Enantioselective Desymmetrization of Glutarimides Catalyzed by Oxazaborolidines Derived from cis-1-Amino-indan-2-ol.

Enantioselective reductive desymmetrization of glutarimides has been achieved employing an oxazaborolidine catalyst derived from cis-1-amino-indan-2-ol. The reaction was found to proceed through a stereoablative process that upgraded the enantioselectivity of an intermediate hydroxy-lactam. The reaction was generally tolerant of a number of substituents in the 4-position, giving enantiomeric excesses of greater than 82%.

Enantioselective catalytic desymmetrization of maleimides by temporary removal of an internal mirror plane and stereoablative over-reduction: synthesis of (R)-pyrrolam A.

A highly enantioselective (>95% ee) strategy to affect the desymmetrization of a maleimide has been performed by temporary attachment to an anthracene template followed by asymmetric reduction with an oxazaborolidine catalyst. A stereoablative over-reduction process was partially responsible for the high levels of enantioselectivity. Exemplification of the strategy by stereoselective functionalization and retro-Diels-Alder reaction provided the natural product pyrrolam A.