Stereochemical Inversion of a Cyano-Stabilized Grignard Reagent: Remarkable Effects of the Ethereal Solvent Structure and Concentration

Application of Biobased Solvents in Asymmetric Catalysis

The necessity of more sustainable conditions that follow the twelve principles of Green Chemistry have pushed researchers to the development of novel reagents, catalysts and solvents for greener asymmetric methodologies. Solvents are in general a fundamental part for developing organic processes, as well as for the separation and purification of the reaction products. By this reason, in the last years, the application of the so-called green solvents has emerged as a useful alternative to the classical organic solvents. These solvents must present some properties, such as a low vapor pressure and toxicity, high boiling point and biodegradability, and must be obtained from renewable sources. In the present revision, the recent application of these biobased solvents in the synthesis of optically active compounds employing different catalytic methodologies, including biocatalysis, organocatalysis and metal catalysis, will be analyzed to provide a novel tool for carrying out more ecofriendly organic processes.

Metalated isocyanides: formation, structure, and reactivity

Metalated isocyanides are highly versatile organometallics. Central to the reactivity of metalated isocyanides is the presence of two orthogonally reactive carbons, a highly nucleophilic "carbanion" inductively stabilized by a carbene-like isocyanide carbon. The two reactivities are harnessed in the attack of metalated isocyanides on π-electrophiles where an initial nucleophilic attack leads to an electron pair that cyclizes onto the terminal isocyanide carbon in a rapid route to diverse, nitrogenous heterocycles. Harnessing the potent nucleophilicity of metalated isocyanides while preventing electrophilic attack on the terminal isocyanide carbon has largely been driven by empirical heuristics. This review provides a foundational understanding by surveying the formation, structure, and properties of metalated isocyanides. The focus on the interplay between the structure and reactivity of metalated isocyanides is anticipated to facilitate the development and deployment of these exceptional nucleophiles in complex bond constructions.

C- and N-Metalated Nitriles: The Relationship between Structure and Selectivity

Metalated nitriles are exceptional nucleophiles capable of forging highly hindered stereocenters in cases where enolates are unreactive. The excellent nucleophilicity emanates from the powerful inductive stabilization of adjacent negative charge by the nitrile, which has a miniscule steric demand. Inductive stabilization is the key to understanding the reactivity of metalated nitriles because this permits a continuum of structures that range from N-metalated ketenimines to nitrile anions. Solution and solid-state analyses reveal two different metal coordination sites, the formally anionic carbon and the nitrile nitrogen, with the site of metalation depending intimately on the solvent, counterion, temperature, and ligands. The most commonly encountered structures, C- and N-metalated nitriles, have either sp³ or sp² hybridization at the nucleophilic carbon, which essentially translates into two distinct organometallic species with similar but nonidentical stereoselectivity, regioselectivity, and reactivity preferences. The hybridization differences are particularly important in S_Ni displacements of cyclic nitriles because the orbital orientations create very precise trajectories that control the cyclization selectivity. Harnessing the orbital differences between C- and N-metalated nitriles allows selective cyclization to afford nitrile-containing cis- or trans-hydrindanes, decalins, or bicyclo[5.4.0]undecanes. Similar orbital constraints favor preferential S_Ni displacements with allylic electrophiles on sp³ centers over sp² centers. The strategy permits stereoselective displacements on secondary centers to set contiguous tertiary and quaternary stereocenters or even contiguous vicinal quaternary centers. Stereoselective alkylations of acyclic nitriles are inherently more challenging because of the difficulty in creating steric differentiation in a dynamic system with rotatable bonds. However, judicious substituent placement of vicinal dimethyl groups and a trisubstituted alkene sufficiently constrains C- and N-metalated nitriles to install quaternary stereocenters with excellent 1,2-induction. The structural differences between C- and N-metalated nitriles permit a rare series of chemoselective alkylations with bifunctional electrophiles. C-Magnesiated nitriles preferentially react with carbonyl electrophiles, whereas N-lithiated nitriles favor S_N2 displacement of alkyl halides. The chemoselective alkylations potentially provide a strategy for late-stage alkylations of polyfunctional electrophiles en route to bioactive targets. In this Account, the bonding of metalated nitriles is summarized as a prelude to the different strategies for selectively preparing C- and N-metalated nitriles. With this background, the Account then transitions to applications in which C- or N-metalated nitriles allow complementary diastereoselectivity in alkylations and arylations, and regioselective alkylations and arylations, with acyclic and cyclic nitriles. In the latter sections, a series of regiodivergent cyclizations are described that provide access to cis- and trans-hydrindanes and decalins, structural motifs embedded within a plethora of natural products. The last section describes chemoselective alkylations and acylations of C- and N-metalated nitriles that offer the tantalizing possibility of selectively manipulating functional groups in bioactive medicinal leads without recourse to protecting groups. Collectively, the unusual reactivity profiles of C- and N-metalated nitriles provide new strategies for rapidly and selectively accessing valuable synthetic precursors.

Highly enantioselective metallation-substitution alpha to a chiral nitrile

Nitrile anions do not necessarily lack stereochemical integrity and we show good results for stereospecific reaction with a simple magnesium base.

We report the deprotonation of a chiral nitrile and reaction of the resulting chiral organometallic species with a variety of electrophiles to give highly enantiomerically enriched 2-substituted nitrile products. The nitrile was treated with TMPMgCl and the resulting anion, an asymmetric alpha cyano Grignard species, was found to be configurationally stable at low temperature for a short time (half-life several minutes at –104 °C).

Stereochemical Course of Deprotonation-Acylation of N-Boc- and N-Carbamoyl-2-cyano-6-methylpiperidines

The stereochemical course of electrophilic substitution of α-nitrile metallocarbanions generated by deprotonation from N-Boc- and N-carbamoyl-2-cyano-6-methylpiperidines was investigated. Deprotonation in the presence of an electrophile taking advantage of the high acidity of α-nitrile protons allowed examination of the effects of a chelating group on the nitrogen atom, a countercation, and the reactivity of an electrophile on the steric course. Analyses of reactions using aroyl chlorides and methyl iodide revealed the following: (1) the substitution reactions basically proceed with retention of configuration, (2) the extent of an inversion product increases with decreasing chelating ability of the N-substituent and with increasing leaving ability (ionic character) of a countercation (Li, Na, K) of the anionic species, and (3) the use of a more reactive electrophile results in an increase of the retention product.