic alcohols

An alternative approach to the microbial deracemization of secondary alcohols is to use two different microorganisms with complementary stereoselectivity. Fantin et al. studied the stereoinversion of several secondary alcohols using the culture supernatants of two microorganisms, namely Bacillus stearothermophilus and Yarrowia lipolytica (Figure 5.18) [31]. The authors tested three main systems for deracemization. First, they used the supernatant from cultures of B. stearothermophilus, to which they added Y. lipolytica cells and the racemic alcohols. Secondly, they used the culture supernatant of Y. lipolytica and added B. stearothermophilus cells and the racemic alcohols. Finally, they resuspended the cells of both organisms in phosphate buffer and added the racemic alcohols. The best results were obtained in the first system with 6-penten-2-ol (26) (100% ee and 100% yield). The phosphate buffer system gave... 

Whereas general activities and selectivities for hydrogenations of ketones are similar to those of aldehydes, one big difference exists between the two. The hydrogenation of prochiral ketone carbonyls produces chiral carbons. Over symmetrical catalysts, racemic alcohols are formed however, over unsymmet-rical surfaces, enantioselectivity may occur. Enantioselective hydrogenations of ketones is an increasingly active research held and is covered in Chapter 3. Here we discuss that aspect of stereoselectivity associated with ring systems. 

Methyl isobutyl ketone was reduced with (- )-menthol-LAH in ether to give the (+ )-(S)-carbinol (53) in low optical yield. Methyl neopentyl ketone was similarly reduced to the (-I- )-carbinol, although pinacolone was reduced to only racemic alcohol. Maximum stereoselectivity in the reduction of both ketones and alkenynols was obtained with a 2 1 (-)-menthol-LAH reagent. The observed low stereoselectivity was attributed mainly to insufficient interaction of the remote isopropyl substituent on the menthyl group with the substituents on... 

Esters are widespread in fruits and especially those with a relatively low molecular weight usually impart a characteristic fruity note to many foods, e.g. fermented beverages [49]. From the industrial viewpoint, esterases and lipases play an important role in synthetic chemistry, especially for stereoselective ester formations and kinetic resolutions of racemic alcohols [78]. These enzymes are very often easily available as cheap bulk reagents and usually remain active in organic reaction media. Therefore they are the preferred biocatalysts for the production of natural flavour esters, e.g. from short-chain aliphatic and terpenyl alcohols [7, 8], but also to provide enantiopure novel flavour and fragrance compounds for analytical and sensory evaluation purposes [12]. Enantioselectivity is an impor-... 

Lipases have been extensively used for the kinetic resolution of racemic alcohols or carboxylic acids in organic solvents. Chiral alcohols are usually reacted with achiral activated esters (such as vinyl, isopropenyh and trichloroethyl esters) for shifting the equilibrium to the desired products and avoiding problems of reversibility. For the same reasons, chiral acids are often resolved by using acidolysis of esters. In both cases, the overall stereoselectivity is affected by the thermodynamic activity of water of water favors hydrolytic reactions leading to a decrease in the optical purity of the desired ester. Direct esterifications are therefore difficult to apply since water formed during the reaction may increase the o of the system, favors reversibiUty, and diminishes the overall stereoselectivity. 

Recently, many research groups have focused their efforts oti the development of stereoselective routes leading to optically pure aminophosphinic acids. With this aim, Yamagishi and co-workers recently devised a practical methodology for the preparation of optically pure A-protected 1,1-diethoxyethyl(aminomethyl) phosphinates (12) [39] and their participation in diastereoselective alkylation reactions [40] which were first studied several years ago by McCleery and Tuck [41] (Scheme 4). In particular, they managed to obtain on a gram-scale and 99 % enantiomeric excess (ee) compound 11, after addition of paraformaldehyde to l,l-diethoxyethyl-//-phosphinate (10) and subsequent lipase-catalyzed resolution of the resulting racemic alcohol. Conversion of 11 to substrate 12 in four steps afforded a valuable substrate suitable for lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide (LHMDS)-promoted alkylation performed in a diastereoselective fashion (dr = 10 1) (Scheme 4). 

Vedejs and Chen [39] described an efficient non-enzymatic system able to approach the efficiency of some of the lipase methods in enantioselectivity. The reaction was carried out in a 2 1 ratio racemic secondary alcohol acylating agent, in contrast to Evans procedure. The pyridinium salt 8 was prepared by reaction of the chiral 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) 6 with the commercially available chloroformate 7. This pyridinium salt proved to be unreactive to secondary alcohols. The reactivity was found only upon strict experimental conditions addition of a Lewis acid, then the racemic alcohol, followed by addition of a tertiary amine gave the carbonate 9. Under these conditions (using MgBr2 and triethylamine), (2-naphthyl)- -ethanol was converted (room temperature, 20 h and 54% conversion) into the (S)-carbonate (82% ee). The recovered alcohol showed 83% ee, revealing a stereoselectivity s=39 for the process. A number of 1-arylalkanols have been resolved by this procedure in 20-44% yield (based on the racemic material) and 80-94% ee. For the use of this system in enantiodivergent reactions, see Schemes 6.1 and 6.32. 

Acylation Reactions. Many basic catalysts have been used to carry out acylation reactions. The stereoselectivity of the reaction of diacetoxy or dibenzoyloxysuccinic anhydrides with racemic alcohols is affected by the choice of base catalyst. Quinoline is one of the most effective base catalysts for enhancing the stereoselectivity of the reaction of (2/(,3/()-2,3-diacetoxysuccinic anhydride with 1-phenylethanol in comparison with catalysts such as pyridine, 3- and 4-methylpyridines, and isoquinoline. Other effective basic catalysts are pyridine derivatives substituted in the 2-position of the ring such as 2-methylpyridine and 2,6-dimethylpyridine. ... 

An alternative for the transformation of a racemate into one single enantiomer in >99% yield and with high enantiomeric excess is the stereoinversion. In the case of racemic alcohols, this approach relies on the formation of prochiral ketones through an enantioselective oxidation process and subsequent opposite stereoselective reduction of these prochiral intermediates (Scheme 4.12). Therefore, an ideal system to carry out this type of transformation is composed of a pair of (bio) catalysts with opposite enantiopreference and different cofactor selectivity to avoid undesired interferences. 

A secondary aromatic alcohol in (5) form, (5)-a-phenylethanol, did not serve as a substrate of the esterification by PEG-lipase. From the result obtained above, it can be concluded that PEG-lipase exhibited higher stereoselectivity for chiral secondary alcohols with a longer carbon chain or a phenyl group. In order to test the applicability of PEG-lipase to optical resolution of racemic alcohols, we conducted the esterification with PEG -lipase in 1,1,1-trichloroethane using racemic a-phenylethanol and dodecanoic acid [86]. As is shown in Fig. 13, the amount of the substrate, (R,5)-a-phenylethanol, decreased... 

The enantiosclective synthesis of (-)-bilobalide was achieved based on successful synthesis of the chiral enone A and the highly stereoselective reduction of enone A to the desired a-alcohol B. Further transformation to (-)-bilobalide was accomplished following the route used for racemic bilobalide (Ref. 2). 

Interestingly, for the transformation of both the racemic 1-hydroxyalkanephosphonates 41 and 2-hydroxyalkanephosphonates 43 into almost enantiopure acetyl derivatives 42 and 44, respectively, a dynamic kinetic resolution procedure was applied. Pamies and BackvalP used the enzymatic kinetic resolution in combination with a ruthenium-catalysed alcohol racemization and obtained the appropriate O-acetyl derivatives in high yields and with almost full stereoselectivity (Equation 25, Table 5). It should be mentioned that lowering... 

Although the introduction of a substituent at both C-a and C-P may be expected to destabilize the transoid state of rearrangement due to additional 1,2-allylic interactions, the tendency to form an -double bond exclusively is retained in the synthesis of trisubstituted olefins as well. The first such report, shortly following the initial Evans report , was made by Grieco who achieved a completely stereospecific general synthesis of ( )-y-substituted methallyl alcohols, including the synthesis of racemic ( )-nuciferol (45, equation 24) . Subsequently, other examples of nearly or completely stereospecific syntheses of ( )-) , y-substituted allylic alcohols have also been pub-lished - " . On the other hand, in the synthesis of y,y-disubstituted allylic alcohols a diminished stereoselectivity has been observed. In this case, the /Z ratio depends on the... 

The availability of non-racemic oxepins through tandem catalytic RCM and Zr-catalyzed kinetic resolution has additional important implications. Optically pure heterocycles that carry a heteroatom within their side chain (cf. (S)-14 in Scheme 3) can be used in stereoselective uncatalyzed alkylations. The alcohol, benzyl ether or MEM-ethers derived from (S)-14 readily undergo directed [10] and diastereoselective alkylations when treated with a variety of Grignard reagents [11]. 

Spino and Frechette reported the synthesis of non-racemic allenic alcohol 168 by a combination of Shi s asymmetric epoxidation of 166 and its organocopper-mediat-ed ring-opening reaction (Scheme 4.43) [74]. Reduction of the ethynyl epoxide 169 with DIBAL-H stereoselectively gave the allenic alcohol 170, which was converted to mimulaxanthin 171 (Scheme 4.44) [75] (cf. Section 18.2.2). The DIBAL-H reduction was also applied in the conversion of 173 to the allene 174, which was a synthetic intermediate for peridinine 175 (Scheme 4.45) [76], The SN2 reduction of ethynyl epoxide 176 with DIBAL-H gave 177 (Scheme 4.46) [77]. 

Stereoselective kinetic control of the 0-methylation of racemic mixtures of secondary alcohols has been reported using (S)-(+)-(2-methylbutyl)triethylammo-nium bromide as the catalyst [27]. However, the claim that the (/ )-(+)-methyl ether (48% ee) is produced from racemic 1-hydroxy-1-phenylethane leaving the (S)-alcohol unchanged has been shown to be totally spurious [28]. 

---