Asymmetric Michael addition reaction organocatalyzed by stereoisomeric pyrrolidine sulfinamides under neat conditions. A brief study of self-disproportionation of enantiomers

Recent Advances in Asymmetric Synthesis of Pyrrolidine-Based Organocatalysts and Their Application: A 15-Year Update

In 1971, chemists from Hoffmann-La Roche and Schering AG independently discovered a new asymmetric intramolecular aldol reaction catalyzed by the natural amino acid proline, a transformation now known as the Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction. These remarkable results remained forgotten until List and Barbas reported in 2000 that L-proline was also able to catalyze intermolecular aldol reactions with non-negligible enantioselectivities. In the same year, MacMillan reported on asymmetric Diels-Alder cycloadditions which were efficiently catalyzed by imidazolidinones deriving from natural amino acids. These two seminal reports marked the birth of modern asymmetric organocatalysis. A further important breakthrough in this field happened in 2005, when Jørgensen and Hayashi independently proposed the use of diarylprolinol silyl ethers for the asymmetric functionalization of aldehydes. During the last 20 years, asymmetric organocatalysis has emerged as a very powerful tool for the facile construction of complex molecular architectures. Along the way, a deeper knowledge of organocatalytic reaction mechanisms has been acquired, allowing for the fine-tuning of the structures of privileged catalysts or proposing completely new molecular entities that are able to efficiently catalyze these transformations. This review highlights the most recent advances in the asymmetric synthesis of organocatalysts deriving from or related to proline, starting from 2008.

Tailor-Made Amino Acids in Pharmaceutical Industry: Synthetic Approaches to Aza-Tryptophan Derivatives

Over the recent years there has been a noticeable upsurge of interest in aza-analogs of tryptophan which are isosteric to the latter and found numerous applications in medicinal, bioorganic chemistry, and peptide research. In the present review article, five aza-tryptophan derivatives are profiled, including aza-substitution in the positions 2, on the five-membered ring, as well as in positions 4, 5, 6, and 7 on the six-membered ring. A detailed and comprehensive literature overview of the synthetic methods for the preparation of these aza-tryptophans is presented and general facets of the biological properties and most promising applications are discussed.

Recommended Tests for the Self-Disproportionation of Enantiomers (SDE) to Ensure Accurate Reporting of the Stereochemical Outcome of Enantioselective Reactions

The purpose of this review is to highlight the necessity of conducting tests to gauge the magnitude of the self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE) phenomenon to ensure the veracity of reported enantiomeric excess (ee) values for scalemic samples obtained from enantioselective reactions, natural products isolation, etc. The SDE always occurs to some degree whenever any scalemic sample is subjected to physicochemical processes concomitant with the fractionation of the sample, thus leading to erroneous reporting of the true ee of the sample if due care is not taken to either preclude the effects of the SDE by measurement of the ee prior to the application of physicochemical processes, suppressing the SDE, or evaluating all obtained fractions of the sample. Or even avoiding fractionation altogether if possible. There is a clear necessity to conduct tests to assess the magnitude of the SDE for the processes applied to samples and the updated and improved recommendations described herein cover chromatography and processes involving gas-phase transformations such as evaporation or sublimation.

The self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE) via column chromatography of β-amino-α,α-difluorophosphonic acid derivatives

This work presents the first study of the self-disproportionation of enantiomers via chromatography (SDEvC) of β-aminophosphonic acid esters, several of which have been synthesized for the first time. Three types of structures were examined, N-acetylated, dipeptide construction with N-Cbz glycine, and a free amine. In the latter case, this is the first time that SDEvC has been reported for free amine amino acids. In all the three types of structures, significant SDE magnitudes (Δee's up to 55%) were exhibited underscoring the ubiquitous nature of the SDE phenomenon. Chemical models of homo- versus heterochiral intermolecular interactions are proposed to rationalize the SDE magnitude differences amongst these new β-aminophosphonic acid derivatives. In addition, the incorporation of additional, competing binding modes to a molecule, was found to lead to a reduction of the SDE magnitude by shifting the intermolecular binding away from the stereogenic center and/or by leading to a convoluted binding system that disrupts the structured and relatively stable assemblies that give rise to the SDE.

The self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE) of amino acids and their derivatives

This review covers the phenomenon of the self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE) of amino acids and their derivatives in all its guises from phase transformations (recrystallization, sublimation, and distillation), to the application of force fields, through to chromatography including HPLC, MPLC, gravity-driven column chromatography, and SEC. The relevance of the SDE phenomenon to amino acid research and to marketed pharmaceuticals is clear given the potential for alteration of the enantiomeric excess of a portion of a scalemic sample. In addition, the possible contribution of the SDE phenomenon to the genesis of prebiotic homochirality is considered.

Multifunctional phosphoramide-(S)-prolinamide derivatives as efficient organocatalysts in asymmetric aldol and Michael reactions

Knowledge accumulated in the field of organocatalysis led to the design and synthesis of three novel and efficient organocatalysts for the stereoselective aldol and Michael reactions in the presence of water.

The self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE) of α-amino acid derivatives: facets of steric and electronic properties

α-Amino acids (α-AAs) are in extremely high demand in nearly every sector of the food and health-related chemical industries and continue to be the subject of intense multidisciplinary research. The self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE) is an emerging and one of the least studied areas of α-AA or enantiomeric properties, critically important for their production and application. In the present work, we report a detailed study of the SDE via achiral, gravity-driven column chromatography for a set of N-acylated, N-carbonylated, N-fluoroacylated, and N-thioacylated α-amino acid esters. As well as thioacylation, attention was paid to the effect of altering the R group of the ester functionality, the side chain, or that of the acyl group attached to the amide nitrogen, whereby it was found that electron-withdrawing groups in the latter moiety had a pronounced effect on the magnitude and behavior of the resulting SDE phenomenon. Intriguingly, in the case of N-fluoroacylated derivatives, by favoring the formation of dimeric associates and effecting a strong bias toward homochiral associates over heterochiral associates, the SDE magnitude was greatly reduced contrary to intuitive expectations. Energy estimates resulted from DFT calculations.

The crystal structure of 2-phenyl-4,6-bis(R-tert-butylsulfonamido)-1,3,5-triazine – ethyl acetate (2/1), C38H58N10O6S4

C38H58N10O6S4, monoclinic, P21 (no. 4), a = 11.9542(5) Å, b = 11.4057(5) Å, c = 17.2763(8) Å, β = 96.380(1)° V = 2340.97(18) Å3, Z = 4, R gt(F) = 0.0325, wR ref(F 2) = 0.0836, T = 200 K.

Palladium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylic Alkylations of Colby Pro-Enolates with MBH Carbonates: Enantioselective Access to Quaternary C-F Oxindoles

Owing to the innovative applications of fluorinated compounds in many areas of technology and medicine, methods for the preparation of C-F quaternary fluorine containing compounds are in extremely high demand. Here, we report the discovery of a general procedure for an S_N 2 reaction catalyzed by Pd/Ding-SKP-type ligands, and that occurs between Colby pro-enolates with MBH carbonates to afford the corresponding products featuring two consecutive stereogenic carbons, including a C-F quaternary stereogenic center. The reactions readily occur at ambient temperatures with high chemical yields and in excellent chemo-, diastereo- and enantioselective manners. This practically attractive stereochemical outcome, coupled with the operational simplicity and structural generality, bodes well for the synthetic application of this process in the preparation of a novel class of biologically relevant fluorine-containing compounds.

The self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE): a menace or an opportunity?

Herein we report on the well-documented, yet not widely known, phenomenon of the self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE): the spontaneous fractionation of scalemic material into enantioenriched and -depleted fractions when any physicochemical process is applied.

Herein we report on the well-documented, yet not widely known, phenomenon of the self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE): the spontaneous fractionation of scalemic material into enantioenriched and -depleted fractions when any physicochemical process is applied. The SDE has implications ranging from the origins of prebiotic homochirality to unconventional enantiopurification methods, though the risks of altering the enantiomeric excess (ee) unintentionally, regrettably, remain greatly unappreciated. While recrystallization is well known as an SDE process, occurrences of the SDE in other processes are much less recognized, e.g. sublimation and even distillation. But the most common process that many workers seem to be completely ignorant of is SDE via chromatography and reports have included all manner of structures, all types of interactions, and all forms of chromatography, including GC. The SDE can be either a blessing – as a means to obtain enantiopure samples from scalemates – or a curse, as unwitting alteration of the ee leads to errors in the reporting of results and/or misinterpretation of the system under study. Thus the ramifications of the SDE are relevant to any area involving chirality – natural products, asymmetric synthesis, etc. Moreover, there is grave concern regarding errors in the literature, in addition to the possible occurrence of valid results which may have been overlooked and thus remain unreported, as well as the potential for the SDE to alter the ee, particularly via chromatography, and the following concepts will be conveyed: (1) the SDE occurs under totally achiral conditions of (a) precipitation, (b) centrifugation, (c) evaporation, (d) distillation, (e) crystallization, (f) sublimation, and (g) achiral chromatography (e.g. column, flash, MPLC, HPLC, SEC, GC, etc.). (2) The SDE cannot be controlled simply by experimental accuracy and ignorance of the SDE unavoidably leads to mistakes in the recorded and reported stereochemical outcome of enantioselective transformations. (3) The magnitude of the SDE (the difference between the extremes of enantioenrichment and -depletion) can be controlled and used to: (a) minimize mistakes in the recorded experimental values and (b) to develop unconventional and preparatively superior methods for enantiopurification. (4) The magnitude of the SDE cannot be predicted but can be expected for compounds possessing SDE-phoric groups or which have a general tendency for strong hydrogen or halogen bonds or dipole–dipole or aromatic π–π interactions. (5) An SDE test and the rigorous reporting and description of applied physicochemical processes should become part of standard experimental practice to prevent the erroneous reporting of the stereochemical outcome of enantioselective catalytic reactions and the chirooptical properties of scalemates. New directions in the study of the SDE, including halogen bonding-based interactions and novel, unconventional enantiopurification methods such as pseudo-SDE (chiral selector-assisted SDE resolution of racemates), are also reported.

Possible Case of Halogen Bond-Driven Self-Disproportionation of Enantiomers (SDE) via Achiral Chromatography

The major breakthrough reported in this work is the discovery of likely halogen bond-driven self-disproportionation of enantiomers (SDE). Taking into account that the halogen-bonding interactions can be rationally designed and can match, or even exceed, the strength of the more familiar hydrogen bond, this discovery clearly opens an unexpected new direction of research in the areas of molecular chirality and the SDE phenomenon.