Enantioselective Construction of Cyclic Enaminone-Based 3-Substituted 3-Amino-2-oxindole ScaffoldsviaCatalytic Asymmetric Additions of Isatin-Derived Imines

Synthesis and medicinal chemistry of tetronamides: Promising agrochemicals and antitumoral compounds

Butenolides and tetronic acids occupy a prominent position in synthetic chemistry due to their ubiquitous distribution in nature. This has stimulated investigations firstly in the synthesis of such systems and, laterly, the interest has turned to the understanding of the quantum structure of such systems, allowing a deeper understanding of the mechanism and reactivity of this cyclic scaffold. In contrast, tetronamides, which consist of compounds bearing a 4-aminofuran-2(5H)-one backbone, are relatively rare in nature and synthetic routes to such compounds are poorly explored. This review highlights both the importance of the tetronamide scaffold in medicinal chemistry and the most relevant recondite synthetic strategies for obtaining compounds of this class.

Synthesis of acyloxy-2H-azirine and sulfonyloxy-2H-azirine derivatives via a one-pot reaction of β-enamino esters, PIDA and carboxylic acid or sulfonic acid

PIDA mediated oxidative acyloxylation/azirination and sulfonyloxylation/azirination of β-enamino esters were investigated. A series of functionalized acyloxy-2H-azirine and sulfonyloxy-2H-azirine derivatives was synthesized in moderate to good yields. This represents the first oxidative sulfonyloxylation/azirination of β-enamino esters with PIDA and sulfonic acid for access to sulfonyloxy-2H-azirine. Hypervalent iodine reagents enable cascade C-O/C-N bond formation. Furthermore, a possible reaction pathway was proposed based on the experimental results.

Organocatalytic enantioselective Mannich reaction of isoxazol-5(4H)-ones to isatin-derived ketimines

An efficient organocatalytic asymmetric Mannich reaction between isoxazol-5(4H)-ones and isatin-derived ketimines has been developed.

An overview of the applications of chiral phosphoric acid organocatalysts in enantioselective additions to CO and CN bonds

Since 2004, chiral phosphoric acids (CPAs) have emerged as highyl efficient organocatalysts, providing excellent results in a wide reaction scope. In this review, the applications of CPA for enantioselective additions to CO and CN bonds are covered.

Asymmetric organocatalysis: an enabling technology for medicinal chemistry

The efficacy and synthetic versatility of asymmetric organocatalysis have contributed enormously to the field of organic synthesis since the early 2000s. As asymmetric organocatalytic methods mature, they have extended beyond the academia and undergone scale-up for the production of chiral drugs, natural products, and enantiomerically enriched bioactive molecules. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the applications of asymmetric organocatalysis in medicinal chemistry. A general picture of asymmetric organocatalytic strategies in medicinal chemistry is firstly presented, and the specific applications of these strategies in pharmaceutical synthesis are systematically described, with a focus on the preparation of antiviral, anticancer, neuroprotective, cardiovascular, antibacterial, and antiparasitic agents, as well as several miscellaneous bioactive agents. The review concludes with a discussion of the challenges, limitations and future prospects for organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of medicinally valuable compounds.

An enantioselective aza-Friedel-Crafts reaction of 5-aminoisoxazoles with isatin-derived N-Boc ketimines

By employing a chiral phosphoric acid as a catalyst, an enantioselective aza-Friedel-Crafts reaction of 5-aminoisoxazoles with isatin-derived N-Boc ketimines was realized. The reaction provided a wide variety of novel 3-isoxazole 3-amino-oxindoles with good yields (up to 99%) and moderate to good enantioselectivities (up to 99%). The absolute configuration of one product was assigned by X-ray crystal structural analysis and a plausible reaction mechanism was proposed. In addition, a scale-up reaction was performed successfully. Finally, one product was subjected to Suzuki-Miyaura coupling with phenylboronic acid to afford the product in a moderate yield without erosion of the enantioselectivity.

Synthesis of Diastereoenriched α-Aminomethyl Enaminones via a Brønsted Acid-Catalyzed Asymmetric aza-Baylis-Hillman Reaction of Chiral N-Phosphonyl Imines

An effective chiral GAP methodology for preparing α-aminomethyl enaminones through a (R)-CSA-catalyzed asymmetric aza-Baylis-Hillman reaction is reported. Excellent yields and high diastereoselectivity could be obtained under mild conditions and convenient GAP techniques. The confirmations of the absolute configuration of N-phosphonyl imine and chiral enaminone by X-ray diffraction provides an explicit explanation of the chirality mechanism for GAP chemistry.

Organocatalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Indole-Based Chiral Heterocycles: Strategies, Reactions, and Outreach

Indole-based chiral heterocycles constitute a class of important heterocyclic compounds that are found in numerous pharmaceuticals, functional materials, and chiral catalysts or ligands. Catalytic asymmetric synthesis, for which the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded, has been demonstrated to be the most efficient method for accessing chiral compounds. Therefore, the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of indole-based chiral heterocycles has attracted great interest from the scientific community. However, the strategies toward this goal are rather limited, and great challenges remain in this field, such as metal contamination in the products, the limited number of platform molecules with versatile reactivity, and the limited number of catalytic asymmetric reactions that offer high step economy, atom economy, and excellent enantiocontrol. Therefore, novel strategies for the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of indole-based chiral heterocycles are urgently needed. To achieve this goal, our group has developed a series of unique strategies, such as designing and developing versatile platform molecules and their corresponding organocatalytic asymmetric reactions to access indole-based chiral heterocycles. In this Account, we describe our efforts to address the remaining challenges in this research field. Namely, we have designed and developed vinylindoles, indolylmethanols, arylindoles and indole derivatives as versatile platform molecules for the construction of indole-based chiral heterocyclic scaffolds with structural diversity and complexity. Based on the reactivities of these platform molecules, we have designed and accomplished a series of organocatalytic asymmetric cycloaddition, cyclization, addition and dearomatization reactions with a high step economy, atom economy and excellent enantiocontrol. Using these strategies, a wide range of indole-based chiral heterocycles, including five-membered to seven-membered heterocycles, axially chiral heterocycles and tetrasubstituted heterocycles, have been synthesized with high efficiency and excellent enantioselectivity. In addition, we have investigated the properties of some indole-based chiral heterocycles, including their bioactivities and catalytic activities, and showed that these chiral heterocycles have potent anticancer activities and promising catalytic activities in asymmetric catalysis. These results help elucidate the potential applications of indole-based chiral heterocycles in drug development and chiral catalysts. The organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of indole-based chiral heterocycles has undoubtedly become and will continue to be a hot topic in the field of asymmetric catalysis and synthesis. Our efforts, summarized in this Account, will not only open a window for the future development of innovative strategies toward organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of indole-based chiral heterocycles but also inspire chemists worldwide to confront the remaining challenges in this field and prompt further advances.

Asymmetric dearomatization of 2-nitrobenzofurans by organocatalyzed one-step Michael addition to access 3,3′-disubstituted oxindoles

An efficient enantioselective dearomatization of 2-nitrobenzofurans was realized by organocatalyzed one-step Michael addition to access structurally diverse 3,3′-disubstituted oxindoles.

Thermal-mediated [1,3]-hydrogen transfer as the key step: access to oxindole-chromone hybrid collection with structural diversity

Inspired by the chemistry and biology of chromone and oxindole derivatives, herein we report the first example of thermal-mediated [1,3]-hydrogen transfer as the key step for the efficient synthesis of oxindole-chromone hybrid collections 2, which avoids additional catalyst and solvent conditions. All the oxindole-chromones 2 are smoothly obtained in >99% yields in all cases, avoiding column chromatography purification. In particular, the products 2 can act as potential synthons for further elaboration in structural diversity, which might be valuable in organic and medicinal chemistry.

[6π] Photocyclization to cis-Hexahydrocarbazol-4-ones: Substrate Modification, Mechanism, and Scope

Upon irradiation at λ = 366 nm, tertiary N-alkoxycarbonyl-N-aryl-β-enaminones furnished exclusively the trans-hexahydrocarbazol-4-ones by a conrotatory [6π] photocyclization but epimerized on silica to cis-hexahydrocarbazol-4-ones (14 examples, 44–98% yield). The acceptor substitution on the nitrogen atom enhanced the stability of the cyclized products compared to N-alkyl-N-aryl-β-enaminones reported previously. The mechanism of the [6π] photocyclization was investigated by quenching experiments, deuterium-labeling experiments, and DFT calculations, suggesting a triplet pathway for the conrotatory ring closure followed by a suprafacial [1,4] hydrogen migration.

Photoredox asymmetric catalytic enantioconvergent substitution of 3-chlorooxindoles

An enantioconvergent substitution of 3-substituted 3-chlorooxindoles with N-aryl glycines under visible light irradiation is reported.

Thermal-mediated catalyst-free heterolytic cleavage of 3-halooxindoles: rapid access to 3-functionalized-2-oxindoles

Herein a previously unreported catalyst-free S_N1 reaction of the 3-halooxindoles to build 3-functionalized-2-oxindoles is described.

Organocatalytic asymmetric Michael addition between 3-subsituted oxindoles and enals catalyzed by camphor sulfonyl hydrazine

3,3-Disubstituted oxindoles containing vicinal stereogenic carbon centers have been synthesized through organocatalytic asymmetric Michael addition between 3-substituted oxindoles and enals catalyzed by chiral camphor sulfonyl hydrazines (CaSHs).

Direct β-selectivity of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam for asymmetric conjugate additions in an organocatalytic manner

The β-selective asymmetric addition of γ-butyrolactam with cyclic imino esters catalyzed by a bifunctional chiral tertiary amine has been developed, which provides an efficient access to optically active β-position functionalized pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives in both high yield and enantioselectivity (up to 78% yield and 95 : 5 er). This is the first catalytic method to access chiral β-functionalized pyrrolidin-2-one via a direct organocatalytic approach.

Synthesis of chiral 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles through enantioselective catalytic nucleophilic additions to isatin imines

This review collects the recent developments in the synthesis of chiral 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles based on enantioselective catalytic nucleophilic additions to isatin imines published since the beginning of 2015.

A copper(i)-catalyzed asymmetric Mannich reaction of glycine Schiff bases with isatin-derived ketimines: enantioselective synthesis of 3-substituted 3-aminooxindoles

We have developed a copper/Ph-Phosferrox-catalyzed asymmetric Mannich reaction of Schiff bases with isatin-derived ketimines to prepare 3-substituted 3-aminooxindoles with excellent results.

Catalytic synthesis of 3-aminooxindoles via addition to isatin imine: an update

3-Substituted-3-aminooxindoles have attracted the attention of organic chemist to develop different synthetic methodologies for their synthesis using catalysts. This review covers the recent developments.

A chiral Brønsted acid-catalyzed highly enantioselective Mannich-type reaction of α-diazo esters with in situ generated N-acyl ketimines

A chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric Mannich-type reaction of α-diazo esters with in situ generated N-acyl ketimines, derived from 3-aryl-3-hydroxyisoindolinones has been demonstrated. The reaction proceeds smoothly under mild reaction conditions.

Organocatalytic enantioselective Mannich-type addition of 5H-thiazol-4-ones to isatin-derived imines: access to 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles featured by vicinal sulfur-containing tetrasubstituted stereocenters

3-Substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles featuring both 5H-thiazol-4-one and vicinal sulfur-containing tetrasubstituted stereocenter structural motifs were obtained in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities and diastereoselectivities.

Chiral Primary Amine Catalysis for Asymmetric Mannich Reactions of Aldehydes with Ketimines: Stereoselectivity and Reactivity

The application potential of primary amine catalysts in the context of Mannich reactions of aldehydes with ketimines is exemplified by isatin-derived ketimines and cyclic trifluoromethyl ketimines. Primary amine catalysts exhibit either unusual stereoselectivity or reactivity, which is not observable with secondary amine catalysts. Moreover, reversal of diastereofacial selectivity between primary and secondary amine catalysts is disclosed. These new reactions provide useful methods for the syntheses of chiral 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles and dihydroquinazolinones bearing a trifluoromethylated quaternary stereocenter. The synthetic utility of the reactions is demonstrated through the formal synthesis of AG-041R and DPC 083 and the total synthesis of (-)-psychotriasine.