Highly 1,4-Syn Diastereoselective, Phosphoramide-Catalyzed Aldol Additions of Chiral Methyl Ketone Enolates

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.

Catalytic enantioselective aldol reactions

Recent developments in catalytic asymmetric aldol reactions have been summarized.

Lewis acid organocatalysts

Abstract The term Lewis acid catalysts generally refers to metal salts like aluminium chloride, titanium chloride and zinc chloride. Their application in asymmetric catalysis can be achieved by the addition of enantiopure ligands to these salts. However, not only metal centers can function as Lewis acids. Compounds containing carbenium, silyl or phosphonium cations display Lewis acid catalytic activity. In addition, hypervalent compounds based on phosphorus and silicon, inherit Lewis acidity. Furthermore, ionic liquids, organic salts with a melting point below 100 degrees C, have revealed the ability to catalyze a range of reactions either in substoichiometric amount or, if used as the reaction medium, in stoichiometric or even larger quantities. The ionic liquids can often be efficiently recovered. The catalytic activity of the ionic liquid is explained by the Lewis acidic nature of their cations. This review covers the survey of known classes of metal-free Lewis acids and their application in catalysis.

Facile Synthesis of TMS-Protected Trifluoromethylated Alcohols Using Trifluoromethyltrimethylsilane (TMSCF3) and Various Nucleophilic Catalysts in DMF

Organofluorine compounds are becoming increasingly important in different fields, such as material science, agro chemistry, and the pharmaceutical industry. Nucleophilic trifluoromethylation is one of the widely used methods to incorporate a trifluoromethyl moiety into organic molecules. We have carried out extensive studies to develop varieties of easily accessible nucleophilic catalysts to promote such reactions. TMS-protected trifluoromethylated alcohols were prepared from both aldehydes and ketones in excellent yields using catalytic amount of amine N-oxide. Carbonate and phosphate salts also showed efficient catalytic activity toward this reaction. These reactions were highly solvent dependent, and DMF was found to be the most suitable one among the various solvents studied. All these reactions proceeded under very mild conditions, giving clean products and avoiding the use of any fluoride initiators or expensive catalysts, and extremely water-free conditions. The mechanism for the reaction is discussed in detail. DFT calculations were performed on the possible reaction intermediates using the Gaussian 03 program at B3LYP/6-311+G* level to support the proposed mechanism.

Diastereoselective aldol additions of chiral beta-hydroxy ethyl ketone enolates catalyzed by Lewis bases

The trichlorosilyl enolates derived from chiral ethyl ketones bearing a beta-hydroxyl group and an alpha-stereogenic center were employed in the phosphoramide-catalyzed aldol reaction. The addition of Z-enolates to achiral aldehydes produced aldol products in good yields and high syn relative diastereoselectivities. The internal diastereoselectivity is controlled by the catalyst configuration, allowing for selective formation of either syn diastereomer. [reaction: see text]

The effects of a remote stereogenic center in the Lewis base catalyzed aldol additions of chiral trichlorosilyl enolates

Chiral trichlorosilyl enolates bearing a remote stereogenic center were employed in the phosphoramide-catalyzed aldol reaction. The additions of the methyl ketone enolates proceeded with only moderate diastereoselectivities. The addition of the Z-enolate to various aldehydes selectively produced the syn relative diastereomers. In both cases, the effect of the beta-silyloxy stereogenic center was modest, and the internal diastereoselection was mainly controlled by the catalyst. [reaction: see text]