A diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of alpha-substituted anti-alpha,beta-diaminophosphonic acid derivatives

Highly diastereo- and enantioselective additions of alpha-nitrophosphonates to imines catalyzed by a chiral Br?nsted acid are described.     

Domino imino-aldol-aza-Michael reaction: one-pot diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of piperidines

Addition of α-arylmethylidene- or α-alkylidene-β-keto ester enolate to N-activated aldimines via the imino aldol pathway followed by intramolecular aza-Michael reaction in a domino fashion has been developed, and a highly diastereoselective route to substituted piperidines is reported. Enantiopure piperidines are synthesized from chiral sulfinyl imines. Formation and the observed stereoselectivity of the products have been rationalized by mechanistic and computational studies.     

A diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of alpha-substituted syn-alpha,beta-diamino acids

Highly diastereo- and enantioselective additions of substituted alpha-nitroesters to imines have been developed. High diastereoselection relies on the finding that the combination of chiral proton catalyst 2b and alpha-nitro aryl esters bearing 2,6-disubstitution combine to raise substrate-controlled diastereoselection to >20:1 in favor of the syn diastereomer. Furthermore, the chiral catalyst provides enantioselection to the 99% level through control of the addition step in which the azomethine pi-faces are differentiated. The bifunctional chiral protic acid catalyst enables these reactions to proceed without separate preactivation of either substrate, leading to a straightforward synthetic protocol for the formation of alpha,beta-diamino phenyl alanine derivatives.     

High Asymmetric Induction in Lewis Acid-Promoted Intramolecular Ene-Type Reactions: A diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of (+)-α-allokainic acid. Preliminary Communication

The monocyclic amino diacid (+)-α-allokainic acid 1 has been prepared enantioselectively from the ester of cis-β-chloroacrylic acid and (?)-8-phenylmenthol by a series of four synthetic operations in over 15% yield. The crucial step is the intramolecular ‘ene-type’ reaction of the (Z)-diene 4 which on treatment with a mild Lewis acid undergoes a highly accelerated, dia- and enantiostereoselective cyclization to give the pyrrolidines 6 and 7 in a ratio of 95:5 (Scheme 3). Subsequent ester hydrolysis regenerates the auxiliary chiral alcohol. Similar cyclization of the (E)-diene 5 furnished a 15:85 mixture of 6 and 7 showing an efficient reversal of the optical induction by variation of the enoate geometry.     

Highly diastereo- and enantioselective catalytic synthesis of the bis-tetrahydrofuran alcohol of Brecanavir and Darunavir

An efficient highly diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of the bis-tetrahydrofuran (bis-THF) alcohol of several HIV protease inhibitors, including Brecanavir and Darunavir, has been achieved utilizing an Evans Mukaiyama aldol reaction of (benzyloxy)acetaldehyde and a silyl ketene acetal. The lactone alcohol intermediate from the catalytic aldol reaction was reduced to a lactol. Palladium catalyzed hydrogenolysis removed the benzyl protection and promoted an in situ cyclization to form the epimer of the bis-THF alcohol in a 98:2 diastereomeric ratio and 97:3 enantiomeric ratio. The alcohol epimer was readily converted to the target in two steps by oxidation to a ketone followed by highly selective reduction to the bis-THF alcohol.     

The mechanism of enzymatic and biomimetic oxidations of aromatic sulfides and sulfoxides

Biomimetic and enzymatic oxidations of benzyl sulfides and sulfoxides lead to products (sulfoxides or sulfones) different from those obtained with bona fide electron transfer oxidations (products of C---H and/or C---S bond cleavage), which suggests the operation of an oxygen transfer mechanism.     

Asymmetric synthesis of chiral glutaric acid derivatives via Rh-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation

The first Rh-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation of dimethyl 2-methyleneglutarate and its derivatives has been reported. For the hydrogenation of dimethyl 2-methyleneglutarate with a chiral ferrocene-based monodentate phosphoramidite ligand (FAPhos), good enantioselectivity (over 90% ee) with full conversions was achieved. In contrast, the hydrogenation of substrates bearing an aryl substituent at a methylene moiety proved to be more difficult, in which the best enantioselectivity of up to 81% ee was obtained by the use of a P-stereogenic BoPhoz-type ligand.     

Cu(I)-catalyzed reductive aldol cyclizations: diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of beta-hydroxylactones

[reaction: see text] Copper bisphosphine complexes catalyze the intramolecular reductive aldol reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated esters with ketones, affording five- and six-membered beta-hydroxylactones in high stereoselectivities. Utilization of chiral nonracemic bisphosphines render the cyclizations enantioselective.     

Efficient diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of α,β-disubstituted γ-phosphono sulfonates

The first asymmetric synthesis of α,β-disubstituted γ-phosphono sulfonates is reported. The key step is the Michael addition of a lithiated enantiopure sulfonate bearing an inexpensive chiral sugar auxiliary to α,β-unsaturated phosphonates in good diastereoselectivities. After chromatographic purification, the cleavage of the chiral sugar auxiliary proceeds without any epimerization or racemization to form the corresponding isopropyl sulfonate in very good overall yield (75%) and excellent diastereomeric and enantiomeric excess (de, ee ? 95%).     

Catalytic asymmetric homo-1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of azomethine ylides: diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of imidazolidines

The first catalytic asymmetric homo-1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of azomethine ylides have been established via SPINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed pseudo four-component reactions of aldehydes and 2-aminomalonates, resulting in the stereoselective construction of chiral imidazolidine scaffolds with two stereogenic centers in generally high yields and with good stereoselectivities (up to 81% yield, all >20:1 dr, up to 93% ee). This protocol provides easy access to synthetically and pharmaceutically important chiral imidazolidines via the formation of one ring system, two stereogenic centers, and four new bonds in a single step.     

Phosphoramidite gold(I)-catalyzed diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of 3,4-substituted pyrrolidines

In this article the utility of phosphoramidite ligands in enantioselective Au(I) catalysis was explored in the development of highly diastereo- and enantioselective Au(I)-catalyzed cycloadditions of allenenes. A Au(I)-catalyzed synthesis of 3,4-disubstituted pyrrolidines and γ-lactams is described. This reaction proceeds through the enantioselective Au(I)-catalyzed cyclization of allenenes to form a carbocationic intermediate that is trapped by an exogenous nucleophile, resulting in the highly diastereoselective construction of three contiguous stereogenic centers. A computational study (DFT) was also performed to gain some insight into the underlying mechanisms of these cycloadditions. The utility of this new methodology was demonstrated through the formal synthesis of (-)-isocynometrine.     

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed enantioselective three-component Povarov reaction using enecarbamates as dienophiles: highly diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of substituted 4-aminotetrahydroquinolines

A chiral phosphoric acid (5)-catalyzed three-component Povarov reaction of aldehydes 2, anilines 3, and enecarbamates 4 afforded cis-4-amino-2-aryl(alkyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines 1 in high yields with excellent diastereoselectivities (>95%) and almost complete enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee). The reaction was applicable to a wide range of anilines bearing electron-donating (OMe) and electron-withdrawing groups (e.g., Cl, CF(3), NO(2)) and allowed, for the first time, aliphatic aldehydes to be employed in the enantioselective Povarov reaction. With β-substituted acyclic enecarbamates, 2,3,4-trisubstituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines with three contiguous stereogenic centers were produced in excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities (87 to >99% ee). A detailed study of the active catalytic species allowed us to reduce the catalyst loading from 10% to 0.5% with no deterioration of enantiomeric excess. In addition, mechanistic studies allowed us to conclude unequivocally that the Povarov reaction involving enecarbamate as dienophile proceeded via a stepwise mechanism. The key role of the free NH function of the enecarbamate in the success of this transformation was demonstrated. NMR experiments indicating the catalyst-substrate interaction as well as a linear correlation between catalyst and product ee's were also documented.     

Highly diastereo- and enantioselective reagents for aldehyde crotylation

Two new, crystalline solid, storable, and highly enantioselective reagents for aldehyde crotylation have been developed. Both (cis and trans) crotylsilane reagents are easily prepared in bulk, require trivial reaction conditions, and provide the homoallylic alcohol products with near diastereo- and enantiospecificity in many cases.     

Bromination of phenols in bromoperoxidase-catalyzed oxidations

Phenol and ortho-substituted derivatives furnish products of selective para-bromination, if treated with sodium bromide, hydrogen peroxide, and the vanadate(V)-dependent bromoperoxidase I from the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum. Relative rates of bromination in morpholine-4-ethane sulfonic acid (MES)-buffered aqueous tert-butanol (pH 6.2) increase by a factor 32, as the ortho-substituent in a phenol changes from F via Cl, OCH₃, C(CH₃)₃, and H to CH₃. The polar effect in phenol bromination by the enzymatic method, according to a Hammett-correlation (ρ=−3), compares to reactivity of molecular bromine under identical conditions (ρ=−2). Hypobromous acid is not able to electrophilically substitute bromine for hydrogen at pH 6.2 in aqueous tert-butanol. The tribromide anion behaves in MES-buffered aqueous tert-butanol as electrophile (ρ∼−3), showing a similar polar effect in phenol bromination as molecular bromine.     

Efficient enantioselective synthesis of (+)-sclareolide and (+)-tetrahydroactinidiolide: chiral LBA-induced biomimetic cyclization

An efficient enantioselective synthesis of the lactones (+)-sclareolide and (+)-tetrahydroactinidiolide has been achieved through Lewis acid-assisted chiral Brønsted acid-induced enantioselective cyclization of terpenic carboxylic acids. The reaction sequence involved the [2,3] sigmatropic rearrangement of an allylic alcohol and biomimetic cyclization of terpenic acid in the presence of (R)-2-benzyloxy-2′-hydroxy-1,1′-binaphthyl and tin tetrachloride as key steps. The cyclization gave lactones in good yield and with high enantiomeric excess.     

Highly diastereo- and enantioselective cyclopropanation of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes

A helping hand: A series of bis(oxazoline) ligands, which contain pendant C(2) -symmetry-breaking groups, for the Cu-catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanation of 1,2-disubstituted alkenes has been developed. Under mild reaction conditions, both cis- and trans-1,2-substituted alkenes can be converted into the corresponding 1,2,3-trisubstituted cyclopropanes with high levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity.