Development of Chiral Spiro Phosphoramidites for Rhodium‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Reactions

Asymmetric Photoaerobic Lactonization and Aza-Wacker Cyclization of Alkenes Enabled by Ternary Selenium-Sulfur Multicatalysis

An adaptable, sulfur-accelerated photoaerobic selenium-π-acid ternary catalyst system for the enantioselective allylic redox functionalization of simple, nondirecting alkenes is reported. In contrast to related photoredox catalytic methods, which largely depend on olefinic substrates with heteroatomic directing groups to unfold high degrees of stereoinduction, the current protocol relies on chiral, spirocyclic selenium-π-acids that covalently bind to the alkene moiety. The performance of this ternary catalytic method is demonstrated in the asymmetric, photoaerobic lactonization and cycloamination of enoic acids and unsaturated sulfonamides, respectively, leading to an averaged enantiomeric ratio (er) of 92:8. Notably, this protocol provides for the first time an asymmetric, catalytic entryway to pharmaceutically relevant 3-pyrroline motifs, which was used as a platform to access a 3,4-dihydroxyproline derivative in only seven steps with a 92:8 er.

Understanding the 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions of Allenes

We have quantum chemically studied the reactivity, site-, and regioselectivity of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between methyl azide and various allenes, including the archetypal allene propadiene, heteroallenes, and cyclic allenes, by using density functional theory (DFT). The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactivity of linear (hetero)allenes decreases as the number of heteroatoms in the allene increases, and formation of the 1,5-adduct is, in all cases, favored over the 1,4-adduct. Both effects find their origin in the strength of the primary orbital interactions. The cycloaddition reactivity of cyclic allenes was also investigated, and the increased predistortion of allenes, that results upon cyclization, leads to systematically lower activation barriers not due to the expected variations in the strain energy, but instead from the differences in the interaction energy. The geometric predistortion of cyclic allenes enhances the reactivity compared to linear allenes through a unique mechanism that involves a smaller HOMO-LUMO gap, which manifests as more stabilizing orbital interactions.

Exploration of chiral diastereomeric spiroketal (SPIROL)-based phosphinite ligands in asymmetric hydrogenation of heterocycles

New and readily available chiral SPIROL-based diphosphinite ligands (SPIRAPO) have been prepared and employed for iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenations of quinolines, quinoxalines and 2H-1,4-bezoxazin-2-ones. While the structurally similar (R,R,R)-SPIRAPO and (R)-SPINOL-based phosphinites were not the best ligands for these transformations, the (S,R,R)-diastereomer of SPIRAPO was found to be highly effective ligand for the reduction of 20 different heterocyclic systems with loadings as low as S/C = 10 000. This dearomatizative hydrogenation provided direct access to optically active tetrahydroquinolines in high enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee) and excellent yields (up to 99%), and was used to generate 1.75 g of natural alkaloid (-)-(R)-angustureine. This protocol was subsequently extended to achieve asymmetric hydrogenation of quinoxalines and 2H-1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones in good to excellent enantioselectivities.

Development of a C2-Symmetric Chiral aza Spirocyclic Diol

A C₂-symmetric chiral spirocyclic diol aza-SPINOL containing a spirooxindole scaffold has been designed, synthesized, and optically resolved. The product could be synthesized on gram scale in an overall yield of 22%. Moreover, elaborations of aza-SPINOL to other chiral ligands as well as the preliminary investigation of the related bisphosphine ligand in the desymmetrization of bisallylic amide were reported.