Construction of 1-Tetralols Bearing Two Contiguous Quaternary Chiral Centers through a Rhodium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Desymmetrization Cascade Reaction.

A novel and efficient access to polyfunctionnalized chiral 1-tetralols, bearing two contiguous quaternary carbon stereocenters, has been developed from various and easily accessible alkynyl-1,3-diketones, through a cascade process including a regioselective alkyne insertion, a 1,4-Rh shift, and a nucleophilic addition step via the desymmetrization of the 1,3-diketone moiety thanks to an appropriate rhodium-chiral diene complex in the presence of arylboronic acids.

Enantioenriched 1-Tetralones via Rhodium-Catalyzed Arylative Cascade Desymmetrization/Acylation of Alkynylmalonates.

An efficient atom-economic rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric arylative cyclization to access enantioenriched 1-tetralones, bearing a quaternary carbon stereocenter, is described, involving a highly regioselective alkyne insertion, a 1,4-Rh shift, and an acylation step via the desymmetrization of the malonate moiety thanks to an appropriate chiral diene ligand.

Chiral Bicyclo[2.2.2]octa-2,5-dienyltrifluoroborate Derivative as a Useful and Stable Precursor of C1-Symmetric Chiral Dienes.

A new approach has been developed to prepare monosubstituted C1-symmetric chiral dienes Ar-MSBod from easily accessible chiral bicyclo[2.2.2]octa-2,5-dienyltrifluoroborate derivative. This alkenyl trifluoroborate was synthesized in five steps from inexpensive (-)-carvone. This approach allows the construction of large libraries of diversely substituted chiral dienes via cross-coupling reactions with inexpensive and widely available aryl halides.

From Tetrahydrofurans to Tetrahydrobenzo[ d]oxepines via a Regioselective Control of Alkyne Insertion in Rhodium-Catalyzed Arylative Cyclization.

The formation of chiral 5- and 7-membered tetrahydrofurans and tetrahydrobenzo[ d]oxepines is achieved via arylative cyclization of simple O-tethered alkyne-enoates in the presence of arylboronic acids and chiral dienes-rhodium catalyst under mild conditions. Access to such structures was achieved via a simple switch in the regioselectivity of the alkyne insertion thanks to a proper choice of the alkyne substituent.

Access to Polyfunctionalized Chiral Piperidines through Enantioselective Addition-Carbocyclization Cascade Reaction Catalyzed by a Rhodium(I)-Diene Complex.

A new addition-carbocyclization cascade reaction initiated by arylboronic acids and catalyzed by a rhodium/chiral diene complex is described. Starting from N-bridged oxoenoate derivatives, highly functionalized piperidines bearing three contiguous stereogenic centers were obtained with excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivities.

Chiral pyrrolidines and piperidines from enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed cascade arylative cyclization.

A new rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric arylative cyclization of nitrogen-tethered alkyne-enoate with arylboronic acids is described. In this process two new carbon-carbon bonds and one stereocenter are formed, providing access to pyrrolidines and piperidines with good enantioselectivities by to the use of C1-symmetric chiral monosubstituted diene ligands.

Selective direct heterocoupling of alkenes catalyzed by in situ generated ruthenium complexes.

We describe a ruthenium-based catalytic system that allows the codimerization of cyclic alkenes and Michael acceptors. High yields and excellent stereoselectivities toward the exo-(E) adducts are obtained on a wide range of substrates with various functional groups. In addition, running the reaction in protic media leads to the reduced product resulting from the tandem codimerization/reduction sequence.

Chiral α-amino phosphonates via rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions.

A new approach for the preparation of enantioenriched α-amino phosphonates and derivatives is described. Indeed, the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of potassium organotrifluoroborates to dehydroaminophosphonates afforded α-amino phosphonates in good yields and high enantioselectivities (up to 96%) using Difluorphos as a chiral ligand.

3-Substituted prolines: from synthesis to structural applications, from peptides to foldamers.

Among the twenty natural proteinogenic amino acids, proline is unique as its secondary amine forms a tertiary amide when incorporated into biopolymers, thus preventing hydrogen bond formation. Despite the lack of hydrogen bonds and thanks to conformational restriction of flexibility linked to the pyrrolidine ring, proline is able to stabilize peptide secondary structures such as b-turns or polyproline helices. These unique conformational properties have aroused a great interest in the development of proline analogues. Among them, proline chimeras are tools combining the proline restriction of flexibility together with the information brought by natural amino acids side chains. This review will focus on the chemical syntheses of 3-substituted proline chimeras of potential use for peptide syntheses and as potential use as tools for SAR studies of biologically active peptides and the development of secondary structure mimetics. Their influence on peptide structure will be briefly described.

Ruthenium chloride as an efficient catalytic precursor for hydroarylation reactions via C-H bond activation.

A very simple and efficient catalytic system for the hydroarylation of olefins by aromatic ketones and Michael acceptors using simple and inexpensive ruthenium trichloride as a ruthenium source is described. These very mild conditions (dioxane at 80 degrees C) appeared to be highly compatible, tolerant, and selective toward various functional groups, and the ease of the protocol is highly convenient for synthetic purposes.

Rhodium-catalyzed functionalization of sterically hindered alkenes.

For the first time the rhodium-catalyzed 1,4-addition of organoboranes to hindered Baylis-Hillman adducts, trisubstituted alkenes, affording highly functionalized alkenes, via addition of the organoboranes and hydroxyelimination, is reported. Moreover, preliminary results have shown that, thanks to the use of a monosubstituted chiral diene ligand, enantio-enriched products were easily accessible, while chiral phosphane ligands were completely inappropriate in this reaction.

Room-temperature rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of potassium trifluoro(organo)borates.

For the first time the room-temperature rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition of potassium aryltrifluoroborates to alpha,beta-unsaturated substrates is described. Thanks to the use of a chiral diene as ligand for rhodium and triethylamine as base, to facilitate transmetalation of the boron species, high yields and enantioselectivities were generally achieved. Moreover, the use of such tetravalent boron species offers some improvements compared to the use of boronic acids in term of stability and ease of purification.

C-C bond formation via C-H bond activation using an in situ-generated ruthenium catalyst.

We report here our full results concerning the possibility of generating in situ from a stable and readily available ruthenium(II) source a highly active ruthenium catalyst for C-H bond activation. The versatility of this catalytic system has been demonstrated, as it offers the possibility of modifying the electronic and steric properties of the catalyst by fine-tuning of the ligands, allowing functionalization of various substrates. Aromatic ketones and imines could be easily functionalized by the reaction with either vinylsilanes or styrenes, depending on the electronic and steric nature of the ligand. Moreover, variable-temperature NMR experiments and the isolation of a ruthenium intermediate complex provided some insights into the generation of the active catalytic ruthenium species in this reaction.

Rhodium-catalyzed formation of stereocontrolled trisubstituted alkenes from Baylis-Hillman adducts.

Efficient and general conditions for the formation of stereodefined trisubstituted alkenes by using the rhodium-catalyzed reaction of unactivated Baylis-Hillman adducts with either organoboronic acids or potassium trifluoro(organo)borates are reported (see scheme).We report here efficient and general conditions for the formation of stereodefined trisubstituted alkenes using the rhodium-catalyzed reaction of unactivated Baylis-Hillman adducts with either organoboronic acids and potassium trifluoro(organo)borates. The use of the [{Rh(cod)OH}(2)] precursor gave very fast coupling reactions under low catalyst loading, very mild reaction conditions (from room temperature up to 50 degrees C) and without the need of additional phosphane ligands. Based on the new reaction conditions, the reaction, originally limited to Baylis-Hillman adducts derived from esters, could be extended to a large variety of Baylis-Hillman adducts, bearing either keto, cyano or amido functionalities. Moreover, the reaction of Baylis-Hillman adducts bearing esters functionality was improved and could be conducted at lower temperature using lower catalyst loading.

Anti-Markovnikov hydroarylation of styrenes catalyzed by an in situ generated ruthenium complex.

An efficient and practical catalytic system for the anti-Markovnikov ruthenium-catalyzed hydroarylation of styrenes with acetophenone, allowing a straightforward access to bibenzyl backbones, is described for the first time: this process, involving regioselective C-H bond activation, is complementary to a Friedel-Crafts type reaction giving the branched adduct.

Sterically hindered benzophenones via rhodium-catalyzed oxidative arylation of aldehydes.

Efficient cross-coupling, allowing a straightforward access to congested benzophenones, between aromatic aldehydes and potassium aryltrifluoroborates, is described in the presence of a rhodium/tri-tert-butylphosphane catalyst system and acetone as cosolvent. The use of the stable phosphonium salts of tri-tert-butylphosphane prevented the use of highly oxidizable tri-tert-butylphosphane and allowed a careful control of the stoichiometry with the rhodium.

Access to enantioenriched alpha-amino esters via rhodium-catalyzed 1,4-addition/enantioselective protonation.

Conjugate addition of potassium trifluoro(organo)borates 2 to dehydroalanine derivatives 1, mediated by a chiral rhodium catalyst and in situ enantioselective protonation, afforded straightforward access to a variety of protected alpha-amino esters 3 with high yields and enantiomeric excesses up to 95%. Among the tested chiral ligands and proton sources, Binap, in combination with guaiacol (2-methoxyphenol), an inexpensive and nontoxic phenol, afforded the highest asymmetric inductions. Organostannanes have also shown to participate in this reaction. By a fine-tuning of the ester moiety, and using Difluorophos as chiral ligand, increased levels of enantioselectivity, generally close to 95%, were achieved. Deuterium labeling experiments revealed, and DFT calculation supported, an unusual mechanism involving a hydride transfer from the amido substituent to the alpha carbon explaining the high levels of enantioselectivity attained in controlling this alpha chiral center.

Base-free Mizoroki-Heck reaction catalyzed by rhodium complexes.

A base-free rhodium-catalyzed Mizoroki-Heck (M-H) reaction using potassium aryltrifluoroborates as the arylating agent of alkenes and acetone as a green "oxidant" is described. Thanks to the ready availability of organoboranes, this reaction should constitute an interesting alternative to conventional M-H reactions using aryl halides.