Synthesis of benzannulated spiroacetals using chiral gold–phosphine complexes and chiral anions

The development of an asymmetric gold-catalysed dihydroalkoxylation strategy for the synthesis of the 3′H-spiro[chroman-2,1′-isobenzofuran] spiroacetal ring system 5 is described. Spiroacetal was generated in up to 87:13 enantiomeric ratio using chiral gold–phosphine complexes and chiral silver phosphate Ag(S)-TRIP.     

Synthesis and properties of (−)-menthol-derived chiral liquid crystals by introducing adipoyloxy spacer between mesogenic core and chiral menthyl

A homologous series of new chiral liquid crystal compounds, M6BnB (n = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18), with varying length of n-alkoxy chains at one end, was formed by covalently linking a chiral (?)-menthyl with biphenyl-benzoate via adipoyloxy spacer group. A combination of analysis methods such as Fourier transform infrared, ¹H NMR spectra, differential scanning calorimetry, polarised optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction was carried out to systematically investigate their phase structures and phase transition behaviours. The length of the flexible terminal alkoxy group has a profound influence on the clearing points (T_iso) and T_iso decrease with the increase of alkoxy chain (n). In addition, increasing the length of the terminal alkoxy group tends to narrow the temperature range of the N* phase and favour the development of chiral smectic C phase.     

Enzymatic and chiral HPLC resolution of α-azido acids and amides

For the first time, enzymatic resolution of α-azido acid amides has been successfully demonstrated with high yields and enantiomeric excess. In one case dynamic kinetic resolution was achieved leading to more than 50% yield of the enantiomerically pure azido acid. Chiral HPLC was also used to separate racemic α-azido acids and the separation process was automated. Two routes to enantiopure α-azido acid building blocks for solid-phase peptide synthesis have, therefore, been established.     

Syntheses of chiral β- and γ-amino ethers, morpholines, and their homologues via nucleophilic ring-opening of chiral activated aziridines and azetidines

Lewis acid catalyzed quaternary ammonium salt mediated highly regioselective ring-opening of chiral activated aziridines and azetidines with alcohols to nonracemic β- and γ-amino ethers has been developed. The reaction mainly proceeds via an S(N)2 pathway, and the partial racemization of the starting substrate was effectively controlled by using quaternary ammonium salts. β- and γ-amino ethers are obtained with high enantio- and diastereospecificity (ee up to >99%, de up to 99%). The methodology was further extended to synthesize morpholines and their homologues with high enantiospecificity (ee up to 90%) when halo alcohols were employed as the nucleophiles.     

Synthesis and characterization of non‐symmetric chiral dimers

A new class of cholesterol‐based non‐symmetric dimers have been synthesized and characterized. They comprise O‐alkylated cinnamic acid and pro‐mesogenic cholesterol segments interlinked covalently through a methylene spacer varying in its length and parity. All the dimers and some of the key precursors have been studied for their phase behaviour. All the intermediates show mesomorphism. Importantly, the thermal properties of dimers are found to be critically dependent on the parity of the flexible spacer. The dimers with odd‐parity spacer display chiral nematic and/or twist grain boundary phases. In contrast, the dimers with even‐parity spacer are either crystalline or exhibit metastable chiral nematic and/or twist grain boundary phases with the exception of one compound for which two unknown mesophases have been observed. The odd–even effect was found to be indistinct for selective reflection wavelengths of the chiral nematic phase. For some dimers, a variation in the pitch of the chiral nematic phase as a function of temperature was observed. Cyclic voltammetry experiments revealed the electrochemical properties of a representative liquid crystal dimer.     

ω-Amino acids and lactams with chiral biaryl axis

The optically active amino acids (R)-7 and (S)-8 were prepared as the first representatives of ω-amino acids possessing a biaryl axis as the sole element of chirality.     

Novel bi- and tridentate phosphane and thioether ligands derived from chiral α-hydroxy acids

Novel bi- and tridentate ligands with phosphane and thioether moieties have been prepared in enantiomerically pure form in good to excellent yields by substitution reactions with phosphorus and sulfur nucleophiles of easily available tosylates derived from natural chiral α-hydroxy acids.     

Structurally simple chiral thioureas as chiral solvating agents in the enantiodiscrimination of α-hydroxy and α-amino carboxylic acids

C₂-Symmetrical chiral thioureas (S,S)-1 and (S,S)-2 were prepared in good yield by the reaction of 2 equiv of inexpensive (S)-1-phenylethylamine, or the corresponding naphthyl analog, with 1 equiv of thiophosgene in the presence of excess triethylamine. The presence of asymmetric elements in (S,S)-1 and (S,S)-2, and their capacity to act as receptors for anionic species via hydrogen bonding were exploited in the development of ¹H NMR spectroscopic enantiodiscrimination of chiral carboxylic acids. In particular, the diastereomeric complexes derived from thioureas (S,S)-1 and (S,S)-2 with ammonium salts of the chiral acids gave rise to well separated signals of the α-hydrogens and simple integration provides the corresponding enantiomeric ratios. Furthermore, it was observed that C_α-H in the (R) enantiomers of the chiral α-hydroxy and α-amino carboxylic acids studied in this work consistently appears downfield relative to the same signals in the (S) enantiomers.     

Chemical resolution and chiral recognition of an inherently chiral biscalix[4]arene cone–partial cone conformer

An inherently chiral biscalix[4]arene carboxylic acid cone–partial cone conformer was optically resolved into individual enantiomers by chemical resolution method using (S)-BINOL as a chiral auxiliary. The partial cone calix[4]arene component plays a crucial role in optical resolution. The title compound may interact enantiodiscriminantly with chiral aminoalcohols, especially 2-phenylglycinol.     

Conformation and chiral effects in α,β,α-tripeptides

Short α,β,α-tripeptides comprising a central chiral trisubstituted β(2,2,3)*-amino acid residue form unusual γ-turns and δ-turns in CDCl(3) and DMSO-d(6) solutions but do not form β-turns. Thermal coefficients of backbone amide protons, 2D-NMR spectra, and molecular modeling revealed that these motifs were strongly dependent on the configuration (chiral effect) of the central β-amino acid residue within the triad. Accordingly, SSS tripeptides adopted an intraresidual γ-turn like (C6) arrangement in the central β-amino acid, whereas SRS diastereomers preferred an extended δ-turn (C9) conformation. A different SRS-stabilizing bias was observed in the crystal structures of the same compounds, which shared the extended δ-turn (C9) found in solution, but incorporated an additional extended β-turn (C11) to form an overlapped double turn motif.     

Sequence and linker dependent chiral dimerization of DNA–porphyrin conjugates

Circular dichroism (CD), UV–vis absorption, fluorescence, and resonance light scattering (RLS) spectroscopies were used to elucidate the role of the DNA sequence, linkers between DNA and porphyrin, and metal in the porphyrin coordination center on the self-assembly of DNA–porphyrin conjugates. A series of eight non-self-complementary DNA–porphyrin conjugates have been synthesized with zinc and free-base porphyrins covalently attached to the short ODNs (A₈ or T₈) via amide or phosphate linker. A small structural modification (e.g., amide linker replaced by the phosphate linker) showed a dramatic effect on the aggregation properties of DNA–porphyrin conjugates and greatly altered their spectroscopic properties. At low ionic strength, porphyrin aggregation was not observed for any conjugate. An increase in the ionic strength caused two out of eight conjugates to form chiral porphyrin dimers.     

Synthesis and crystal structure of a novel chiral compound prepared from (-)-borneol as a natural chiral auxiliary

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Diastereoselective and enantioselective capture of chiral zinc enolate using nitroolefins: a rapid access to chiral γ-nitro carbonyl compounds

Highly diastereoselective and enantioselective catalytic capture of chiral zinc enolates using nitroolefins as electrophiles is described. The tandem products γ-nitro ketones were obtained in good yields with high diastereoselectivities and enantioselectivities. The γ-nitro ketones were readily hydrogenated to the optically enriched and diastereomerically pure chiral pyrrolidines with four contiguous stereocentres under mild conditions.     

Design of chiral N-triflyl phosphoramide as a strong chiral Brønsted acid and its application to asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction

A highly reactive and acidic chiral Br?nsted acid catalyst, chiral N-triflyl phosphoramide, was developed. Highly enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone with silyloxydiene was demonstrated using this chiral Br?nsted acid catalyst.     

Enantiomeric separation of α-phenylethylamine and its analogs by mixed chiral and achiral stationary phase

A mixed stationary phase of modified β-cyclodextrin, 2,6-di-O-butyl-3-O-butyryl-β-cyclodextrin (phase A), and SE-54 (phase B) was used for enantiomeric separation of α-phenylethylami-ne, o,m,p-methyl and o,m,p-methoxy-substituted analogs. The composition of mixed phase was selected by comparison of each calculated amin(= (γm,i+1)/(γm,i))> the relative retention values of the most adjacent peaks, and γm,last, the relative retention values of the last eluting peak at each preselected ratio. Values of γm,i,α calculated by derived equations were in good agreement with the experimental results obtained with two specified mixed phases. All solutes investigated were almost baseline separated at a predicted composition of phase A and phase B in a single run within 18 minutes.     

Synthesis of novel chiral lipophilic pyridyl-containing β-amino alcohol ligands and enantioselective hydrolysis of α-amino acid esters by chiral metallomicelles

Seven novel chiral lipophilic pyridyl-containing β-amino alcohol ligands have been synthesized by coupling of 6-alkoxymethyl-2-chloromethylpyridine 3 with the corresponding chiral β-amino alcohols or l-cysteine. Their metal ion complexes have been investigated as catalysts for the enantioselective hydrolysis of N-protected α-amino acid esters in aqueous comicellar solution. The results indicate that the hydrophobic interactions between substrate and metallocatalyst, the rigidity of the ligand, the hydroxyl group of the ligand acting as a nucleophile for the transacylation process, and the micellar microenvironment are important factors for the activity and enantioselectivity. Large rate accelerations (up to three orders of magnitude) and moderate enantioselectivities (up to 7.81 (k_R/k_S)) employing 4a–Cu²⁺ have been observed.     

Investigation on chiral capillary columns and their application in separation of enantiomers

Six chiral diamide stationary phases (CSPs), namely N-(3-carbobenzoxypropionyl)-L-Val-tert-butylamide (CSP-1), N-undecenoyl-L-Val-S-α-phenylethylamide (CSP-2), N-undecenoyl-L-Val-R-α-phenylethylamide (CSP-3), OV-225-L-Val-tert-butylamide (CSP-4), XE-60-L-Val-tert-butylamide (CSP-5) and polycyanoethyl vinyl siloxane-L-Val-tert-butylamide (CSP-6), were inves-tigated and CSP-6 was crosslinked within narrow bore (70 μm) fused silica capillary columns. Theseparation of amino acid enantiomers on this narrow bore column by gas chromatography (GC) isillustrated.     

Fabrication and evaluation of chiral monolithic column modified by β-cyclodextrin derivatives

Based on combination of chiral recognition ability of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) derivatives and flexibility of monolithic material, a series of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) were prepared by the immobilization of β-CD and three of its derivatives to the epoxy-activated poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolith under mild condition. Immobilization condition for the connection reaction by different functional groups and bonding ways was studied to obtain good enantiomer selectivity. Prepared CSPs were evaluated by separating racemic mixtures of eight amino acids and two chiral drugs with capillary electrochromatography (CEC).     

Practical and efficient synthesis of chiral 2,4-disubstituted oxazolines from β-phosphonoamides

Herein we report a practical and efficient method for the synthesis of optically active 2,4-disubstituted oxazolines (S)-1a–h in good to excellent yields. The target compounds were prepared in good yield through the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction of β-phosphonoamide 3 bearing l-phenylalaninol with commercially available aryl aldehydes followed by the cyclodehydration of the corresponding N-(cinnamoyl)-(S)-phenylalaninol derivatives (S)-2a–h. Additionally, the cyclodehydration of β-phosphonoamide (S)-3 followed by the Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction of β-phosphono-oxazoline (S)-4 with aryl aldehydes also gave the 2,4-disubstituted oxazolines (S)-1a–h.     

Asymmetric synthesis of 3-butylphthalide using isomannide and isosorbide as chiral auxiliaries

A new approach for asymmetric syntheses of (S) and (R)-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) is presented.The diastereoselective addition of dibutylzinic to aromatic aldehyde 10 or 11 generated from isomannide-or isosorbide-derived chiral auxiliary afforded S-NBP or R-NBP in high optical yields.