Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of cannabinoids and menthol from neral.

The selective conversion of natural or synthetic neral to (1R,6S)-trans-isopiperitenol would enable and expedite sustainable routes to menthol1,2 and cannabinoids3-5. However, this reaction has been considered impossible because its product is more reactive to the required acid catalysts than its starting material, resulting in several side products6-9. We now show that an unsymmetric, strong and confined chiral acid, a highly fluorinated imino-imidodiphosphate, catalyses this process with excellent efficiency and selectivity. Expanding the method to other α,ß-unsaturated aldehydes could enable access to new cannabinoids and menthol derivatives not readily accessible previously. Mechanistic studies suggest that the confined catalyst accomplishes this reaction by binding the product in an unreactive conformation, thereby preventing its decomposition. We also show how (1R,6S)-trans-isopiperitenol can be readily converted to pharmaceutically useful cannabinoids and menthol, each in the shortest and most atom-economic routes so far.

Organocatalytic DYKAT of Si-Stereogenic Silanes.

Chiral organosilanes do not exist in nature and are therefore absent from the "chiral pool". As a consequence, synthetic approaches toward enantiopure silanes, stereogenic at silicon, are rather limited. While catalytic asymmetric desymmetrization reactions of symmetric organosilicon compounds have been developed, the utilization of racemic silanes in a dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DYKAT) or dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) would significantly expand the breadth of accessible Si-stereogenic compounds. We now report a DYKAT of racemic allyl silanes enabled by strong and confined imidodiphosphorimidate (IDPi) catalysts, providing access to Si-stereogenic silyl ethers. The products of this reaction are easily converted into useful enantiopure monohydrosilanes. We propose a spectroscopically and experimentally supported mechanism involving the epimerization of a catalyst-bound intermediate.

Catalytic enantiocontrol over a non-classical carbocation.

Carbocations can be categorized into classical carbenium ions and non-classical carbonium ions. These intermediates are ubiquitous in reactions of both fundamental and practical relevance, finding application in the petroleum industry as well as the discovery of new drugs and materials. Conveying stereochemical information to carbocations is therefore of interest to a range of chemical fields. While previous studies targeted systems proceeding through classical ions, enantiocontrol over their non-classical counterparts has remained unprecedented. Here we show that strong and confined chiral acids catalyse enantioselective reactions via the non-classical 2-norbornyl cation. This reactive intermediate is generated from structurally different precursors by leveraging the reactivity of various functional groups to ultimately deliver the same enantioenriched product. Our work demonstrates that tailored catalysts can act as suitable hosts for simple, non-functionalized carbocations via a network of non-covalent interactions. We anticipate that the methods described herein will provide catalytic accessibility to valuable carbocation systems.

IDPi Catalysis.

High acidity and structural confinement are pivotal elements in asymmetric acid catalysis. The recently introduced imidodiphosphorimidate (IDPi) Brønsted acids have met with remarkable success in combining those features, acting as powerful Brønsted acid catalysts and "silylium" Lewis acid precatalysts in numerous thus far inaccessible transformations. Substrates as challenging to activate as simple olefins were readily transformed, ketones were employed as acceptors in aldolizations allowing sub-ppm level catalysis, whereas enolates of the smallest donor aldehyde, acetaldehyde, did not polymerize but selectively added a single time to a variety of acceptor aldehydes.

Confined acids catalyze asymmetric single aldolizations of acetaldehyde enolates.

Reactions that form a product with the same reactive functionality as that of one of the starting compounds frequently end in oligomerization. As a salient example, selective aldol coupling of the smallest, though arguably most useful, enolizable aldehyde, acetaldehyde, with just one partner substrate has proven to be extremely challenging. Here, we report a highly enantioselective Mukaiyama aldol reaction with the simple triethylsilyl (TES) and tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBS) enolates of acetaldehyde and various aliphatic and aromatic acceptor aldehydes. The reaction is catalyzed by recently developed, strongly acidic imidodiphosphorimidates (IDPi), which, like enzymes, display a confined active site but, like small-molecule catalysts, have a broad substrate scope. The process is scalable, fast, efficient (0.5 to 1.5 mole % catalyst loading), and greatly simplifies access to highly valuable silylated acetaldehyde aldols.

Extremely Active Organocatalysts Enable a Highly Enantioselective Addition of Allyltrimethylsilane to Aldehydes.

The enantioselective allylation of aldehydes to form homoallylic alcohols is one of the most frequently used carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction in chemical synthesis and, for several decades, has been a testing ground for new asymmetric methodology. However, a general and highly enantioselective catalytic addition of the inexpensive, nontoxic, air- and moisture-stable allyltrimethylsilane to aldehydes, the Hosomi-Sakurai reaction, has remained elusive. Reported herein is the design and synthesis of a highly acidic imidodiphosphorimidate motif (IDPi), which enables this transformation, thus converting various aldehydes with aromatic and aliphatic groups at catalyst loadings ranging from 0.05 to 2.0 mol % with excellent enantioselectivities. Our rationally constructed catalysts feature a highly tunable active site, and selectively process small substrates, thus promising utility in various other challenging chemical reactions.

Asymmetric Catalysis with CO2 : The Direct α-Allylation of Ketones.

Quaternary stereocenters are found in numerous bioactive molecules. The Tsuji-Trost reaction has proven to be a powerful C-C bond forming process, and, at least in principle, should be well suited to access quaternary stereocenters via the α-allylation of ketones. However, while indirect approaches are known, the direct, catalytic asymmetric α-allylation of branched ketones has been elusive until today. By combining "enol catalysis" with the use of CO2 as a formal catalyst for asymmetric catalysis, we have now developed a solution to this problem: we report a direct, highly enantioselective and highly atom-economic Tsuji-Trost allylation of branched ketones with allylic alcohol. Our reaction delivers products bearing quaternary stereocenters with high enantioselectivity and water as the sole by-product. We expect our methodology to be of utility in asymmetric catalysis and inspire the design of other highly atom-economic transformations.

An efficient one-pot two catalyst system in the construction of 2-substituted benzimidazoles: synthesis of benzimidazo[1,2-c]quinazolines.

The benzimidazole core is a common moiety in a large number of natural products and pharmacologically active small molecules. The synthesis of novel benzimidazole derivatives remains a main focus in medicinal research. In continuation of the efforts towards Ce(III) catalysts for organic transformations, we observed for the first time the activity of the iodide ion and copper cation in activating CeCl3·7H2O in the selective formation of prototypical 2-substituted benzimidazoles. The one-pot CeCl3·7H2O-CuI catalytic system procedure includes the cyclo-dehydrogenation of aniline Schiff's bases, generated in situ from the condensation of 1,2-phenylenediamine and aldehydes, followed by the oxidation with iodine, which works as a hydrogen sponge. Mild reaction conditions, good to excellent yields, and clean reactions make the procedure a useful contribution to the synthesis of biologically active fused heterocycles containing benzimidazoquinazolines.

One-pot oxidation and rearrangement of propargylamines and in situ pyrazole synthesis.

Reported here are procedures for a one-pot oxidation and rearrangement of propargylamines to synthesize enaminones, with supporting mechanistic studies. Also reported are the extended one-pot syntheses of pyrazoles, including celecoxib and various heterocyclic compounds.

Construction of heterocyclic structures by trivalent cerium salts promoted bond forming reactions.

Cerium(III) salts have recently gained increasing attention in the synthetic community, owing to the powerful features that are reviewed in detail in this tutorial. This review reports significant examples of cerium(III) promoted synthesis of heterocyclic structures, initially dealing with the synthesis of five- and six-membered ring nitrogen containing heterocycles, then describing the preparation of their oxygenated analogues and finally discussing the achievement of seven-membered rings and mixed heterocyclic motifs.