Stereoselectivity organocatalytic cascade reactions

The synthesis of carbocycles via a two-component cascade reaction in an asymmetric fashion has attracted much attention from the chemical community. Due to his importance in natural products, the synthesis of cyclopropanes, cyclopentanes, and cyclohexanes has been one of the common goals for organocatalytic methodologies. The high stereoselectivity achieved, green procedures, and soft conditions make this organocatalytic approximation one of the most attractive ones to build complex cyclic scaffolds. 

Organocatalysis have emerged recently as one of the cornerstones for the enanti-oselective synthesis of C-C or C-heteroatom bonds. Owing to the easy prediction of the stereochemical outcome of the reactions, iminium activation and specific Michael reactions is one of the most studied reaction types in organocatalysis. In the literature, we can find multiple approaches to the organocatalytic Michael reaction using different catalysts or nucleophiles, most of them with exceptional levels of stereoselectivity. Moreover, these simple additions to enals or enones have inspired multiple organocatalytic tandem and cascade reactions and, in our view, open up a new pathway for the enantioselective construction of complex scaffolds in one-pot procedures. 

The rapid development of organocatalysis impels chemists to discover new synthetic methodologies. Many important transformations that could only be realized by transition metal catalysis can now be achieved via organocatalysis. In 2010, Kim and coworkers reported a novel C-H bond functionalization reaction via a tandem 1,5-hydride transfer/ring closure sequence. Based on the iminium-enamine cascade activation of catalyst 33, the fused tetrahydroquino-Unes 35 could be synthesized from substrates 34 with good stereoselectivity. This is the first example of an organocatalytic intramolecular redox reaction (Scheme 36.10) [16]. 

Minfiensine, a secoiridoid indole alkaloid, was isolated from the African plant Strychnos minfiensis by Massiot and co-workers in 1989. The unique structure feature of the 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-9a,4a-(iminoethano)-9//-carbazole has received much attention for the synthetic efforts and has culminated in several elegant total syntheses. For example. Overman et al. reported on the first and second total synthesis of (-l-)-minfiensine. " In addition, Qin et al. revealed a synthesis of ( )-minfiensine in 2008. Recently, MacMillan and co-workers reported on a nine-step enantiose-lective total synthesis of (-l-)-minfiensine via the key step reaction of organocatalytic Diels-Alder cyclization and amine heterocyclization cascade (Scheme 21.32). For the key step reaction in their approach, reaction of 2-vinylindole 139 and 3 equivalents of propynal in the presence of secondary amine catalyst 140 followed by the addition of NaBH4, stereoselective afforded the tricyclic alcohol 142 via a iminium activated endo-selectiye Diels-Alder cycloaddition and a 5-exo amine heterocy cliz ation. 

Cyclopropanation of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes with diethyl bromomalonate, proceeding via a cascade Michael/a-alkylation process, was carried out in the presence of catalyst 100 in water to give compounds 112 (Figure 24.34). This is a case of an on water organocatalytic reaction. Indeed, organic solvents such as CHCI3 or THF gave comparable levels of stereoselectivities but lower yields with respect to water [126]. 

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