Eric N. Jacobsen

Asymmetric Ion-Pairing Catalysis

Charged intermediates and reagents are ubiquitous in organic transformations. The interaction of these ionic species with chiral neutral, anionic, or cationic small molecules has emerged as a powerful strategy for catalytic, enantioselective synthesis. This review describes developments in the burgeoning field of asymmetric ion-pairing catalysis with an emphasis on the insights that have been gleaned into the structural and mechanistic features that contribute to high asymmetric induction.

Practical Considerations in Kinetic Resolution Reactions

This review provides a critical analysis of catalytic kinetic resolution reactions from a practical perspective, asking the question of when, if ever, is kinetic resolution the best option for the synthesis of an optically active target. A series of crucial conditions are identified, and it is postulated that if all of them are met, then indeed kinetic resolution can be highly practical. A variety of catalytic kinetic resolution processes are evaluated in the context of these criteria, with particular emphasis on catalyst availability, substrate scope, availability of the racemic substrate and of alternative methods for accessing enantiopure substrate or product, and key experimental considerations. It is found that several catalytic systems have been developed that offer almost unbeatable methods for the preparation of useful chiral building blocks.

Attractive noncovalent interactions in asymmetric catalysis: Links between enzymes and small molecule catalysts

Catalysis by neutral, organic, small molecules capable of binding and activating substrates solely via noncovalent interactions—particularly H-bonding—has emerged as an important approach in organocatalysis. The mechanisms by which such small molecule catalysts induce high enantioselectivity may be quite different from those used by catalysts that rely on covalent interactions with substrates. Attractive noncovalent interactions are weaker, less distance dependent, less directional, and more affected by entropy than covalent interactions. However, the conformational constraint required for high stereoinduction may be achieved, in principle, if multiple noncovalent attractive interactions are operating in concert. This perspective will outline some recent efforts to elucidate the cooperative mechanisms responsible for stereoinduction in highly enantioselective reactions promoted by noncovalent catalysts.

Asymmetric cooperative catalysis of strong Brønsted acid-promoted reactions using chiral ureas.

Acid Assistance Protons are quite versatile catalysts of organic reactions, but because they are achiral, they cannot induce stereoselectivity on their own. One productive way around this problem has been to use chiral conjugate bases and perform reactions in media where the bases remain tightly attracted to protonated substrates. Xu et al. (p. 986; see the Perspective by Schreiner) thoroughly explored the mechanism of an alternative approach, in which an achiral acid was used in conjunction with a second, chiral molecule (a urea derivative) for catalysis. High selectivity was attained with this method in the coupling of aryl imines with olefins. Extensive kinetic and computational studies showed that the acid and its chiral partner acted cooperatively in binding the substrates, optimizing the tradeoff between speed and selectivity. A chiral co-catalyst complements acid to raise selectivity at the expense of speed in organic coupling reactions. Cationic organic intermediates participate in a wide variety of useful synthetic transformations, but their high reactivity can render selectivity in competing pathways difficult to control. Here, we describe a strategy for inducing enantioselectivity in reactions of protio-iminium ions, wherein a chiral catalyst interacts with the highly reactive intermediate through a network of noncovalent interactions. This interaction leads to an attenuation of the reactivity of the iminium ion and allows high enantioselectivity in cycloadditions with electron-rich alkenes (the Povarov reaction). A detailed experimental and computational analysis of this catalyst system has revealed the precise nature of the catalyst-substrate interactions and the likely basis for enantioinduction.

Cooperative, Highly Enantioselective Phosphinothiourea Catalysis of Imine−Allene [3 + 2] Cycloadditions

A new family of phosphinthiourea catalysts was developed for the highly enantioselective synthesis of 2-aryl-2,5-hydropyrroles via a [3 + 2] cycloaddition of an electron-deficient allene with aryl and heteroaryl diphenylphosphinoylimines. The presence of both H2O and Et3N as additives was found to be important for achieving optimal rates. Dual activation of both nucleophile and electrophile by the bifunctional catalyst is invoked to account for the observed high reactivity and enantioselectivity.

Enantioselective Thiourea-Catalyzed Additions to Oxocarbenium Ions

Asymmetric, catalytic reactions of oxocarbenium ions are reported. Simple, chiral urea and thiourea derivatives are shown to catalyze the enantioselective substitution of silyl ketene acetals onto 1-chloroisochromans. A mechanism involving anion binding by the chiral catalyst to generate a reactive oxocarbenium ion is invoked. Catalysts bearing tertiary benzylic amide groups afforded highest enantioselectivities, with the optimal structure being derived from enantioenriched 2-arylpyrrolidine derivatives.

Enantioselective thiourea-catalyzed cationic polycyclizations.

A new thiourea catalyst is reported for the enantioselective cationic polycyclization of hydroxylactams. Both the yield and enantioselectivity of this transformation were found to vary strongly with the identity of a single aromatic residue on a common catalyst framework, with more expansive and polarizable arenes proving optimal. Evidence is presented for a mechanism in which stabilizing cation-pi interactions are a principal determinant of enantioselectivity.

Highly Enantio‐ and Diastereoselective Hetero‐Diels–Alder Reactions Catalyzed by New Chiral Tridentate Chromium(III) Catalysts

Even moderately nucleophilic dienes react with simple aldehydes in the presence of a new Cr(III) catalyst in a hetero-Diels-Alder reaction [Eq. (1)]. Tetrahydropyranyl products with up to three stereogenic centers are generated in near-perfect diastereoselectivities and with greater than 90 % ee (99 % ee for the example shown). TBAF=tetrabutylammonium fluoride; TBS=tert-butyldimethylsilyl; TES=triethylsilyl.

Scaleable catalytic asymmetric Strecker syntheses of unnatural α-amino acids

α-Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and are widely used as components of medicinally active molecules and chiral catalysts. Efficient chemo-enzymatic methods for the synthesis of enantioenriched α-amino acids have been developed, but it is still a challenge to obtain non-natural amino acids. Alkene hydrogenation is broadly useful for the enantioselective catalytic synthesis of many classes of amino acids, but it is not possible to obtain α-amino acids bearing aryl or quaternary alkyl α-substituents using this method. The Strecker synthesis—the reaction of an imine or imine equivalent with hydrogen cyanide, followed by nitrile hydrolysis—is an especially versatile chemical method for the synthesis of racemic α-amino acids. Asymmetric Strecker syntheses using stoichiometric amounts of a chiral reagent have been applied successfully on gram-to-kilogram scales, yielding enantiomerically enriched α-amino acids. In principle, Strecker syntheses employing sub-stoichiometric quantities of a chiral reagent could provide a practical alternative to these approaches, but the reported catalytic asymmetric methods have seen limited use on preparative scales (more than a gram). The limited utility of existing catalytic methods may be due to several important factors, including the relatively complex and precious nature of the catalysts and the requisite use of hazardous cyanide sources. Here we report a new catalytic asymmetric method for the syntheses of highly enantiomerically enriched non-natural amino acids using a simple chiral amido-thiourea catalyst to control the key hydrocyanation step. This catalyst is robust, without sensitive functional groups, so it is compatible with aqueous cyanide salts, which are safer and easier to handle than other cyanide sources; this makes the method adaptable to large-scale synthesis. We have used this new method to obtain enantiopure amino acids that are not readily prepared by enzymatic methods or by chemical hydrogenation.

Tertiary Aminourea‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Iodolactonization

Binding the anion: A highly enantioselective iodolactonization of 5-hexenoic acids has been achieved using a tertiary aminourea-catalyst. The use of catalytic iodine in this process is critical to enhancing both the reactivity and enantioselectivity of the stoichiometric I+source.The mechanism is proposed to involve binding of an iodonium imidate intermediate by the H-bond donor catalyst.