Nickel-Catalyzed Preparations of Functionalized Organozincs

The reaction of primary alkyl bromides or chlorides with diethylzinc in the presence of Ni(acac)(2) (5 mol %) furnishes the corresponding alkylzinc halides (X = Br, Cl) via a halogen-zinc exchange reaction. The treatment of terminal alkenes with diethylzinc (neat, 25-60 degrees C) in the presence of Ni(acac)(2) as a catalyst (1-5 mol %) and 1,5-cyclooctadiene (COD) affords the corresponding dialkylzincs via a hydrozincation reaction. Whereas the conversion for simple alkenes bearing a remote functionality reaches 40 to 63%, the hydrozincation of allylic, homoallylic alcohols and allylic amines proceeds very efficiently (85-95% conversion). All the zinc organometallics obtained react with various electrophiles (allylic halides, enones, acid chlorides, alkynyl halides, ethyl propiolate) after transmetalation with CuCN.2LiCl. In the presence of the chiral catalyst 12, the dialkylzincs prepared add to aldehydes with high enantioselectivity.     

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric umpolung allylation of imines with allylic alcohols

A palladium-catalyzed asymmetric umpolung allylation reaction of imines with allylic alcohols has been developed. In the presence of chiral spiro phosphoramidite ligand 4, the allylation was accomplished with high yields and good enantioselectivities. The use of highly stable and easily available allylic alcohols instead of allylic metal reagents facilitated the preparation of chiral homoallylic amines.     

Catalytic regiodivergent kinetic resolution of allylic epoxides: a new entry to allylic and homoallylic alcohols with high optical purity

A novel regiodivergent kinetic resolution of a series of allylic epoxides with alkylzinc reagents is described. Results demonstrate the potential of chiral copper-phosphoramidite catalysts for enantiomer differentiation of allylic epoxides, allowing a chiral catalyst-stereoregulated synthesis of cyclic allylic and homoallylic alcohols with high optical purities.     

Nickel-catalyzed Asymmetric Alkylation of Some Chiral and Achiral Allylic Alcohols. Preliminary communication

[(?) (R)-1,2-bis (Diphenylphosphino)-1-phenylethane]nickel (II) chloride was found to catalyze the asymmetric alkylation of some chiral and achiral allylic alcohols with Grignard reagents, leading to the formation of optically active olefins. Enantiomer discrimination of the substrate takes place in the alkylation of chiral allylic alcohols.     

Highly regioselective asymmetric copper-catalyzed allylic alkylation with dialkylzincs using monodentate chiral spiro phosphoramidite and phosphite ligands

The copper complexes of chiral spiro phosphoramidite and phosphite ligands were found to be effective catalysts in the asymmetric allylic alkylations of cinnamyl halides with dialkylzincs. The allylic alkylation products were obtained in high regioselectivities (S_N2′/S_N2 up to 98:2) and enantiomeric excesses of up to 74% for S_N2′ products.     

Catalytic asymmetric generation of (Z)-disubstituted allylic alcohols

A one-pot method for the direct preparation of enantioenriched (Z)-disubstituted allylic alcohols is introduced. Hydroboration of 1-halo-1-alkynes with dicyclohexylborane, reaction with t-BuLi, and transmetalation with dialkylzinc reagents generate (Z)-disubstituted vinylzinc intermediates. In situ reaction of these reagents with aldehydes in the presence of a catalyst derived from (-)-MIB generates (Z)-disubstituted allylic alcohols. It was found that the resulting allylic alcohols were racemic, most likely due to a rapid addition reaction promoted by LiX (X = Br and Cl). To suppress the LiX-promoted reaction, a series of inhibitors were screened. It was found that 20-30 mol % tetraethylethylenediamine inhibited LiCl without inhibiting the chiral zinc-based Lewis acid. In this fashion, (Z)-disubstituted allylic alcohols were obtained with up to 98% ee. The asymmetric (Z)-vinylation could be coupled with tandem diastereoselective epoxidation reactions to provide epoxy alcohols and allylic epoxy alcohols with up to three contiguous stereogenic centers, enabling the rapid construction of complex building blocks with high levels of enantio- and diastereoselectivity.     

Chiral silylation reagents for the determination of absolute configuration by NMR spectroscopy

We have investigated the use of chiral silylating reagents as analytical probes for determining the absolute stereochemistry of natural products by NMR spectroscopy. These reagents are prepared in high chemical yield in one step and can be used to derivatize chiral allylic alcohols which are incompatible with ester-based methodologies. Microscale ( approximately 400 nmol) derivatization conditions have been defined. The resulting siloxane diastereomers are readily distinguished by their (1)H NMR spectra.     

Asymmetric Palladium‐Catalyzed Allylic Alkylation Using Dialkylzinc Reagents: A Remarkable Ligand Effect

A serendipitously discovered palladium‐catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation reaction with diorganozinc reagents, which displays broad functional group compatibility, is reported. This novel transformation hinges on a remarkable ligand effect which overrides the standard “umpolung” reactivity of allyl–palladium intermediates in the presence of dialkylzincs. Owing to its mild conditions, enantioselective allylic alkylations of racemic allylic electrophiles are possible in the presence of sensitive functional groups.     

Preparation of Functionalized Dialkylzincs via a Boron-Zinc Exchange. Reactivity and Catalytic Asymmetric Addition to Aldehydes

The hydroboration of olefins with Et(2)BH provides diethyl(alkyl)boranes 2 which readily undergo a boron-zinc exchange with Et(2)Zn providing a range of polyfunctional primary, secondary, and benzylic diorganozincs. The resulting diorganozincs 3 have been reacted with various electrophiles (allylic halides, acid chlorides, alkylidenemalonates, ethyl propiolate, nitroolefins) in the presence of CuCN.2LiCl with excellent yields. With secondary dialkylzincs prepared from diastereomerically pure diethyl(alkyl)boranes, the boron-zinc exchange occurs with loss of stereochemistry. The asymmetric addition of 3 to aldehydes in the presence of the chiral catalyst 55 furnishes optically active polyfunctional secondary alcohols (50 to over 96% ee).     

Highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed alkylation of β-ketoesters and subsequent cyclization to spirolactones/bi-spirolactones

Cu-catalyzed enantioselective alkylation of β-ketoesters using alcohols for in situ preparation of alkylating reagents is reported. A number of functionalized β-ketoesters containing a quaternary carbon stereocenter are obtained with up to 99% ee. The alkylation products derived from 2-substituted allylic alcohols or their corresponding iodides can then be converted to spirolactones, bi-spirolactones, and related chiral target products.     

Copper catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of chiral allylic esters

The complex derived from Taniaphos ligand 4 and CuBr*Me2S catalyzes the asymmetric addition of Grignard reagents to 3-bromopropenyl esters 1 to provide allylic esters 2 in high yields and high chemio-, regio-, and enantioselectivities. The work demonstrates that allylic asymmetric alkylation (AAA) can be done on substrates bearing a heteroatom at the gamma-position. The method is a practical route to chiral, nonracemic allylic alcohols. The use of functionalized substrates 1 or Grignard reagents leads to more complex products 2, which can be further manipulated as demonstrated in conversion to (S)-5-ethyl-2(5H)-furanone 6 and (S)-benzoic acid-cyclopent-2-enyl ester 7.     

Highly diastereoselective addition of allyltitanocenes to α-chiral ketones

The addition of allyltitanium reagents, generated by the desulfurizative titanation of allylic sulfides with the titanocene(II) reagent Cp₂Ti−1-butene, to α-chiral ketones produced tertiary homoallylic alcohols bearing three adjacent chiral centers with high diastereoselectivity.     

High diversity on simple substrates: 1,4-dihalo-2-butenes and other difunctionalized allylic halides for copper-catalyzed S(N)2' reactions

Enantioselective allylic alkylation with an organomagnesium reagent catalyzed by copper thiophene carboxylate (CuTC) was carried out on difunctionalized substrates, such as commercially available 1,4-dichloro-2-butene and 1,4-dibromo-2-butene, and on similar compounds of higher substitution pattern of the olefin for the formation of all-carbon chiral quaternary centers. The high regioselectivity obtained throughout the reactions favored good regiocontrol for the addition of phenyl Grignard reagents. Other difunctionalized substrates (allylic ethers and allylic alcohols) also underwent asymmetric S(N)2' substitution.     

Facile One-pot Transformation of 2,3-Epoxy Alcohols into Allylic Alcohols

Optically-active allylic alcohols have been frequently used as chiral building blocks for the preparation of optically pure compounds.¹ There are at present various methods for the synthesis of optically active allylic alcohols including the kinetic resolution racemic allylic alcohols,² reductive rearrangement of 2,3-epoxy alcohol by metal, halide and telluium-based chemistry.³ To our knowledge, One-pot Transformation of 2,3-epoxy alcohols into allylic alcohols, especially via epoxy iodides,is limited to Dorta's method³ using a Ph₃P,iodine, imidazole,2,6-lutidine and water system. The original Dorta's method can be successfully applied to the formation of tertiary allylic alcohols, but give unsatisfactory results in formation of secondary allylic alcohols.     

Access to chiral α-bromo and α-H-substituted tertiary allylic alcohols via copper(I) catalyzed 1,2-addition of Grignard reagents to enones

The catalytic asymmetric synthesis of tertiary alcohols by the addition of organometallic reagents to ketones is of central importance in organic chemistry. The resulting quaternary stereocentres are difficult to prepare selectively by other means despite their widespread occurrence in natural products and pharmaceuticals. Here we report on a new methodology which allows access to both α-bromo-substituted and α-H-substituted allylic tertiary alcohols with excellent yields, and enantioselectivities of up to 98% using the copper(I)-catalysed 1,2-addition of Grignard reagents to enones. As an example, the methodology is applied in the synthesis of a chiral dihydrofuran.     

A positional scanning approach to the discovery of dipeptide-based catalysts for the enantioselective addition of vinylzinc reagents to aldehydes

[reaction: see text] A combinatorial library of dipeptide N-acylethylenediamine-based ligands was synthesized by parallel solid-phase methods. These ligands were screened in crude form as catalysts for the asymmetric addition of vinylzinc reagents to aldehydes to give chiral allylic alcohols. Three sites of diversity on the ligands were optimized using a positional scanning approach. The optimized structure from the library, ligand 54, was found to catalyze the formation of 10 different (E)-allylic alcohols with enantioselectivities ranging from 90% to 95% ee. This ligand was effective for both aromatic and alpha-branched aldehydes, and vinylzinc reagents derived from both bulky and straight chain terminal alkynes.     

Cobalt-Catalyzed Regiodivergent and Enantioselective Intermolecular Coupling of 1,1-Disubstituted Allenes and Aldehydes

Catalytic enantioselective coupling of 1,1-disubstituted allenes and aldehydes through regiodivergent oxidative cyclization followed by stereoselective protonation or reductive elimination promoted by chiral phosphine-Co complexes is presented. Such processes represent unprecedented and unique reaction pathways for Co catalysis that enable catalytic enantioselective generation of metallacycles with divergent regioselectivity accurately controlled by chiral ligands, affording a wide range of allylic alcohols and homoallylic alcohols that are otherwise difficult to access without the need of pre-formation of stoichiometric amounts of alkenyl- and allyl-metal reagents in up to 92 % yield, >98 : 2 regioselectivity, >98 : 2 dr and >99.5 : 0.5 er.     

CuI-catalyzed tandem carbomagnesiation/carbonyl addition of Grignard reagents with acetylenic ketones: Convenient access to tetrasubstituted allylic alcohols

Highly functionalized tetrasubstituted allylic alcohols were prepared conveniently by CuI-catalyzed tandem carbomagnesiation/carbonyl addition of Grignard reagents with acetylenic ketones. The obtained allylic alcohols can be further transformed to polysubstituted indenes by intramolecular cyclization.     

Preparation of stereodefined homoallylic amines from the reductive cross-coupling of allylic alcohols with imines

Regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective coupling reactions between imines and allylic alcohols have been developed. These coupling reactions deliver complex homoallylic amine products through a convergent C-C bond forming process that does not proceed through intermediate allylic organometallic reagents. In general, convergent coupling, by exposure of an allylic alkoxide to a preformed Ti-imine complex, occurs with allylic transposition in a predictable and stereocontrolled manner. While simple diastereoselection in these reactions is high, delivering anti-products with ≥20:1 selectivity, the organometallic transformation described is compatible with a diverse range of functionality and substrates (including aliphatic and aromatic imines, allylic silanes, trisubstituted alkenes, vinyl- and aryl halides, trifluoromethyl groups, thioethers, and aromatic heterocycles). Alkene geometry of the products is a complex function of the allylic alcohol structure and is consistent with a mechanistic proposal based on syn-carbometalation followed by syn-elimination by way of a boat-like transition state geometry. Single asymmetric coupling reactions provide a means to translate the stereochemical information of the allylic alcohol to the homoallylic amine or to control diastereoselection in the coupling reactions of achiral allylic alcohols with chiral imines. Double asymmetric coupling reactions are also described that afford a unique means to control stereoselection in these complex convergent coupling processes. Finally, empirical models are proposed that are consistent with the observed stereochemical course of these coupling reactions en route to chiral homoallylic amines possessing di- or trisubstituted alkenes and anti- or syn- relative stereochemistry at the allylic and homoallylic positions.     

Copper(I) catalyzed asymmetric 1,2-addition of Grignard reagents to α-methyl substituted α,β-unsaturated ketones

The first catalytic enantioselective 1,2-addition of Grignard reagents to ketones is presented. This additive-free copper(I) catalyzed 1,2-addition provides chiral allylic tertiary alcohols with an er of up to 98:2 and excellent yields due to the complete shift of overwhelming 1,4-selectivity of copper(I)-catalysts towards 1,2-selectivity in the addition reaction to enones.