Aldol addition of lithium and boron enolates of 1,3-dioxan-5-ones to aldehydes. A new entry into monosaccharide derivatives

Methods allowing control of stereoselectivity in aldol reactions of enolates derived from 1,3-dioxan-5-ones (4) are described. Boron enolates, generated in situ, react with benzaldehyde to give the corresponding anti aldol selectively (the anti:syn ratio of up to 96:4) and in high yield. Lithium enolates give high anti selectivity only with aldehydes branched at the alpha-position. Enantioselective deprotonation of C(S) symmetrical dioxanones (e.g., 4b) can be accomplished efficiently, with enantiomeric excess of up to 90%, with chiral lithium amide bases of general structure PhCH(Me)N(Li)R (9, 10) if the R group is sufficiently bulky (e.g, R = adamantyl) or is fluorinated (e.g., R = CH2CF3). Dioxanone boron and lithium enolates react readily with glyceraldehyde derivatives (19), yielding protected ketohexoses (20 and 21).