Synthesis of Complex Tertiary Glycolates by Enantioconvergent Arylation of Stereochemically Labile α-Keto Esters

Dynamic Kinetic Asymmetric Hydroacylation: Racemization by Soft Enolization

We report a dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DyKAT) of racemic aldehydes by Rh-catalyzed hydroacylation of acrylamides. This intermolecular hydroacylation generates 1,4-ketoamides with high enantio- and diastereoselectivity. DFT and experimental studies provide mechanistic insights and reveal an unexpected Rh-catalyzed pathway for aldehyde racemization. Our study represents a pioneering kinetic resolution by intermolecular hydroacylation and contributes to the growing field of stereoconvergent catalysis featuring C-C bond construction.

Ni(II)-catalyzed asymmetric alkenylation and arylation of aryl ketones with organoborons via 1,5-metalate shift

Chiral tertiary alcohols are an important structural motif, however, the general and efficient methodologies for their synthesis are less reported. Herein, we report a Ni(ІІ)-catalyzed asymmetric alkenylation and arylation of aryl ketones with organoborons under air via a 1,5-metalate shift strategy to obtain chiral tertiary allylic alcohols and diaryl alcohols. The reaction demonstrates good functional group tolerance and delivers chiral tertiary alcohols with good to excellent results. Furthermore, this method can be applied to the late-stage modification of drugs and the efficient synthesis of natural products. Notably, the reaction proceeds through an outer-sphere mechanism. The Ni(II) complex functions both as a Lewis acid to activate the ketone and create a chiral environment, and as coordination bridge linking the ketone and the organoboron-derived "ate" complex, facilitating the 1,5-metalate shift without forming a C-Ni bond. This approach contrasts with traditional transition metal-catalyzed nucleophilic addition reactions that involve carbon-metal bond formation.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Arylation-Induced Glycolate Aldol Additions of Silyl Glyoxylates

(Diene)Rh(I) complexes catalyze the stereoselective three-component coupling of silyl glyoxylates, arylboronic acids, and aldehydes to give glycolate aldol products. The participation of Rh-alkoxides in the requisite Brook rearrangement was established through two component Rh-catalyzed couplings of silyl glyoxylates with ArB(OH)2 to give silyl-protected mandelate derivatives. The intermediacy of a chiral Rh-enolate was inferred through enantioselective protonation using a chiral Rh-catalyst. Diastereoselective three-component couplings with aldehydes as terminating electrophiles to give racemic products were best achieved with a bulky aryl ester on the silyl glyoxylate reagent. Optimal enantioselective couplings were carried out with the tert-butyl ester variant using an anisole-derived enantiopure tricyclo[3.2.2.02,4 ]nonadiene ligand.

Dynamic kinetic asymmetric arylation and alkenylation of ketones

Despite the importance of enantioenriched alcohols in medicinal chemistry, total synthesis, and materials science, the efficient and selective construction of enantioenriched tertiary alcohols bearing two contiguous stereocenters has remained a substantial challenge. We report a platform for their preparation through the enantioconvergent, nickel-catalyzed addition of organoboronates to racemic, nonactivated ketones. We prepared several important classes of α,β-chiral tertiary alcohols in a single step with high levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity through a dynamic kinetic asymmetric addition of aryl and alkenyl nucleophiles. We applied this protocol to modify several profen drugs and to rapidly synthesize biologically relevant molecules. We expect this nickel-catalyzed, base-free ketone racemization process to be a widely applicable strategy for the development of dynamic kinetic processes.

Chiral Diene Ligands in Asymmetric Catalysis

Asymmetric catalysis has emerged as a general and powerful approach for constructing chiral compounds in an enantioselective manner. Hence, developing novel chiral ligands and catalysts that can effectively induce asymmetry in reactions is crucial in modern chemical synthesis. Among such chiral ligands and catalysts, chiral dienes and their metal complexes have received increased attention, and a great progress has been made over the past two decades. This review provides comprehensive and critical information on the essential aspects of chiral diene ligands and their importance in asymmetric catalysis. The literature covered ranges from August 2003 (when the first effective chiral diene ligand for asymmetric catalysis was reported) to October 2021. This review is divided into two parts. In the first part, the chiral diene ligands are categorized according to their structures, and their preparation methods are summarized. In the second part, their applications in asymmetric transformations are presented according to the reaction types.

C(sp3)-Arylation by Conformationally Accelerated Intramolecular Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution (SNAr)

The asymmetric synthesis of heavily substituted benzylic stereogenic centers, prevalent in natural products, therapeutics, agrochemicals, and catalysts, is an ongoing challenge. In this Account, we outline our contribution to this endeavor, describing our discovery of a series of new reactions that not only have synthetic applicability but also present significant mechanistic intrigue. The story originated from our longstanding interest in the stereochemistry and reactivity of functionalized organolithiums. While investigating the lithiation chemistry of ureas (a "Cinderella" sister of the more established amides and carbamates), we noted an unexpected Truce-Smiles (T-S) rearrangement involving the 1,4-N → C transposition of a urea N'-aryl group to the α-carbanion of an adjacent N-benzyl group. Despite this reaction formally constituting an SNAr substitution, we found it to be remarkably tolerant of the electronic properties of the migrating aryl substituent and the degree of substitution at the carbanion. Moreover, in contrast to classical SNAr reactions, the rearrangement was sufficiently rapid that it took place under conditions compatible with configurational stability in an organolithium intermediate, enabling enantiospecific arylation at benzylic stereogenic centers. Experimental and computational studies confirmed a low kinetic barrier to the aryl migration arising from the strong preference for a trans arrangement of the urea N'-aryl and carbonyl groups, populating a reactive conformer in which spatial proximity was enforced between the carbanion and N'-aryl group, hugely accelerating ipso-substitution.This discovery led us to uncover a whole series of conformationally accelerated intramolecular N → C aryl transfers using different anilide-based functional groups, including a diverse range of urea, carbamate, and thiocarbamate-substituted anions. Products included enantioenriched α-tertiary amines (including α-arylated N-heterocycles) and alcohols, as well as rare α-tertiary thiols. Synthetically challenging diarylated centers with differentiated aryl groups featured heavily in all product sets. The absolute enantiospecificity (retention versus inversion) of the reaction was dependent on the heteroatom α to the lithiation site: the origin of this stereodivergence was probed both experimentally and computationally. Asymmetric variants of the rearrangement were realized by enantioselective deprotonation, and connective strategies were developed in which an intermolecular C-C bond-forming event preceded the anionic rearrangement. Substrates where the N'-nucleofuge (at the aryl ipso position) was tethered to the migrating arene allowed us to use the rearrangement as a ring expansion method to generate 8- to 12-membered medium-ring N-heterocycles from very simple precursors. Stabilized carbon nucleophiles such as alkali metal enolates also readily promoted intramolecular N → C aryl transfer in N'-arylureas, opening up access to biologically relevant hydantoins, and enabling a "chiral memory" approach for the (hetero)arylation of chiral α-amino acids with programmable retention or inversion of configuration. Collectively, our studies of electronically versatile T-S rearrangements in anilide-based systems have culminated in a practical and general strategy for transition metal-free C(sp3)-arylation. More broadly, our results highlight the power of conformational activation to achieve unprecedented reactivity in the construction of challenging C-C bonds.

Ru-Catalyzed Asymmetric Addition of Arylboronic Acids to Aliphatic Aldehydes via P-Chiral Monophosphorous Ligands

Chiral alcohols are among the most widely applied in fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Herein, the Ru-monophosphine catalyst formed in situ was found to promote an enantioselective addition of aliphatic aldehydes with arylboronic acids, delivering the chiral alcohols in excellent yields and enantioselectivities and exhibiting a broad scope of aliphatic aldehydes and arylboronic acids. The enantioselectivities are highly dependent on the monophosphorous ligands. The utility of this asymmetric synthetic method was showcased by a large-scale transformation.

Dearomative Synthesis of Chiral Dienes Enables Improved Late-Stage Ligand Diversification

An efficient synthesis of chiral nonracemic diene ligands is facilitated by an enantioselective dearomative intermolecular arene cyclopropanation of anisole. The functionality of the resulting cycloheptatriene engenders distinct chemical environments in a downstream tricyclic bis(enol) triflate that permits selective late-stage functionalization. The synthesis of diverse C₁- and pseudo-C₂-symmetric dienes is therefore viable by iterative palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. The ligands provide moderate to high selectivities in known Rh(I)-mediated asymmetric transformations.

Stereodivergent Nucleophilic Additions to Racemic β-Oxo Acid Derivatives: Fast Addition Outcompetes Stereoconvergence in the Archetypal Configurationally Unstable Electrophile

Additions of carbon nucleophiles to racemic α-stereogenic β-oxo acid derivatives that deliver enantiomerically enriched tertiary alcohols are valuable, but uncommon. This article describes stereodivergent Cu-catalyzed borylative cyclizations of racemic β-oxo acid derivatives bearing tethered pro-nucleophilic olefins to deliver highly functionalized cyclopentanols containing four contiguous stereogenic centers. The reported protocol is applicable to a range of β-oxo acid derivatives, and the diastereomeric products are readily isolable by typical chromatographic techniques. α-Stereogenic-β-keto esters are typically thought to have extreme or spontaneous configurational fragility, but mechanistic studies for this system reveal an unusual scenario wherein productive catalysis occurs on the same time scale as background substrate racemization and completely outcompetes on-cycle epimerization, even under the basic conditions of the reaction.

Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Bicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,5-diene Ligands through Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Arylative Bis-cyclization of a 1,6-Enyne

A series of novel chiral diene ligands (1R,4S)-L₁, which are based on the bicyclo[2.2.1]heptadiene skeleton and are substituted with methyl and an ester group at the bridgehead carbons, were synthesized through rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric arylative bis-cyclization of 1,6-enyne 1 as a key step. The rhodium catalyst with one of the (1R,4S)-L₁ ligands was used for the asymmetric bis-cyclization of 1 giving bicyclic product (1S,4R)-2 of 99% ee, which is a synthetic precursor of (1S,4R)-L₁ ligands.

Access to enantioenriched compounds bearing challenging tetrasubstituted stereocenters via kinetic resolution of auxiliary adjacent alcohols

Contemporary asymmetric catalysis faces huge challenges when prochiral substrates bear electronically and sterically unbiased substituents and when substrates show low reactivities. One of the inherent limitations of chiral catalysts and ligands is their incapability in recognizing prochiral substrates bearing similar groups. This has rendered many enantiopure substances bearing several similar substituents inaccessible. Here we report the rationale, scope, and applications of the strategy of kinetic resolution of auxiliary adjacent alcohols (KRA*) that can be used to solve the above troubles. Using this method, a large variety of optically enriched tertiary alcohols, epoxides, esters, ketones, hydroxy ketones, epoxy ketones, β-ketoesters, and tetrasubstituted methane analogs with two, three, and four spatially and electronically similar groups can be readily obtained (totally 96 examples). At the current stage, the strategy serves as the optimal solution that can complement the inability caused by direct asymmetric catalysis in getting chiral molecules with challenging fully substituted stereocenters.

A large number of enantiopure substances, such as those with tetrasubstituted carbon centres bearing several similar substituents, are inaccessible due to the incapability of chiral catalysts/ligands to recognize those substrates. Here, the authors develop kinetic resolution of auxiliary adjacent alcohols (KRA*) strategy to access various optically enriched compounds with two, three or four spatially and electronically similar groups.

An azo-bridged ring system enabled by-standing immobilization of a chiral diene ligand

A family of 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonadiene ligands were developed, and the nitrogen atom in the bridged ring enables a facile immobilization of diene ligands to silica.

Stereoconvergent Conjugate Addition of Arylboronic Acids to α-Angelica Lactone Derivatives: Synthesis of Stereochemically Complex γ-Butyrolactones

Catalyzed stereoconvergent 1,4-additions to unsaturated carbonyls are rare but of high potential value. This letter details the development of enantioselective arylation reactions of boronic acids and β,γ-butenolides. These reactions are catalyzed by commercially available hydroxy[(S)-BINAP]-rhodium(I) dimer to afford stereochemically complex γ-butyrolactone derivatives. The reaction products provide functionality amenable to further manipulation and can lead to products with up to three contiguous stereocenters. The reaction proceeds under a dynamic kinetic resolution manifold by isomerizing the achiral starting material into an interconverting mixture of enantiomeric conjugate acceptors, followed by catalyst-controlled, enantiomer-selective 1,4-addition. Base-promoted racemization of the intermediate α,β-butenolide is possible due to the high kinetic and thermodynamic acidity of the γ-proton.

Dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformations of β-halo-α-keto esters byN,N′-dioxide/Ni(ii)-catalyzed carbonyl-ene reaction

An effective dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation of racemic β-halo-α-keto esters through carbonyl-ene reaction was realised.

Synthesis of Complex Glycolates by Enantioconvergent Addition Reactions

The unique role that stereochemistry plays in molecular recognition events continues to provide a driving force for synthesizing organic compounds in enantioenriched form. The tendency of enantioenriched organic compounds to revert to an entropically favored racemic state in the presence of viable racemization pathways (e.g., the enolization of stereogenic carbonyl derivatives) can sometimes interfere with this objective; however, beginning with Noyori's foundational disclosure of a dynamic kinetic transfer hydrogenation, the ability to channel racemic, configurationally labile starting materials through stereoconvergent reaction pathways has been recognized as a powerful strategy in asymmetric synthesis. Proton transfer, retro-aldol, retro-Michael, reversible redox events, and other processes that can be deleterious to asymmetric synthesis are exploitable in enantioconvergent reactions using chiral small molecules and enzymes as asymmetric catalysts. Enantioselective reduction of configurationally labile carbonyl derivatives bearing a C-H acidic chiral center are particularly common. Because facile racemization is vital to stereocontrol in these transformations, hydrogenations of β-dicarbonyls are commonplace, while less activated substrates have been used less commonly. Our entry into enantioconvergent catalysis evolved from a long-standing interest in the synthesis of complex glycolates and began with the development of a general Noyori-type transfer hydrogenation of α-keto esters. Key innovations in this work include the identification of a new terphenylsulfonamide-Ru(II) complex, which displays unusual preference toward reduction of α-keto esters, and the observation that α-keto esters racemize under mildly basic conditions. This work was extended to the dynamic kinetic hydrogenation of racemic acyl phosphonates. Moreover, the recent recognition that the mechanistic paradigm underlying enantioconvergent hydrogenation chemistry can be extended to diverse carbon-centered nucleophiles has led to advances in the art. Our lab has developed a number of enantioconvergent tertiary alcohol syntheses. In the context of carbon-centered nucleophiles, we have focused on the use of α-keto esters; however, in the latter part of this Account, we will briefly describe our nascent efforts to develop dynamic kinetic additions of carbon-centered nucleophiles to β-oxo acid derivatives. While the enantioconvergent hydrogenation of β-keto acid derivatives is carried out on 100-ton scale annually, non-hydrogenative transformations of these compounds constitute an underexplored subclass of enantioconvergent reactions. With regard to future prospects, a trend toward transformations that afford increasing levels of molecular complexity is apparent. It can be expected that the burgeoning field of asymmetric 1,2-addition chemistry will further drive this chemistry to encompass a wider array of enantioconvergent additions. Additionally, the continued exploration of these chemistries in the context of less conventional electrophiles, as well as identifying novel or overlooked modes of racemization, holds considerable potential.

Direct Zinc(II)-Catalyzed Enantioconvergent Additions of Terminal Alkynes to α-Keto Esters

The addition of terminal alkynes to racemic β-stereogenic α-keto esters was achieved in high levels of stereoselectivity, affording versatile tertiary propargylic alcohols containing two stereocenters. This environmentally benign enantioconvergent reaction proceeds with perfect atom economy, requires no solvent, and is catalyzed by a non-toxic zinc salt. The alkyne moiety can be leveraged in downstream transformations including hydrogenation to the corresponding saturated tertiary alcohol, which represents the product of a formal enantioconvergent aliphatic nucleophile addition.

Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of Allylic Azides via Asymmetric Dihydroxylation

The catalytic enantioselective preparation of densely functionalized amines is a fundamental synthetic challenge. To address this challenge, we report for the first time that the Winstein rearrangement can be enlisted as the racemization pathway in a dynamic kinetic resolution of allylic azides. Alkene functionalization by Sharpless dihydroxylation affords tertiary azides in excellent enantioselectivity (up to 99:1 er). This approach establishes the chirality of the tertiary azide, obviates the need to directly forge either a congested C-N or C-C bond at the new nitrogenous stereocenter, and establishes additional functionality. Several examples demonstrate further elaboration of this functionality.

Palladium-Catalyzed β-Arylation of α-Keto Esters

A catalyst system derived from commercially available Pd₂(dba)₃ and P^tBu₃ has been applied to the coupling of α-keto ester enolates and aryl bromides. The reaction provides access to an array of β-stereogenic α-keto esters. When the air-stable ligand precursor P^tBu₃·HBF₄ is employed, the reaction can be carried out without use of a glovebox. The derived products are of broad interest given the prevalence of the α-keto acid substructure in biologically important molecules.