D-Fructose-based spiro-fused PHOX ligands: synthesis and application in enantioselective allylic alkylation

Phosphinooxazoline (PHOX) ligands are an important class of ligands in asymmetric catalysis. We synthesized ten novel D-fructose-derived spiro-fused PHOX ligands with different steric and electronic demand. The application of two of them was tested in asymmetric allylic alkylation. The ligands are prepared in two steps from readily available 1,2-O-isopropylidene protected β-D-fructopyranoses by the BF₃·OEt₂-promoted Ritter reaction with 2-bromobenzonitrile to construct the oxazoline moiety followed by Ullmann coupling of the resulting aryl bromides with diphenylphosphine. Both steps proceeded mostly in good to high yields (57–86% for the Ritter reaction and 35–89% for the Ullmann coupling). The Ritter reaction gave two anomers, which could be separated by column chromatography. The prepared ligands showed promising results (er of up to 84:16) in Tsuji–Trost reactions with diphenylallyl acetate as model substrate.

Synthesis of oligo-fructopyranoside with difructopyranosyl N-phenyltrifluoroacetimidate donor

The hexa-fructopyranoside was synthesized with N-phenyltrifluoroacetimidate glycosylation. The synthesis was achieved by regioselective glycosylation on the 1-OH of fructopyranosyl acceptor. Fructosyl oligosaccharides were elongated with β-(2 → 1)-difructopyranosyl unit in every two steps, without any further protection/deprotection step. This work proved N-phenyltrifluoroacetimidate glycosylation a practical method for oligo-fructopyranoside synthesis.

Spiro-fused carbohydrate oxazoline ligands: Synthesis and application as enantio-discrimination agents in asymmetric allylic alkylation

In the present work, we describe a convenient synthesis of spiro-fused D-fructo- and D-psico-configurated oxazoline ligands and their application in asymmetric catalysis. The ligands were synthesized from readily available 3,4,5-tri-O-benzyl-1,2-O-isopropylidene-β-D-fructopyranose and 3,4,5-tri-O-benzyl-1,2-O-isopropylidene-β-D-psicopyranose, respectively. The latter compounds were partially deprotected under acidic conditions followed by condensation with thiocyanic acid to give an anomeric mixture of the corresponding 1,3-oxazolidine-2-thiones. The anomeric 1,3-oxazolidine-2-thiones were separated after successive benzylation, fully characterized and subjected to palladium catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura coupling with 2-pyridineboronic acid N-phenyldiethanolamine ester to give the corresponding 2-pyridyl spiro-oxazoline (PyOx) ligands. The spiro-oxazoline ligands showed high asymmetric induction (up to 93% ee) when applied as chiral ligands in palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation of 1,3-diphenylallyl acetate with dimethyl malonate. The D-fructo-PyOx ligand provided mainly the (R)-enantiomer while the D-psico-configurated ligand gave the (S)-enantiomer with a lower enantiomeric excess.

Synthesis of spirofused carbohydrate-oxazoline based palladium(II) complexes

Four carbohydrate-derived 2-pyridyl and 2-quinolinyl substituted spiro-oxazoline ligands were prepared from 3,4,5-tri-O-benzyl-1,2-di-O-isopropylidene-β-D-fructose in four steps. Conversion of the latter compound with trimethylsilylazide followed by hydrogenation gave an anomeric mixture of 2-amino-3,4,5-tri-O-benzyl-2-deoxy-1-O-trimethylsilyl-D-fructopyranose. Amide coupling of the fructosylamines with picolinic acid and quinaldic acid, respectively afforded the corresponding anomeric amidofructosides, which were both separated and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Cyclization of alpha-amides was achieved by treatment of the corresponding mesylates with NaH while beta-amides were directly cyclisized with NCS and Ph3P to give the corresponding 2-pyridyl (PyOx) and 2-quinolyl (QuinOx) substituted spiro-oxazoline ligands, respectively. The 2-pyridyl substituted spiro-oxazoline ligands PyOx formed stable complexes with Pd(II), which were fully characterized and their structure determined by X-ray crystallography, whereas the corresponding QuinOx ligands failed to form similar Pd complexes.