Allylstannanes as electrofugal partners in allylic alkylation

Unsymmetrical allyl-allyl couplings occur between allylstannanes and allyl acetates catalyzed by palladium(O) and a novel direct coupling of an allyl acetate in the presence of a distannane and a palladium(O) catalyst is also possible.     

Palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation using chiral hydrazones as ligands

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of 1,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate (4) with a dimethyl malonate-BSA-LiOAc system and its derivatives has been successfully carried out in the presence of a new chiral hydrazone ligands such as 2-(diphenylphosphino)benzaldehyde SAMP hydrazone (DPPBA-SAMP) (3a) in high yields with high enantioselectives.     

Catalytic intermolecular allylic C-H alkylation

The first electrophilic Pd(II)-catalyzed allylic C H alkylation is reported, providing a novel method for formation of sp3-sp3 C C bonds directly from C H bonds. A wide range of aromatic and heteroaromatic linear (E)-alpha-nitro-arylpentenoates are obtained as single olefin isomers in excellent yields directly from terminal olefin substrates and methyl nitroacetate. The use of DMSO as a pi-acidic ligand was found to be crucial for promoting functionalization of the pi-allylPd intermediate. Products from this reaction are valuable synthetic intermediates and are readily transformed to amino esters via selective reduction and optically enriched alpha,alpha-disubstituted amino acid precursors via asymmetric conjugate addition.     

Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of thioamides

This work describes the first Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of thioamides. Various thioamides were efficiently α-allylated in high yields and with excellent selectivity for monoallylation under mild reaction conditions. The process not only provides a facile method for the synthesis of functionalized thioamides, but also presents a useful transformation for synthetically important thioamides.     

Ruthenium complex-catalyzed allylic alkylation of carbonucleophiles with allylic carbonates

Allylic carbonates except for allyl methyl carbonate reacted with carbonucleophiles such as ethyl acetoacetate in the presence of a catalytic amount of Ru(cod)(cot) [cod = cycloocta-1,5-diene, COT = cycloocta-1,3,5-triene] in N-methylpiperidine at 80°C to give the corresponding monoallylated carbonucleophiles in high yields with high regioselectivity. The regioselectivity was quite different from that in the palladium-catalyzed reactions. The allylation of carbonucleophiles using allyl methyl carbonate selectively gave the diallylated carbonucleophiles in high yields.     

Diastereodivergent de-epimerization in catalytic asymmetric allylic alkylation

Diastereomers made to order: In an unprecedented ligand-controlled process a racemic mixture of four stereoisomers can be converted with high selectivity into each one of the diastereomers of the product, at will (see scheme). The mechanism of this deracemization of epimers, that is, a de-epimerization, was also studied.     

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation with an enamine as the nucleophilic reagent

An enamine can serve as a good nucleophile for palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation, avoiding the use of an unstablilized ketone enolate formed by strong bases. In the presence of a palladium complex of chiral metallocene-based phosphino-oxazoline ligands, the reaction was carried out smoothly with high catalytic activity and excellent enantioselectivity. Different distances between the two Cp rings of ferrocene and ruthenocene affected the catalytic behavior in the reaction. Furthermore, high catalytic activity and good enantioselectivity were also afforded by the ferrocene-based diphosphine ligands with only planar chirality.     

Chiral pyridylmethyl- and quinolinyl-oxazolines as ligands for enantioselective palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation

Chiral pyridylmethyl- and quinolinyl-oxazolines were prepared and assessed in the enantioselective palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution of 1,3-diphenylprop-2-enyl acetate with dimethyl malonate. Enantioselectivities up to 77% were obtained.     

Asymmetric allylic alkylation of acyclic allylic ethers with organolithium reagents

A highly efficient, regio- and enantioselective Cu(I) /phosphoramidite-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of allyl ethers with organolithium reagents is reported. The use of organolithium reagents is essential for this catalytic C?C bond formation due to their compatibility with different Lewis acids. The versatility of allylic ethers under the copper-catalyzed reaction conditions with organolithium reagents is demonstrated in the shortest synthesis of (S)-Arundic acid.     

Pd-Catalyzed allylic alkylation of secondary nitroalkanes

A Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation of secondary nitroalkanes, using a catalytic amount of external base, was developed. Simple allyl carbonate and monosubstituted allyl carbonates were used as electrophiles, and bulky secondary nitroalkanes were used as nucleophiles. This is the first catalytic allylic alkylation of bulky secondary nitroalkanes, such as 2-nitroheptane. The use of the strong base DBU in the aprotic polar solvent DMSO is a key in realizing the high reactivity. In an attempt to develop an asymmetric reaction, 2-aryloxazoline ligand PHOX L1 gave excellent results for inducing chirality at the π-allyl moiety. As for asymmetric induction at the α-position of the NO₂ functionality, the free OH-group containing 2-aryloxazoline ligand L4 showed moderate selectivity.     

Gold-catalysed allylic alkylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds with allylic alcohols

Friedel-Crafts allylic alkylation of a wide variety of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds with allylic alcohols catalysed by AuCl(3) (5 mol%) under mild conditions at room temperature was accomplished in good to excellent yields (up to 99%) and regioselectivity.     

A third generation chiral phosphorus-containing dendrimer as ligand in Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation

The synthesis of a third generation phosphorus-containing dendrimer possessing 24 chiral iminophosphine end groups derived from (2S)-2-amino-1-(diphenylphosphinyl)-3-methylbutane is described. In situ complexation of this dendrimer by [Pd(η³-C₃H₅)Cl]₂ affords a catalyst, which is used in asymmetric allylic alkylations of rac-(E)-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate and pivalate. The percentage of conversion, the yield of isolated 2-(1,3-diphenylallyl)-malonic acid dimethyl ester, and its enantiomeric excess have been measured in each case, and were found to be good to very good (ee from 90% to 95%). Furthermore, the dendritic catalyst can be recovered and reused at least two times, with almost the same efficiency.     

Copper-free asymmetric allylic alkylation using grignard reagents on bifunctional allylic bromides

A series of substrates containing a vinylic bromide were employed in a copper-free methodology using bidendate NHC ligands. The desired compounds are generally obtained with good enantioselectivity and good regioselectivity. Importantly the copper-catalyzed system afforded a lower enantioselectivity value. The catalytic products could be transformed into a broad scope of new 1,1-disubstituted olefins in a single step transformation without erosion of the enantioselectivity.     

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation (AAA) with alkyl sulfones as nucleophiles

An efficient palladium-catalyzed AAA reaction with a simple α-sulfonyl carbon anion as nucleophiles is presented for the first time. Allyl fluorides are used as superior precursors for the generation of π-allyl complexes that upon ionization liberate fluoride anions for activation of silylated nucleophiles. With the unique bidentate diamidophosphite ligand ligated palladium as catalyst, the in situ generated α-sulfonyl carbon anion was quickly captured by the allylic intermediates, affording a series of chiral homo-allylic sulfones with high efficiency and selectivity. This work provides a mild in situ desilylation strategy to reveal nucleophilic carbon centers that could be used to overcome the pK_a limitation of “hard” nucleophiles in enantioselective transformations.

A variety of “hard” α-sulfonyl carbanions of aryl, heteroaryl and alkyl sulfones were successfully employed as nucleophiles in palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation with excellent enantioselectivities.     

Asymmetric allylic alkylation, an enabling methodology

The diversity of mechanisms for enantiodiscrimination and of bond types that can be formed make Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation a powerful key step for simplification of synthetic strategy to complex molecular targets. Using a wide range of different classes of compounds including alkaloids, polyhydrofurans, nucleosides and carbanucleosides, cyclohexitols and cyclopentitols, chromanes, cyclopentanoids, amino acids, barbiturates, etc., novel synthetic strategies emerge that provide short efficient asymmetric syntheses.     

Enantioselective allylic alkylation using polymer-supported palladium catalysts

Chiral 2′-(4″,5″-dihydro-2″-oxazolyl)-6′-(1-hydroxyalkyl)pyridines were grafted via ester-linkages directly to cross-linked polystyrene and to polyethyleneglycol-containing resins TentaGel and ArgoGel functionalized with carboxylic acid groups or via spacers containing a carboxylic acid group. The polymeric ligands were used in the palladium-catalyzed substitution of rac-1,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate with dimethyl malonate. The enantioselectivities (up to 80% ee) were similar to those observed employing an analogous monomeric catalyst.     

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of ketone enolates

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation of nonstabilized ketone enolates to generate quaternary centers has been achieved in excellent yield and enantioselectivity. Optimized conditions consist of performing the reaction in the presence of two equivalents of LDA as base, one equivalent of trimethytin chloride as a Lewis acid, 1,2-dimethoxyethane as the solvent, and a catalytic amount of a chiral palladium complex formed from pi-allyl palladium chloride dimer 3 and cyclohexyldiamine derived chiral ligand 4. Linearly substituted, acyclic 1,3-dialkyl substituted, and unsubstituted allylic carbonates function well as electrophiles. A variety of alpha-tetralones, cyclohexanones, and cyclopentanones can be employed as nucleophiles. The absolute configuration generated is consistent with the current model in which steric factors control stereofacial differentiation. The quaternary substituted products available by this method are versatile substrates for further elaboration.