Modular furanoside phosphite ligands for asymmetric Pd-catalyzed allylic substitution.

A series of diphosphite, phosphine-phosphite, and thioether-phosphite ligands 1-5 with a furanoside backbone have been used in the enantioselective palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution of rac-1,3-diphenyl-2-propenyl acetate giving low to high enantioselectivies (from close to 0% to 97% ee). The modular nature of these ligands enables systematic investigations of the effect of the ligand structure on the enantioselectivity. The enantioselectivity is mainly determined by the configuration of the stereogenic center C-3 of the furanose backbone. From this we conclude that the attack of the nucleophile takes place trans toward the donating group at the stereogenic C-5 atom. Systematic variation of the donor group attached to the carbon atom C-5 indicated that the presence of a bulky phosphite functionality has a positive effect on enantioselectivity. Thus, the highest ee's are obtained using the bulky diphosphite ligand 1b containing a xylofuranoside backbone.