Access to Anti or Syn 2-Amino-1,3-diol Scaffolds from a Common Decarboxylative Aldol Adduct.

A straightforward synthetic pathway allowing the access to anti or syn 2-amino-1,3-diol scaffolds is presented. The strategy relies on a diastereoselective organocatalyzed decarboxylative aldol reaction of a N-Boc-hemimalonate that is easily formed from commercial N-Boc-diethyl malonate. Although this method has been optimized previously with the N-Bz-hemimalonate analogue, this key step was reinvestigated with the N-Boc derivative to improve the required reaction time, the yield, and the diastereoselectivity. The new conditions enhance this transformation, and quantitative yields and anti/syn ratios up to 96:4 can be obtained. The anti aldol product was easily isolated in pure form and then taken forward as the key precursor in the preparation of both a set of ten N-/O-alkylated anti 2-amino-1,3-diol derivatives and the syn congeners.

Chiral Lithium Amido Zincates for Enantioselective 1,2-Additions: Auto-assembling Reagents Involving a Fully Recyclable Ligand.

A methodology consisting in carrying out enantioselective nucleophilic 1,2-additions (ee values up to 97 %) from cheap, easily accessible, and never described before, chiral lithium amido zincates is presented. These multicomponent reactants auto-assemble when mixing, in a 1:1 ratio, a homoleptic diorganozinc (R2 Zn) with a chiral lithium amide (CLA). The latter, obtained after a single reductive amination, plays the role of the chiral inductor and is fully recoverable thanks to a simple acid-base wash, allowing being recycled and re-use without loss of stereochemical information.

C-N Bond Formation from a Masked High-Valent Copper Complex Stabilized by Redox Non-Innocent Ligands.

The reactivity of a stable copper(II) complex bearing fully oxidized iminobenzoquinone redox ligands towards nucleophiles is described. In sharp contrast with its genuine low-valent counterpart bearing reduced ligands, this complex performs high-yielding C-N bond formations. Mechanistic studies suggest that this behavior could stem from a mechanism akin to reductive elimination occurring at the metal center but facilitated by the ligand: it is proposed that a masked high oxidation state of the metal can be stabilized as a lower copper(II) oxidation state by the redox ligands without forfeiting its ability to behave as a high-valent copper(III) center. These observations are substantiated by a combination of advanced EPR spectroscopy techniques with DFT studies. This work sheds light on the potential of redox ligands as promoters of unusual reactivities at metal centers and illustrates the concept of masked high-valent metallic species.