Rationalization of enantioselectivities in dialkylzinc additions to benzaldehyde catalyzed by fenchone derivatives

Three (-)-fenchyl alcohol derivatives, ?(1R,2R,4S)-exo-(2-Ar)-1,3, 3-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1] heptan-2-ol, Ar = o-anisyl (2), 2-N-methylimidazolyl (3), 2-N,N-dimethylbenzylamine (4)? were synthesized, characterized by X-ray analyses, and employed as precatalysts in diethyl zinc additions to benzaldehyde. Directions and relative degrees of enantioselectivities are rationalized by QM/MM ONIOM computations of mu-O transition structure models. Enantioselectivities arise from repulsive interactions between "transferring" or "passive" alkyl groups at the zinc centers and the substituents at donor groups or the bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane moieties. These results enable predictions for ligand-tuning to improve catalyst efficiency of fenchone-based ligands in dialkylzinc additions to aldehydes.     

Control of enantioselectivity with flexible biaryl axes: terpene-based alkylzinc catalysts in enantioselective dialkylzinc additions

New enantiopure pyridyl alcohols are efficiently accessible through few synthetic steps from commercially available terpenes, that is, (+)-fenchone, (-)-menthone and (-)-verbenone as well as 2,6-diphenylpyridine. These chelating pyridyl alcohols exhibit flexible pyridyl-phenylene axes, which give rise to P and M conformers. Alkylzincation of the hydroxy groups eliminates equilibria of the conformers and generates alkylzinc complexes with adjusted biaryl axes, as it is demonstrated by NMR studies. These alkylzinc catalysts perform well in the addition of dimethylzinc or diethylzinc to benzaldehyde with yields up to 99% and ee's up to 95%. The adjusted pyridylphenylene conformations in the ligands now control enantioselectivities of the catalysts, which were also analysed by computations at the DFT level.     

Homo- vs. heterometallic organoaluminum fencholates: Structures and selectivities

Homo (Al)- and heterometallic (Al, Li)-fencholates and TADDOLates (5-12) yield in methylations of benzaldehyde 1-phenylethanol with up to 90% ee. Surprisingly, the new BISFOL-based (Al, Li)-heterometallic fencholate (11) shows an strong increase and a change of the sense of enantioselectivity from 19% ee (S) to 62% ee (R) in comparison to its (Al)-homometallic fencholate (7). Despite of the presence of nucleophilic methylide groups, the O-BIFOL-based (Al, Li)-heterometallic fencholate (10) yields a stable complex with benzaldehyde, a lithium ion binds the carbonyl group.     

Secondary deuterium kinetic isotope effects in irreversible additions of allyl reagents to benzaldehyde

The competitive kinetics of additions of allyl to benzaldehyde-h and -d from allyltributyl tin, from diisopropyltartrylallyl boronate, and from allyl bromide and zinc dust in aqueous tetrahydrofuran have inverse secondary deuterium kinetic isotope effects, SDKIEs. These inverse SDKIEs are in contrast to the normal SDKIEs that were obtained with allyl lithium and allyl Grignard, suggesting rate-determining single-electron transfer in these cases. By various MO calculations the transition state for addition of allyl boronate occurs with substantial B-O bond formation and little C-C bond formation. The magnitudes of the SDKIEs with the other two allylating reagents, when compared with reasonable equilibrium isotope effects for the addition, suggest transition states with substantial C-C bond formation.     

Efficient Cu-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate additions of alkylzinc reagents to aromatic and aliphatic acyclic nitroalkenes

An efficient and highly enantioselective (up to 95% ee) Cu-catalyzed method for asymmetric conjugate addition (ACA) of alkylzinc reagents to acyclic disubstituted nitroalkenes is presented. Reactions are typically effected at ambient temperature in the presence of 2 mol % chiral dipeptide phosphine and 1 mol % (CuOTf)(2).C(6)H(6). Nitroalkenes bearing aromatic as well as aliphatic substituents readily undergo asymmetric additions. [reaction: see text]     

Approaches to calibration in GFAAS: Direct or standard additions

Summary The performance of standard additions calibration is compared with direct calibration against standards. Computer simulation is used to provide information on the reduction of the useful analytical range associated with the use of standard additions. Provided that interference control measures necessary for direct calibration do not themselves degrade performance, the range over which acceptable precision is likely to be obtained will be reduced to between one third and one quarter ofthat attainable using direct calibration. Details of the usefulness of simple quality control measures which can be used in conjunction with standard additions are presented and their limitations are discussed. The conditions most favourable to the use of standard additions are outlined.

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Eichverfahren bei der GFAAS: Direkt oder Standardzugaben

     

Presence or absence of a nonlinear effect according to the asymmetric catalyst preparation in the alkylation of benzaldehyde

The addition of Et₂Zn on benzaldehyde in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of Ti(Oi-Pr)₄ catalysed by (1R,2R)-bis(trifluoromethanesulfonamido)-cyclohexane 1a has been revisited. A nonlinear effect was present or absent, depending on the catalyst preparation. An asymmetric amplification has been observed when Ti(Oi-Pr)₄ was added to 1a followed by Et₂Zn and then benzaldehyde (Ohno procedure). In the alternate procedure (Walsh), where Et₂Zn and 1a were premixed, there is linearity. Mechanistic implications are discussed.     

Theoretical and experimental studies of asymmetric organozinc additions to benzaldehyde catalyzed by flexible and constrained gamma-amino alcohols

The cis-decalin based gamma-amino alcohols, 1-5, were synthesized, resolved, and employed as catalysts in the addition of organozincs to benzaldehyde. Despite large facial differentiation in the RZn adducts of the ligands, the enantioselectivities were found to be moderate. Transition structure calculations were done using several quantum chemical methods to examine the underlying causes of the selectivity for three gamma-amino alcohols, 1, 2, and 3. The tricyclic mu-oxo (6/4/4), rather than the bicyclic six-membered (6/6), transition structures were found to explain the observed enantioselectivity for 2 and 3. MP2 calculations gave the best correlation to the experimental results compared to B3LYP and HF calculations. The conformational flexibility of the chiral ligands was found to be an important factor in the selectivity.     

Phospha-Michael additions to activated internal alkenes: steric and electronic effects

The addition of P(O)-H bonds to internal alkenes has been accomplished under solvent-free conditions without the addition of a catalyst or radical initiator. Using a prototypical secondary phosphine oxide, a range of substrates including cinnamates, crotonates, coumarins, sulfones, and chalcones were successfully functionalized. Highly activated acceptors such as isopropylidenemalononitrile and ethyl 2-cyano-3-methyl-2-butenoate underwent the phospha-Michael reaction upon simple trituration of the reagents at room temperature, whereas less activated substrates such as ethyl cinnamate and methyl crotonate required heating (>150 °C) in a microwave reactor to achieve significant consumption of the starting alkenes. For the latter alkenes, a competing reaction involving disproportionation of the ditolylphosphine oxide into ditolylphosphinic acid and ditolylphosphine was observed at the high temperatures needed to promote the addition reaction.     

Theoretical approach towards the understanding of asymmetric additions of dialkylzinc to enals and iminals catalysed by [2.2]paracyclophane-based N,O-ligands

The 1,2- and 1,4-asymmetric additions of dialkylzinc reagents (ZnMe(2) and ZnEt(2)) to cinnamaldehyde and N-formylbenzylimine catalysed by [2.2]paracyclophane-based N,O-ligands were studied with quantum chemical methods. High level LPNO-CEPA/1 (local pair natural orbital coupled electron pair approximation 1) calculations were performed to obtain reliable reaction barriers and binding energies. The calculations supported the experimentally observed selectivities. In the reaction, the alkyl transfer takes place on a binuclear zinc complex. Regioselectivity can be traced back to changes in π-conjugation. Because the less conjugated N-formylbenzylimine is more flexible, it is better suited for 1,4-additions. Moreover, bulky ligands were shown to be important for stereoselectivity. The reason is that the tricyclic motif present in the transition states is sterically less hindered in the anti conformation. Based on the LPNO-CEPA/1 data, a set of popular theoretical methods are validated. Although it was possible to set up a procedure to obtain the stereoselectivities with computationally less demanding methods, this was not possible for the regioselectivity of the reactions.     

Controlled generation of heterochiral or homochiral coordination polymer: helical conformational polymorphs and argentophilicity-induced spontaneous resolution

In the pair of helical conformational polymorphs of the coordination polymer {[AgL](CF3SO3)}infinity(L=2-pyridinyl-3-pyridinylmethanone), the 2(1) helices of opposite chirality in one supramolecular isomer are stacked alternately to form a racemate, while the 4(1) helices in the other are assembled homochirally by inter-chain argentophilic interaction to generate a conglomerate.     

Homo- and spiroconjugative effects in the sigmatropic rearrangement of 1,1′-spirobiindenes

Due to homoconjugative interactions 2,3-dihydro-1,1′-spirobiindene and 1,1′-spirobiidene yields isomeric benzofluorenes in thermal, photochemical, and electron transfer induced rearrangement.     

Nucleophilic additions to alkylidene bis(sulfoxides): stereoelectronic effects in vinyl sulfoxides

Conjugate additions of nucleophiles (e.g. enolates, amines and malonate anions) to bis(p-tolylsulfinyl)alkenes, alkylidene-1,3-dithiane-1,3-dioxides and alkylidene-1,3-dithiolane-1,3-dioxides have recently been published. Reasons for different selectivities and reaction rates will be discussed by consideration of steric and electronic effects. The preferred mode of attack can be explained by stereoelectronic effects (hyperconjugation) in the primarily carbanion, which is stabilized by n-->S-O-sigma* interaction with an antiperiplanar S=O group. Calculation of the transition states [BP86/aug-TZVP] for the addition of acetone enolate to the dithiane-derived alkylidene bis(sulfoxide) revealed that 6.6-7.3 kJ mol(-1) more energy is needed for an attack leading to a less-stabilized carbanion. Two axial S=O groups in dithiolane-derived alkylidene bis(sulfoxides) lead to a higher reactivity towards nucleophiles.     

Ligand-switchable directing effects of tethered alkenes in nickel-catalyzed additions to alkynes

Nickel-catalyzed reductive couplings of aldehydes with alkynes that contain tethered olefins are described, in which the degree and sense of regioselectivity are controlled by the length of the tether and the presence or absence of an additive. When the alkyne and alkene are separated by four bonds, very high (>95:5) regioselectivities are observed. Use of a monodentate phosphine as an additive leads to formation of the opposite regioisomer in equal and opposite selectivity (5: >95). These results provide strong evidence for an interaction between the remote alkene and the metal center during the regioselectivity-determining step and suggest that reactions with and without an additive proceed via fundamentally distinct mechanisms.     

Vibrational contributions to static linear and nonlinear optical coefficients: from two-level to two-band systems

The importance of vibrational contributions to the static linear and nonlinear optical coefficients is investigated. We apply the exact sum-over-state (SOS) formulas for polarizabilities and hyperpolarizabilities expressed in terms of vibronic states to a two-level system with a single vibrational mode. The Herzberg–Teller expansion is applied to the SOS formulas including vibrational energy levels without employing the Placzek’s approximation within both the Born–Oppenheimer approximation and electrical and mechanical harmonicities. The results include not only the vibrational contribution from the lattice relaxation expression but also the contribution arising from the higher-order correction terms. Model calculations on a diatomic system with two electronic states show that the contribution of these correction terms is small. Moreover, most of these higher-order terms are negligible in the solid-state limit. In polyacetylene, the contribution of the lattice relaxation expression is much larger than that in the diatomic case. Within the tight-binding approximation, the contribution of the lattice relaxation expression is 44% of the pure electronic contribution for the second hyperpolarizability.     

Kinetics and mechanism of diels-alder additions of tetracyanoethylene to anthracene derivatives—I : Substituent effects

The rates of addition of tetracyanoethylene to a number of 9- and 9,10-substituted anthracenes have been measured spectrophotometrically in solvent CCl₄. Substituent effects correlated well using the extended form of the Hammett equation. The importance of steric effects on the reaction was assessed by a systematic variation of the components of the data used in the above correlation.Activation parameters (ΔG_exp^≠, etc.) and the corresponding overall thermodynamic parameters for adduct formation (ΔG_ad°, etc.) were evaluated. ΔG_exp^≠ was found to be linearly related to ΔG_c°, the free energy of formation of the intermediate complex which confirms the role of the latter as a true reaction intermediate. From correlations between ΔG_exp^≠ and ΔG_ad°, an “early” transition state is suggested. The above thermodynamic and activation data enable detailed reaction profiles to be drawn.     

Nonrigid molecule effects in molecules with linear or nongeometrically equivalent equilibrium configurations

A theoretical study is made of the states of nonrigid molecules, extending earlier work to apply Longuet–Higgins' symmetry group of feasible permutation/inversions in two previously untreated cases. The first involves nonrigid molecule processes between different stereoisomers, that is between molecular equilibrium configurations of different geometrical shapes. The second takes into account nonrigid molecule processes in linear molecules. The theory is applied to the specific case of nonrigid molecule effects in the butyl ion C₄H (case i), and the form of the nonrigid molecule energy levels and spectra are determined. The theory is also applied to determine the nonrigid molecule energy levels in linear H₂F₂ (case ii).     

Catalytic asymmetric alkylations of ketoimines. Enantioselective synthesis of N-substituted quaternary carbon stereogenic centers by Zr-catalyzed additions of dialkylzinc reagents to aryl-, alkyl-, and trifluoroalkyl-substituted ketoimines

Catalytic enantioselective alkylations of three classes of ketoimines are reported. Reactions are promoted in the presence 0.5-10 mol % of a Zr salt and a chiral ligand that contains two inexpensive amino acids (valine and phenylalanine) and involve Me2Zn or Et2Zn as alkylating agents. Requisite aryl- and alkyl-substituted alpha-ketoimine esters, accessed readily and in >80% yield on gram scale through a two-step sequence from the corresponding ketones, undergo alkylation to afford quaternary alpha-amino esters in 79-97% ee. Aryl-substituted trifluoroketoimines are converted to the corresponding amines by reactions with Me2Zn, catalyzed by a chiral complex that bears a modified N-terminus. The utility of the catalytic asymmetric protocols is illustrated through conversion of the enantiomerically enriched alkylation products to a range of cyclic and acyclic compounds bearing an N-substituted quaternary carbon stereogenic center.     

Vibronic coupling simulations for linear and nonlinear optical processes: theory

A comprehensive vibronic coupling model based on the time-dependent wavepacket approach is derived to simulate linear optical processes, such as one-photon absorbance and resonance Raman scattering, and nonlinear optical processes, such as two-photon absorbance and resonance hyper-Raman scattering. This approach is particularly well suited for combination with first-principles calculations. Expressions for the Franck-Condon terms, and non-Condon effects via the Herzberg-Teller coupling approach in the independent-mode displaced harmonic oscillator model are presented. The significance of each contribution to the different spectral types is discussed briefly.