A Practical and Robust Zwitterionic Cooperative Lewis Acid/Acetate/Benzimidazolium Catalyst for Direct 1,4-Additions

A catalyst type is disclosed allowing for exceptional efficiency in direct 1,4-additions. The catalyst is a zwitterionic entity, in which acetate binds to Cu^II , which is formally negatively charged and serving as counterion for benzimidazolium. All 3 functionalities are involved in the catalytic activation. For maleimides productivity was increased by a factor >300 compared to literature (TONs up to 6700). High stereoselectivity and productivity was attained for a broad range of other Michael acceptors as well. The polyfunctional catalyst is accessible in only 4 steps from N-Ph-benzimidazole with an overall yield of 96 % and robust during catalysis. This allowed to reuse the same catalyst multiple times with nearly constant efficiency. Mechanistic studies, in particular by DFT, give a detailed picture how the catalyst operates. The benzimidazolium unit stabilizes the coordinated enolate nucleophile and prevents that acetate/acetic acid dissociate from the catalyst.

Highly Active Cooperative Lewis Acid-Ammonium Salt Catalyst for the Enantioselective Hydroboration of Ketones

Enantiopure secondary alcohols are fundamental high-value synthetic building blocks. One of the most attractive ways to get access to this compound class is the catalytic hydroboration. We describe a new concept for this reaction type that allowed for exceptional catalytic turnover numbers (up to 15 400), which were increased by around 1.5-3 orders of magnitude compared to the most active catalysts previously reported. In our concept an aprotic ammonium halide moiety cooperates with an oxophilic Lewis acid within the same catalyst molecule. Control experiments reveal that both catalytic centers are essential for the observed activity. Kinetic, spectroscopic and computational studies show that the hydride transfer is rate limiting and proceeds via a concerted mechanism, in which hydride at Boron is continuously displaced by iodide, reminiscent to an SN 2 reaction. The catalyst, which is accessible in high yields in few steps, was found to be stable during catalysis, readily recyclable and could be reused 10 times still efficiently working.

Enantiodivergent [4+2] Cycloaddition of Dienolates by Polyfunctional Lewis Acid/Zwitterion Catalysis

Diels-Alder reactions have become established as one of the most effective ways to prepare stereochemically complex six-membered rings. Different catalysis concepts have been reported, including dienophile activation by Lewis acids or H-bond donors and diene activation by bases. Herein we report a new concept, in which an acidic prodiene is acidified by a Lewis acid to facilitate deprotonation by an imidazolium-aryloxide entity within a polyfunctional catalyst. A metal dienolate is thus formed, while an imidazolium-ArOH moiety probably forms hydrogen bonds with the dienophile. The catalyst type, readily prepared in few steps in high overall yield, was applied to 3-hydroxy-2-pyrone and 3-hydroxy-2-pyridone as well as cyclopentenone prodienes. Maleimide, maleic anhydride, and nitroolefin dienophiles were employed. Kinetic, spectroscopic, and control experiments support a cooperative mode of action. High enantioselectivity was observed even with unprecedented TONs of up to 3680.

Asymmetric Carboxycyanation of Aldehydes by Cooperative AlF/Onium Salt Catalysts: from Cyanoformate to KCN as Cyanide Source

Asymmetric 1,2-additions of cyanide yield enantioenriched cyanohydrins as versatile chiral building blocks. Next to HCN, volatile organic cyanide sources are usually used. Among them, cyanoformates are more attractive on technical scale than TMSCN for cost reasons, but catalytic productivity is usually lower. Here, the development of a new strategy for cyanations is described, in which this activity disadvantage is overcome. A Lewis acidic Al center cooperates with an aprotic onium moiety within a remarkably robust bifunctional Al-F-salen complex. This allowed for unprecedented turnover numbers of up to 10⁴ . DFT studies suggest an unexpected unique trimolecular pathway in which the ammonium bound cyanide attacks the aldehyde, which itself is activated by the carbonyl group of the cyanoformate binding to the Al center. In addition, a novel practical carboxycyanation method was developed that makes use of KCN as the sole cyanide source. The use of a pyrocarbonate as carboxylating reagent provided the best results.