Asymmetric 1,4-addition of β-keto esters to cyclic enones catalyzed by Ru amido complexes

Recent Advances in Metal-Catalyzed Asymmetric 1,4-Conjugate Addition (ACA) of Nonorganometallic Nucleophiles

The metal-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition (ACA) reaction has emerged as a general and powerful approach for the construction of optically active compounds and is among the most significant and useful reactions in synthetic organic chemistry. In recent years, great progress has been made in this area with the use of various chiral metal complexes based on different chiral ligands. This review provides comprehensive and critical information on the enantioselective 1,4-conjugate addition of nonorganometallic (soft) nucleophiles and their importance in synthetic applications. The literature is covered from the last 10 years, and a number of examples from before 2007 are included as background information. The review is divided into multiple parts according to the type of nucleophile involved in the reaction (such as C-, B-, O-, N-, S-, P-, and Si-centered nucleophiles) and metal catalyst systems used.

The N-H functional group in organometallic catalysis

The organometallic approach is one of the most active topics in catalysis. The application of NH functionality in organometallic catalysis has become an important and attractive concept in catalyst design. NH moieties in the modifiers of organometallic catalysts have been shown to have various beneficial functions in catalysis by molecular recognition through hydrogen bonding to give catalyst-substrate, ligand-ligand, ligand-catalyst, and catalyst-catalyst interactions. This Review summarizes recent progress in the development of the organometallic catalysts based on the concept of cooperative catalysis by focusing on the NH moiety.

Bifunctional transition metal-based molecular catalysts for asymmetric syntheses

The discovery and development of conceptually new chiral bifunctional transition metal-based catalysts for asymmetric reactions is described. The chiral bifunctional Ru catalyst was originally developed for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones and imines and is now successfully applicable to enantioselective C-C bond formation reaction with a wide scope and high practicability. The deprotonation of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with the chiral amido Ru complexes leading to the amine Ru complexes bearing C- or O-bonded enolates, followed by further reactions with electrophlies gives C-C bond formation products. The present bifunctional Ru catalyst offers a great opportunity to open up new fundamentals for stereoselective molecular transformation including enantioselective C-H and C-C as well as C-O, C-N bond formation.

Synthetic Scope and Mechanistic Studies of Ru(OH)x/Al2O3-Catalyzed Heterogeneous Hydrogen-Transfer Reactions

Three kinds of hydrogen-transfer reactions, namely racemization of chiral secondary alcohols, reduction of carbonyl compounds to alcohols using 2-propanol as a hydrogen donor, and isomerization of allylic alcohols to saturated ketones, are efficiently promoted by the easily prepared and inexpensive supported ruthenium catalyst Ru(OH)x/Al2O3. A wide variety of substrates, such as aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic alcohols or carbonyl compounds, can be converted into the desired products, under anaerobic conditions, in moderate to excellent yields and without the need for additives such as bases. A larger scale, solvent-free reaction is also demonstrated: the isomerization of 1-octen-3-ol with a substrate/catalyst ratio of 20,000/1 shows a very high turnover frequency (TOF) of 18,400 h(-1), with a turnover number (TON) that reaches 17,200. The catalysis for these reactions is intrinsically heterogeneous in nature, and the Ru(OH)x/Al2O3 recovered after the reactions can be reused without appreciable loss of catalytic performance. The reaction mechanism of the present Ru(OH)x/Al2O3-catalyzed hydrogen-transfer reactions were examined with monodeuterated substrates. After the racemization of (S)-1-deuterio-1-phenylethanol in the presence of acetophenone was complete, the deuterium content at the alpha-position of the corresponding racemic alcohol was 91%, whereas no deuterium was incorporated into the alpha-position during the racemization of (S)-1-phenylethanol-OD. These results show that direct carbon-to-carbon hydrogen transfer occurs via a metal monohydride for the racemization of chiral secondary alcohols and reduction of carbonyl compounds to alcohols. For the isomerization, the alpha-deuterium of 3-deuterio-1-octen-3-ol was selectively relocated at the beta-position of the corresponding ketones (99% D at the beta-position), suggesting the involvement of a 1,4-addition of ruthenium monohydride species to the alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone intermediate. The ruthenium monohydride species and the alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone would be formed through alcoholate formation/beta-elimination. Kinetic studies and kinetic isotope effects show that the Ru-H bond cleavage (hydride transfer) is included in the rate-determining step.