Intermolecular dehydrogenative Heck reactions.

Homochiral catalysts that can effect asymmetric transformations are invaluable in the production of optically active molecules. Researchers are actively pursuing the design of new ligands and organocatalysts by exploiting concepts derived from the application of bifunctional and C2-symmetric catalysts. Many homochiral catalysts containing amines, ethers, alcohols, and phosphines as electron-pair donors have been successfully developed.Amine N-oxides are highly polar substances. Despite their pronounced capacity as electron-pair donors, N-oxides have been underutilized in asymmetric reactions; they have only made a visible impact on the field in the preceding decade. Systematic studies have instead largely focused on pyridine- or quinoline-based scaffolds in organosilicon and coordination chemistry. The application of chiral tertiary amine N-oxides has not been widely pursued because of the difficulty of controlling the chirality at the tetrahedral nitrogen of the N-oxide moiety. In this Account, we outlin...

Chiral N,N′-Dioxides: New Ligands and Organocatalysts for Catalytic Asymmetric Reactions

Asymmetric Strecker Reactions

A class of conformationally flexible ligands composed of a tertiary amino oxide–amide backbone and a straight-chain alkyl spacer was developed. These C2-symmetric chiral N,N′-dioxide ligands could be straightforwardly synthesized from readily available amino acids and amines. They act as neutral tetradentate ligands to bind a wide variety of metal ions. Non-planar cis-α M(N,N′-dioxide) complexes enable an intriguing and easily fine-tuned chiral platform for a number of asymmetric reactions. Privileged N,N′-dioxide ligands frequently show wide substrate generality and exceptional levels of stereocontrol for a specific catalytic reaction. We describe approaches to the ligand design and synthesis, structure and bonding in coordination complexes, and the recent developments in asymmetric catalysis.

Chiral N,N′-dioxide ligands: synthesis, coordination chemistry and asymmetric catalysis

ConspectusCatalytic asymmetric cycloadditions and cascade cyclizations are a major focus for the enantioselective construction of chiral carbo- and heterocycles. A number of chiral Lewis acids and organocatalysts have been designed for such reactions. The development of broadly applicable catalysts bearing novel chiral backbones to meet the demands of various applications is an ongoing challenge. Approximately 10 years ago, we introduced a group of conformationally flexible C2-symmetric N,N′-dioxide amide compounds, which represent a new class of privileged ligands. The coordination of the four oxygens of a chiral N,N′-dioxide around a central metal generates an octahedral tricyclometalated Lewis acid catalyst that can carry out various enantioselective reactions. In this Account, we summarize our recent studies on asymmetric cycloadditions between various dienophiles and dienes, dipoles and dipolarophiles, and cascade cyclizations catalyzed by chiral N,N′-dioxide–metal complexes. In principle, these uniq...

Asymmetric Cycloaddition and Cyclization Reactions Catalyzed by Chiral N,N′-Dioxide–Metal Complexes

An efficient catalytic asymmetric Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with alkylidene malonates has been developed by using a chiral N,N'-dioxide-Sc(OTf)(3) complex as the catalyst (see scheme). Some optically active intermediates containing the indole skeleton have been synthesized, such as indolepropionic acid, tryptamines, and beta-carbolines. The coordination between the scandium atom and the chiral N,N'-dioxide compound has been revealed by X-ray structure analysis.

Enantioselective Friedel–Crafts Alkylation of Indoles with Alkylidene Malonates Catalyzed by N,N′‐Dioxide–Scandium(III) Complexes: Asymmetric Synthesis of β‐Carbolines

AgAsF6/Sm(OTf)3 promoted reversal of enantioselectivity for the asymmetric Friedel-Crafts alkylations of indoles with beta,gamma-unsaturated alpha-ketoesters.

A new kind of complex prepared from scandium(III) triflate and l-proline-derived N,N‘-dioxides has been developed to catalyze the enantioselective aza-Diels−Alder reaction between 1,3-butadiene (diene 1) and aldimines 2, affording the corresponding 2,5-disubstituted dihydropyridinones in moderate to high yields (up to 92%) with good enantioselectivities (up to 90% ee) at room temperature. A variety of aldimines including aromatic, heteroaromatic, conjugated, and aliphatic imines were found to be suitable substrates. Enantiopure samples (up to 99% ee) were obtained for some products by a single recrystallization. The absolute configuration of the products was determined by X-ray diffraction and CD analysis. On the basis of the investigation of 1H NMR spectra and the positive nonlinear effect, the catalyst structure was carefully discussed.

Enantioselective aza-Diels-Alder reaction of aldimines with "Danishefsky-type diene" catalyzed by chiral scandium(III)-N,N'-dioxide complexes.

Asymmetric cyanation of activated olefins with ethyl cyanoformate catalyzed by a modular titanium catalyst.

A Lewis acid catalyst has been first applied to the hydrophosphonylation of ketones, giving the corresponding quaternary α-hydroxy phosphonates in high yields (up to 98%). The present method was highly tolerable for functionalized ketones. Moreover, the first catalytic enantioselective hydrophosphonylation of an unactivated ketone was also realized by using a tridentate Schiff base-titanium complex.

Yanling Liu

Papers

Enantioselective Friedel–Crafts Alkylation of Indoles with Alkylidene Malonates Catalyzed by N,N′‐Dioxide–Scandium(III) Complexes: Asymmetric Synthesis of β‐Carbolines

AgAsF6/Sm(OTf)3 promoted reversal of enantioselectivity for the asymmetric Friedel-Crafts alkylations of indoles with beta,gamma-unsaturated alpha-ketoesters.

Enantioselective aza-Diels-Alder reaction of aldimines with "Danishefsky-type diene" catalyzed by chiral scandium(III)-N,N'-dioxide complexes.

Asymmetric cyanation of activated olefins with ethyl cyanoformate catalyzed by a modular titanium catalyst.

Highly Efficient Synthesis of Quaternary α-Hydroxy Phosphonates via Lewis Acid-Catalyzed Hydrophosphonylation of Ketones