Thioureas catalytic activity

Catalytic Activity of Urea- and Thiourea-Containing Complexes. 242... 

Hydrogen-bond donors have the ability to enhance the selectivities and rates of organic reactions. Examples of catalytic active hydrogen-bond donor additives are urea derivatives, thiourea derivatives (Scheme 10, Tables 12 and 13) as well as diols (Table 14). The urea derivative 7 (Scheme 9) increases the stereoselectivity in radical allylation reactions of several sulphoxides (Scheme 10)171. The modest increase in selectivity was comparable to the effects exerted by protic solvents (such as CF3CH2OH) or traditional Lewis acids like ZnBr2172. It was mentioned that the major component of the catalytic effect may be the steric shielding of one face of the intermediate radical by the complex-bound urea derivative. 

As expected, the reaction is fastest in water due to its hydrogen-bonding ability and high dielectric constant. Addition of 1 mol% of the thiourea catalyst 10 increases the yields after 1 h in cyclohexane and chloroform by about 60% a 40 mol% catalyst doubles the yield. A sizeable catalytic effect of the m-trifluoromethyl-substi luted thiourea was also found in water. Explanations for the surprising fact that this hydrogen-bond donor is catalytically active even in a highly competitive solvent such as water will be given in Section III.D.3. 

Figure 6.17 Pyrrole thiourea derivatives evaluated for catalytic activity and selectivity in the asymmetric acetyl-Pictet-Spengler reaction.

The Takemoto group synthesized a series ofdiaminocyclohexane-based thiourea derivatives (e.g., 12, 40, 57, and 58) for catalysis of the Michael addition [149-152] ofmalonates to trons-j3-nitrostyrenes (Figure 6.18) [129, 207]. In the model, Michael addition of diethyl malonate to trons-]3-nitrostyrene at room temperature and in toluene as the solvent tertiary amine-functionalized thiourea 12 (10mol% loading) was identified to be the most efficient catalyst in terms of catalytic activity (86%... 

Systematic investigations of the catalyst structure-enantioselectivity profile in the Mannich reaction [72] led to significantly simplified thiourea catalyst 76 lacking both the Schiff base unit and the chiral diaminocyclohexane backbone (figure 6.14 Scheme 6.88). Yet, catalyst 76 displayed comparable catalytic activity (99% conv.) and enantioselectivity (94% ee) to the Schiff base catalyst 48 in the asymmetric Mannich reaction of N-Boc-protected aldimines (Schemes 6.49 and 6.88) [245]. This confirmed the enantioinductive function of the amino acid-thiourea side chain unit, which also appeared responsible for high enantioselectivities obtained with catalysts 72, 73, and 74, respectively, in the cyanosilylation of ketones (Schemes 6.84 and 6.85) [240, 242]. 

Scheme 6.108 Proposed mechanistic picture for the 106-catalyzed MBH reaction affording (R)-adducts (A) and monofunctional thiourea 107 displaying low catalytic activity (B).

The Chen group early in 2005 constituted the novel class of thiourea-function-ahzed cinchona alkaloids with the first reported synthesis and application of thioureas 116 (8R, 9S) and 117 (8R, 9R) prepared from cinchonidine and cinchonine in over 60% yield, respectively (Scheme 6.112) [273]. In the Michael addition of thiophenol to an a,(5-unsaturated imide, the thioureas 116 and 117 displayed only poor stereoinduction (at rt 116 7% ee 117 17% ee), but high catalytic activity (99% yield/2h) (Scheme 6.112). 

Cyclohexanediamine-derived amine thiourea 70, which provided high enantio-selectivities for the Michael addition [77] and aza-Henry reactions [78], showed poor activity in the MBH reaction. This fact is not surprising when one considers that a chiral urea catalyst functions by fundamentally different stereoinduction mechanisms in the MBH reaction, and in the activation of related imine substrates in Mannich or Streclcer reactions [80]. In contrast, the binaph-thylamine thiourea 71 mediated the addition of dihydrocinnamaldehyde 74 to cyclohexenone 75 in high yield (83%) and enantioselectivity (71% ee) (Table 5.6, entry 2) [79]. The more bulky diethyl analogue 72 displayed similar enantioselectivity (73% ee) while affording a lower yield (56%, entry 3). Catalyst 73 showed only low catalytic activity in the MBH reaction (18%, entry 4). 

Zhang et al. investigated the asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of tert-butyl 2-(diphenylmethyleneamino)acetate and nitroalkenes promoted by bifunctional thiourea compounds derived from cinchona alkaloids, affording chiral pyrrolidine derivatives 13 with multisubstitutions. Catalyst lm delivered the best results in terms of catalytic activity, diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity. Nevertheless, only moderate ee values could be obtained while the diastereoselectivities were generally good (Scheme 10.18) [22]. 

The scope of this reaction was also examined, and selected results were summa rized in Table 13.8. Control experiments demonstrated that the ee ofthe product was independent of the reaction time and that racemization of the product or autoca talysis was not probable for this catalytic system. Moreover, when the thiourea group in 25a was removed, both the catalytic activity and the level of asymmetric induction became significantly lower. Thus, introducing a thiourea group to the catalyst was pivotal to accelerate the reaction rate and improve the enantioselectivity of the product. Based on the observation and earlier reports, a rational mechanism was also proposed based upon NMR spectroscopic investigations. 

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