Chiara Monti

Synthesis and screening of new chiral ligands for the copper-catalysed enantioselective allylic substitution

The synthesis of the new chiral ligands 6ae, 8ae, 9ae, and 11ae starting from the chiral β-[(Boc)amino]sulfonamide 3ae is reported. The β-amino group of 3ae was deprotected and condensed with 3,5-dichlorosalicylaldehyde (4) to yield the known Schiff base 5ae, which was then reduced to the amino compound 6ae (Scheme 3). Alternatively, condensation of the free amino compound with 2-(diphenylphosphanyl)benzaldehyde (7) afforded the imino ligand 8ae which upon reduction yielded the amino ligand 9ae (Scheme 4). The free amino compound derived from 3ae was also coupled with 2-(diphenylphosphanyl)benzoic acid (10) to give ligand 11ae (Scheme 5). These ligands were tested in the copper-catalysed allylic substitution reaction of cinnamyl (=3-phenylprop-2-enyl) phosphate 12 with diethylzinc as a nucleophile. Ligands 5ae, 6ae, 8ae, and 11ae gave excellent ratios (100 : 0) of the SN2′/SN2 products (Scheme 6 and Table 1). Ligand 11ce, identified from the screening of a small library of ligands of general formula 11, promoted the allylic substitution reaction with moderate enantioselectivity (40% for the SN2′ product 13 (Scheme 8 and Table 3)).

Rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric reactions with a dynamic library of chiral tropos phosphorus ligands*

Nineteen chiral tropos phosphorus ligands, based on a flexible (tropos) biphenol unit and a chiral P-bound alcohol (11 phosphites) or secondary amine (8 phosphoramidites), were screened, individually and as a combination of two, in various Rh-catalyzed asymmetric reactions. In the Rh-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of phenylboronic acid to cyclic enones, enantiomeric excesses (ees) up to 95 % were obtained with a 1:1 mixture of a phosphite [derived from (1R,2S)-2-(1-methyl-1-phenylethyl)cyclohexanol] and a phosphoramidite [derived from (S,S)-2,5-diphenylpyrrolidine]. In the mixed Rh precatalyst, which was characterized via 31P-NMR, the biphenol-derived phosphite is free to rotate (tropos) while the biphenol-derived phosphoramidite shows a temperature-dependent tropos/atropos behavior (coalescence temperature = 310 K). The ligands were also screened in the hydrogenation of dehydro-α-amino acids and dehydro-β-amino acids. Ees up to 98% were obtained for the dehydro-α-amino acids, using the combination of a phosphite [derived from (1R,2S)-2-phenyl-1-cyclohexanol] and a phosphoramidite [derived from (S,S)-bis(α-methylbenzyl)amine]. The reaction was optimized by lowering the phosphite/phosphoramidite ratio to 0.25:1.75 with a resulting improvement of the product ee.

Efficient resolution of racemic N-benzyl β3-amino acids by iterative liquid–liquid extraction with a chiral (salen)cobalt(III) complex as enantioselective selector

The efficient (up to 93% ee) resolution of racemic N-benzyl beta(3)-amino acids has been achieved by an iterative (two cycle) liquid-liquid extraction process using a lipophilic chiral (salen)cobalt(III) complex [Co(III)(1)(OAc)]. As a result of the resolution by extraction, one enantiomer of the N-benzyl beta(3)-amino acid predominated in the aqueous phase, while the other enantiomer was driven into the organic phase by complexation to cobalt. The complexed amino acid was then quantitatively released into an aqueous phase, by a reductive (Co(III)--> Co(II)) counter-extraction using l-ascorbic acid. The reductive cleavage allowed for the recovery of the cobalt(II) selector in up to 90% yield (easily re-oxidable to Co(III) with air/AcOH).

A highly stereoselective synthesis of the C10–C23 fragment of (–)-dictyostatin

A highly stereoselective synthesis of the C10-C23 fragment of (-)-dictyostatin has been achieved using a Carreira alkynylation and a Marshall-Tamaru allenylzinc addition as key steps.