Copper-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of trialkylaluminium reagents to trisubstituted enones: construction of chiral quaternary centers

Me3Al, Et3Al, and vinylalane species undergo enantioselective conjugate addition to a wide range of 2- or 3-substituted enones (cyclopent-2-enones, cyclohex-2-enones, 3-methyl cyclohept-2-enone) in the presence of catalytic amount of copper salt (copper thiophene carboxylate, [Cu(CH3CN)4]BF4 or [CuOTf]2C6H6) and tropos-phosphoramidite-based ligand. Thus, chiral quaternary centers can be built, with up to 98% ee after rigorous optimization of experimental conditions. It was shown that the main important parameter was the order of the introduction of the reagents. Then, the generated enantioenriched aluminium enolates and the chiral conjugate adducts were functionalized and used for subsequent reactions.     

Copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to acyclic enones using monodentate phosphoramidite ligands

Herein, we report efficient catalysts based on phosphoramidites for the asymmetric copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to acyclic α,β-unsaturated ketones. A variety of Grignard reagents can be added to aliphatic and aromatic acyclic enones with good yields and moderate to good enantioselectivities.     

Highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of diethylzinc to cyclic enones with spirocyclic phosphoramidite ligands

A series of spirocyclic phosphoramidite ligands 6-9 with different substituents on the amine moiety were synthesized from the chiral spirocyclic diol (R)-5. These monodentate ligands have been applied in copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of diethylzinc to cyclic enones. Excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) can be achieved by the use of ligand (R,S,S)-9 bearing stereochemically matched structure derived from the C₂-symmetric (S,S)-bis(α-methylbenzyl)amine.     

Influence of copper salts, solvents, and ligands on the structures of precatalytic phosphoramidite copper complexes for conjugate addition reactions

For copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate addition reactions of organozinc reagents, the available knowledge about the mechanism and the structures involved is still insufficient to understand in detail the strong influences of solvent, salt, and ligand size, or to enable a rational control of this reaction. Screening with three phosphoramidite ligands and four copper(I) salts using NMR spectroscopy has revealed a binuclear copper complex with mixed trigonal/tetrahedral stereochemistry as the basic structural motif of the ground state of precatalysts with highly stereoselective ligands. Ligands with smaller amine moieties allow higher coordination numbers and higher aggregation levels, leading to reduced ee values. Since the ESI mass spectra of several precatalytic copper halide complexes show a striking correlation with the structures observed in solution, ESI-MS may be used as a fast tool to determine the maximum number of phosphoramidite ligands attached to copper.     

Chiral bidentate bis(n-heterocyclic carbene)-based palladium complexes bearing carboxylate ligands: highly effective catalysts for the enantioselective conjugate addition of arylboronic acids to cyclic enones

Axially chiral cis-chelated bidentate bis(N-heterocyclic carbene)-palladium(II) complexes with two weakly coordinating carboxylate ligands are effective catalysts for the asymmetric conjugate addition of arylboronic acids to cyclic enones, producing the corresponding adducts in moderate-to-high yields and with good-to-high enantioselectivities, in most cases under mild conditions.     

Enantioselective conjugate addition of dialkylzinc and diphenylzinc to enones catalyzed by a chiral copper(I) binaphthylthiophosphoramide or binaphthylselenophosphoramide ligand system

The enantioselective conjugate addition of dialkylzinc or diphenylzinc to enones was catalyzed by a copper(I)-axially chiral binaphthylthiophosphoramide or binaphthylselenophosphoramide ligand system at room temperature (20 degrees C) or 0 degrees C, affording the Michael adducts in high yields with excellent ee for cyclic and acyclic enones. The enantioselectivity and reaction rate achieved here are one of the best results yet for the Cu-catalyzed conjugate addition to enones. It was revealed that this series of chiral phosphoramides was a novel type of S,N-bidentate ligands on the basis of (31)P NMR and (13)C NMR spectroscopic investigations. The mechanism of this asymmetric conjugate addition system has been investigated as well. We found that the acidic proton of phosphoramide in these chiral ligands play a significant role in the formation of the active species. A bimetallic catalytic process has been proposed on the basis of previous literature. The linear effect of product ee and ligand ee further revealed that the active species is a monomeric Cu(I) complex bearing a single ligand [Cu(I):ligand 1:1].     

Synthesis of novel cyclohexanediol-derived chiral phosphite ligands and their application in the Cu-catalyzed conjugate addition of organozinc to cyclic enones

A series of novel chiral diphosphite ligands have been synthesized from (1R,2R)-trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol, (1S,2S)-trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol, racemic trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol and chlorophosphoric acid diary ester, and were successfully employed in the Cu-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-conjugate addition of diethylzinc to cyclohexenone with up to 99% ee. It was found that ligand 1,2-bis[(R)-1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diyl]phosphitecyclohexanediol 6a derived from racemic diol skeleton can show similar catalytic performance compared with ligand (1R,2R)-bis[(R)-1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diyl]phosphitecyclohexanediol 6a' derived from enantiopure startingmaterial. A significant dependence of stereoselectivity on the type of enone and the ring size of the cyclic enone was observed. Moreover, the configuration of the products was mainly determined by the configuration of the binaphthyl moieties of diphosphite ligands in the 1,4-addition of cyclic enones.     

Co-metal-free enantioselective conjugate addition reactions of zinc reagents

Asymmetric conjugate addition of diethylzinc to cinnamaldehyde in a co-metal-free fashion by using N,O-ligands with planar and central chirality is described. Different modulations of the ligand structure, including several combinations of the chiral units, indicate that a [2.2]paracyclophane backbone is essential for the activity and the enantioselectivity of the generated active catalyst. By using the optimized ligand, an isolated yield of 90 % was obtained with up to 99 % ee.     

A general organocatalytic enantioselective malonate addition to alpha,beta-unsaturated enones

A general enantioselective organocatalytic conjugate addition procedure of a variety of malonates to alpha,beta-unsaturated enone systems is presented. The reaction is efficiently catalysed by the pyrrolidinyl tetrazole catalyst 1. Cyclic, acyclic and aromatic enones can be used and the reaction with ethyl malonates 3 b provides the Michael addition products in high yields with good to excellent enantioselectivities. Since only 1.5 equivalents of malonate are used as a reagent, the reaction is readily scaled and practical to operate. Furthermore, the malonate addition products can be easily mono decarboxylated without loss in enantiomeric excess by enzymatic or sodium hydroxide mediated methods.