Efficient ruthenium-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation/hydrogenation of 1,3-cycloalkanediones to 1,3-cycloalkanediols using microwave heating.

A number of 1,3-cycloalkanediones were efficiently reduced to the corresponding diols in good yield by the use of a ruthenium catalyst, 2-propanol, and hydrogen gas under microwave heating.

Divergent asymmetric synthesis of 3,5-disubstituted piperidines.

A divergent synthesis of various 3,5-dioxygenated piperidines with interesting pharmacological properties is described. A mixture of the achiral cis- and racemic trans-3,5-piperidine diol could be efficiently obtained from N-benzylglycinate in five steps by the use of chemoenzymatic methods. In the subsequent enzyme- and Ru-catalyzed reaction, the rac/meso diol mixture was efficiently transformed to the cis-(3R,5S)-diacetate with excellent diastereoselectivity and in high yield. Further transformations of the cis-diacetate selectively delivered the cis-piperidine diol and the cis-(3R,5S)-hydroxy acetate. Alternatively, the DYKAT could be stopped at the monoacetate stage to give the trans-(3R,5R)-hydroxy acetate.

Enzymatic resolution, desymmetrization, and dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation of 1,3-cycloalkanediols.

An efficient desymmetrization of cis-1,3-cyclohexanediol to (1S,3R)-3-(acetoxy)-1-cyclohexanol ((R,S)-2a) was performed via Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB)-catalyzed transesterification, in high yield (up to 93%) and excellent enantioselectivity (ee's up to >99.5%). (R,R)-Diacetate ((R,R)-3a) was obtained in a DYKAT process at room temperature from (1S,3R)-3-acetoxy-1-cyclohexanol ((R,S)-2a), in a high trans/cis ratio (91:9) and in excellent enantioselectivity of >99%. Metal- and enzyme-catalyzed dynamic transformation of cis/trans-1,3-cyclohexanediol using PS-C gave a high diastereoselectivity for cis-diacetate (cis/trans = 97:3). The (1R,3S)-3-acetoxy-1-cyclohexanol (ent-(R,S)-2a) was obtained from cis-diacetate by CALB-catalyzed hydrolysis in an excellent yield (97%) and selectivity (>99% ee). By deuterium labeling it was shown that intramolecular acyl migration does not occur in the transformation of cis-monoacetate to the cis-diacetate.

Kinetic resolution and chemoenzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution of functionalized gamma-hydroxy amides.

[reaction: see text] An efficient kinetic resolution of racemic gamma-hydroxy amides 1 was performed via Pseudomas cepacia lipase (PS-C)-catalyzed transesterification. The enzyme PS-C tolerates both variation in the chain length and different functionalities giving good to high enantioselectivity (E values of up to >250). The combination of enzymatic kinetic resolution with a ruthenium-catalyzed racemization led to a dynamic kinetic resolution. The use of 2,4-dimethyl-3-pentanol as a hydrogen source to suppress ketone formation in the dynamic kinetic resolution yields the corresponding acetates in good yield and good to high enantioselectivity (ee's up to 98%). The synthetic utility of this procedure was illustrated by the practical synthesis of the versatile intermediate gamma-lactone (R)-5-methyltetrahydrofuran-2-one.