Calixarene-based chiral primary amine thiourea promoted highly enantioselective asymmetric Michael reactions of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes with maleimides

Calix[4]arene based chiral bifunctional thiourea-primary amines have been shown to act as effective catalysts for the Michael addition of aldehydes to maleimides for the first time. The corresponding adducts were generally obtained preferentially in (R)- or (S)-forms with high yields (up to 99%) and with high to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee).     

Asymmetric Michael addition of α-substituted isocyanoacetates with maleimides catalyzed by chiral tertiary amine thiourea

A highly diastereoselective and enantioselective Michael addition of α-substituted isocyanoacetates with maleimides catalyzed by bifunctional tertiary amine thioureas has been developed. Various chiral succinimide derivatives bearing adjacent quaternary and tertiary stereocenters were prepared in excellent yields (up to 98%), diastereoselectivities (up to 99:1), and enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee). The synthetic utility of chiral succinimide derivatives is also demonstrated in the preparation of h5-HT(1d) receptor agonist motifs.     

Enantioselective Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides organocatalyzed by chiral primary amine-guanidines

New primary amine-guanidines derived from the monoguanylation of (1S,2S)- and (1R,2R)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine have been prepared and used as chiral organocatalysts for the enantioselective conjugate addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides. The corresponding Michael adducts bearing a new stereocenter were generally obtained in high or quantitative yields and with good enantioselectivities (up to 93% ee).     

Highly enantioselective Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides catalyzed by new primary amine-squaramide bifunctional organocatalysts

New bifunctional primary amine-squaramides catalyzed asymmetric Michael addition reaction of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides has been developed. This organocatalytic asymmetric reaction provides easy access to functionalized succinimides with a broad substrate scope. Both enantiomers of desired succinimide derivatives were obtained in good to excellent yields (up to 98%) with excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99%?ee).     

Primary amine catalyzed electrophilic amination of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes

Organocatalytic α-amination of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes promoted by 9-amino-(9-deoxy)-epi-quinine is described. α-Hydrazino aldehydes bearing a quaternary stereogenic center are obtained in good to excellent yields and enantioselectivities.     

Enantioselective Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to nitroolefins catalyzed by a pyrrolidine-pyrazole

An efficient protocol for the asymmetric catalytic Michael additions of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to nitroolefins with a pyrrolidine-pyrazole is described. The desired products γ-nitrocarbonyl compounds possessing an all-carbon quaternary center, were obtained in good yields and with high levels of enantioselectivities under solvent-free reaction conditions, employing benzoic acid as an additive.     

Solvent-dependent enantioswitching in the Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides organocatalyzed by mono-N-Boc-protected cyclohexa-1,2-diamines

Enantiomerically pure mono-N-Boc-protected trans-cyclohexa-1,2-diamines are used as organocatalysts for the enantioselective conjugate addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to maleimides. Using a single enantiomer of the organocatalyst, both enantiomeric forms of the resulting Michael adducts bearing a new quaternary stereocenter are obtained in high yields, by only changing the reaction solvent from chloroform (up to 86% ee) to aqueous DMF (up to 84% ee).     

Calixarene-based highly efficient primary amine–thiourea organocatalysts for asymmetric Michael addition of aldehydes to nitrostyrenes

The synthesis of calix[4]arene-based chiral bifunctional primary amine–thiourea catalysts has been described from p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene for the first time. The calix[4]arene-based catalysts were successfully applied to promote Michael addition of aldehydes with nitroalkenes affording preferentially the (R)- or (S)-adducts in high yields (up to 95%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ees).     

Organocatalytic enantioselective Michael addition reactions of fluoromalonates with α,β-unsaturated aldehydes

A new organocatalytic enantioselective Michael addition of α-fluoromalonate to enals has been developed.The process is efficiently catalyzed by readily available chiral diphenylpyrolinol TES ether under mild reaction conditions to afford versatile highly enantioenriched fluorinated aldehydes.     

Asymmetric synthesis of α,α-disubstituted α-amino alcohol derivatives

Herein we report the asymmetric synthesis of α,α-disubstituted α-amino alcohol derivatives 22, 25 and 26, key intermediates of a novel immunomodulator, using Seebach’s method. This synthetic method can be applied to the large scale synthesis of chiral sphingosine 1-phosphate-1 (S1P₁) receptor agonists, with significant improvements to the previously reported method with regard to the reaction temperature.     

Cinchona-based primary amine-catalyzed enantioselective aza-Michael reactions of pyrroles with α,β-unsaturated aldehydes

The cinchona-based primary amine-catalyzed enantioselective aza-Michael reaction of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes with 4,5-dihalo-1H-pyrrole-2-carbonitriles as the N-centered heteroaromatic nucleophile, followed by chemoselective reduction provided the corresponding chiral aza-Michael products in good yields and with excellent enantioselectivities (90–97% ee).     

Enantioselective aldol reactions of α,β-unsaturated ketones with trifluoroacetophenone catalyzed by a chiral primary amine

Chiral primary amine catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol reactions of ketones with trifluoroacetophenone, afforded trifluoromethylated β-hydroxycarbonyl aldol products bearing a quaternary carbon stereogenic center in high yields (up to 93% yield) and with high to excellent enantioselectivities of up to 99% ee.     

Highly efficient asymmetric organocatalytic Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to nitroolefins under solvent-free conditions

A chiral pyrrolide-based diamine in combination with benzoic acid has been found to be an effective organocatalyst for Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes with nitroolefins. The reaction provided the desired Michael products possessing all-carbon quaternary center with high yields (76–98%) and high levels of enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee) under solvent-free reaction conditions. The procedure presented is simple and makes this method suitable for practical use.     

Asymmetric conjugate addition of malonate to α,β-unsaturated ketones in water using a perfluoroalkanesulfonamide organocatalyst

Perfluoroalkanesulfonamide organocatalyst 7 efficiently promotes asymmetric Michael additions of malonates to enones in cyclohexane or water to produce the corresponding addition products with excellent yields and with up to 99% ee.     

Asymmetric organocatalytic Michael/α-alkylation reaction of α,β-unsaturated aldehyde with chloroacetophenone

Asymmetric organocatalytic Michael/α-alkylation reactions of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes with chloroacetophenones have been developed. The biologically useful cyclopropane motifs were synthesized with high yields and up to >99% ee, >30:1 dr through Jørgensen-Hayashi catalyst under mild conditions.     

Highly asymmetric Michael additions of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to β-nitroalkenes promoted by chiral pyrrolidine-thiourea bifunctional catalysts

A series of secondary amine-thiourea catalysts derived from l-proline and chiral diamine were prepared and first applied to the Michael addition of α,α-disubstituted aldehydes to trans-β-nitroalkenes. Moderate yields (47-75%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 96% ee) were obtained for a variety of aryl and heteroaryl nitroalkenes.     

Asymmetric hydroazidation of α-substituted vinyl ketones catalyzed by chiral primary amine

We report herein the first example of asymmetric hydroazidation of α-substituted vinyl ketones by using chiral primary amines as the catalysts.A simple chiral primary-tertiary diamine catalyst derived from lphenylalanine was found to readily promote this aza-Michael addition reaction with enamine protonation as the key stereogenic step,thus enabling the effective synthesis of α-chiral β-azido ketones with good yields and moderate enantioselectivities.     

Asymmetric synthesis of deuterated and fluorinated aromatic α,α-disubstituted amino acid derivatives

We herein present organocatalytic approaches to synthesize fluorinated and deuterated α-substituted phenylglycine derivatives. Whereas the addition of diethyl azodicarboxylate to fluorinated α-substituted aldehydes furnishes chiral non-racemic compounds, the use of chloramine-T as a nitrogen source represents a rapid access to sulfamidated fluorinated amino acid precursors. Additionally, further functionalization was achieved through the palladium-catalyzed coupling of a p-bromosubstituted aldehyde with a range of fluorine or deuterium-containing boronic acids. Oxidation of the aldehyde function and cleavage of the protection group of the nitrogen give way to the free fluorinated unnatural amino acids.     

Enantio- and diastereoselective Michael addition reactions of α-cyanoketones to nitroalkenes catalyzed by binaphthyl-derived organocatalyst

The catalytic enantioselective and diastereoselective Michael addition reactions promoted by chiral bifunctional organocatalysts are described. The treatment of α-cyanoketones with nitroalkenes under mild reaction conditions afforded the corresponding γ-niro α-cyanoketones with excellent diastereoselectivities (up to syn/anti >99/1) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).