Asymmetric hydrogenation routes to deoxypolyketide chirons

Asymmetric hydrogenations of monoenes and dienes were performed to obtain terminal deoxypolyketide fragments A and the corresponding internal chirons B and C. The chiral N-heterocyclic carbene catalyst 1 was used throughout. Modest selectivities for hydrogenations of simple monoenes relayed into high selectivities for preparations of the terminal deoxypolyketide fragments in which either two hydrogenations or one and an optically pure starting material were used. Curiously, the face selectivities for hydrogenation of alpha,beta-unsaturated esters were consistently opposite to those that had been observed for styrene and stilbene derivatives in previous work, and to closely related allylic alcohol and ether derivatives in this work. Plausible mechanisms for this differing behavior were deduced by using DFT calculations. It appears that the origin of the unusual stereoselectivity for the ester derivatives is transient metal-coordination of the ester carbonyl whereas there is no evidence that the allylic alcohol or ethers coordinate. The routes developed to alpha,omega-functionalized internal deoxypolyketide fragments are extremely practical. These begin with the Roche ester being converted into alkene and, in one case, diene derivatives. Catalyst control prevails in the hydrogenations of these substrates, but there is a significant "substrate vector" (a term we used to describe the influence of the substrate on a catalyst-controlled reaction). This is determined by minimization of 1,3-allylic strain and, in some cases, syn pentane interactions. This substrate vector can be constructively paired with the (dominant) catalyst vector by use of the appropriate enantiomer of 1. In the hydrogenation of a diene derivative, two chiral centers could be formed simultaneously with overall 11:1.0 selectivity; this is the first time this has been achieved in any asymmetric synthesis of a deoxypolyketide fragment. Throughout, diastereoselectivities of the crude material in the syntheses of alpha,omega-functionalized internal deoxypolyketide fragments were in excess of 11:1.0 and chromatographically purified samples could be isolated in high yields with dr (dr=diastereomeric ratio) values consistently in excess of 40:1.0.     

Enantioselective hydrogenation with self-assembling rhodium phosphane catalysts: influence of ligand structure and solvent

Three sets of new and related chiral phospholane and phosphepine ligands have been prepared for Rh-catalyzed enantioselective hydrogenation. The size and substitution pattern of the cyclic monophosphanes were varied. More importantly, the ligands differ in the nature of the heterocyclic group linked to the trivalent phosphorus atom: 2-pyridone or 2-alkoxypyridine. In the corresponding Rh complexes, the pyridone units of two monodentate P ligands can assemble by hydrogen bonding and form chelates. In contrast, synthetic precursors bearing alkoxypyridine appendages are not able to aggregate via intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The nature of self-assembly is dependent on the nature of the P ligand and the solvent used for the hydrogenation (CH2Cl2 vs. MeOH). These features affect the rate of the reaction as well as the enantioselectivity, which varied in the range of 0-99 % ee Complexation studies and DFT calculations were performed to explain these differences.     

Highly Enantio- and s-trans C=C bond selective catalytic hydrogenation of cyclic enones: alternative synthesis of (-)-menthol

A highly enantioselective catalytic hydrogenation of cyclic enones was achieved by using the combination of a cationic Rh(I) complex, (S)-5,5'-bis{di(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-methoxyphenylphosphino)}-4,4'-bi-1,3-benzodioxole (DTBM-SEGPHOS), and (CH2CH2PPh3Br)2. The presence of an s-cis C=C bond isopropylidene moiety on the cyclic enone influenced the enantioselectivity of the hydrogenation. Thus, the hydrogenation of 3-alkyl-6-isopropylidene-2-cyclohexen-1-one, which contains both s-cis and s-trans enones, proceeded in excellent enantioselectivity (up to 98 % ee). To obtain high enantio- and s-trans selectivities, the addition of a halogen source to the cationic Rh complex was the essential step. With the key step of the s-trans selective asymmetric hydrogenation of piperitenone, we demonstrated a new synthetic method for optically pure (-)-menthol via three atom-economical hydrogenations. Moreover, we found that the complete s-trans and s-cis C=C bond selective reactions were also realized by the proper choice of both the chiral ligands and halides.     

Enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed nucleophilic allylation of cyclic imines with allylboron reagents

Chiral allylrhodium nucleophiles: The highly diastereo- and enantioselective title reaction of a range of cyclic imines with various potassium allyltrifluoroborates most likely proceeds via allylrhodium(I) intermediates, and represents the first rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective nucleophilic allylation of π?electrophiles with allylboron compounds.     

Tuning of the structures of chiral phosphane-phosphites: application to the highly enantioselective synthesis of alpha-acyloxy phosphonates by catalytic hydrogenation

A family of new chiral phosphane-phosphites 5 has been prepared and employed in the synthesis of rhodium complexes of formulation [Rh(cod)(5)]BF4 (7). The use of bulky phosphane or phosphite groups in the preparation of 7 avoids the formation of undesired disubstituted complexes, one of which (9 a) has been isolated and characterized. Ligands 5 display important differences from the bulkier phosphane-phosphites 1: complexes 7-unlike their rigid [Rh(cod)(1)]BF4 counterparts-show fluxional behaviour in solution, consistent with backbone oscillation around the coordination plane. A detailed screening of ligands 1 and 5 in catalytic asymmetric hydrogenations of enol phosphonates 12 demonstrated a critical influence of the steric characteristics of the phosphane-phosphite in the course of the reaction, and optimization of the two phosphorus functionalities resulted in the production of versatile and efficient catalysts for this class of hydrogenations: enantioselectivities of up to 98% ee were thus obtained with substrates bearing an alkyl substituent in the beta-position, while for their challenging aryl counterparts values of up to 92% ee were achieved. The coordination mode of phosphonate 12 a towards a Rh phosphane-phosphite fragment has also been investigated and a preference of the olefin fragment to occupy the position cis to the phosphite group has been observed. From this observation an interpretation of the configurations of the hydrogenated phosphonates has also been made.     

Inverted supercritical carbon dioxide/aqueous biphasic media for rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation reactions

An inverted supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2))/aqueous biphasic system has been used as reaction media for Rh-catalysed hydrogenation of polar substrates. Chiral and achiral CO(2)-philic catalysts were efficiently immobilised in scCO(2) as the stationary phase, while the polar substrates and products were contained in water as the mobile phase. Notably, product separation and catalyst recycling were conducted without depressurisation of the autoclave. The catalyst phase was reused several times with high conversion and product recovery of more than 85 %. Loss of rhodium and phosphorus by leaching were found to be below the detection limit after the first two cycles in the majority of repetitive experiments. The reaction conditions were optimised with a minimum of experiments by using a simplex algorithm in a sequential optimisation. Total turnover numbers (TTNs) of up to 1600, turnover frequencies (TOFs) of up to 340 h(-1) and ee's up to 99 % were obtained in repetitive batch operations. The scope of the devised catalytic system has been investigated and a semicontinuous reaction setup has been implemented. The chiral ligand (R,S)-3-H(2)F(6)-BINAPHOS allowed highly enantioselective hydrogenation of itaconic acid and methyl-2-acetamidoacrylate combined with a considerable catalyst stability in these reaction media.     

Two precatalysts for application in asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenation

The title compounds, [(1R,1′R,2R,2′R)‐2,2′‐bis(diphenylphosphanyl)‐1,1′‐dicyclopentane](η⁴‐norbornadiene)rhodium(I) tetrafluoridoborate, [Rh(C₃₄H₃₆P₂)(C₇H₈)]BF₄, (I), and [(1R,1′R,2R,2′R)‐2,2′‐bis(diphenylphosphanyl)‐1,1′‐dicyclopentane][η⁴‐(Z,Z)‐cycloocta‐1,5‐diene]rhodium(I) tetrafluoridoborate dichloromethane monosolvate, [Rh(C₃₄H₃₆P₂)(C₈H₁₂)]BF₄·CH₂Cl₂, (II), are applied as precatalysts in asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenation, e.g. in the reduction of dehydroamino acids, affording excellent enantiomeric excesses [Zhu, Cao, Jiang & Zhang (1997). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119 , 1799–1800].