Asymmetric cyclopropanation of olefins with diazoacetate using chiral copper catalysts

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of some (pyridyl)cyclopropylmethyl amines and their methiodides as nicotinic receptor ligands

A series of 3- and (4-pyridyl)cyclopropylmethyl amines and their quaternary ammonium derivatives have been synthesized; they can be considered as rigid analogues of nicotine. The compounds have been tested on rat cerebral cortex to measure the affinity for the central nicotinic receptor. Only the methiodides show affinity in the micromolar range. The results obtained can provide useful information on the topography of the nicotinic receptor-binding site.

A new ligand scaffold for catalytic asymmetric alkylzinc additions to aldehydes

[reaction: see text] 1,3-Azole derivatives of 2-aminocyclohexanecarboxylic acid represent a new class of bidentate ligands for metal-mediated catalytic asymmetric synthesis. N-[2-(4-Isopropyl-4,5-dihydrooxazol-2-yl)cyclohexyl]methanesulfonamide (6) is particularly well suited for the addition of alkylzinc reagents to aliphatic aldehydes in high enantiomeric excess.

Theoretical (DFT) insights into the mechanism of copper-catalyzed cyclopropanation reactions. Implications for enantioselective catalysis

The mechanism of the copper(I)-catalyzed cyclopropanation reaction has been extensively investigated for a medium-size reaction model by means of B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations. The starting ethylene complex of the N,N'-dimethylmalonaldiimine--copper (I) catalyst undergoes a ligand exchange with methyl diazoacetate to yield a reaction intermediate, which subsequently undergoes nitrogen extrusion to generate a copper--carbene complex. The cyclopropanation step takes place through a direct carbene insertion of the metal--carbene species to yield a catalyst--product complex, which can finally regenerate the starting complex. The stereochemical predictions of a more realistic model (by considering a chiral bis(oxazoline)--copper (I) catalyst) have been rationalized in terms of steric repulsions, showing good agreement with experimental data.