Thiourea catalysis Mannich reactions

In Ught of the recent developments in thiourea, diol, and phosphoric-acid-mediated catalysis, far fewer studies have focused on the use of chiral carboxyhc acids as suitable hydrogen bond donors. To this end, Mamoka synthesized binaphthyl-derived dicarboxylic acid 49 which catalyzes the asymmetric Mannich reaction of N-Boc aryl imines and tert-diazoacetate (Scheme 5.65) [120]. The authors postulate that catalytic achvity is enhanced by the presence of an addihonal car-boxyhc acid moiety given that use of 2-napthoic acid as catalyst provided only trace amounts of product... 

The Mannich reaction and its variants have been reviewed, mainly focussing on asymmetric catalysis thereof. Catalytic, enantioselective, vinylogous Mannich reactions have also been reviewed, covering both direct and silyl dienolate methods. Another review surveys Mannich-type reactions of nitrones, oximes, and hydrazones. A pyrrolidine-thiourea-tertiary amine catalyses asymmetric Mannich reaction of N-Boc-imines (e.g. Ph-Ch=N-Boc) with ethyl-4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate to give highly functionalized product (16). Addition of triethylamine leads to one-pot intramolecular cyclization to give an 0-ethyl tetronic acid derivative (17). ... 

Connecting a thiourea moiety to a guanidinium base can improve catalysis further. Nagasawa and coworkers described the application of such an open-chain guani-dine/bisthiourea organocatalyst 127 in the asymmetric Mannich reaction between A/-Boc-protected imines and dimethyl malonate [87]. The stereochemical outcome of the reaction was strongly influenced by the reaction... 

Later, the same group succeeded in achieving a cascade Michael/nitro-Mannich/ acetalization reaction by the combination of covalent enamine catalysis and noncovalent bifunctional base/Br0nsted acid catalysis [32]. The fuUy substituted piperidines with diverse substitution patterns were prepared efficiently starting from simple aliphatic aldehydes, Ts-protected imines, and trani -P-nitro alkenes (Scheme 9.36). This finding effectively incorporated prolinol silyl ether-catalyzed Michael addition of aldehyde 65 to nitroalkene 75 and valine-derived bifunctional thiourea-mediated nitro-Mannich reaction of y-nitro aldehyde 106 to imine 105 in the cascade process, providing a complementary contribution to the well-known single catalyst-promoted triple cascade reactions and two catalyst-promoted reaction cascades. 

Significant levels of syn diastereoselectivities (5 1 to 16 1) were observed for all substrates, with the exception of an ortho-chloro-substituted aryl imine, which provided only 2 1 syn selectivity. The catalyst was viable for a variety of nitroalkanes, and afforded adducts in uniformly high enantioselectivities (92-95% ee). The sense of enantiofacial selectivity in this reaction is identical to that reported for the thiourea-catalyzed Strecker (see Scheme 6.8) and Mannich (see Tables 6.18 and 6.22) reactions, suggesting a commonality in the mode of substrate activation. The asymmetric catalysis is likely to involve hydrogen bonding between the catalyst and the imine or the nitronate, or even dual activation of both substrates. The specific role of the 4 A MS powder in providing more reproducible results remains unclear, as the use of either 3 A or 5 A MS powder was reported to have a detrimental effect on both enantioselectivities and rates of reaction. 

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