In Situ Quench Reactions of Enantioenriched Secondary Alkyllithium Reagents in Batch and Continuous Flow Using an I/Li-Exchange

We report a practical in situ quench (ISQ) procedure involving the generation of chiral secondary alkyllithiums from secondary alkyl iodides (including functionalized iodides bearing an ester or a nitrile) in the presence of various electrophiles such as aldehydes, ketones, Weinreb amides, isocyanates, sulfides, or boronates. This ISQ-reaction allowed the preparation of a broad range of optically enriched ketones, alcohols, amides, sulfides and boronic acid esters in typically 90-98 % ee. Remarkably, these reactions were performed at -78 °C or -40 °C in batch. A continuous flow set-up permitted reaction temperatures between -20 °C and 0 °C and allowed a scale-up up to a 40-fold without further optimization.

Diastereo- and Enantioselective Cross-Couplings of Secondary Alkylcopper Reagents with 3-Halogeno-Unsaturated Carbonyl Derivatives

Chiral secondary alkylcopper reagents were prepared from the corresponding alkyl iodides with retention of configuration by an I/Li-exchange using tBuLi (-100 °C, 1 min) followed by a transmetalation with CuBr⋅P(OEt)3 (-100 °C, 20 s). These stereodefined secondary alkylcoppers underwent stereoretentive cross-couplings with several 3-iodo or 3-bromo unsaturated carbonyl derivatives leading to the corresponding γ-methylated Michael acceptors in good yields and with high diastereoselectivities (dr up to 96:4). The method was extended to enantiomerically enriched alkylcoppers, providing optically enriched advanced natural product intermediates with up to 90 % ee.

Stereoselective Csp3 -Csp2 Cross-Couplings of Chiral Secondary Alkylzinc Reagents with Alkenyl and Aryl Halides

We report palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of chiral secondary non-stabilized dialkylzinc reagents, prepared from readily available chiral secondary alkyl iodides, with alkenyl and aryl halides. This method provides α-chiral alkenes and arenes with very high retention of configuration (dr up to 98:2) and satisfactory overall yields (up to 76 % for 3 reaction steps). The configurational stability of these chiral non-stabilized dialkylzinc reagents was determined and exceeded several hours at 25 °C. DFT calculations were performed to rationalize the stereoretention during the catalytic cycle. Furthermore, the cross-coupling reaction was applied in an efficient total synthesis of the sesquiterpenes (S)- and (R)-curcumene with control of the absolute stereochemistry.