Diethylanilineborane: A Practical, Safe, and Consistent-Quality Borane Source for the Large-Scale Enantioselective Reduction of a Ketone Intermediate in the Synthesis of (R,R)-Formoterol

A perspective on synthetic and solid-form enablement of inhalation candidates

The administration of compounds by a dry-powder inhaler presents significant challenges to the development and discovery chemist, owing to the stringent requirements placed upon the physical characteristics of the active pharmaceutical ingredient and the high complexity of the molecules concerned. The current state of synthetic chemistry technology is such that commercial syntheses of these compounds are demanding but achievable. While synthetic chemistry will remain a major component of the development of inhaled therapies, the main challenge facing practitioners in this area is the early identification of a suitable solid form. Further advances in the prediction of solid-form properties would significantly enable this field and may allow triage of molecules to be carried out at the design stage of projects.

Spiroborate ester-mediated asymmetric synthesis of beta-hydroxy ethers and its conversion to highly enantiopure beta-amino ethers

Borane-mediated reduction of aryl and alkyl ketones with alpha-aryl- and alpha-pyridyloxy groups affords beta-hydroxy ethers in high enantiomeric purity (up to 99% ee) and in good yield, using as catalyst 10 mol % of spiroborate ester 1 derived from (S)-diphenylprolinol. Representative beta-hydroxy ethers are successfully converted to beta-amino ethers, with minor epimerization, by phthalimide substitution under Mitsunobu's conditions followed by hydrazinolysis to obtain primary amino ethers or by imide reduction with borane to afford beta-2,3-dihydro-1H-isoindol ethers. Nonracemic Mexiletine and nAChR analogues with potential biological activity are also synthesized in excellent yield by mesylation of key beta-hydroxy pyridylethers and substitution with five-, six-, and seven-membered ring heterocyclic amines.

The Mg-Oppenauer Oxidation as a Mild Method for the Synthesis of Aryl and Metallocenyl Ketones

Magnesium alkoxides undergo a hydride-transfer oxidation with benzaldehyde as the oxidant. This magnesium variant of the Oppenauer oxidation was used for the synthesis of polyfunctional biaryl ketones. LiCl was found to promote this reaction by enhancing the solubility of magnesium alkoxides. This mild oxidation method was especially useful for preparing ketones bearing a metallocenyl unit as well as various new ferrocenyl ketones and tricarbonylchromium complexes. This last class of ketones was reduced with the CBS catalyst (CBS=Corey-Bakshi-Shibata, diphenyl oxazaborolidine) to chiral benzhydrol complexes with high enantioselectivity enabling an asymmetric synthesis of electron-rich or -poor benzhydryl alcohols (up to 94 % ee).

Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of Ketones Catalyzed by Hydrophobic Metal−Amido Complexes in Aqueous Micelles and Vesicles

[Reaction: see text]. Asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones, especially alpha-bromomethyl aromatic ketones, catalyzed by unmodified, hydrophobic transition metal-amido complexes (TsDPEN-M), was performed successfully with significant enhancement of activity, chemoselectivity, and enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) in aqueous media containing micelles and vesicles. The hydrophobic catalyst, embedded in micelles constructed from the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), could be separated from the organic phase along with the products and was recycled for at least six times.

Synthetic Applicability and in Situ Recycling of a B-Methoxy Oxazaborolidine Catalyst Derived from cis-1-Amino-indan-2-ol

A procedure is described that greatly simplifies the use of an oxazaborolidine catalyst derived from (1R,2S) cis-1-amino-indan-2-ol. This B-OMe catalyst has been employed in the asymmetric reduction of a number of structurally diverse prochiral ketones, in particular the reduction of alpha-amino acetophenone and its derivatives. A method for reducing the effective catalyst loading by "in situ recycling" is also presented. [structure: see text]

Asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of prochiral ketones in aqueous media with new water-soluble chiral vicinal diamine as ligand

[reaction: see text] An easily accessible water-soluble chiral o-sulfonated 1,2-diphenylethlenediamine 2 and its mono-N-tosylated derivative 3 were synthesized for the first time. The ruthenium-complex-catalyzed reduction of prochiral ketones in aqueous media has been examined by using 3 as ligand and sodium formate as the source of hydrogen. The asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of omega-bromo acetophenones was achieved, in which only formate displacement occurred when formic acid/triethylamine azeotrope was used as the hydrogen donor.