New Nitrogen, Sulfur-, and Selenium-Donating Ligands Derived from Chiral Pyridine Amino Alcohols. Synthesis and Catalytic Activity in Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation.

Although many chiral ligands for asymmetric catalysis have been developed, there is still a need for new structures allowing the modular approach. Recently, easy synthesis of chiral pyridine-containing ß-amino alcohols has been elaborated by opening respective epoxides with enantiomeric 1-phenylethylamine. This paper reports the synthetic transformation of ß-amino alcohols into the new complexing pyridine-containing seleno- and thioethers. The amino alcohols were effectively converted to cyclic sulfonamidates, which were reacted with thiolates or phenyl selenide nucleophile. The reaction was diastereoselective, and its outcome depended on the configuration at the substitution center. The problem was discussed considering DFT optimized structures of both diastereomeric sulfonamidates. New amino-aldimine ligands were also synthesized from chiral pyridine-containing diamines. Nine new chiral ligands were tested in the Tsuji-Trost allylic alkylation resulting in the enantiomerically enriched product in up to 75% ee. The observed stereochemical induction agrees with the prevailing nucleophilic attack at the allylic carbon laying opposite to the complexing nitrogen of pyridine in η3-allylic intermediate complexes.

New Advances in the Synthetic Application of Enantiomeric 1-Phenylethylamine (α-PEA): Privileged Chiral Inducer and Auxiliary.

New developments in the synthesis, resolution, and synthetic applications of chiral 1-phenylethylamine (α-PEA) reported in the last decade have been reviewed. In particular, improvements in the synthesis of α-PEA and its derivatives and chiral resolution, as well as their applications in the resolution of other compounds, were discussed. α-PEA was used as a chiral auxiliary in the diastereoselective synthesis of medicinal substances and natural products. Chiral ligands with α-PEA moieties were applied in asymmetric reactions, and effective modular chiral organocatalysts were constructed with α-PEA fragments and used in important synthetic reactions.

Regioselective and Stereodivergent Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure Vic-Diamines from Chiral ß-Amino Alcohols with 2-Pyridyl and 6-(2,2'-Bipyridyl) Moieties.

In this report, we describe the synthetic elaboration of the easily available enantiomerically pure ß-amino alcohols. Attempted direct substitution of the hydroxyl group by azido-functionality in the Mitsunobu reaction with hydrazoic acid was inefficient or led to a diastereomeric mixture. These outcomes resulted from the participation of aziridines. Intentionally performed internal Mitsunobu reaction of ß-amino alcohols gave eight chiral aziridines in 45-82% yield. The structural and configuration identity of products was confirmed by NMR data compared to the DFT calculated GIAO values. For 1,2,3-trisubstituted aziridines slow configurational inversion at the endocyclic nitrogen atom was observed by NMR at room temperature. Moreover, when aziridine was titrated with Zn(OAc)2 under NMR control, only one of two N-epimers directly participated in complexation. The aziridines underwent ring opening with HN3 to form the corresponding azido amines as single regio- and diastereomers in 90-97% yield. Different results were obtained for 1,2-disubstituted and 1,2,3-trisubstituted aziridines. For the later aziridines ring closure and ring opening occurred at different carbon stereocenters, thus yielding products with two inverted configurations, compared to the starting amino alcohol. The 1,2-disubstituted aziridines produced azido amines of the same configuration as the starting ß-amino alcohols. To obtain a complete series of diastereomeric vic-diamines, we converted the amino alcohols into cyclic sulfamidates, which reacted with sodium azide in SN2 reaction (25-58% overall yield). The azides obtained either way underwent the Staudinger reduction, giving a series of six new chiral vic-diamines of defined stereochemistries.

Cinchona Alkaloids-Derivatives and Applications.

Major Cinchona alkaloids quinine, quinidine, cinchonine, and cinchonidine are available chiral natural compounds (chiral pool). Unlike many other natural products, these alkaloids are available in multiple diastereomeric forms which are separated on an industrial scale. The introduction discusses in short conformational equilibria, traditional separation scheme, biosynthesis, and de novo chemical syntheses. The second section concerns useful chemical applications of the alkaloids as chiral recognition agents and effective chiral catalysts. Besides the Sharpless ethers and quaternary ammonium salts (chiral PTC), the most successful bifunctional organocatalysts are based on 9-amino derivatives: thioureas and squaramides. The third section reports the main transformations of Cinchona alkaloids. This covers reactions of the 9-hydroxyl group with the retention or inversion of configuration. Specific Cinchona rearrangements enlarging [2.2.2]bicycle of quinuclidine to [3.2.2] products are connected to the 9-OH substitution. The syntheses of numerous esterification and etherification products are described, including many examples of bi-Cinchona alkaloid ethers. Further derivatives comprise 9-N-substituted compounds. The amino group is introduced via an azido function with the inversion of configuration at the stereogenic center C9. The 9-epi-amino-alkaloids provide imines, amides, imides, thioureas, and squaramides. The syntheses of 9-carbon-, 9-sulfur-, and 9-selenium-substituted derivatives are discussed. Oxidation of the hydroxyl group of any alkaloid gives ketones, which can be selectively reduced, reacted with Grignard reagents, or subjected to the Corey-Chaykovsky reaction. The alkaloids were also partially degraded by splitting C4'-C9 or N1-C8 bonds. In order to immobilize Cinchona alkaloids the transformations of the 3-vinyl group were often exploited. Finally, miscellaneous functionalizations of quinuclidine, quinoline, and examples of various metal complexes of the alkaloids are considered.

Convergent Synthesis of Two Fluorescent Ebselen-Coumarin Heterodimers.

The organo-seleniumdrug ebselen exhibits a wide range of pharmacological effects that are predominantly due to its interference with redox systems catalyzed by seleno enzymes, e.g., glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase. Moreover, ebselen can covalently interact with thiol groups of several enzymes. According to its pleiotropic mode of action, ebselen has been investigated in clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of different ailments. Fluorescence-labeled probes containing ebselen are expected to be suitable for further biological and medicinal studies. We therefore designed and synthesized two coumarin-tagged activity-based probes bearing the ebselen warhead. The heterodimers differ by the nature of the spacer structure, for which-in the second compound-a PEG/two-amide spacer was introduced. The interaction of this probe and of ebselen with two cysteine proteases was investigated.

Diastereoselective Corey-Chaykovsky 9-epoxymethylation of Cinchona alkaloids: access to chiral scaffolds with diverse functionalities.

Reaction of dimethylsulfonium methylide with Cinchona alkaloid ketones proceeds with complete diastereoselectivity to give epoxides of 8,9-like configuration. The reaction of dimethylsulfoxonium methylide gives different isomers, albeit with lower (4:1) selectivity. α-Epimerization of the alkaloid ketones resulted in formation of two separable diasteromeric products. The configurations of the epoxides were elucidated on the basis of NMR data combined with DFT calculations. Models explaining observed selectivity are discussed. The epoxides were efficiently transformed to a number of derivatives through selective S(N)2-type ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles, often without the need of additional purification steps.

Monoimine derived from trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane and ethyl glyoxylate: an intermediate in aza-Diels-Alder and Mannich reactions.

Novel enantiopure policyclic nitrogen heterocycles have been obtained in the diastereoselective aza-Diels-Alder or Mannich reaction of dienes with imine formed in situ from ethyl glyoxylate and (1R,2R)-diaminocyclohexane.

Enantioselective nitroaldol reaction catalyzed by sterically modified salen-chromium complexes.

A group of modified (salen)Cr(III)Cl complexes with bulky benzylic substituents in the 3,3'-position of the salicylidene moiety have been successfully applied for the asymmetric nitroaldol reaction. The readily accessible complex bearing 3-phenylpent-3-yl groups (2 mol %) leads to beta-nitro alcohols in up to 92% yield and 94% ee.

Stereoselective C9 carbon-carbon couplings of quinine: synthesis and conformational analysis of new C2-symmetric dimers.

An unexpected stereoselective direct dimerization occurred when 9-quinine halide was treated with butyllithium. The reaction of either (9S)- or (9R)-chloroquinine gave the same C2-symmetric dimer with 9R configuration (X-ray structure). A tentative mechanism involving radical recombination is discussed. This highly congested dimer forms two atropisomers, and their reversible interconversion was studied by NMR. Another C2-symmetric (9S)-quinine dimer connected solely by carbon-carbon bonds was obtained by the stereoselective coupling of bis(arylbromomagnesium) derivative with (9S)-chloroquinine.

Stereoselective C9 arylation and vinylation of Cinchona alkaloids.

A simple and efficient method for the highly stereoselective C-9 arylation and vinylation of Cinchona alkaloids was developed. Both 9S- and 9R-chloroquinine with PhMgBr yielded 9S-phenylquinine (X-ray structure). The reactions with various aryl and vinyl Grignard reagents resulted in the series of 9S-aryl and vinyl alkaloid derivatives. The stereochemical outcome was rationalized by coordination of the magnesium atom to the quinuclidine nitrogen, thus directing the nucleophilic attack at the C-9 stereogenic center.