Organocatalytic Michael Addition of Unactivated α-Branched Nitroalkanes to Afford Optically Active Tertiary Nitrocompounds.

The direct, asymmetric conjugate addition of unactivated α-branched nitroalkanes is developed based on the combined use of chiral amine/ureidoaminal bifunctional catalysts and a tunable acrylate template to provide tertiary nitrocompounds in 55-80% isolated yields and high enantioselectivity (e.r. up to 96:4). Elaboration of the ketol moiety in thus obtained adducts allows a fast entry to not only carboxylic and aldehyde derivatives but also nitrile compounds and enantioenriched 5,5-disubstituted γ-lactams.

Development of an α'-hydroxy enone for the aminocatalytic asymmetric formal conjugate addition of aldehydes to acrylates, vinyl ketones and acrolein.

Aminocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of aldehydes to Michael acceptors is a well established C-C bond forming methodology. However, various acrylic-type acceptors, including acrylic acid derivatives and acrolein, remain reluctant. Here we demonstrate that the internal H-bonding self-activation in α'-hydroxy enones allows them to react smoothly with enolizable aldehydes using commercially available aminocatalysts to afford adducts in good yields and high enantioselectivity. Straightforward conversion of the ketol moiety of these adducts into aldehyde, ketone and carboxylic acid functionalities offers an indirect, unified entry to products derived from acrolein, alkyl-vinyl ketones and acrylates, respectively.

Enantioselective Addition of Alkynyl Ketones to Nitroolefins Assisted by Brønsted Base/H-Bonding Catalysis.

Various sets of enolizable alkynyl ketones (including methyl ynones with α-aryl, α-alkenyl, and α-alkoxy groups) were able to react smoothly with nitroolefins with the assistance of bifunctional Brønsted base/H-bond catalysts to provide adducts with two consecutive tertiary stereocenters in a highly diastereo- and enantioselective fashion. Further transformation of the obtained adducts into optically active acyclic and polycyclic molecules, including some with intricate carbon skeletons, was also demonstrated.

α-Hydroxy Ketones as Masked Ester Donors in Brønsted Base Catalyzed Conjugate Additions to Nitroalkenes.

The catalyst-controlled enantioselective direct addition reaction of enolizable esters and related carboxylic acid derivatives to π electrophiles remains a difficult synthetic transformation. In this study, the suitability of α-hydroxy ketones as ester equivalents capable of being activated by bifunctional Brønsted base catalysts in the context of conjugate addition reactions to nitroolefins is demonstrated. The scope of the reaction, which affords the corresponding Michael adducts with very high stereoselectivity (diastereomeric ratio (d.r.) ≥95:5, up to 99 % enantiomeric excess (ee)), and its limitations are explored, as is the aftermath elaboration of adducts into densely functionalized enantioenriched products.

Asymmetric Assembly of All-Carbon Tertiary/Quaternary Nonadjacent Stereocenters through Organocatalytic Conjugate Addition of α-Cyanoacetates to a Methacrylate Equivalent.

An efficient, highly diastereo- and enantioselective assembly of acyclic carbonyl fragments possessing nonadjacent all-carbon tertiary/quaternary stereoarrays is reported based on a Brønsted base catalyzed Michael addition/α-protonation sequence involving α-cyanoacetates and 2,4-dimethyl-4-hydroxypenten-3-one as novel methacrylate equivalent.

Enantioselective construction of tetrasubstituted stereogenic carbons through Brønsted base catalyzed michael reactions: α'-hydroxy enones as key enoate equivalent.

Catalytic and asymmetric Michael reactions constitute very powerful tools for the construction of new C-C bonds in synthesis, but most of the reports claiming high selectivity are limited to some specific combinations of nucleophile/electrophile compound types, and only few successful methods deal with the generation of all-carbon quaternary stereocenters. A contribution to solve this gap is presented here based on chiral bifunctional Brønsted base (BB) catalysis and the use of α'-oxy enones as enabling Michael acceptors with ambivalent H-bond acceptor/donor character, a yet unreported design element for bidentate enoate equivalents. It is found that the Michael addition of a range of enolizable carbonyl compounds that have previously demonstrated challenging (i.e., α-substituted 2-oxindoles, cyanoesters, oxazolones, thiazolones, and azlactones) to α'-oxy enones can afford the corresponding tetrasubstituted carbon stereocenters in high diastereo- and enantioselectivity in the presence of standard BB catalysts. Experiments show that the α'-oxy ketone moiety plays a key role in the above realizations, as parallel reactions under identical conditions but using the parent α,ß-unsaturated ketones or esters instead proceed sluggish and/or with poor stereoselectivity. A series of trivial chemical manipulations of the ketol moiety in adducts can produce the corresponding carboxy, aldehyde, and ketone compounds under very mild conditions, giving access to a variety of enantioenriched densely functionalized building blocks containing a fully substituted carbon stereocenter. A computational investigation to rationalize the mode of substrate activation and the reaction stereochemistry is also provided, and the proposed models are compared with related systems in the literature.

Catalytic enantioselective quick route to aldol-tethered 1,6- and 1,7-enynes from ω-unsaturated aldehydes.

An effective asymmetric route to functionalized 1,6- and 1,7-enynes has been developed based on a direct cross-aldol reaction between ω-unsaturated aldehydes and propargylic aldehydes (α,ß-ynals) promoted by combined α,α-dialkylprolinol ether/Brønsted acid catalysis. This synergistic activation strategy is key to accessing the corresponding aldol adducts with high stereoselectivity, both enantio- and diastereoselectivity. The aldol reaction also proceeds well with propargylic ketones (α,ß-ynones) thus enabling a stereocontrolled access to the corresponding tertiary alcohols. The utility of these adducts, which are difficult to prepare through standard methodology, is demonstrated by their transformation into trisubstituted bicyclic enones using standard Pauson-Khand conditions.

(1R)-(+)-camphor and acetone derived alpha'-hydroxy enones in asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction: catalytic activation by Lewis and Brønsted acids, substrate scope, applications in syntheses, and mechanistic studies.

The Diels-Alder reaction constitutes one of the most powerful and convergent C-C bond-forming transformations and continues to be the privileged route to access cyclohexene substructures, which are widespread within natural products and bioactive constituents. Over the recent years, asymmetric catalytic Diels-Alder methodologies have experienced a tremendous advance, but still inherently difficult diene-dienophile combinations prevail, such as those involving dienes less reactive than cyclopentadiene or dienophiles like beta-substituted acrylates and equivalents. Here the main features of alpha'-hydroxy enones as reaction partners of the Diels-Alder reaction are shown, with especial focus on their potentials and limitations in solving the above difficult cases. Alpha'-hydroxy enones are able to bind reversibly to both Lewis acids and Brønsted acids, forming 1,4-coordinated species that are shown to efficiently engage in these inherently difficult Diels-Alder reactions. On these bases, a convenient control of the reaction stereocontrol can be achieved using a camphor-derived chiral alpha'-hydroxy enone model (substrate-controlled asymmetric induction) and either Lewis acid or Brønsted acid catalysis. Complementing this approach, highly enantio- and diastereoselective Diels-Alder reactions can also be carried out by using simple achiral alpha'-hydroxy enones in combination with Evans' chiral Cu(II)-BOX complexes (catalyst-controlled asymmetric induction). Of importance, alpha'-hydroxy enones showed improved reactivity profiles and levels of stereoselectivity (endo/exo and facial selectivity) as compared with other prototypical dienophiles in the reactions involving dienes less reactive than cyclopentadiene. A rationale of some of these results is provided based on both kinetic experiments and quantum calculations. Thus, kinetic measurements of Brønsted acid promoted Diels-Alder reactions of alpha'-hydroxy enones show a first-order rate with respect to both enone and Brønsted acid promoter. Quantum calculations also support this trend and provide a rational explanation of the observed stereochemical outcome of the reactions. Finally, these fundamental studies are complemented with applications in natural products synthesis. More specifically, a nonracemic synthesis of (-)-nicolaioidesin C is described wherein a Brønsted acid catalyzed Diels-Alder reaction involving a alpha'-hydroxy enone substrate is the key step toward the hitherto challenging trisubstituted cyclohexene subunit.

Conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to an acrylate equivalent. Stereocontrol at C-alpha of the nitro group through double catalytic activation.

An unprecedented highly selective direct conjugate addition of prochiral nitroalkanes (R not equal H) to acrylate equivalents is described. The method employs a unique Lewis acid/Brønsted base/MS ternary catalytic system and affords products with dr up to 97/3. With beta-substituted (R' not equal H) acceptors unprecedented levels of anti/syn selectivity (>or=96/4) are attained. Adducts can be transformed into enantioenriched gamma-amino acids and derivatives, including aldehydes, ketones, lactams, and peptides, through simple protocols with full recovery of camphor auxiliary, the source of chiral information.

Catalytic Michael reactions of ketoesters with a camphor-derived acrylate equivalent: stereoselective access to all-carbon quaternary centers.

A camphor-based alpha'-hydroxy enone reagent acts as a chiral acrylate equivalent in copper-catalyzed Michael reactions of beta-keto esters and affords products that possess all-carbon quaternary stereocenters of high enantiomeric purity.

A practical total synthesis of hapalosin, a 12-membered cyclic depsipeptide with multidrug resistance-reversing activity, by employing improved segment coupling and macrolactonization.

A practical total synthesis of hapalosin, a compound with multidrug resistance-reversing activity, has been carried out using an unprecedented macrolactonization strategy. One of the features of the new approach is the straightforward and fully stereocontrolled access to the key gamma-amino beta-hydroxy carboxylic acid subunit via an efficient acetate aldol addition reaction with N-methyl alpha-aminoaldehydes, which relies on a camphor-derived chiral lithium acetate enolate reagent. The scope of this aldol reaction is investigated and its potential application to the synthesis of other structurally related, biologically relevant compounds illustrated. Remarkably, the chiral tether in the resulting gamma-amino aldol adducts sterically protect the carbonyl group, thus avoiding intramolecular cyclization during the amino group deprotection and the subsequent segment coupling event. After successful segment coupling and smooth, clean release of the chiral auxiliary, a new macrolactonization protocol, based on the principle of double activation of both reactive sites, is applied, which leads to the 12-membered macrolactone hapalosin in unprecedented chemical efficiency.

Design and synthesis of a novel class of sugar-peptide hybrids: C-linked glyco beta-amino acids through a stereoselective "acetate" Mannich reaction as the key strategic element.

A new type of sugar-amino acid hybrid, which is comprised of a sugar unit (gluco-, galacto-, or mannopyranose) linked through a C-glycosidic linkage to the beta-position of an alpha-unsubstituted beta-amino acid unit, is presented. It is hypothesized that these new compounds, or the oligomeric peptides derived therefrom, might possess the structural features of beta-amino acid oligomers and the chemical and enzymatic resistance of C-glycosides to hydrolysis. The synthetic strategy is based on a new Mannich-type reaction between a chiral acetate enolate equivalent and alpha-amido sulfones derived from the corresponding sugar-C-glycoside aldehydes. While the sugar-C-glycoside aldehyde partner is prepared from well-established transformations on known sugar precursors, the lithium enolate derived from (1R)-endo-2-acetylisoborneol 3 is employed as the key element. This Mannich approach proceeds with essentially perfect diasteromeric control leading to the new beta-amino carbonyl adducts in good yields. Further, cleavage of the camphor auxiliary is smoothly performed by oxidative treatment with ammonium cerium nitrate (CAN). Complementarily, direct peptide-type coupling of the beta-amino carbonyl Mannich adducts with an alpha- or beta-amino acid residue and subsequent CAN-promoted detachment of the auxiliary yields dipeptide fragments bearing a sugar-containing aliphatic side chain and is a process that can be iterated. A preliminary conformational study based on the combination of experimental NMR data and molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics (MD) of one particular adduct is also provided.