Diastereodivergent Synthesis of Cyclopentyl Boronic Esters Bearing Contiguous Fully Substituted Stereocenters

The synthesis of molecules bearing two or more contiguous, quaternary stereocenters is challenging, owing to the difficulty in controlling stereochemistry whilst simultaneously constructing a sterically congested motif. Herein, we report the electrophile-induced ring contractive 1,2-metallate rearrangement of 6-membered cyclic alkenyl boronate complexes for the synthesis of cyclopentyl boronic esters bearing two contiguous, fully substituted stereocenters with high levels of stereocontrol. Remarkably, simple variation of the reaction solvent enabled their diastereodivergent construction with facile access to complementary diastereomeric pairs. The utility of our methodology is demonstrated in the asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-herbertene-1,14-diol.

Enantiospecific Trifluoromethyl-Radical-Induced Three-Component Coupling of Boronic Esters with Furans

In the presence of trifluoromethylsulfonium reagents, boronate complexes derived from 2-lithio furan and non-racemic secondary and tertiary alkyl or aryl boronic esters undergo deborylative three-component coupling to give the corresponding 2,5-disubstituted furans with excellent levels of enantiospecificity. The process proceeds via the reaction of boronate complexes with a trifluoromethyl radical, which triggers 1,2-metallate rearrangement upon single-electron oxidation. Alternative electrophiles can also be used in place of trifluoromethylsulfonium reagents to effect similar three-component coupling reactions.

Regio- and Stereoselective Homologation of 1,2-Bis(Boronic Esters): Stereocontrolled Synthesis of 1,3-Diols and Sch 725674

1,2-Bis(boronic esters), derived from the enantioselective diboration of terminal alkenes, can be selectively homologated at the primary boronic ester by using enantioenriched primary/secondary lithiated carbamates or benzoates to give 1,3-bis(boronic esters), which can be subsequently oxidized to the corresponding secondary-secondary and secondary-tertiary 1,3-diols with full stereocontrol. The transformation was applied to a concise total synthesis of the 14-membered macrolactone, Sch 725674. The nine-step synthetic route also features a novel desymmetrizing enantioselective diboration of a divinyl carbinol derivative and high-yielding late-stage cross-metathesis and Yamaguchi macrolactonization reactions.

Versatile C(sp(2) )-C(sp(3) ) Ligand Couplings of Sulfoxides for the Enantioselective Synthesis of Diarylalkanes

The reaction of chiral (hetero)aryl benzyl sulfoxides with Grignard reagents affords enantiomerically pure diarylalkanes in up to 98 % yield and greater than 99.5 % enantiomeric excess. This ligand coupling reaction is tolerant to multiple substitution patterns and provides access to diverse areas of chemical space in three operationally simple steps from commercially available reagents. This strategy provides orthogonal access to electron-deficient heteroaromatic compounds, which are traditionally synthesized by transition metal catalyzed cross-couplings, and circumvents common issues associated with proto-demetalation and β-hydride elimination.

Enantiospecific Alkynylation of Alkylboronic Esters

Enantioenriched secondary and tertiary alkyl pinacolboronic esters undergo enantiospecific deborylative alkynylation through a Zweifel-type alkenylation followed by a 1,2-elimination reaction. The process involves use of α-lithio vinyl bromide or vinyl carbamate species, for which application to Zweifel-type reactions has not previously been explored. The resulting functionalized 1,1-disubstituted alkenes undergo facile base-mediated elimination to generate terminal alkyne products in high yield and excellent levels of enantiospecificity over a wide range of pinacolboronic ester substrates. Furthermore, along with terminal alkynes, internal and silyl-protected alkynes can be formed by simply introducing a suitable carbon- or silicon-based electrophile after the base-mediated 1,2-elimination reaction.

Synthesis of Chiral Tertiary Boronic Esters by Oxime-Directed Catalytic Asymmetric Hydroboration

Chiral boronic esters are useful intermediates in asymmetric synthesis. We have previously shown that carbonyl-directed catalytic asymmetric hydroboration (CAHB) is an efficient approach to the synthesis of functionalized primary and secondary chiral boronic esters. We now report that the oxime-directed CAHB of alkyl-substituted methylidene and trisubstituted alkene substrates by pinacolborane (pinBH) affords oxime-containing chiral tertiary boronic esters with yields up to 87% and enantiomeric ratios up to 96:4 e.r. The utility of the method is demonstrated by the formation of chiral diols and O-substituted hydroxylamines, the generation of quaternary carbon stereocenters through carbon-carbon coupling reactions, and the preparation of chiral 3,4,4-trisubstituted isoxazolines.

Investigation of functionalized α-chloroalkyllithiums for a stereospecific reagent-controlled homologation approach to the analgesic alkaloid (-)-epibatidine

Four putative functionalized α-chloroakyllithiums RCH2CHLiCl, where R=CHCH2(18 a), CCH (18 b), CH2OBn (18 c), and CH[O(CH2)2O] (18 d), were generated in situ by sulfoxide-lithium exchange from α-chlorosulfoxides, and investigated for the stereospecific reagent-controlled homologation (StReCH) of phenethyl and 2-chloropyrid-5-yl (17) pinacol boronic esters. Deuterium labeling experiments revealed that α-chloroalkyllithiums are quenched by proton transfer from their α-chlorosulfoxide precursors and it was established that this effect compromises the yield of StReCH reactions. Use of α-deuterated α-chlorosulfoxides was discovered to ameliorate the problem by retarding the rate of acid-base chemistry between the carbenoid and its precursor. Carbenoids 18 a and 18 b showed poor StReCH efficacy, particularly the propargyl group bearing carbenoid 18 b, the instability of which was attributed to a facile 1,2-hydride shift. By contrast, 18 d, a carbenoid that benefits from a stabilizing interaction between O and Li atoms gave good StReCH yields. Boronate 17 was chain extended by carbenoids 18 a, 18 b, and 18 d in 16, 0, and 68% yield, respectively; α-deuterated isotopomers D-18 a and D-18 d gave yields of 33 and 79% for the same reaction. Double StReCH of 17 was pursued to target contiguous stereodiads appropriate for the total synthesis of (-)-epibatidine (15). One-pot double StReCH of boronate 17 by two exposures to (S)-D-18 a (≤66 % ee), followed by work-up with KOOH, gave the expected stereodiad product in 16% yield (d.r.~67:33). The comparable reaction using two exposures to (S)-D-18 d (≤90% ee) delivered the expected bisacetal containing stereodiad (R,R)-DD-48 in 40% yield (≥98% ee, d.r.=85:15). Double StReCH of 17 using (S)-D-18 d (≤90% ee) followed by (R)-D-18 d (≤90% ee) likewise gave (R,S)-DD-48 in 49% yield (≥97% ee, d.r.=79:21). (R,S)-DD-48 was converted to a dideuterated isotopomer of a synthetic intermediate in Corey's synthesis of 15.