Cobalt-catalyzed conjugate addition of silylacetylenes to α,β-unsaturated ketones

Catalytic addition of silylacetylenes to α,β-unsaturated ketones proceeded in the presence of a cobalt complex coordinated with a bisphosphine ligand to give high yields of β-alkynylketones.     

Theoretical insight into phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of indolizines to α,β-unsaturated ketones

A theoretical investigation of the mechanism and origin of enantioselectivity for phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of indolizines to α,β-unsaturated ketones.     

Catalytic asymmetric conjugate boration of α,β-unsaturated sulfones

The α,β-unsaturated sulfones are suitable activated olefins in catalytic asymmetric conjugate β-boration. These substrates undergo smooth conjugate addition of bis(pinacolato)diboron [B(2)(pin)(2)] catalyzed by nonracemic Cu(I)-diphosphine complexes to provide, upon subsequent oxidation, β-hydroxy sulfones in good yields and high enantiocontrol.     

Michael addition of nitroalkanes to nonactivated α,β-unsaturated δ-thiolactams: reactivity, diastereoselectivity, and comparison to α,β-unsaturated δ-lactams

Aliphatic nitrocompounds add to nonactivated α,β-unsaturated δ-thiolactams leading to 4-nitroalkyl functionalized δ-thiolactams in good yields. The addition is a stereocontrolled process with respect to substituents at C-6, and takes place producing trans 4,6-disubstituted adducts in most cases. Ease of the addition has been studied in relation to the structure of the δ-thiolactam acceptors, within the FMO-theory. Comparative study with analogous δ-lactams has shown the advantages of α,β-unsaturated δ-thiolactams in Michael addition and indicated high prospects of these compounds in the synthesis of 4-functionalized piperidine derivatives.     

Enantioselective synthesis of a GPR40 agonist AMG 837 via catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of terminal alkyne to α,β-unsaturated thioamide

A concise enantioselective synthetic route to a potent GPR40 agonist AMG 837 is described. The crucial catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of terminal alkyne was promoted by a soft Lewis acid/hard Br?nsted base cooperative catalyst, allowing efficient construction of the requisite stereogenic center. The thioamide functional group is key to both activation in asymmetric alkynylation and facile transformation into carboxylic acid.     

Rhodium-catalyzed conjugate addition of arylindium reagents to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

A novel rhodium-catalyzed conjugate addition of indium reagents to electron deficient olefins is reported. The reaction takes place in THF/MeOH at 110 °C using arylindium dichlorides, a rhodium(I)-binap complex as catalyst, and α,β-unsaturated ketones and lactones in good yields (45–94%). The addition of MeOH is crucial for an efficient transformation and NMR studies seem to indicate that promotes the catalytic cycle leaving the indium organometallic unaltered. The use of chiral non-racemic ligands allows performing the reaction with moderate enantioselectivities.     

Catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition of indoles to simple α,β-unsaturated ketones

Chiral [Al(salen)Cl] complex (10 mol%) in the presence of 2,6-lutidine (10 mol%) was found to be effective in catalysing the enantioselective Friedel-Crafts-type conjugate addition of indoles (3) to (E)-arylcrotyl ketones (2), furnishing the corresponding β-indolyl ketones in excellent yield and high enantioselectivity (ee up to 89%).     

Enantioselective formal hydration of α,β-unsaturated acceptors: asymmetric conjugate addition of silicon and boron nucleophiles

The direct enantioselective 1,4-addition of water to α,β-unsaturated acceptors is an open challenge in asymmetric catalysis. Enantioselective conjugate addition of either silicon or boron nucleophiles and subsequent enantiospecific oxidative degradation of the carbon-element bond represents, however, an attractive detour. A single extra step thereby enables an indirect enantiocontrolled construction of (in a broader sense) aldols from α,β-unsaturated carbonyl and carboxyl compounds. While that strategy had been obvious for a long time, it was recent stunning progress in transition metal-catalysed activation of interelement linkages that brought about the solution to that long-standing problem. A concise introduction of existing protocols for stereoselective 1,4-addition of oxygen nucleophiles is followed by a comprehensive summary of the recent rapid advances in transition metal-catalysed (and metal-free) asymmetric conjugate transfer of nucleophilic silicon and boron onto α,β-unsaturated acceptors.     

Enantioselective organocatalytic conjugate addition of α-nitroacetate to α,β-unsaturated ketones in water

The catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition reaction of α-nitroacetate to α,β-unsaturated ketones promoted by chiral bifunctional organocatalysts is described. The treatment of α-nitroacetate to α,β-unsaturated ketones under aqueous-phase reaction conditions afforded the corresponding Michael adducts with high enantioselectivity. The conjugate addition adducts are easily converted to chiral δ-keto nitroalkanes and δ-keto esters.     

Organocatalytic conjugate addition of 1-bromonitroalkanes to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes: synthesis of nitrocyclopropanes

A variety of secondary amines were studied as the catalyst in the conjugate addition of 1-bromonitromethane to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. Proline was identified as the best catalyst for this reaction. MeOH/AcONa system was found to provide much better yields than CHCl₃/Et₃N system reported before. Good yields of nitrocyclopropane products were obtained with a variety of β-aryl acroleins. Several substituted 1-bromonitromethanes were also examined in the reaction. Both 1-bromonitroethane and 1-phenyl-1-bromonitromethane gave the corresponding nitrocyclopropanes in good yields. The diastereoselectivity of the reaction was strongly affected by the steric hindrance of 1-bromonitroalkanes.     

Double asymmetric induction as a mechanistic probe: the doubly diastereoselective conjugate addition of enantiopure lithium amides to enantiopure α,β-unsaturated esters and enantiopure α,β-unsaturated hydroxamates

The doubly diastereoselective conjugate addition of the antipodes of lithium N-benzyl-N-(α-methylbenzyl)amide to a range of enantiopure α,β-unsaturated esters [derived from Corey’s 8-phenylmenthol chiral auxiliary] and enantiopure α,β-unsaturated hydroxamates [derived from our ‘chiral Weinreb amide’ auxiliary (S)-N-1-(1′-naphthyl)ethyl-O-tert-butylhydroxylamine] has been used as a mechanistic probe to determine the reactive conformations of these acceptors.     

Highly enantioselective Cu(I)-Tol-BINAP-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to α,β-unsaturated esters

The copper-catalyzed conjugate addition (CA) of organometallic reagents to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds is one of the most versatile synthetic methods for the construction of C-C bonds. Interestingly, the application of Grignard reagents, which are among the most widely used of organometallic compounds, in asymmetric conjugate addition (CA) reactions has received less attention. Therefore, our group and others have been exploring better catalytic systems to effect the asymmetric 1,4-conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to α,β-unsaturated esters. It is only in the past decade that significant breakthroughs have been made in this field. In our studies, we found that CuI-Tol-BINAP could catalyze the asymmetric conjugate addition (CA) reactions of Grignard reagents, including the addition of MeMgBr to α,β-unsaturated esters to afford the β-methylated esters in good yields with excellent regio- and enantioselectivities. Both enantiomers of the products could be obtained by either using the enantiomers of the chiral Tol-BINAP or by using the geometrical isomer of the starting material. This method is also suitable for other Michael acceptors. In this article, we describe the development of the asymmetric Cu(I)-Tol-BINAP catalyzed 1,4-conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to α,β-unsaturated esters and applications of this chemistry. This method provides a convenient method to synthesize β-alkyl esters with high enantioselectivity or diastereoselectivity using CuI and the inexpensive chiral ligand, Tol-BINAP.     

Copper-catalyzed conjugate additions of alkylboranes to imidazolyl α,β-unsaturated ketones: formal reductive conjugate addition of terminal alkenes

Conjugate addition of alkylboron compounds (alkyl-9-BBN) to imidazol-2-yl α,β-unsaturated ketones proceeded in the presence of a catalytic amount (10 mol %) of CuCl, 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IMes), and t-BuOK. The alkylboranes are available through alkene hydroboration, and thus the overall process represents a reductive conjugate addition of alkenes to enone derivatives. A variety of functional groups are tolerated in both the alkenes and the α,β-unsaturated ketones. The 2-acylimidazole moiety can easily be converted into the corresponding carboxylic acid, ester, and amide derivatives.     

Theoretical insight into phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of indolizines to a,β-unsaturated ketones

Phosphoric acid catalysis is a powerful tool for the construction of new CààC bonds because of its unique LUMO-lowering activity. Theoretical calculations were employed to investigate phosphoric acidcatalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of indolizines to a,b-unsaturated ketones. The calculation results showed that this transformation proceeds via a reaction pathway involving nucleophilic addition,deprotonation–aromatization, and tautomerization. The computational results showed that deprotonation–aromatization is the rate-determining step and the enantioselectivity-determining step.The S-configured product was preferentially generated via a pathway starting from the s-cis conjugated ketone, whereas the s-trans isomer led to a side product with the R configuration. Non-covalent interaction analysis showed that the enantioselectivity is mainly caused by bond-rotation strain in the transition states of the deprotonation–aromatization step.     

Unusual conjugate addition of organolithium reagent to α, β-unsaturated ketone

The conjugate addition of organolithium reagent to α, β-unsaturated ketone has been accomplished with methylaluminum bis(2, 6-di-tert-butyl-4-alkylphenoxide) (MAD and MAT). Here combination of alkyllithium and MAD (or MAT) constitutes an amphiphilic system that allows to exhibit unusual selectivity in the alkylation of enones with alkyllithium.     

Trifluoroacetic anhydride—catalyzed conjugate addition of boronic acids to α,β-unsaturated ketones

The conjugate addition of boronic acids to α,β-unsaturated ketones catalyzed by acylating reagents has been explored. The results show that trifluoroacetic anhydride catalyzes the addition of vinylboronic acids under experimentally simple and metal-free conditions for a variety of substrates with good yields.