Three-Component Mannich Reactions using Aldehyde Donors

3 Three-Component Mannich Reactions using Aldehyde Donors 

Conditions Entries 1-3 To a mixture of ArCHO (0.5 mmol), 4-methoxyaniline (0.5 mmol), and (S)-proline (0.15 mmol) in DMF (3 mL), donor aldehyde (5.0 mmol) in DMF (2 mL) was slowly added (0.2 mL min-1) at —20 °C. The mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 4-10 h. The mixture was diluted with Et20 and reduction performed by addition of NaBH4 [71b]. Entries 4 and 5 After stirring a solution of ArCHO (1.0 mmol), 4-methoxyaniline (1.1 mmol), and (S)-proline (0.1 mmol) in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (1.0 mL) for 2 h at rt, propionaldehyde (3.0 mmol) was added to the mixture at -20 °C, and stirring was continued for 20 h at the same temperature. The reaction was worked-up and reduction with NaBH4 performed without purification [82]. 

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S)-proline-catalyzed reaction using propionaldehyde as donor and the results showed that the imine reactivity was approximately sevenfold higher than that of the aldehyde [83]. Under basic conditions, it is generally accepted that nucleophilic addition to an aldehyde is typically faster than addition to an aldimine, but nucleophilic addition to an aldimine is faster than addition to an aldehyde when protonation of the imine nitrogen occurs [83]. In the (S)-proline-catalyzed three-component Mannich reactions in the absence of arylaldehyde, self-Mannich products were obtained with moderate to high diastereo- and enantioselectivities (Scheme 2.19) [71b, 82]. 

Enders and co-workers [162] have reported a protocol for the synthesis of aminopentoses and aminohexoses based on the use of 2,2-dimethyl-l,3-dioxan-5-one (25) as the ketone donor in a three-component Mannich reaction with several aldehydes and p-anisidine in the presence of L-proline or (fert-butyl)dimethylsilyloxy-L-proline as organocatalysts. 

List also reported on the synthesis of iV-Boc protected aldimines employing proline as the catalyst, and found that acetone could be used as Mannich donor (73% yield, ee >98%) [20]. The latter gronp nicely exemplified the viability of using Boc-protected aldimines 23a-e in Mannich reactions with aldehydes 2b, 2d, 2f to prepare a series of p-aminoaldehydes 25a-g in high yield and excellent selectivities (Scheme 5.14) [21], An important difference with the A-aryl-protected imines 10 is that due to the more difficult formation of A-acylated imines, preformation of the imines is required and that three-component Mannich reactions are not possible. 

A major advancement for the subfield of enamine catalysis was achieved with the identification of aldehydes as useful donors for similar Mannich reactions.In particular, the addition of mono- or disubstituted aldehydes to ketoi-mines or aldimines, respectively, represents an elegant and highly efficient approach to the enantioselective construction of quaternary a-amino acids (Scheme 11A one-pot, three-component variant of the aldehyde Mannich reaction has also been recently disclosed (Scheme i 296-300... 

The easiest way to perform a Mannich reaction is to use an excess of the ketone donor and an aldehyde-amine pair to form the required imine in situ. This three-component Mannich protocol is, however, mostly restricted to aromatic amines (Scheme 24). 

S)-Proline also catalyzed Mannich reactions of ketone donors in a three-component (donor ketone, 4-methoxyaniline, aryaldehyde) protocol, as shown in Table 2.16 [84b, 90, 91]. In these three component reactions, the C-C bond formation occurred at both a-positions of unsymmetrical alkyl ketones (entry 3), and the ratio of the regioisomers depended on the reactant ketones and aldehydes. When the reaction was performed using a ketone donor possessing an a-hydroxy or methoxy group, C-C bond formation occurred exclusively at the oxy-substituted a-carbon (entries 5-7) the major diastereomer was again the syn-product. The enantioselectivities of (S)-proline-catalyzed three-component... 

S)-Proline also catalyzed Mannich reactions in a three-component (donor aldehyde, 4-methoxyaniline, arylaldehyde) protocol - that is, without preformation of imine (Table 2.14) [71b, 82]. (For experimental details see Chapter 14.2.2). This three-component format also afforded the syn-Mannich products in good yields with high diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivities when slow addition of donor aldehyde and/or formation of the imine prior to addition of donor aldehyde was used at a lower reaction temperature, such —20 °C. Reactivity of benzaldehyde and of N-PMP-imine of benzaldehyde as acceptors was compared in the... 

As the intermediate enamine reacts faster with imines than aldehydes, a one-pot three component coupling of the donor ketone, aldehyde and amine is possible. List and coworkers have achieved high ees in this reaction utilising L-proline (7.66) and some aliphatic aldehydes and aromatic aldehydes such as (7.136) in combination with p-anisidene (7.137). This catalyst system is also effective for the coupling of a-hydroxyketones. Use of the tetrazole-substituted proline (7.80) allows the reaction to be performed in dichloromethane rather than DMSO and high ees in the Mannich reaction between aliphatic ketones and imines derived from ethyl glyoxalate have been obtained imder these reaction conditions. 

Among a wide variety of chiral organocatalysts that have been used in the asymmetric Mannich reaction, one of the most widely used remains proline itself, which generally provided excellent enantioselectivities for the Mannich products arisen from either three-component, one-pot reactions or reactions of preformed imines with aldol donors. While these reactions were mostly performed at a catalyst loading of 10mol %, Mannich reactions of enolisable aldehydes and ketones with imines catalysed by (i )-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic... 

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