Two- and Threefold Anionic Processes Followed by a Nonanionic Process

Two- and Threefold Anionic Processes Followed by a Nonanionic Process 

The present section describes domino processes which combine two or three initiating anionic reaction steps with a following nonanionic transformation. 

The domino process can be catalyzed by a Cu-complex with (S.S)-tBu-bis(oxazo-line) to give 2-616 with excellent enantioselectivity (97-98% ee) [320b,c]. The use of 5 A molecular sieves turned out to be obligatory. Wada and coworkers also reported on a related transetherification/l,3-dipolar cycloaddition procedure to give access to trans-fused bicyclic y-lactones [321]. 

It can be assumed that, in the presence of InCl3 and water, the cyclic enol ethers 2-618 form a hydroxy aldehyde which reacts with the aniline to give an aromatic im-inium ion. This represents an electron-poor 1,3-butadiene which can undergo a hetero-Diels-Alder reaction [323] with another molecule of 2-618 to give a mixture of the diastereomeric tetrahydroquinolines 2-619 and 2-620. 

The described approach to this pharmaceutically important class of compounds [324] was also utilized by Bonnet-Delpon and coworkers one year later [325]. Interestingly, these authors employed hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) as solvent and were able to perform the domino process without adding any extra Lewis acid catalyst such as InCl3 due to the acidic properties of HFIP (pKa = 9.3) [326]. Besides di-hydrofuran or dihydropyran, they have also used acyclic enol ethers. 

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