Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Heck Carbonylation with a Monodentate Phosphoramidite Ligand: Asymmetric Synthesis of (+)-Physostigmine, (+)-Physovenine, and (+)-Folicanthine

Reported herein is the development of the first enantioselective monodentate ligand assisted Pd-catalyzed domino Heck carbonylation reaction with CO. The highly enantioselective domino Heck carbonylation of N-aryl acrylamides and various nucleophiles, including arylboronic acids, anilines, and alcohols, in the presence of CO was achieved. A novel monodentate phosphoramidite ligand, Xida-Phos, has been developed for this reaction and it displays excellent reactivity and enantioselectivity. The reaction employs readily available starting materials, tolerates a wide range of functional groups, and provides straightforward access to a diverse array of enantioenriched oxindoles having β-carbonyl-substituted all-carbon quaternary stereocenters, thus providing a facile and complementary method for the asymmetric synthesis of bioactive hexahydropyrroloindole and its dimeric alkaloids.

Indium-mediated difunctionalization of iodoalkyl-tethered unactivated alkenes via an intramolecular cyclization and an ensuing palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction with aryl halides

A cobalt-catalyzed, indium-mediated difunctionalization of iodoalkyl-tethered unactivated alkenes for accessing five-membered cyclic compounds via a cyclization/cross-coupling sequence was developed.

Nickel-Catalyzed Asymmetric Reductive 1,2-Carboamination of Unactivated Alkenes

Starting from diverse alkene-tethered aryl iodides and O-benzoyl-hydroxylamines, the enantioselective reductive cross-electrophilic 1,2-carboamination of unactivated alkenes was achieved using a chiral pyrox/nickel complex as the catalyst. This mild, modular, and practical protocol provides rapid access to a variety of β-chiral amines with an enantioenriched aryl-substituted quaternary carbon center in good yields and with excellent enantioselectivities. This process reveals a complementary regioselectivity when compared to Pd and Cu catalysis.

Enantioselective synthesis of quaternary 3,4-dihydroisoquinolinones via Heck carbonylation reactions: development and application to the synthesis of Minalrestat analogues

Minalrestat and its analogues represent structurally novel aldose reductase inhibitors, and the asymmetric synthesis of such pharmaceutically privileged molecules has not been reported yet. We have developed a palladium-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular carbonylative Heck reaction by using formate esters as the source of CO, which represents the first enantioselective synthesis of quaternary 3,4-dihydroisoquinolines. The reaction provides a facile and efficient method for the synthesis of enantiopure nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds bearing an all-carbon quaternary stereocenter. The reaction has been successfully applied to the first asymmetric synthesis of Minalrestat analogues.

Asymmetric Synthesis of Enantioenriched 2-Aryl-2,3-Dihydrobenzofurans by a Lewis Acid Catalyzed Cyclopropanation/Intramolecular Rearrangement Sequence

A cyclopropanation/intramolecular rearrangement initiated by the Michael addition of in situ generated ortho-quinone methides (o-QMs) has been developed for the enantioselective synthesis of 2-aryl-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans containing two consecutive stereogenic centers, including a quaternary carbon atom. In the presence of a chiral oxazaborolidinium ion catalyst, the reaction proceeded in excellent yields (up to 95 %) with excellent stereoselectivity (up to >99 ee, up to >20:1 d.r.).

Enantioselective Synthesis of 2-Oxindole Spirofused Lactones and Lactams by Heck/Carbonylative Cylization Sequences: Method Development and Applications

An efficient one-pot assembly of all-carbon spiro-oxindole compounds from non-oxindole-based materials has been developed through a palladium-catalyzed asymmetric Heck/carbonylative lactonization and lactamization sequence. Diversified spirooxindole γ-and δ-lactones/lactams were accessed in high yields with good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99 % ee) under mild reaction conditions. The natural product coixspirolactam A was conveniently synthesized by applying the current methodology, and thus its absolute configuration was elucidated for the first time. Asymmetric synthesis of an effective CRTH2 receptor antagonist has also been demonstrated utilizing this method in the key step.

Highly Enantioselective Cross-Electrophile Aryl-Alkenylation of Unactivated Alkenes

Enantioselective cross-electrophile reactions remain a challenging subject in metal catalysis, and with respect to data, studies have mainly focused on stereoconvergent reactions of racemic alkyl electrophiles. Here, we report an enantioselective cross-electrophile aryl-alkenylation reaction of unactivated alkenes. This method provides access to a number of biologically important chiral molecules such as dihydrobenzofurans, indolines, and indanes. The incorporated alkenyl group is suitable for further reactions that can lead to an increase in molecular diversity and complexity. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions at room temperature, and an easily accessible chiral pyrox ligand is used to afford products with high enantioselectivity. The synthetic utility of this method is demonstrated by enabling the modification of complex molecules such as peptides, indometacin, and steroids.

Enantioselective palladium-catalyzed diarylation of unactivated alkenes

Enantioselective Pd-catalyzed diarylation of unactivated alkenes between arenediazonium salts and arylboronic acids has been developed. This method provides an efficient route to dihydrobenzofurans with all-carbon quaternary centers in good yields with 88–99% ee.

Harnessing Noncovalent Interactions in Dual-Catalytic Enantioselective Heck-Matsuda Arylation

The use of more than one catalyst in one-pot reaction conditions has become a rapidly evolving protocol in the development of asymmetric catalysis. The lack of molecular insights on the mechanism and enantioselectivity in dual-catalytic reactions motivated the present study focusing on an important catalytic asymmetric Heck-Matsuda cross-coupling. A comprehensive density functional theory (M06 and B3LYP-D3) investigation of the coupling between a spirocyclic cyclopentene and 4-fluorophenyl diazonium species under a dual-catalytic condition involving Pd₂(dba)₃ (dba = trans, trans-dibenzylideneacetone) and chiral 2,2'-binaphthyl diamine (BINAM)-derived phosphoric acids (BDPA, 2,2'-binaphthyl diamine-derived phosphoric acids) is presented. Among various mechanistic possibilities examined, the pathway with explicit inclusion of the base (in situ generated sodium bicarbonate/sodium biphosphate) is found to be energetically more preferred over the analogous base-free routes. The chiral phosphate generated by the action of sodium carbonate on BDPA is found to remain associated with the reaction site as a counterion. The initial oxidative addition of Pd(0) to the aryl diazonium bond gives rise to a Pd-aryl intermediate, which then goes through the enantiocontrolling migratory insertion to the cyclic alkene, leading to an arylated cycloalkene intermediate. Insights on how a series of noncovalent interactions, such as C-H···O, C-H···N, C-H···F, C-H···π, lp···π, O-H···π, and C-F···π, in the enantiocontrolling transition state (TS) render the migration of the Pd-aryl to the si prochiral face of the cyclic alkene more preferred over that to the re face are utilized for modulating the enantioselectivity. Aided by molecular insights on the enantiocontrolling transition states, we predicted improved enantioselectivity from 37% to 89% by changes in the N-aryl substituents of the catalyst. Subsequent experiments in our laboratory offered very good agreement with the predicted enantioselectivities.

Enantioselective Synthesis of Phthalides and Isochromanones via Heck-Matsuda Arylation of Dihydrofurans

In this communication, the enantioselective synthesis of phthalides and isochromanones is described through a new palladium-catalyzed Heck-Matsuda arylation/NaBH₄ -reduction/lactonization sequence of 2,3- and 2,5-dihydrofurans in good overall yields and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98:2 er). This expeditious synthesis of chiral Heck lactol intermediates allowed the diversification of the strategy to obtain medicinally relevant chiral lactones, amines, and olefins. The natural product 3-butylphthalide was obtained in three steps with an overall yield of 33 % yield in 98:2 er.