Stereospecific and stereodivergent construction of tertiary and quaternary carbon centers through switchable directed/nondirected allylic substitution

This study introduces the ortho-diphenylphosphanylbenzoate (o-DPPB)/o-DPPB oxide system as a switchable directing/nondirecting leaving group in a copper-mediated allylic substitution with Grignard and organozinc reagents. With this system, the regioselective, stereospecific, and stereodivergent construction of quaternary as well as tertiary carbon centers is possible in a reliable and predictable fashion. Starting from one substrate enantiomer, both optical antipodes of the substitution products are readily available. Hence, this methodology features reversed polarity in comparison to established enolate alkylation chemistry and may be an interesting alternative, particularly for the construction of quaternary stereogenic carbon centers.

A Facile Synthetic Route to 2H-Chromenes: Reconsideration of the Mechanism of the DBU-Catalyzed Reaction between Salicylic Aldehydes and Ethyl 2-Methylbuta-2,3-dienoate

Reactions of salicylaldehydes with ethyl buta-2,3-dienoate or penta-3,4-dien-2-one catalyzed by a catalytic amount of potassium carbonate produce the corresponding 2 H-chromene products in moderate to good yields under mild conditions. A plausible reaction mechanism is discussed in the light of the results of an 18O-labeling experiment. In addition, in view of these findings, the catalytic function of DBU in reactions of this kind is reconsidered.

Stacking interactions as the principal design element in acyl-transfer catalysts

The conformational properties and the stability of acylpyridinium intermediates formed in pyridine-catalyzed acylation reactions have been studied at the SCS-MP2(FC)/6-311 +G(d,p)//MP2(FC)/ 6-31G(d) level of theory. It has been shown that stacking interactions can play a decisive role in the stability as well as the conformational preferences of these transient intermediates.

The DMAP-catalyzed acetylation of alcohols--a mechanistic study (DMAP = 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine)

The acetylation of tert-butanol with acetic anhydride catalyzed by 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) has been studied at the Becke3 LYP/6-311 + G(d,p)//Becke3 LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. Solvent effects have been estimated through single-point calculations with the PCM/UAHF solvation model. The energetically most favorable pathway proceeds through nucleophilic attack of DMAP at the anhydride carbonyl group and subsequent formation of the corresponding acetylpyridinium/acetate ion pair. Reaction of this ion pair with the alcohol substrate yields the final product, tert-butylacetate. The competing base-catalyzed reaction pathway can either proceed in a concerted or in a stepwise manner. In both cases the reaction barrier far exceeds that of the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism. The reaction mechanism has also been studied experimentally in dichloromethane through analysis of the reaction kinetics for the acetylation of cyclohexanol with acetic anhydride, in the presence of DMAP as catalyst and triethylamine as the auxiliary base. The reaction is found to be first-order with respect to acetic anhydride, cyclohexanol, and DMAP, and zero-order with respect to triethyl amine. Both the theoretical as well as the experimental studies strongly support the nucleophilic catalysis pathway.

Glycosylated foldamers: synthesis of carbohydrate-modified β3hSer and incorporation into β-peptides

Fmoc-protected beta(3)hserine (beta(3)hSer) was prepared and O-linked to suitably protected N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) derivatives. Glycosylation of beta(3)hSer was made by two independent routes: either by direct glycosyl linkage to the beta(3)hSer, or linkage to natural L-Ser and then utilizing the carbohydrate moiety as a protecting group in an Arndt-Eistert homologation. Both procedures gave the novel glycosylated beta(3)-amino acids Fmoc-beta(3)hSer(alpha-D-GalNAc(Ac)(3))-OH (1a), its beta-anomer (1b), and Fmoc-beta(3)hSer(beta-D-GlcNAc(Ac)(3))-OH (2), which were utilized in the solid-phase peptide synthesis of four glycosylated dipeptides (3a-d) and two heptapeptides (4a-b). The preparation of beta-amino acids bearing common post-translational modifiers represents an important step towards functionalized foldamers with broad applications in biomedical research.

Nucleophilicities and Carbon Basicities of Pyridines

Rate and equilibrium constants for the reactions of pyridines with donor-substituted benzhydrylium ions have been determined spectrophotometrically. The correlation equation log k(20 degrees C)=s(N+E), in which s and N are nucleophile-specific parameters and E is an electrophile-specific parameter, has been used to determine the nucleophilicity parameters of various pyridines in CH(2)Cl(2) and aqueous solution and to compare them with N of other nucleophiles. It is found that the nucleophilic organocatalyst 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) and tertiary phosphanes have comparable nucleophilicities and carbon basicities despite widely differing Brønsted basicities. For that reason, these reactivity parameters are suggested as guidelines for the development of novel organocatalysts. The Marcus equation is employed for the determination of the intrinsic barriers of these reactions.

o-DPPB-Directed Copper-Mediated and -Catalyzed Allylic Substitution with Grignard Reagents

The ortho-diphenylphosphanylbenzoyl (o-DPPB) group was explored as a directing leaving group in copper-mediated and copper-catalyzed allylic substitution with Grignard reagents. Complete control of chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity with complete syn-1,3-chirality transfer was observed as a result of the directed nature of the reaction. No excess of organometallic reagent is required and the directing group can be recovered quantitatively. Coordination studies in the solid state and in solution have shown that two substrates are bound via the phosphine function of the directing group at copper. Dynamic NMR experiments in solution are in agreement with a ligand-exchange process at copper, a prerequisite for the development of a substoichiometric process.

Steric Effects in the Uncatalyzed and DMAP-Catalyzed Acylation of Alcohols—Quantifying the Window of Opportunity in Kinetic Resolution Experiments

The kinetics of the reaction of several alcohols (benzyl alcohol, ethanol, 1-phenylethanol, cyclohexanol, and 1-methyl-1-phenylethanol) with a selection of anhydrides (acetic anyhydride, propionic anhydride, isobutyric anhydride, isovaleric anhydride, and pivalic anhydride) as catalyzed by 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP)/triethyl amine have been studied in CH(2)Cl(2) at 20 degrees C. In all cases the reaction kinetics can be described by rate laws containing a DMAP-catalyzed term and an uncatalyzed (background) term. The rate constants for the background reaction respond sensitively to changes in the steric demand of the alcohol and the anhydride substrates, making the reaction of cyclohexanol with acetic anhydride 526 times faster than the reaction with pivalic anhydride. Steric effects are even larger for the catalyzed reaction and the reactivity difference between acetic and pivalic anhydride exceeds a factor of 8000 for the reaction of cyclohexanol. There is, however, no linear correlation between the steric effects on the catalyzed and the uncatalyzed part. As a consequence there are substrate combinations with dominating catalytic terms (such as the reaction of benzyl alcohol with isobutyric anhydride), while other substrate combinations (such as the reaction of cyclohexanol with pivalic anhydride) are characterized through a dominating background process. The implications of these findings for the kinetic resolution of alcohols are discussed.

First C-3 lithiation of DMAP: a new entry into chemical tuning of acylation catalysts

A TMSCH2Li-based reagent promoted the first C-3 lithiation of DMAP opening a direct access to functional diversity in acylation catalysts.