Stereospecific formation metals

Von Zelewsky has published many examples of the stereoselective synthesis of metal complexes using what he refers to as chiragen ligands. These are enantiopure natural compounds synthesized from the natural product (—)-a-pinene, which is combined with species such as bipyridine units to provide impressive control of metal-centered chirality.159-161 In this section, we will focus on the determination of absolute configurations in terms of stereospecific formation from different points of view in connection with absolute conformations in the ligands. 

Tetradentate Polyaminocarboxylate Complexes As the following examples indicate, stereospecific formation of metal complexes with chiral tetradentate polyaminocarboxylate ligands do not always lead to the same absolute structures as that of the corresponding complexes with achiral ligands.171... 

Consiglio and Morandini and co-workers (67) have investigated the stereochemistry involved in the addition of acetylenes to chiral ruthenium complexes. Reaction of propyne with the separated epimer of the chiral ruthenium phosphine complex 34 at room temperature results in the chemo- and stereospecific formation of the respective propylidene complex 64. An X-ray structure of the product (64) proves that the reaction proceeds with retention of configuration at the ruthenium center. The identical reaction utilizing the epimer with the opposite configuration at ruthenium (35) also proceeded with retention of configuration at the metal center, proving that the stereospecificity of the reaction in not under thermodynamic control [Eq. (62)]. 

The converse situation in which ring closure is initiated by the attack of a carbon-based radical on the heteroatom has been employed only infrequently (Scheme 18c) (66JA4096). The example in Scheme 18d begins with an intramolecular carbene attack on sulfur followed by rearrangement (75BCJ1490). The formation of pyrrolidines by intramolecular attack of an amino radical on a carbon-carbon double bond is exemplified in Scheme 19. In the third example, where cyclization is catalyzed by a metal ion (Ti, Cu, Fe, Co " ), the stereospecificity of the reaction depends upon the choice of metal ion. 

Due to mechanistic requirements, most of these enzymes are quite specific for the nucleophilic component, which most often is dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP, 3-hydroxy-2-ox-opropyl phosphate) or pyruvate (2-oxopropanoate), while they allow a reasonable variation of the electrophile, which usually is an aldehyde. Activation of the donor substrate by stereospecific deprotonation is either achieved via imine/enamine formation (type 1 aldolases) or via transition metal ion induced enolization (type 2 aldolases mostly Zn2 )2. The approach of the aldol acceptor occurs stereospecifically following an overall retention mechanism, while facial differentiation of the aldehyde is responsible for the relative stereoselectivity. 

Occasionally, however, stereospecific results are encountered in the literature which clearly implicate ligands about the transition metal in steric control. For example, when a typical catalyst system based on WCle was modified by the addition of triphenylphosphine, Dall Asta found (77) that the reaction of c/s-2-pentene led very selectively to the formation of tr n.s-olefinic products. On the other hand, Katz demonstrated (75) that when (CO)5W=C(Ph)2 was used, e/.v-2-pentene afforded butenes and hexenes having about 95% cis structure, and notably that this specificity persisted even for reactions carried to near-equilibrium. 

The Simmons-Smith reaction " and its variants are widely used for the stereospecific synthesis of cyclopropane compounds. The methodology involves the use of copper-treated zinc metal (the zinc-copper couple) with diiodomethane to add methylene to a carbon-carbon double bond. Alternative use of diazomethane in catalytic reactions does not offer the same synthetic advantages and is usually avoided because of safety considerations. As significant as is the Simmons-Smith reaction for cyclopropane formation, its employment for organic synthesis was markedly advanced by the discovery that allylic and homoallylic hydroxyl groups accelerate and exert stereochemical control over cyclopropanation of alkenes (e.g, Eq. 21), and this acceleration has been explained by a transition state model... 

Aldolases have been classified into mechanistically distinct classes according to their mode of donor activation. Class 1 aldolases achieve stereospecific deprotonation via covalent imine/enamine formation at an active-site lysine residue, while Class II aldolases utilize a divalent transition metal cation for substrate coordination as an essential Lewis acid cofactor (usually Zn ) to facilitate deprotonation... 

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