Catalysis of 3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid and related pyrrolidine derivatives in enantioselective anti-Mannich-type reactions: importance of the 3-acid group on pyrrolidine for stereocontrol.

The development of enantioselective anti-selective Mannich-type reactions of aldehydes and ketones with imines catalyzed by 3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid and related pyrrolidine derivatives is reported in detail. Both (3R,5R)-5-methyl-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid and (R)-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid efficiently catalyzed the reactions of aldehydes with alpha-imino esters under mild conditions and afforded anti-Mannich products with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities (anti/syn up to 99:1, up to >99% ee). For the reactions of ketones with alpha-imino esters, (R)-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid was an efficient catalyst (anti/syn up to >99:1, up to 99% ee). Evaluation of a series of pyrrolidine-based catalysts indicated that the acid group at the beta-position of the pyrrolidine ring of the catalyst played an important role in forwarding the carbon-carbon bond formation and in directing anti-selectivity and enantioselectivity.

Syntheses and biological activities of 6-aryl-3-(3-hydroxypropyl)-7H-1,2,4-triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]thiadiazines.

A series of 6-aryl-3-(3-hydroxypropyl)-7H-1,2,4-triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]-thiadiazines were synthesized by the reaction of 4-amino-3-(3-hydroxypropyl)-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole (1) with substituted omega-haloacetophenones. Their structures were confirmed by elemental analysis, IR, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR. Tests of plant growth regulating effects showed that the title compounds display remarkable inhibitory activities on the growth of radish and wheat.

Pipecolic acid-catalyzed direct asymmetric mannich reactions.

Mannich reactions between aldehydes and N-p-methoxyphenyl-protected alpha-imino ethyl glyoxylate have been performed using (S)-pipecolic acid as catalyst. The reactions give both syn- and anti-products (dr=1.4-2:1) with high enantioselectivities (>98% ee). In contrast, (S)-proline-catalyzed reactions give mainly syn-products with high enantioselectivities. Computational studies reveal that the energetic preference between the transition structures involving the s-cis-enamine and the s-trans-enamine is smaller for the pipecolic acid as compared to proline, yielding the (2S,3R)-anti and the (2S,3S)-syn Mannich product in nearly equal amounts.

Highly enantioselective diethylzinc addition to imines employing readily available N-monosubstituted amino alcohols.

An easily accessible chiral ligand 3c, which promoted diethylzinc addition to imines with 96-98% ee, has been found by finely screening N,N-disubstituted and N-monosubstituted amino alcohols. N-monosubstituted amino alcohols, on average, gave slightly higher enantioselectivities than their N,N-disubstituted analogues. These results imply that the restricted and rigid structure of amino alcohol is not the absolute requirement for the highly enantioselective dialkylzinc addition to diphenylphosphinoylimines. [structure: see text]

Highly enantio- and diastereoselective Mannich reactions of glycine Schiff bases with in situ generated N-Boc-imines catalyzed by a cinchona alkaloid thiourea.

Highly enantio- and diastereoselective organocatalytic Mannich reactions of glycine Schiff bases with N-Boc-protected imines are described. Imines were generated in situ from bench-stable alpha-amido sulfones. Catalysis mediated by a cinchona alkaloid thiourea provided optically active alpha,beta-diamino acid derivatives with up to 99% ee and near-perfect diastereoselection.

3-Pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid for direct catalytic asymmetric anti-Mannich-type reactions of unmodified ketones.

We report the development of direct catalytic, enantioselective, anti-selective Mannich-type reactions between unmodified ketones and alpha-imino esters under mild conditions. The reactions were performed using 5-10 mol % of (R)-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic or (R)-beta-proline as catalyst in an environmentally benign solvent, 2-PrOH, at room temperature. The anti-Mannich products were obtained in good yields with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities (up to anti/syn >99:1, 99% ee). While (3R,5R)-5-methyl-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid is an excellent catalyst for the anti-Mannich-type reactions of aldehydes, it did not efficiently catalyze the corresponding Mannich-type reactions of ketones; (R)-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid did efficiently catalyze the Mannich-type reactions of ketones. (S)-Proline or (S)-2-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid has been reported to catalyze the Mannich-type reactions of ketones to afford the syn-products. Thus, the position of the carboxylic acid group on the pyrrolidine ring directs the stereoselection of the catalyzed reaction, providing either syn- or anti-Mannich products.

Direct asymmetric anti-Mannich-type reactions catalyzed by a designed amino acid.

The development of catalysts for Mannich-type reactions that afford anti-products with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities under mild conditions and low catalyst loadings (1-5 mol %) is reported. Based on principles gained from the study of (S)-proline-catalyzed Mannich-type reactions that afford enantiomerically enriched syn-products, (3R,5R)-5-methyl-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid (RR35) has been designed to catalyze the direct enantioselective anti-selective Mannich-type reactions. Computational studies of the above reaction using HF/6-31G* level of theory suggested that this design would be highly effective. The catalyst was subsequently synthesized and studied in organocatalytic Mannich-type reactions between unmodified aldehydes and N-PMP-protected alpha-imino esters. In accord with the design principles and in quantitative agreement with the theoretical predictions, reactions catalyzed by this catalyst afforded anti-products in good yields with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities (anti:syn 94:6 to 98:2, >97 to >99% ee).

Brønsted acid-catalyzed imine amidation.

A new method for the Brønsted acid-catalyzed addition of amide nucleophiles to imines to produce protected aminal products is described. Simple Brønsted acids (phenyl phosphinic acid and trifluoromethanesulfonimide) were shown to be excellent catalysts, providing high yields of the aminal product. A catalytic asymmetric imine amidation using sulfonamides as nucleophiles was successful when a hindered biaryl phosphoric acid catalyst derived from 2,2'-diphenyl-[3,3'-biphenanthrene]-4,4'-diol (VAPOL) was used. Excellent yields and enantioselectivities were found in these additions (up to 99% ee).

Evaluation of chiral oxazolines for the highly enantioselective diethylzinc addition to N-(diphenylphosphinoyl) imines.

On the basis of the principle that the incorporation of the structurally rigid and conformationally restricted skeleton in beta-amino alcohols is beneficial to the enantioselective diethylzinc addition to imines, a series of chiral oxazolines, which had been designed and conveniently prepared from commercially available (1S,2S)-2-amino-1-phenylpropane-1,3-diol, were applied in the diethylzinc addition to diphenylphosphinoyl imines to give high yields of 68-84% and excellent ee values of 90-95%. The configuration of the product was controlled by the chirality of the carbon bonded to the hydroxyl group in the oxazoline. Oxazolines bearing a para- or meta-substituted phenyl group generally offered higher enantioselectivity than those containing an ortho-substituted phenyl. The X-ray structures of 4f and 4j, in combination with the proposed transition state, preliminarily explained why oxazolines with a para- or meta-substituent on the phenyl group gave higher enantioselectivities than those bearing an ortho-substituent. This successful example using chiral oxazolines to promote the titled reaction implies that a large family of chiral compounds containing an oxazoline ring moiety have the potential to be developed for promoting the highly enantioselective dialkylzinc addition to N-(diphenylphosphinoyl) imines.

Modification of (1R,2S)-1,2-diphenyl-2-aminoethanol for the highly enantioselective, asymmetric alkylation of N-diphenylphosphinoyl arylimines with dialkylzinc.

Experimental studies on the modification of (1R,2S)-1,2-diphenyl-2-aminoethanol, which is used to promote the alkylation of N-diphenylphosphinoyl benzalimine with diethylzinc, revealed that N-monosubstituted amino alcohols exhibited higher enantioselectivities than their N,N-disubstituted counterparts and imino alcohols. Application of the optimal chiral ligand 3c to activate the reaction of N-diphenylphosphinoyl arylimines with diethylzinc and dibutylzinc resulted in excellent enantiomeric selectivities of up to 98% ee. The origin of the experimentally observed enantioselectivities was revealed by density functional calculations (B3LYP/6-31G*) on the transition structures of several model reactions.