An exceptional P-H phosphonite: biphenyl-2,2'-bisfenchylchlorophosphite and derived ligands (BIFOPs) in enantioselective copper-catalyzed 1,4-additions

Silanediol versus chlorosilanol: hydrolyses and hydrogen-bonding catalyses with fenchole-based silanes

Biphenyl-2,2'-bisfenchyloxydichlorosilane (7, BIFOXSiCl2) is synthesized and employed as precursor for the new silanols biphenyl-2,2'-bisfenchyloxychlorosilanol (8, BIFOXSiCl(OH)) and biphenyl-2,2'-bisfenchyloxysilanediol (9, BIFOXSi(OH)2). BIFOXSiCl2 (7) shows a remarkable stability against hydrolysis, yielding silanediol 9 under enforced conditions. A kinetic study for the hydrolysis of dichlorosilane 7 shows a 263 times slower reaction compared to reference bis-(2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenoxy)dichlorosilane (14), known for its low hydrolytic reactivity. Computational analyses explain the slow hydrolyses of BIFOXSiCl2 (7) to BIFOXSiCl(OH) (8, E a = 32.6 kcal mol-1) and BIFOXSiCl(OH) (8) to BIFOXSi(OH)2 (9, E a = 31.4 kcal mol-1) with high activation barriers, enforced by endo fenchone units. Crystal structure analyses of silanediol 9 with acetone show shorter hydrogen bonds between the Si-OH groups and the oxygen of the bound acetone (OH···O 1.88(3)-2.05(2) Å) than with chlorosilanol 8 (OH···2.16(0) Å). Due to its two hydroxy units, the silanediol 9 shows higher catalytic activity as hydrogen bond donor than chlorosilanol 8, e.g., C-C coupling N-acyl Mannich reaction of silyl ketene acetals 11 with N-acylisoquinolinium ions (up to 85% yield and 12% ee), reaction of 1-chloroisochroman (18) and silyl ketene acetals 11 (up to 85% yield and 5% ee), reaction of chromen-4-one (20) and silyl ketene acetals 11 (up to 98% yield and 4% ee).

Enantioselective Cu-catalyzed 1,4-additions of organozinc and Grignard reagents to enones: exceptional performance of the hydrido-phosphite-ligand BIFOP-H

Enantioselective Cu^I-catalyzed 1,4-additions and DFT computations concerning the enantioselective mechanism.

An unusually stable chlorophosphite: What makes BIFOP-Cl so robust against hydrolysis?

Two chlorophosphites, the biphenyl-based BIFOP-Cl and the diphenyl ether-based O-BIFOP-Cl, exhibit striking differences regarding their reaction with water. While BIFOP-Cl is nearly completely unreactive, its oxo-derivative O-BIFOP-Cl reacts instantly with water, yielding a tricyclic hydrocarbon unit after rearrangement. The analysis of the crystal structure of O-BIFOP-Cl and BIFOP-Cl revealed that the large steric demand of encapsulating fenchane units renders the phosphorus atom nearly inaccessible by nucleophilic reagents, but only for BIFOP-Cl. In addition to the steric effect, a hypervalent P(III)-O interaction as well as an electronic conjugation effect causes the high reactivity of O-BIFOP-Cl. A DFT study of the hydrolysis in BIFOP-Cl verifies a higher repulsive interaction to water and a decreased leaving tendency of the chloride nucleofuge, which is caused by the fenchane units. This high stability of BIFOP-Cl against nucleophiles supports its application as a chiral ligand, for example, in Pd catalysts.

Lithium phosphonate umpolung catalysts: Do fluoro substituents increase the catalytic activity?

Fluorinated and nonfluorinated phosphonates are employed as precatalysts in lithium phosphonate catalyzed cross benzoin couplings. Surprisingly, a decreased catalytic activity for the fluorinated precatalysts compared to the nonfluorinated systems is observed. Furthermore, the ring size of six, seven and nine membered ring catalysts appears not to be crucial for their catalytic activity.

Control of asymmetric biaryl conformations with terpenol moieties: syntheses, structures and energetics of new enantiopure C2-symmetric diols

New enantiopure, C(2)-symmetric biphenyl-2,2'-diols based on (-)-menthone (BIMOL), (-)-verbenone (BIVOL) and (-)-carvone (BICOL and hydrogenated BIMEOL), are accessible via short, synthetic routes. All diols form intramolecular hydrogen bonds and hence can be employed as chelating ligands for catalyst design, as it demonstrated for the (-)-fenchone based BIFOL. The sense of asymmetry of the biphenyl axes is controlled by the chiral terpene units and is conformationally surprisingly stable. X-ray analyses reveal M biphenyl conformation for BIMOL and P biphenyl conformation for each of BIVOL, BICOL and BIMEOL. The origins of the conformational biphenyl preferences are confirmed by computational ONIOM evaluations of the diols and their diastereomeric conformers. The experimentally observed biphenyl conformations are all energetically preferred, i.e. with 1.3 kcal/mol for (M)-BIMOL, with 5.1 kcal/mol for (P)-BIVOL, with 5.8 kcal/mol for (P)-BICOL, and with 5.4 kcal/mol for (P)-BIMEOL.

A superior P-H phosphonite: asymmetric allylic substitutions with fenchol-based palladium catalysts

The fenchol-based P-H phosphonite BIFOP-H exeeds with 65% ee other monodentate ligands in the Pd-catalyzed substitution of 1-phenyl-2-propenyl acetate with dimethylmalonate.