Zirconium aldol condensations

Additionally, various zirconium-assisted aldol condensations between different types of zirconium enolates and aldehydes have been reported.141-145... 

As with the above pyrrolidine, proline-type chiral auxiliaries also show different behaviors toward zirconium or lithium enolate mediated aldol reactions. Evans found that lithium enolates derived from prolinol amides exhibit excellent diastereofacial selectivities in alkylation reactions (see Section 2.2.32), while the lithium enolates of proline amides are unsuccessful in aldol condensations. Effective chiral reagents were zirconium enolates, which can be obtained from the corresponding lithium enolates via metal exchange with Cp2ZrCl2. For example, excellent levels of asymmetric induction in the aldol process with synj anti selectivity of 96-98% and diastereofacial selectivity of 50-200 116a can be achieved in the Zr-enolate-mediated aldol reaction (see Scheme 3-10). 

Earlier studies had demonstrated that such enolates would participate in aldol condensations with aldehydes however, the stereochemical aspects of the reaction were not investigated (68). For the cases summarized in Table 25, the zirconium enolates were prepared from the corresponding lithium enolates (eq. [54]). Control experiments indicated that no alteration in enolate geometry accompanies this ligand exchange process, and that the product ratio is kinetically controlled (35). From the cases illustrated, both ( )-enolates (entries A-E) and (Z)-enolates (entries F-H) exhibit predominant kinetic erythro diastereoselection. Although a detailed explanation of these observations is clearly speculative, certain aspects of a probable... 

Kinetically Controlled Aldol Condensations of Zirconium Enolates with Benzaldehyde... 

Although in the recent years the stereochemical control of aldol condensations has reached a level of efficiency which allows enantioselective syntheses of very complex compounds containing many asymmetric centres, the situation is still far from what one would consider "ideal". In the first place, the requirement of a substituent at the a-position of the enolate in order to achieve good stereoselection is a limitation which, however, can be overcome by using temporary bulky groups (such as alkylthio ethers, for instance). On the other hand, the ( )-enolates, which are necessary for the preparation of 2,3-anti aldols, are not so easily prepared as the (Z)-enolates and furthermore, they do not show selectivities as good as in the case of the (Z)-enolates. Finally, although elements other than boron -such as zirconium [30] and titanium [31]- have been also used succesfully much work remains to be done in the area of catalysis. In this context, the work of Mukaiyama and Kobayashi [32a,b,c] on asymmetric aldol reactions of silyl enol ethers with aldehydes promoted by tributyltin fluoride and a chiral diamine coordinated to tin(II) triflate... 

Aldol condensation of aldehydes with chiral zirconium enolates. This reaction can exhibit high levels of em/iw-diastcrcosclection. Thus the zirconium enolate of the propanamidc 1, reacts with aldehydes to afford predominately a single aldol diaslercomer (2) in 96 98% cc. The enolate reacts with both (R)- and (S)-aldchydcs to form comparable levels of ervl/iro-selection. Thus enolate chirality suppresses the influence of chirality of the aldehyde.4... 

ALDOL CONDENSATION Cesium fluoride. Dialkylboron trifluoromethane-sulfonates. Dichlorobis(cyclopentadi-enyl)zirconium. Diisobutylaluminum phenoxide. 2,5-Dimethylphenylpropi-onate. DimetIiyl(phenyllhio)aIuminum. Lithium iodide. Triethylborane. Tri-methylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate. Triphenyltin chloride. TrisCdiethyI-amino)sulfonium difluorotrimethyl-siliconate. 

In contrast, aldol condensation with (Z)- and (E)-chlorobis(cyclopenladienyl)-zirconium enolates results in ery/Iiro-diastereoselection regardless of the geometry of the enolate.2 3 These enolates are prepared from lithium enolates by metal exchange with Cp,ZrCl, at —78°. The effect is particularly marked with amide enolates (equation II). 

Zirconium enolates are formed by reaction of the corresponding lithium enolates with bis(cyclopenta-dienyl)zirconium dichloride.Complete retention of enolate geometry accompanies the metal exchange. Both ( )- and (Z) zirconium enolates have been shown to undergo selective kinetic aldol condensation to give mainly syn/erythro products (Scheme 44).<56- > Again, the enolate derived from norbomanone provides an exception to the rale (Scheme 45). ... 

Aldol condensation of 2,2-diethyl-l,3-dioxolan-4-one lithium or zirconium enolates with aldehydo sugars has afforded higher carbon aldonic acid derivatives, e.g. 1. The synthesis of L-ribono-1,4-lactone has been achieved from d-isoascorbic acid by way of the tetrose and pentitol derivatives 2 and 3 and the d-ribonolactone derivative 4 has been efficiently epimerized to the L-lyxonolactone 5 (Scheme 1). A selective i yn-epoxidation of racemic 2-0-benzyl-4-alkenamides followed by hydrolysis has afforded 3-deoxy-pentono-1,4-lactones. 

Lewis acid promoted reactions of silicon enolates, /.e., silyl enol ethers and ketene silyl acetals with various electrophiles have yielded a wealth of novel and selective synthetic methods. This combination of reagents has been used in the past to perform such reactions as aldol-condensations with aldehydes and acetals, imine-condensations, conjugate additions to a,P-enones, alkylations, electrophilic aminations, and Diels-Alder/cyclocondensations. Our own interest in this field has involved the use of titanium tetrachloride to promote the reaction of ketene silyl acetals with non-activated imines as an efficient route to P-lactams. This reaction has been applied to the asymmetric synthesis of P-lactams via a chiral imine-titanium tetrachloride template. We have also found that both ketene silyl acetals and vinylketene silyl acetals oxidativelly dimerize or cross-couple, in the presence of titanium tetrachloride to conveniently yield various diesters . Our present study concerns reactions of vinylketene silyl acetals with non-activated imines and vinylimines promoted by titanium and zirconium tetrachlorides. 

High e/y/firo-selectivity has been obtained using optically active zirconium enolates (18) derived from prolinol in an enantioselective aldol condensation (Scheme 14). Much lower selectivity was obtained using the corresponding lithium enolate. 

A similar method has been described by Badia and co-workers who used chiral amides derived from pseudoephe-drine.139 Moreover, a zirconium-mediated Claisen-aldol tandem reaction of an a,cr-dialkylated ester with several aldehydes has been reported (Scheme 39).140 After the initial Claisen condensation, zirconium enolate intermediate 92 reacts with various types of aldehydes through aldol-type reaction and subsequent lactonization, providing the corresponding pyran-2,4-diones. 

Zirconium tetrachloride promotes a tandem nucleophilic addition and aldol-type condensation reaction of methyl propynoate, or /V,/V-dimethylpropynamidc, with aldehydes, or ketones, in the presence of tetra-n-butylammonium iodide (Scheme 6.13) [8] with a high selectivity towards the formation of Z-isomers. A similar reaction occurs between aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes and penta-3,4-dien-2-one to yield 1-substituted 2-acetyl-3-iodobut-3-enols (50-75%) [9]. 

A stereoselective tandem iodination and aldol-type condensation has been described for the reaction of methyl propiolate and carbonyl compounds in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of tetra-n-butylammonium iodide and zirconium chloride to yield Z-3-iodo-2-(l-hydroxyalkyl)propenoates, as the major products [48]. No reaction occurs in the absence of the Lewis acid. There does not appear to be any control on the chirality of the hydroxyl centre. 

A unique approach to the stereochemical complexities of erythronolide A was developed by Deslongchamps as outlined in Scheme 2,19. The methyl ester of erythronolide A seco acid (212) was dehydrated to form the cyclic ketal 213. A multistep oxidation of the side chain then gave aldehyde 214 which, when condensed with the zirconium enolate of methyl propionate, afforded a 10 1 ratio of aldol diastereomers, the major being 213. Furthermore, aldehyde 214 could easily be converted into the y-lactone 215. 

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