New chiral ferrocenyl amidophosphine ligand for remarkable improvement of enantioselectivities in copper-catalyzed addition of diethylzinc to N-sulfonylimines

(S)-N-Ferrocenoyl-2-[(diphenylphosphino)methyl]-pyrrolidine 3 was conveniently prepared from commercially available l-proline and ferrocenecarboxylic acid. In the presence of a catalytic amount of chiral ligand 3 (4 mol %) and Cu(OTf)₂ (3 mol %), the asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to N-sulfonylimines was achieved in 57-99% yield with up to 88% ee.     

Chiral ferrocenyl amino alcohols for enantioselective additions of diethylzinc to aldehydes

Optically active ferrocenyl amino alcohols have been prepared from commercially available l-alaninol, l-leucinol and l-valinol. They have been utilized as chiral ligands in the catalytic addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes. The influence of the substituents on the stereogenic centers of the ligand has been studied. Enantioselectivities up to 95% have been obtained.     

Vasicine as tridentate ligand for enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

The first report of natural l-vasicine as tridentate chiral ligand for the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to a variety of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes is described. The ligand generates R-isomer of the secondary alcohols upto 98% ee. The quinazoline structure possibly imparts rigidity to the ligand and hence, consistently high enantioselectivity. The importance of the quinazoline ring was also supported by the reaction with other related ligands, partially lacking the structural features, thus resulting in poor enantioselectivity.     

Chiral P,N‐ligands for the highly enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aromatic aldehydes

A new sterically hindered chiral P,N‐ligand was synthesized and successfully applied to copper catalyzed asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to aromatic aldehydes. Various aromatic aldehydes can react smoothly to give the corresponding addition products with good to excellent enantioselectivities, which provides a readily accessible method for the preparation of chiral secondary alcohols.     

Chiral pyrrolidine derivatives as catalysts in the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

A series of pyrrolidine derivatives with β-amino alcohol moieties prepared from (S)-proline were found to catalyze the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes to yield optically active secondary alcohols with high enantioselectivities. A mechanism accounting for the configurational change with the bulkiness of chiral ligands is proposed.     

New highly efficient aziridine-functionalized tridentate sulfinyl catalysts for enantioselective diethylzinc addition to carbonyl compounds

New tridentate enantiomerically pure heteroorganic catalysts, containing hydroxyl, sulfinyl, and aziridine moieties, have proven to be highly efficient in the enantioselective diethylzinc addition to aryl and alkyl aldehydes to give the desired products in very high yields (up to 99%) and with ee’s up to 97%. The influence of the stereogenic centers located on the sulfinyl sulfur atom and in the aziridine moiety on the stereochemical course of the reaction are discussed.     

Chiral ligands for asymmetric synthesis: enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aromatic aldehydes catalyzed by chiral N-α-pyridylmethyl amino alcohols

A series of chiral ligands 2a–d were conveniently prepared from β-amino alcohols through a two-step sequence and applied to catalysis of enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde. Among them ligand 2c was found to show the best asymmetric induction for the reaction and catalyze the addition to various aromatic aldehydes to provide (R)-secondary alcohols in up to 98.3% ee.     

Salicylhydrazone ligands for enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

A family of chiral salicylhydrazones was designed and synthesized for application in asymmetric catalysis. The ability of newly prepared binaphthyl-containing salicylhydrazones as the chiral ligand was examined in the addition of diethylzinc to aldehyde, with the desired product obtained in up to 80% ee.     

Chiral aminoalcohols with a menthane skeleton as catalysts for the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde

Novel chiral aminoalcohols were synthesized by highly diastereoselective addition of Me₃SiCN and LiCH₂CN to (−)-menthone followed by LiAlH₄ reduction. The addition of CH₂CH-MgBr and PhCHCH-MgBr to menthone and the following epoxidation, provided useful hydroxy epoxides, one of which could be aminolyzed to afford an aminodiol. In one case, the configuration of the newly formed epoxidic stereogenic center was determined by X-ray crystallography. When applied as catalysts in the enantioselective addition of Et₂Zn to benzaldehyde, the aminoalcohols induced enantiomeric excesses (e.e.s) of up to 77%.     

Chiral Cu(II) complex catalyzed enantioselective addition of phenylacetylene to N-aryl arylimines

Chiral tridentate N-tosylated aminoimine ligands were used in the Cu(II)-catalyzed enantioselective addition of phenylacetylene to N-aryl arylimines, affording products up to 92% ee.     

Catalytic enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to trifluoromethyl ketones

A procedure for nucleophilic addition of diethylzinc to trifluoromethyl ketones was developed. The TMEDA-catalyzed method converts aromatic substrates to the corresponding 2-aryl-1,1,1-trifluorobutan-2-ols in up to 99% yield, and it is also applicable to less reactive aliphatic ketones if stoichiometric ligand amounts are employed. The first asymmetric variant producing tertiary alcohols with up to 61% ee when TBOX is used as catalyst is described.     

New chiral Schiff base as a tridentate ligand for catalytic enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

We have developed new chiral Schiff base catalysts for the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc reagents to aldehydes. The reaction of benzaldehyde with diethylzinc in the presence of 1 mol % of the chiral Schiff base catalyst proceeded to afford 1-phenyl-1-propanol in 96% enantiomeric excess (ee).     

The ortho effect: copper-catalyzed highly enantioselective 1,4-conjugate addition of diethylzinc to chalcones

The copper-catalyzed enantioselective 1,4-conjugate addition of diethylzinc to chalcones was investigated in the presence of a catalytic amount of N,P-ferrocenyl ligands with central and planar chirality under mild conditions (0 °C→rt). It was found that chalcones with ortho-substituents (from ortho-substituted benzaldehydes and acetophenone/substituted acetophenones) led to a dramatic improvement in the enantioselectivities. The (R)- and (S)-antipodes of the addition reaction were obtained with up to 92% ee after this transformation.     

Evaluation of chiral oxazolines for the highly enantioselective diethylzinc addition to N-(diphenylphosphinoyl) imines

On the basis of the principle that the incorporation of the structurally rigid and conformationally restricted skeleton in beta-amino alcohols is beneficial to the enantioselective diethylzinc addition to imines, a series of chiral oxazolines, which had been designed and conveniently prepared from commercially available (1S,2S)-2-amino-1-phenylpropane-1,3-diol, were applied in the diethylzinc addition to diphenylphosphinoyl imines to give high yields of 68-84% and excellent ee values of 90-95%. The configuration of the product was controlled by the chirality of the carbon bonded to the hydroxyl group in the oxazoline. Oxazolines bearing a para- or meta-substituted phenyl group generally offered higher enantioselectivity than those containing an ortho-substituted phenyl. The X-ray structures of 4f and 4j, in combination with the proposed transition state, preliminarily explained why oxazolines with a para- or meta-substituent on the phenyl group gave higher enantioselectivities than those bearing an ortho-substituent. This successful example using chiral oxazolines to promote the titled reaction implies that a large family of chiral compounds containing an oxazoline ring moiety have the potential to be developed for promoting the highly enantioselective dialkylzinc addition to N-(diphenylphosphinoyl) imines.     

Chiral macrocycle-catalyzed highly enantioselective phenylacetylene addition to aliphatic and vinyl aldehydes

The 1,1'-binaphthyl macrocycle (S)-2 is found to be an excellent catalyst for the alkyne addition to aldehydes. In the presence of (S)-2 (20 mol %) and Me2Zn (2 equiv) in THF at room temperature, the addition of phenylacetylene to linear or branched aliphatic aldehydes and vinyl aldehydes gave various propargylic alcohols with 89-96% ee.     

Highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of diethylzinc to nitroalkenes

Copper-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of diethylzinc to nitroalkenes using new chiral monodentate phosphoramidite ligands proceeds with high enantioselectivity up to 99% ee. [reaction: see text]     

Application of ferrocenyl substituted aziridinylmethanols (FAM) as chiral ligands in enantioselective conjugate addition of diethylzinc to enones

Easily available ferrocenyl substituted aziridinylmethanol FAM-4a complexes with nickel and catalyzes the enantioselective diethylzinc addition to various enones with enantiomeric excesses reaching 80%. The ligand can be recovered and used without losing its activity. The sense of induction was found to be dependent on the configuration of the aziridine ring.     

A new chiral 2-sulfonylamino-2′-phosphino-1,1′-binaphthyl ligand for highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of diethylzinc to benzylideneacetones

A new axially chiral phosphine-sulfonamide ligand was prepared via a chiral component (R)-2-amino-2′-diphenylphosphinyl-1,1′-binaphthyl, which was conveniently synthesized through a new route involving hydrolysis of (R)-2-cyano-2′-phosphinyl-1,1′-binaphthyl followed by Hofmann rearrangement of the amide group. The new ligand was found to be very efficient in copper-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate addition of diethylzinc to acyclic enones such as benzylideneacetones, providing very high enantioselectivity up to 99% ee.     

Synthesis of novel chiral oxazoline ligands and application in the highly enantioselective diethylzinc addition to N-diphenylphosphinoylimines

Two sets of novel chiral oxazoline ligands were designed and conveniently prepared from readily available l-aspartic acid and evaluated in enantioselective diethylzinc addition to N-diphenylphosphinoyl imines. In the presence of stoichiometric amounts of these ligands, high enantioselectivities (up to 95% ee) and yields (up to 85%) were achieved for several aromatic imines in toluene at room temperature. Furthermore, the effect of the structure of the ligand on the reaction was studied.     

Chiral squaramide-catalyzed highly diastereo- and enantioselective direct Michael addition of nitroalkanes to nitroalkenes

An efficient highly diastereo- and enantioselective direct Michael addition of nitroalkanes to nitroalkenes catalyzed by chiral squaramide catalyst has been developed. This organocatalytic reaction with a low catalyst loading (2 mol%) proceeded well to afford synthetically useful 1,3-dinitro compounds in high yields with high diastereoselectivities (up to 95 : 5 dr) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee).