N-Fluoro Ammonium Salts of Cinchona Alkaloids in Enantioselective Electrophilic Fluorination

From 2000, our two research groups independently and simultaneously designed and developed a novel family of electrophilic fluorinating reagents based on the use of Cinchona alkaloids. The chiral N-fluoro ammonium salts demonstrated the highest efficiency compared to prior art in enantioselective electrophilic fluorination for a wide range of substrates. In this account, we tell our respective stories, how the same idea germinated in our laboratories, the characterization of the chiral reagents, the use in stoichiometric quantity then the development of a catalytic version, the application to the synthesis of chiral fluorinated molecules of pharmaceutical interest, and finally the exploitation of our reagents by other teams and for other applications.

Biomacromolecule-Assisted Screening for Reaction Discovery and Catalyst Optimization

Reaction discovery and catalyst screening lie at the heart of synthetic organic chemistry. While there are efforts at de novo catalyst design using computation/artificial intelligence, at its core, synthetic chemistry is an experimental science. This review overviews biomacromolecule-assisted screening methods and the follow-on elaboration of chemistry so discovered. All three types of biomacromolecules discussed─enzymes, antibodies, and nucleic acids─have been used as "sensors" to provide a readout on product chirality exploiting their native chirality. Enzymatic sensing methods yield both UV-spectrophotometric and visible, colorimetric readouts. Antibody sensors provide direct fluorescent readout upon analyte binding in some cases or provide for cat-ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)-type readouts. DNA biomacromolecule-assisted screening allows for templation to facilitate reaction discovery, driving bimolecular reactions into a pseudo-unimolecular format. In addition, the ability to use DNA-encoded libraries permits the barcoding of reactants. All three types of biomacromolecule-based screens afford high sensitivity and selectivity. Among the chemical transformations discovered by enzymatic screening methods are the first Ni(0)-mediated asymmetric allylic amination and a new thiocyanopalladation/carbocyclization transformation in which both C-SCN and C-C bonds are fashioned sequentially. Cat-ELISA screening has identified new classes of sydnone-alkyne cycloadditions, and DNA-encoded screening has been exploited to uncover interesting oxidative Pd-mediated amido-alkyne/alkene coupling reactions.

Recyclable fluorous cinchona organocatalysts for asymmetric synthesis of biologically interesting compounds

Organocatalysis has unique modes of activation, mild reaction conditions, and good catalyst structural amenability. The integration of green techniques such as catalyst recovery and one-pot reactions makes organocatalysis more efficient and attractive. Presented in this article are the recyclable cinchona alkaloid-catalyzed reactions including fluorination and Michael addition-initiated cascade reactions in asymmetric synthesis of functionalized compounds of biological interest.

A Transient Directing Group Strategy Enables Enantioselective Multicomponent Organofluorine Synthesis

The vicinal fluorofunctionalization of alkenes represents an expedient strategy for converting feedstock olefins into valuable fluorinated molecules and as such has garnered significant attention from the synthetic community; however, current methods remain limited in terms of scope and selectivity. Here we report the site-selective palladium-catalyzed three-component coupling of alkenylbenzaldehydes, arylboronic acids, and N-fluoro-2,4,6-trimethylpyridinium hexafluorophosphate facilitated by a transient directing group. The synthetically enabling methodology constructs vicinal stereocenters with excellent regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities, forging products that map onto bioactive compounds.

Enantio- and Site-Selective α-Fluorination of N-Acyl 3,5-Dimethylpyrazoles Catalyzed by Chiral π-CuII Complexes

Catalytic enantioselective α-fluorination reactions of carbonyl compounds are among the most powerful and efficient synthetic methods for constructing optically active α-fluorinated carbonyl compounds. Nevertheless, α-fluorination of α-nonbranched carboxylic acid derivatives is still a big challenge because of relatively high pK_a values of their α-hydrogen atoms and difficulty of subsequent synthetic transformation without epimerization. Herein we show that chiral copper(II) complexes of 3-(2-naphthyl)-l-alanine-derived amides are highly effective catalysts for the enantio- and site-selective α-fluorination of N-(α-arylacetyl) and N-(α-alkylacetyl) 3,5-dimethylpyrazoles. The substrate scope of the transformation is very broad (25 examples including a quaternary α-fluorinated α-amino acid derivative). α-Fluorinated products were converted into the corresponding esters, secondary amides, tertiary amides, ketones, and alcohols with almost no epimerization in high yield.

Controlling the stereochemistry in 2-oxo-aldehyde-derived Ugi adducts through the cinchona alkaloid-promoted electrophilic fluorination

In this report, we introduce a new strategy for controlling the stereochemistry in Ugi adducts. Instead of controlling stereochemistry directly during the Ugi reaction we have attempted to stereodefine the chiral center at the peptidyl position through the post-Ugi functionalization. In order to achieve this, we chose to study 2-oxo-aldehyde-derived Ugi adducts many of which partially or fully exist in the enol form that lacks the aforementioned chiral center. This in turn led to their increased nucleophilicity as compared to the standard Ugi adducts. As such, the stereocenter at the peptidyl position could be installed and stereodefined through the reaction with a suitable electrophile. Towards this end, we were able to deploy an asymmetric cinchona alkaloid-promoted electrophilic fluorination producing enantioenriched post-Ugi adducts fluorinated at the peptidyl position.

Kitamura Electrophilic Fluorination Using HF as a Source of Fluorine

This review article focused on the innovative procedure for electrophilic fluorination using HF and in situ generation of the required electrophilic species derived from hypervalent iodine compounds. The areas of synthetic application of this approach include fluorination of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, aryl-alkyl ketones, styrene derivatives, α,β-unsaturated ketones and alcohols, homoallyl amine and homoallyl alcohol derivatives, 3-butenoic acids and alkynes.

Enantioselective construction of remote tertiary carbon-fluorine bonds

The carbon-fluorine bond engenders distinctive physicochemical properties and significant changes to general reactivity. The development of catalytic, enantioselective methods to set stereocentres that contain a benzylic C-F bond is a rapidly evolving goal in synthetic chemistry. Although there have been notable advances that enable the construction of secondary stereocentres that contain both a C-F and a C-H bond on the same carbon, significantly fewer strategies are defined to access stereocentres that incorporate a tertiary C-F bond, especially those remote from pre-existing activating groups. Here we report a general method that establishes C-F tertiary benzylic stereocentres by forging a C-C bond via a Pd-catalysed enantioselective Heck reaction of acyclic alkenyl fluorides with arylboronic acids. This method provides a platform to rapidly incorporate significant functionality about the benzylic tertiary fluoride by virtue of the diversity of both reaction partners, as well as the ability to install the stereocentres remotely from pre-existing functional groups.

Synthesis of α-Fluoro-α-Amino Acid Derivatives via Photoredox-Catalyzed Carbofluorination

A mild, metal-free, regioselective carbofluorination of dehydroalanine derivatives has been developed. Alkyl radicals resulting from visible-light photoredox catalysis engage in a radical conjugate addition to dehydroalanine, with subsequent fluorination of the newly generated radical to afford an α-fluoro-α-amino acid. By using a highly oxidizing organic photocatalyst, this process incorporates non-stabilized primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl radicals derived from commercially available alkyltrifluoroborates to furnish a wide range of fluorinated unnatural amino acids.

Synthesis of Quaternary α-Fluorinated α-Amino Acid Derivatives via Coordinating Cu(II) Catalytic α-C(sp3)-H Direct Fluorination

A coordinating, copper-catalyzed direct α-C(sp³)-H fluorination method has been developed to prepare vital quaternary α-fluorinated α-amino acid derivatives. A Cu(II) catalytic SET oxidative addition mechanism is proposed, involving a key fluoride-coupled Cu(II) charge transfer complex. The protocol can tolerate a rich variety of α-amino acids, for which the auxiliary group is removed in high yield and substituted for the direct preparation of dipeptide derivatives with detachable, single absolute configurations of the target compounds.

Modern Approaches for Asymmetric Construction of Carbon-Fluorine Quaternary Stereogenic Centers: Synthetic Challenges and Pharmaceutical Needs

New methods for preparation of tailor-made fluorine-containing compounds are in extremely high demand in nearly every sector of chemical industry. The asymmetric construction of quaternary C-F stereogenic centers is the most synthetically challenging and, consequently, the least developed area of research. As a reflection of this apparent methodological deficit, pharmaceutical drugs featuring C-F stereogenic centers constitute less than 1% of all fluorine-containing medicines currently on the market or in clinical development. Here we provide a comprehensive review of current research activity in this area, including such general directions as asymmetric electrophilic fluorination via organocatalytic and transition-metal catalyzed reactions, asymmetric elaboration of fluorine-containing substrates via alkylations, Mannich, Michael, and aldol additions, cross-coupling reactions, and biocatalytic approaches.

Introducing a Hydrogen-Bond Donor into a Weakly Nucleophilic Brønsted Base: Alkali Metal Hexamethyldisilazides (MHMDS, M=Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs) with Ammonia

Alkali metal 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyldisilazide (MHMDSs) are one of the most utilised weakly nucleophilic Brønsted bases in synthetic chemistry and especially in natural product synthesis. Like lithium organics, they aggregate depending on the employed donor solvents. Thus, they show different reactivity and selectivity as a function of their aggregation and solvation state. To date, monomeric LiHMDS with monodentate donor bases was only characterised in solution. Since the first preparation of LiHMDS in 1959 by Wannagat and Niederprüm, all efforts to crystallise monomeric LiHMDS in the absence of chelating ligands failed. Herein, we present ammonia adducts of LiHMDS, NaHMDS, KHMDS, RbHMDS and CsHMDS with unprecedented aggregation motifs: 1) The hitherto missing monomeric key compound in the LiHMDS aggregation architectures. Monomeric crystal structures of trisolvated LiHMDS (1) and NaHMDS (2), showing unique intermolecular hydrogen bonds, 2) the unprecedented tetrasolvated KHMDS (3) and RbHMDS (4) dimers and 3) the disolvated CsHMDS (5) dimer with very close intermolecular Si-CH3 ⋅⋅⋅Cs s-block "agostic" interactions have been prepared and characterised by single-crystal X-ray structure analysis.

Asymmetric Michael addition of α-fluoro-α-nitro esters to nitroolefins: towards synthesis of α-fluoro-α-substituted amino acids

α-Fluoro-α-nitro esters were used as reaction partners in Michael addition to nitroalkenes, and the products were obtained in excellent chemical yields and with high enantioselectivities. Moreover, α-fluoro-α-amino ester with a quaternary α-carbon was prepared for the first time.

Mini-ISES identifies promising carbafructopyranose-based salens for asymmetric catalysis: Tuning ligand shape via the anomeric effect

This study introduces new methods of screening for and tuning chiral space and in so doing identifies a promising set of chiral ligands for asymmetric synthesis. The carbafructopyranosyl-1,2-diamine(s) and salens constructed therefrom are particularly compelling. It is shown that by removing the native anomeric effect in this ligand family, one can tune chiral ligand shape and improve chiral bias. This concept is demonstrated by a combination of (i) x-ray crystallographic structure determination, (ii) assessment of catalytic performance, and (iii) consideration of the anomeric effect and its underlying dipolar basis. The title ligands were identified by a new mini version of the in situ enzymatic screening (ISES) procedure through which catalyst-ligand combinations are screened in parallel, and information on relative rate and enantioselectivity is obtained in real time, without the need to quench reactions or draw aliquots. Mini-ISES brings the technique into the nanomole regime (200 to 350 nmol catalyst/20 μml organic volume) commensurate with emerging trends in reaction development/process chemistry. The best-performing β-d-carbafructopyranosyl-1,2-diamine-derived salen ligand discovered here outperforms the best known organometallic and enzymatic catalysts for the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of 3-phenylpropylene oxide, one of several substrates examined for which the ligand is "matched." This ligand scaffold defines a new swath of chiral space, and anomeric effect tunability defines a new concept in shaping that chiral space. Both this ligand set and the anomeric shape-tuning concept are expected to find broad application, given the value of chiral 1,2-diamines and salens constructed from these in asymmetric catalysis.

A new entry to the construction of a quaternary carbon center having a fluorine atom--S(N)2' reaction of γ-fluoroallylic alcohol derivatives with various cyanocuprates

Treatment of γ-fluoroallylic phosphate with various lower-ordered cyanocuprates derived from Grignard reagents, organolithium, and organozincs gave the corresponding S(N)2' products having a fluorine atom at a quaternary carbon center in excellent yields. This system could be successfully extended to the chiral version, enantiomerically pure fluorine-containing materials also being obtained in high yield.

Recyclable fluorous cinchona alkaloid ester as a chiral promoter for asymmetric fluorination of β-ketoesters

A fluorous cinchona alkaloid ester has been developed as a chiral promoter for the asymmetric fluorination of β-ketoesters. It has comparable reactivity and selectivity to the nonfluorous versions of cinchona alkaloids and can be easily recovered from the reaction mixture by simple fluorous solid-phase extraction (F-SPE) and used for the next round of reaction without further purification.

Designing fluorinated cinchona alkaloids for enantioselective catalysis: controlling internal rotation by a fluorine-ammonium ion gauche effect (φ(NCCF))

The C9 position of cinchona alkaloids functions as a molecular hinge, with internal rotations around the C8-C9 (τ(1)) and C9-C4' (τ(2)) bonds giving rise to four low energy conformers (1; anti-closed, anti-open, syn-closed, and syn-open). By substituting the C9 carbinol centre by a configurationally defined fluorine substituent, a fluorine-ammonium ion gauche effect (σ(C-H) → σ(C-F)*; F(δ-)⋅⋅⋅N(+)) encodes for two out of the four possible conformers (2). This constitutes a partial solution to the long-standing problem of governing internal rotations in cinchonium-based catalysts relying solely on a fluorine conformational effect.

Development of the titanium-TADDOLate-catalyzed asymmetric fluorination of β-ketoesters

Titanium-based Lewis acids catalyze the α-fluorination of β-ketoesters by electrophilic N–F-fluorinating reagents. Asymmetric catalysis with TADDOLato–titanium(IV) dichloride (TADDOL = α,α,α',α'-tetraaryl-(1,3-dioxolane-4,5-diyl)-dimethanol) Lewis acids produces enantiomerically enriched α-fluorinated β-ketoesters in up to 91% enantiomeric excess, with either F–TEDA (1-chloromethyl-4-fluoro-1,4-diazoniabicyclo[2.2.2]octane bis(tetrafluoroborate)) in acetonitrile solution or NFSI (N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide) in dichloromethane solution as fluorinating reagents. The effects of various reaction parameters and of the TADDOL ligand structure on the catalytic activity and enantioselectivity were investigated. The absolute configuration of several fluorination products was assigned through correlation. Evidence for ionization of the catalyst complex by chloride dissociation, followed by generation of titanium β-ketoenolates as key reaction intermediates, was obtained. Based on the experimental findings, a general mechanistic sketch and a steric model of induction are proposed.

Fluorine & chirality: how to create a nonracemic stereogenic carbon-fluorine centre?

Enantiopure organofluorine compounds are at the forefront of innovation in the field of fluorine chemistry. The significant progress in modern fluoroorganic chemistry parallels the tremendous achievements in organocatalysis and organometallic catalysis that have permitted the asymmetric synthesis of chiral chemicals featuring a fluorinated stereogenic carbon centre. This tutorial review provides an overview of the current state of the art in asymmetric construction of stereogenic carbon-fluorine centres, not only by direct fluorination, but also by asymmetric reaction of fluorinated substrates.

DBFOX-Ph/metal complexes: evaluation as catalysts for enantioselective fluorination of 3-(2-arylacetyl)-2-thiazolidinones

We examined the catalytic enantioselective fluorination of 3-(2-arylacetyl)-2-thiazolidinones 1 with N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI) by DBFOX-Ph/metal complexes under a variety of conditions. After optimization of the metal salts, solvents and additives, we found that the fluoro-2-thiazolidinones 2 were obtained in good to high yields with moderate to good enantioselectivities (up to 78% ee) when the reaction was carried out in the presence of DBFOX-Ph (11 mol%), Ni(ClO(4))(2).6H(2)O (10 mol%) and 2,6-lutidine (0 or 1.0 equiv) in CH(2)Cl(2).

Non-Biaryl Atropisomers in Organocatalysis

A new class of 6'-hydroxy cinchona alkaloids, with a non-biaryl atropisomeric functionalisation at position 5' of the quinoline core can be prepared by an easy amination procedure. These are the first derivatives for which the principle of atropisomerism is engrafted in the classical core of the cinchona alkaloids. The aminated cinchona alkaloids are effective organocatalysts for the Michael addition of beta-keto esters to acrolein and methyl vinyl ketone, in up to 93 % ee (ee=enantiomeric excess), as well as for the asymmetric Friedel-Crafts amination of a variety of 2-naphthols, permitting the preparation of the latter in up to 98 % ee. The aminated 8-amino-2-naphthol itself is the first chiral organocatalyst based on non-biaryl atropisomerism. The two enantiomers of this chiral primary amine can be used for the direct alpha-fluorination of alpha-branched aldehydes. The fluorinated compounds can thereby be accessed in up to 90 % ee.