Enantioseparation and racemization of 3-fluorooxindoles.

Fluorinated oxindoles are frequently used building blocks in asymmetric synthesis and represent an important scaffold found in a variety of biologically relevant compounds. While it is understood that incorporation of fluorine atoms into organic molecules can improve their pharmacological properties, the impact on the configurational stability of chiral organofluorines is still underexplored. In this study, semipreparative HPLC enantioseparations of five oxindoles were carried out, and the resulting enantiomerically enriched solutions were used to investigate base promoted racemization kinetics at room temperature. It was found that incorporation of fluorine at the chiral center increases the configurational stability, while substitutions on the aromatic ring and at the lactam moiety also have significant effects on the rate of racemization, which generally follows reversible first-order reaction kinetics.

Carbo[n]helicenes Restricted to Enantiomerize: An Insight into the Design Process of Configurationally Stable Functional Chiral PAHs.

The most important stereodynamic feature of carbo[n]helicenes is the interconversion of their enantiomers. The Gibbs activation energy (ΔG≠ (T)) of this process, which determines the rate of enantiomerization, dictates the configurational stability of [n]helicenes. High values of ΔG≠ (T) are required for applications of functional chiral molecules incorporating [n]helicenes or helicene substructures. This minireview provides an overview of the mechanism, recent developments, and factors affecting the enantiomerization of [n]helicenes, which will accelerate the design process of configurationally stable functional chiral molecules based on helicene substructures. Additionally, this minireview addresses the misconception and irregularities in the recent literature on how the terms "racemization" and "enantiomerization" are used as well as how the activation parameters are calculated for [n]helicenes and related compounds.

Enantioseparation and racemization of α-aryl-α-fluoroacetonitriles.

The 2-Aryl-2-fluoroacetonitriles have garnered increasing interest as versatile building blocks in asymmetric synthesis. However, the configurational stability of these organofluorines is poorly understood and analytical methods that can be used to differentiate between their enantiomers remain underdeveloped. In this study, baseline high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) enantioseparation of ten 2-aryl-2-fluoroacetonitriles was achieved by screening frequently used chiral stationary phases. While Chiralcel OD, Chiralpak AD, and Chiralpak AS proved to be most broadly useful, preparative separation of the enantiomers of 2-(2-naphthyl)-2-fluoroacetonitrile was possible on Chiralcel OJ. This enabled racemization studies at various temperatures and in the presence of organic bases which showed that this compound is configurationally stable under neutral conditions upon heating to 130°C for 6 h but undergoes complete racemization within 10 h in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of a guanidine base at room temperature. The racemization is likely to proceed via formation of an achiral keteniminate intermediate and obeys reversible first-order reaction kinetics with a half-life time of 87.7 min in ethanolic hexanes at 23.2°C. Racemization is significantly slower and occurs with a half-life time of 23.1 h at 22.4°C when the guanidine is replaced with a weaker amidine base.

Turning the Nitrogen Atoms of an Ar2 P-CH2 -N-N-CH2 -PAr2 Motif into Uniquely Configured Stereocenters: A Novel Diphosphane Design for Asymmetric Catalysis.

Hexahydropyridazines with CH2 PAr2 groups at both N atoms are newly designed 1,4-diphosphanes and were synthesized for the first time. Their N atoms assume a single configuration under the influence of stereocenters at C-5 and C-6. In the solid state, these N-atoms bind the CH2 PAr2 substituents axially. Combined with Pd0 , N,N'-chiral diphosphanes of this kind catalyzed Tsuji-Trost type allylations of dialkyl malonates with racemic 1,3-diphenylallyl acetate efficiently and with up to 91 % ee.

Asymmetric Copper-Catalyzed Carbomagnesiation of Cyclopropenes.

The highly diastereo- and enantioselective formation of polysubstituted cyclopropanes was easily achieved through the asymmetric copper-catalyzed carbomagnesiation reaction of nonfunctionalized cyclopropene derivatives. The carbometalated species generated in situ readily undergo C-C and C-X bond-forming reactions with various electrophiles with complete retention of configuration.

Stereoselective Arene-Forming Aldol Condensation: Synthesis of Configurationally Stable Oligo-1,2-naphthylenes.

Structurally well-defined oligomers are fundamental for the functionality of natural molecular systems and key for the design of synthetic counterparts. Herein, we describe a strategy for the efficient synthesis of individual stereoisomers of 1,2-naphthylene oligomers by iterative building block additions and consecutive stereoselective arene-forming aldol condensation reactions. The catalyst-controlled atropoenantioselective and the substrate-controlled atropodiastereoselective aldol condensation reaction provide structurally distinct ter- and quaternaphthalene stereoisomers, which represent configurationally stable analogues of otherwise stereodynamic, helically shaped ortho-phenylenes.

Stereoselective Retentive Domino Transmetalations of Secondary Alkyllithium Compounds to Functionalized Secondary Alkylcopper Reagents.

Functionalized secondary alkyllithium reagents obtained by I/Li exchange from the corresponding secondary alkyl iodides undergo two successive transmetalations with Me3 SiCH2 ZnBr⋅LiBr and CuBr⋅2 LiCl⋅Me2 S to provide functionalized secondary alkylcopper compounds with high retention of configuration. These alkylcopper derivatives react further with electrophiles such as alkynyl esters, acid chlorides, allylic chlorides, ketals, ethylene oxide, and 3-iodocyclopentanone with high retention of configuration. A related sequence of transmetalations with MeMgI and LaCl3 ⋅2 LiCl allows a retentive addition of secondary alkyllithium reagents to acetone. The influence of the solvent on the configurational stability of secondary alkylzinc reagents is described.

Remarkable configurational stability of magnesiated nitriles.

Quaternary stereocenters: Chiral α-magnesiated nitriles can be formed by deprotonation and are configurationally stable at low temperature, even for acyclic examples. These can be trapped with electrophiles to give enantiomerically enriched quaternary substituted products (see scheme; TMP = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine).

Carbamate-directed benzylic lithiation for the diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of diaryl ether atropisomers.

Diaryl ethers carrying carbamoyloxymethyl groups may be desymmetrised enantio- and diastereoselectively by the use of the sec-BuLi-(-)-sparteine complex in diethyl ether. Enantioselective deprotonation of one of the two benzylic positions leads to atropisomeric products with ca. 80:20 e.r.; an electrophilic quench typically provides functionalised atropisomeric diastereoisomers in up to 97:3 d.r.

Rational Design of the Platinahelicene Enantiomers for Deep-Red Circularly Polarized Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

[n]Helicene derivatives are most popular chiral structures to construct luminescent materials with circularly polarized (CP) light, which have revealed appealing application in chiral optoelectronics. Particularly, because of the unique phosphorescent emission, platinahelicene has great application prospects in CP organic light-emitting diode (CP-OLED). Herein, by decorating the pyridinyl-helicene ligand with trifluoromethyl (-CF3) unit in a specific position, a pair of platinahelicene enantiomers was prepared and separated with extremely twisted structure showing not only superior thermal and configurational stability but also good CP luminescence (CPL) property with dissymmetry factors (|g PL|) of 6 × 10-3. Moreover, the evaporated CP-OLEDs based on platinahelicene enantiomers exhibited the deep-red emission with the peak at 653 nm as well as obvious CP electroluminescence (CPEL) signals with the |g EL| in 10-3 order. Therefore, the design strategy provides an efficient way to improve the CPL properties of platinahelicene to cope with the future application in CP-OLEDs.

α-Chloroalkylmagnesium Reagents of >90 % ee by Sulfoxide/Magnesium Exchange.

Not only for ligand exchange at sulfoxides can the sulfoxide/magnesium exchange reaction be used, but it also provides a possibility to generate Grignard reagents in way that avoids metallic magnesium and thus radical processes. Therefore, enantiomerically pure Grignard reagents can be obtained from the corresponding sulfoxides [Eq. (a)].