Adaptable P-X Biaryl Phosphite/Phosphoroamidite-Containing Ligands for Asymmetric Hydrogenation and C-X Bond-Forming Reactions: Ligand Libraries with Exceptionally Wide Substrate Scope

Self-Adaptable Tropos Catalysts

Biological systems have often served as inspiration for the design of synthetic catalysts. The lock and key analogy put forward by Emil Fischer in 1894 to explain the high substrate specificity of enzymes has been used as a general guiding principle aimed at enhancing the selectivity of chemical processes by optimizing attractive and repulsive interactions in molecular recognition events. However, although a perfect fit of a substrate to a catalytic site may enhance the selectivity of a specific catalytic reaction, it inevitably leads to a narrow substrate scope, excluding substrates with different sizes and shapes from efficient binding. An ideal catalyst should instead be able to accommodate a wide range of substrates-it has indeed been recognized that enzymes also are often highly promiscuous as a result of their ability to change their conformation and shape in response to a substrate-and preferentially be useful in various types of processes. In biological adaptation, the process by which species become fitted to new environments is crucial for their ability to cope with changing environmental conditions. With this in mind, we have been exploring catalytic systems that can adapt their size and shape to the environment with the goal of developing synthetic catalysts with wide scope.In this Account, we describe our studies aimed at elucidating how metal catalysts with flexible structural units adapt their binding pockets to the reacting substrate. Throughout our studies, ligands equipped with tropos biaryl units have been explored, and the palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation reaction has been used as a suitable probe to study the adaptability of the catalytic systems. The conformations of catalytically active metal complexes under different conditions have been studied by both experimental and theoretical methods. By the design of ligands incorporating two flexible units, the symmetry properties of metal complexes could be used to facilitate conformational analysis and thereby provide valuable insight into the structures of complexes involved in the catalytic cycle. The importance of flexibility was convincingly demonstrated when a phosphine group in a privileged ligand that is well-known for its versatility in a number of processes was exchanged for a tropos biaryl phosphite unit: the result was a truly self-adaptive ligand with dramatically increased scope.

Evolution of phosphorus-thioether ligands for asymmetric catalysis

In the early 1990s chiral P-thiother ligands emerged as promising ligands in the field of asymmetric catalysis, with the development of many P-thioether ligand families. However, only a few of them have shown a broad reaction and substrate scope. So, compared with other heterodonor ligands such as the widely studied P-N ligands, their impact in asymmetric catalysis was not realised until recently. This has been mainly attributed to the difficulty of controlling the configuration at the sulfur atom when coordinated to the metal. More recently, it has been found that this problem could be solved by a rigorous choice of the ligand scaffold, a process usually aided by mechanistic studies. This allowed the recent discovery of new P-thioether ligand families with a broader versatility, both in reactions and in substrate/reagent scope. This feature article aims to highlight those new P-thioether ligand libraries and the relationship between the structure and catalytic performance.

Diamidophosphites from β-hydroxyamides: readily assembled ligands for Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution

Novel diamidophosphites based on β-hydroxyamides were prepared, and their individual and in situ formed complexes were tested in Pd-mediated allylations.

A readily accessible and modular carbohydrate-derived thioether/selenoether-phosphite ligand library for Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitutions

A large library of thioether/selenoether-phosphite ligands have been tested in the Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution reaction. The presented ligands are derived from cheap and available carbohydrates and they are air-stable solids and easy to handle. Their highly modular nature has made it possible to achieve excellent enantioselectivities in the substitution of a range of hindered and unhindered substrates (ees up to 99% and 91%, respectively). In addition, twelve C-, N- and O-nucleophiles can be efficiently introduced, independently of their nature. Among the whole library, ligands that contain an additional chiral centre in the alkyl backbone chain next to the phosphite group and an enantiopure biaryl phosphite group provided the best enantioselectivities. In general, there is a cooperative effect between these two chiral elements, and therefore, a matched combination between them is necessary to achieve the highest enantioselectivities. However, in the case of cyclic substrates, this cooperative effect is less pronounced and advantageously, both enantiomers of the product can be obtained by setting up the desired configuration of the biaryl phosphite group. Studies of the key Pd-π-allyl intermediates allowed us to better understand the enantioselectivities obtained experimentally.

Conformational Dynamics in Asymmetric Catalysis: Is Catalyst Flexibility a Design Element?

Traditionally, highly selective low molecular weight catalysts have been designed to contain rigidifying structural elements. As a result, many proposed stereochemical models rely on steric repulsion for explaining the observed selectivity. Recently, as is the case for enzymatic systems, it has become apparent that some flexibility can be beneficial for imparting selectivity. Dynamic catalysts can reorganize to maximize attractive non-covalent interactions that stabilize the favored diastereomeric transition state, while minimizing repulsive non-covalent interactions for enhanced selectivity. This Short Review discusses catalyst conformational dynamics and how these effects have proven beneficial for a variety of catalyst classes, including tropos ligands, cinchona alkaloids, hydrogen-bond donating catalysts, and peptides.