Organocatalytic direct asymmetric vinylogous Michael reaction of an α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam with enones

An organocatalytic asymmetric direct vinylogous Michael addition of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam to enones has been achieved with a simple bifunctional thiourea-tertiary amine catalyst, affording the γ-substituted butyrolactam products with high diastereo- and enantioselectivity (up to >40:1 dr and 94-99% ee).     

Organocatalytic asymmetric direct vinylogous Michael addition of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam to nitroolefins

The first organocatalytic enantioselective direct vinylogous Michael reaction of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam to nitroolefins is developed using cinchona alkaloids as the catalysts. Both product enantiomers are accessible with moderate to good enantioselectivity.     

Bifunctional 3,3'-Ph2-BINOL-Mg catalyzed direct asymmetric vinylogous Michael addition of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam

Bifunctional 3,3'-Ph(2)-BINOL-Mg catalyzed direct asymmetric vinylogous Michael addition of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam has been developed. The catalytic activity of this protocol was slightly affected by different types of Michael acceptors, such as a variety of enones as well as α,β-unsaturated N-acylpyrroles. The Michael products were obtained with high diastereoselectivities (up to 20:1) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98%).     

Organocatalytic and direct asymmetric vinylogous Michael addition of 3-cyano-4-methylcoumarins to α,β-unsaturated ketones

The first highly regio-, chemo-, and enantio-selective direct vinylogous Michael addition of 3-cyano-4-methylcoumarin derivatives to α,β-unsaturated ketones is described, employing readily available 9-amino-9-deoxy-epiquinine as the iminium organocatalyst.     

Catalytic asymmetric chloroamination reaction of α,β-unsaturated γ-keto esters and chalcones

Highly efficient catalytic chloroamination reaction of α,β-unsaturated γ-keto esters and chalcones has been developed via a chloronium-based mechanism to deliver anti-regioselective vicinal chloroamines instead of the aziridinium intermediates delivered aminochlorides. The combination of TsNCl(2) and TsNH(2) as reagents made the transformation highly efficient, delivering the γ-carbonyl-β-chloro-α-amino acid derivatives and α-chloro-β-amino-ketone derivatives in nearly quantitative yields with up to 99% ee and 99:1 dr under 0.05-0.5 mol % catalyst loading. TsNHCl was demonstrated to act as the key reactive species to form a bridged chloronium ion intermediate in the presence of a chiral scandium complex. The method might provide useful information for further realization of other haloamination reactions.     

Organocatalytic asymmetric direct vinylogous aldol reactions of γ-crotonolactone with aromatic aldehydes

The direct aldol reaction of γ-crotonolactone and various aromatic aldehydes is catalyzed by bifunctional aminothiourea and aminosquaramide organocatalysts to provide diastereomerically and enantiomerically enriched 5-substituted 2(5H) furanones (γ-butenolides). The reaction is a simple alternative to the classical vinylogous aldol reaction of silyloxy furans.     

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.     

γ-Oxygenation of α,β-unsaturated esters by vinylogous O-nitroso Mukaiyama aldol reaction

A practical procedure has been developed for γ-oxygenation of α,β-unsaturated esters by a vinylogous O-nitroso Mukaiyama aldol reaction followed by a one-pot N-O bond heterolysis of the in situ generated γ-aminoxy-α,β-unsaturated esters.     

Chiral bifunctional squaramide catalyzed asymmetric Michael addition of ethyl α-nitroacetate to β,γ-unsaturated α-ketoesters

We have developed an efficient bifunctional squaramide catalyst for the asymmetric Michael addition of ethyl α-nitroacetate to β,γ-unsaturated α-ketoesters. This organocatalytic asymmetric reaction provides convenient and valuable access to highly functionalized 2-nitro-5-oxo-3-arylhexanedioates in excellent yields with uniformly high levels of enantioselectivity (up to >99% ee) albeit with no diastereoselectivity. The resulting products could be conveniently transformed into 5-nitro-2-oxo-4-arylpentanoic acids without loss of enantiomeric excess via basic hydrolysis and the subsequent decarboxylation. This represents an example of in-direct, but efficient asymmetric conjugate addition of pyruvic acid to nitroolefins.     

Highly enantioselective direct vinylogous Michael addition of γ-butenolide to enals

An unprecedented and simple direct vinylogous addition of deconjugated butenolide to enals has been developed in excellent stereoselectivities (>95% ee), with Aminal-PYrrolidine (APY) catalyst. This methodology allows for the efficient preparation of complex γ-butenolide from readily available renewable resources. Furthermore, preliminary mechanistic investigations have allowed for the better understanding of the origin of both stereoselectivities and of the observed high reactivities.     

Organocatalytic asymmetric nitrocyclopropanation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes

A novel organocatalytic highly enantioselective nitrocyclopropanation reaction of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes is presented. The 1-nitro-2-formylcyclopropane derivatives synthesized from this catalytic transformation were converted to the corresponding β-nitromethyl-acid esters, which are excellent precursors of GABA analogues such as Baclofen, by subsequent organocatalytic chemoselective ring-opening.     

Catalytic asymmetric aziridination of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes

The development, scope, and application of the highly enantioselective organocatalytic aziridination of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes is presented. The aminocatalytic azirdination of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes enables the asymmetric formation of β-formyl aziridines with up to >19:1 d.r. and 99% ee. The aminocatalytic aziridination of α-monosubstituted enals gives access to terminal α-substituted-α-formyl aziridines in high yields and up to 99% ee. In the case of the organocatalytic aziridination of disubstituted α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, the transformations were highly diastereo- and enantioselective and give nearly enantiomerically pure β-formyl-functionalized aziridine products (99% ee). A highly enantioselective one-pot cascade sequence based on the combination of asymmetric amine and N-heterocyclic carbene catalysis (AHCC) is also disclosed. This one-pot three-component co-catalytic transformation between α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, hydroxylamine derivatives, and alcohols gives the corresponding N-tert-butoxycarbonyl and N-carbobenzyloxy-protected β-amino acid esters with ee values ranging from 92-99%. The mechanisms and stereochemistry of all these catalytic transformations are also discussed.     

Chiral tertiary amine N-oxides in asymmetric epoxidation of α,β-unsaturated ketones

Chiral tertiary amine N-oxides have been shown to undergo stereoselective oxygen transfer reaction in the epoxidation of chalcone derivatives with modest to good enantioselectivity.     

Chiral ferrocenyl phosphine-phosphoramidite ligands for Cu-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate reduction of α,β-unsaturated esters

Unsymmetrical hybrid chiral ferrocenyl phosphine-phosphoramidite ligands have been applied for the first time in the Cu-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-reduction of β-aryl substituted α,β-unsaturated esters. The results show that the ligand bearing (S_c)-central, (R_p)-planar, and (R_a)-axial chiralities gave the best performance. The present catalytic system proved to be highly substrate-dependent, catalyzing the conjugate reduction of α,β-unsaturated esters in moderate to excellent enantioselectivities.     

Water-compatible iminium activation: highly enantioselective organocatalytic Michael addition of malonates to α,β-unsaturated enones

The highly enantioselective Michael addition of malonates to α,β-unsaturated ketones in water was reported to be catalyzed by a primary-secondary diamine catalyst containing a long alkyl chain. This asymmetric Michael addition process was found to be effective for a variety of α,β-unsaturated ketones.     

Chiral Pd-catalyzed enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with γ,δ-unsaturated β-keto phosphonates

The catalytic enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction promoted by chiral palladium complexes is described. The treatment of indoles with γ,δ-unsaturated β-keto phosphonates under the mild reaction conditions afforded the corresponding Friedel-Crafts alkylation adducts with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).     

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.