A new C2-symmetric azolium compound for Cu-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of R2Zn to cyclic enone

A new chiral N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand was designed. Thus, an efficient synthetic route to C₂-symmetric bis(hydroxyamide)-functionalized benzimidazolium salts from chiral β-amino alcohols was developed. The combination of Cu(OTf)₂ and the chiral azolium compound efficiently promoted the conjugate addition reaction of cyclic enone with dialkylzinc to give the corresponding adduct in good yield. Among a series of chiral NHC proligands, the functionalized benzimidazolium chloride possessing a tert-butyl group as a stereodirecting group was found to be the best choice of ligand. Under optimized reaction conditions, an excellent enantioselectivity (96% ee) was realized by allowing 2-cyclohepten-1-one to react with Bu₂Zn at room temperature.     

Asymmetric zinc-Reformatsky reaction of Evans chiral imide with acetophenones and its application to the stereoselective synthesis of triazole antifungal agents

The Ni(acac)₂ catalytic ZnEt₂-mediated asymmetric Reformatsky-type reaction of Evans chiral imide with various acetophenones was studied. The chiral imido zinc enolate, which was formed through the metal–halogen exchange reaction of chiral α-bromopropionyl-2-oxazolidinones 2 with diethyl zinc under the catalysis of Ni(acac)₂, performed the asymmetric zinc-Reformatsky reaction with activated α-haloacetophenones 3 to give the chiral β-hydroxyamide 4 in good yields and high ratios of syn-(2R,3R)-isomers (up to >97%). This new asymmetric synthesis technology affords a practical method to synthesize the versatile chiral building block 5 for triazole antifungal agents, such as Voriconazole, Ravuconazole, TAK-187, and RO-0094815.     

Asymmetric induction in the conjugate addition of thioacetic acid to methacrylamides with chiral auxiliaries

The conjugate addition of thioacetic acid to methacrylamides with chiral C₂-symmetric trans-2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines afforded the addition products in excellent stereoselectivities (>99% de) and good yields (80–90%). The high selectivity was attributed mainly to the steric effect of the chiral auxiliaries. The cyclic nature of the chiral auxiliaries seemed also important for both the stereoselectivity and the reaction rate. Acidic hydrolysis of the adduct containing (2R,5R)-bis(methoxymethyl)pyrrolidine gave (S)-3-mercapto-2-methylpropanoic acid, a key intermediate for captopril, in 98% ee and 96% yield. The chiral auxiliary was recovered in the demethylated form of N-Boc-(2R,3R)-bis(hydroxymethyl)pyrrolidine in 90% yield.     

Chemo-biological preparation of the chiral building block (R)-4-acetoxy-2-methyl-1-butanol using Pseudomonas putida

In order to develop new methyl substituted chiral building blocks which are useful for the synthesis of methyl branched natural products, the enantioselective bioreduction of an exo-methylene to a methyl group was investigated. 4-Acetoxy-2-methylene-1-butanol 3 was prepared from itaconic acid over four steps and converted to the chiral alcohol (R)-4-acetoxy-2-methyl-1-butanol 4, by growing cells of Pseudomonas putida. The bioconversion achieved a high enantioselectivity (92% ee) and a high chemical yield (65%) within a relatively short reaction time (18–20 h).     

Chiral nickel(II) complex catalyzed asymmetric (3 + 2) cycloaddition of α‐diazo pyrazoleamides with 2‐siloxy‐1‐alkenes

A highly efficient asymmetric (3 + 2) cycloaddition of α-diazo pyrazoleamides with silyl enol ethers was realized by employing a chiral N,N'-dioxide-Ni(II) complex catalyst. The process includes the formation of chiral nickel carbenoid intermediate and the following enantioselective cycloaddition reaction. The desired dihydrofuran O,O-acetal derivatives were obtained in good yields (up to 90%) with high enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) under mild reaction conditions within short reaction time. On the basis of the determination of the catalyst structure, a possible transition state mode was proposed.     

Preparation of novel N-sulfonylated (S,S)-2,3-diaminosuccinate-type chiral auxiliaries and application to an asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrile oxides to allyl alcohol

Novel N-sulfonylated (S,S)-2,3-diaminosuccinate-type chiral auxiliaries, which have the tartaric acid-like framework with a sulfonamide group instead of a hydroxyl group, were synthesized from l-aspartic acid. The synthesized (S,S)-2,3-diaminosuccinate derivatives were applied to an asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrile oxides to allyl alcohol to afford the corresponding optically active 2-isoxazolines, with the enantioselectivities of up to 73% ee. The enantiofacial differentiation was intriguingly opposite to that by using diisopropyl tartrate as a chiral auxiliary.     

Synthesis of chiral β2-amino acids by asymmetric hydrogenation

The synthesis of chiral β²-amino acids by homogeneous asymmetric hydrogenation is discussed. Prochiral β-aryl- or β-hetaryl-α-N-benzyl/N-acetyl/N-Boc substituted α-aminomethylacrylates used as substrates were prepared by a Baylis–Hillman reaction, followed by acylation and amination. For the asymmetric hydrogenation, a large variety of chiral, preferentially rhodium catalysts bearing commercially available phosphorus ligands were tested. Conversions and enantioselectivities were dependent on the reaction conditions and varied strongly between the substrates used. A chiral N-α-phenylethyl group supports the stereoface discriminating ability of the chiral catalysts and thus a matching pair effect could be realized. In strong contrast, a chiral ester group has almost no effect in this respect. In some cases the use of the corresponding substrate acid was better in comparison to the use of its ester. After optimization of the hydrogenation conditions (chiral catalyst, H₂-pressure, temperature, solvent), full conversions and products with up to 99% ee were achieved.     

Doubly stereocontrolled asymmetric Michael addition of acetylacetone to nitroolefins promoted by an isosteviol-derived bifunctional thiourea

A novel class of chiral bifunctional thioureas bearing a chiral lipophilic beyerane scaffold and a tertiary amino group was designed and prepared. The thioureas were proven to be effective for catalyzing the doubly stereocontrolled asymmetric Michael addition between acetylacetone and nitroolefins. The corresponding adducts were obtained in high yields (up to 95%) and with good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97%). In addition, the reaction of tert-butyl acetoacetate and trans-β-nitrostyrene also proceeded smoothly with good enantioselectivity.     

Diastereoselective rhodium(II)-catalyzed sulfonium ylide formation-[2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement reaction of chiral non-racemic allylic sulfides

The tandem sulfonium ylide formation-[2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement reaction of chiral non-racemic secondary allylic sulfides, (E)-9 and (Z)-10, is found to proceed with high diastereocontrol. The C-5 stereocenter bearing the sulfide group is essential for high diastereoselectivity in the reaction. Transition state conformers are proposed to explain the high diastereoselectivity in the formation of the diastereomeric products, 18a and 18b. The method is applied to the synthesis of (R)-4-(4-chlorophenyl)-2-butyrolactone. Modest enantioselectivity (63% ee) was achieved and this is attributed to partial racemization during the formation of the secondary allylic sulfide 22.     

Conjugate addition of aromatic amines to ethenetricarboxylates

The conjugate addition of amines is considered to be a useful reaction in synthetic organic chemistry. The reaction of reactive electrophilic olefins, ethenetricarboxylates, and aromatic amines with and without catalytic Lewis acids such as ZnCl₂ and ZnBr₂ at room temperature gave amine adducts in high yields. The products were converted to α-amino acid, dl-aspartic acid derivatives. Using Lewis acids such as Sc(OTf)₃ and Zn(OTf)₂ at higher temperature (40-80 °C), the reaction of ethenetricarboxylates and N-methylaniline gave an aromatic substitution product. A catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition using a chiral Lewis acid was also investigated. For example, the reaction of 1,1-diethyl 2-tert-butyl ethenetricarboxylate with N-methylaniline in the presence of chiral bisoxazoline-Cu(II) complex in THF at −20 °C for 17 h gave an amine adduct in 91% yield and 78% ee. On the other hand, the reaction with aniline and primary aniline derivatives gave adducts with almost no ee%.     

Chiral oxazoline route to enantiomerically pure biphenyls: magnesio and copper mediated asymmetric hetero- and homo-coupling reactions

A series of chiral biphenyls were prepared via asymmetric reactions involving chiral oxazolines. One series of chiral biphenyls was reached by the magnesium mediated coupling of aryl bromides (via their Grignard reagents) with o-methoxyaryl oxazolines. In this case only the o-methoxy group was replaced by the ArMgBr. The initially formed biphenyl adducts were obtained in de's as high as 92:8. These adducts could be manipulated to various other chiral biphenyls. Another series of chiral biphenyls were obtained via an asymmetric Ullmann reaction, which was shown to be thermodynamically controlled. The de's of this copper mediated process were also in the range of 90% and could be utilized to reach various derivatives. Racemization, thermal stability, and atropisomerization characteristics were also studied.     

Chiral diphenylselenophosphoramides: a new class of chiral ligands for the titanium(IV) alkoxide-promoted addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

Chiral C₂-symmetric diphenylselenophosphoramides 1 and 2 were prepared from the reaction of diphenylselenophosphinic chloride with (1R,2R)-(−)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane and (1R,2R)-(+)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine, respectively, in high yields. Another novel chiral ligand 3 was prepared from the reaction of diphenylselenophosphinic chloride with (R)-(+)-1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diamine using butyllithium as the base. The ligands were used as catalytic chiral ligands in the titanium(IV) alkoxide-promoted enantioselective addition reaction of diethylzinc to aldehydes.     

Synthesis of new C2-symmetric bis(β-hydroxy amide) ligands and their applications in the enantioselective addition of alkynylzinc to aldehydes

A series of chiral C₂-symmetric bis(β-hydroxy amide) ligands was synthesized via the reaction of isophthaloyl dichloride and amino alcohols derived from l-amino acid. The titanium(IV) complex of C₂-symmetric chiral ligand 3b was effective for the asymmetric alkynylation of aldehydes and the propargyl alcohols were obtained in high yields (up to 94%) and high enantiomeric excesses (up to 98%) under optimized conditions. The results obtained using ligand 3h support that the two β-hydroxy amide moieties in these ligands behave as two independent ligands in the catalytic system.     

Chiral 2-aminobenzimidazole bifunctional organocatalysts: effect of di-CF3 and TFA on catalytic mechanisms

(S,S)-trans-Cyclohexanediamine-5,7-di-CF₃-benzimidazole (3b) was developed as a new chiral bifunctional organocatalyst and successfully applied to Michael addition of diethyl malonate to nitroolefins (up to 99%, 98% ee) under neutral condition. Systematic investigation on the catalytic mechanism revealed that the role of the guanidine moiety and the dimethylamine moiety in catalysts might be reversed with respect to Brønsted/Lewis acidic or basic functionalities, depending on the reaction conditions (neutral or TFA co-catalyst). Generally, di-CF₃ group substituted 2-aminobenzimidazole catalysts in neutral condition and non-substituted 2-aminobenzimidazole catalysts in co-catalyst (TFA) condition give high chemical yield and enantioselectivity.     

A chiral pool approach for asymmetric syntheses of both antipodes of equol and sativan

For the first time, both antipodes of the isoflavans, equol and sativan were synthesized in >98% ee with good overall yields starting from readily available starting materials. The chiral isoflavan, (?)-equol is produced from soy isoflavones, formonentin and daidzein by the action of intestinal bacteria in certain groups of population and other chiral isoflavans are reported from various phytochemical sources. To produce these chiral isoflavans in gram quantities, Evans' enantioselective aldol condensation was used as a chiral-inducing step to introduce the required chirality at the C-3 position. Addition of chiral boron-enolate to substituted benzaldehyde resulted in functionalized syn-aldol products with >90% yield and excellent diastereoselectivity. Functional group transformations followed by intramolecular Mitsunobu reaction and deprotection steps resulted the target compounds, S-(?)-equol and S-(+)-sativan, with high degree of enantiopurity. By simply switching the chiral auxiliary to (S)-4-benzyloxazolidin-2-one and following the same synthetic sequence the antipodes, R-(+)-equol and R-(?)-sativan were achieved. Both enantiomers are of interest from a clinical and pharmacological perspective and are currently being developed as nutraceutical and pharmacological agents. This flexible synthetic process lends itself quite readily to the enantioselective syntheses of other biologically active C-3 chiral isoflavans.     

Enantioselective conjugate addition of dialkylzinc to cyclic enones catalyzed by chiral binaphthyldiamine-copper(I) complexes

The enantioselective conjugate addition of dialkylzinc (R₂Zn) to cyclic enones was examined using chiral binaphthyldiamine-copper(I) catalysts. Under the present reaction conditions, chiral C₂-symmetric [RZn(II)]₂-diamine-Cu(I) complexes were formed from chiral binaphthyldiamine, R₂Zn, and copper(I or II) chloride in situ. The reaction of 2-cyclohexenone with Et₂Zn proceeded smoothly in the presence of the corresponding chiral copper(I) complex (5 mol %) and achiral 2,6-diphenylaniline (10 mol %), and the desired Et-adduct was obtained with up to 76% ee in 95% yield.     

Template effects on the asymmetric cycloaddition reaction between 3,4-dimethyl-1-phenylarsole and diphenylvinylphosphine and their arsenic elimination reaction

The organopalladium complex containing ortho-metalated (S)-[1-(dimethylamino)ethyl]naphthalene as the chiral template was employed to promote the asymmetric cycloaddition reaction between 3,4-dimethyl-1-phenylarsole and diphenylvinylphosphine. It has been proven that the chiral template incorporating napthylamine is more efficient than the benzylamine based analogue as evidenced by the drastic improvement in stereoselectivity and reaction rate. However, when no chiral template was employed, trans-[PdI₂(3,4-dimethyl-1-phenylarsole)₂] reacted with trans-[PdI₂(diphenylvinylphosphine)₂] producing a structurally novel diiodo complex, as a result of an interesting selective cleavage of one As-C bond in the norbornene skeleton and subsequent rearrangements within the skeletal framework. The molecular structure of the diiodo product has been confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Structural analysis showed that in addition to the normal As-P five-membered ring, there is one new five-membered ring containing As-O bond being formed during the course of the reaction along with another seven-membered ring incorporating a hydroxy group.     

Convenient synthesis of chiral tryptophan derivatives using Negishi cross-coupling

A facile synthetic procedure for chiral tryptophan derivatives using Negishi cross-coupling reaction of serine-derived iodoalanine with 3-haloindole is described. The best result was obtained when the reaction of N-tosyl-3-bromoindole with N-Cbz-iodoalanine methyl ester was carried out by the combination of Pd₂(dba)₃ and sterically hindered ferrocenyl ligand Q-PHOS. This reaction condition not only gave the desired tryptophan derivative as high as 76% yield, but also suppressed the formation of undesired products, the dehalogenated indole and the homodimer of indole, which were difficult to separate. This reaction was extended to the synthesis of various tryptophan derivatives having substituents on the benzene ring. The characteristic of this reaction is the practical biomimetic synthesis of chiral tryptophan derivatives in one-step.     

Chiral diphenylthiophosphoramides: a new class of chiral ligands for the silver(I)-promoted enantioselective allylation of aldehydes

Chiral C₂-symmetric diphenylthiophosphoramides 1 and 2 were prepared in high yields from the reaction of diphenylthiophosphinic chloride with (1R,2R)-(−)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane and (1R,2R)-(+)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine, respectively. Another novel chiral ligand 4 was prepared from reaction of diphenylthiophosphinic chloride with (R)-(+)-1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diamine using butyllithium as a base. They were used as catalytic chiral ligands in the silver(I)-promoted enantioselective allylation reaction of aldehydes with allyltributyltin.     

Enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles with β,γ-unsaturated α-ketoesters catalyzed by new squaramide-linked bisoxazoline–Zn(OTf)2 complexes

Enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation reactions of indoles with β,γ-unsaturated α-ketoesters catalyzed by novel chiral C₂-symmetric squaramide-linked bisoxazoline–Zn(OTf)₂ complexes were investigated. The corresponding indole ketoesters were obtained in good to excellent yields (up to 98%) and with high enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee). This is the first report on the use of chiral squaramide-linked bisoxazoline SQBOX in a catalytic enanitioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction.