Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200804188
Asymmetric Catalysis
Effecient Kinetic Resolution of Racemic Amino Aldehydes by
Oxidation with N-Iodosuccinimide**
Daishirou Minato, Yoko Nagasue, Yosuke Demizu, and Osamu Onomura*
Amino acids are very useful as synthetic building blocks for
various biologically active compounds.[1] Recently, several
pseudopeptides containing natural or non-natural amino
acids have been developed because they have pharmacolog-
ically important characteristics.[2] Although natural amino
acids are prepared by biochemical techniques such as
Scheme 1. Oxidative kinetic resolution of racemic aminoaldehydes.
fermentation, there is scant information on the preparation
of non-natural amino acids by using this approach.[3] Among
the asymmetric catalytic methods for the synthesis of natural
and non-natural amino acids,[4–6] the kinetic resolution of
amino acid derivatives is frequently used.[7] However, there
are few examples applicable to the synthesis of various
optically active amino acids, including cyclic amino acids, and
to the best of our knowledge, there is no chemical oxidation
method for their preparation. We report herein the first
efficient kinetic resolution of racemic amino aldehydes by
oxidation.
PG=protecting group.
First, we applied the previous reaction conditions for
asymmetric oxidation of 1,2-diols using N-bromosuccinimide
(NBS) in the presence of K2CO3 for the oxidative kinetic
[9a]
resolution of rac-N-benzoyl-2-piperidinecarboaldehyde (rac-
1a; Table 1, entry 1). (R)-2a[10] was obtained with a high
Table 1: Oxidative kinetic resolution of racemic N-benzoyl-2-piperidine-
carboaldehyde (1a).[a]
Recently, we accomplished the oxidative kinetic resolu-
tion of 1,2-diols, which was based on their recognition by a
copper(II)/(R,R)-Ph-BOX complex (see Scheme 2 for struc-
ture),[8] to afford optically active a-ketoalcohols.[9a] Moreover,
we have reported the asymmetric electrochemical oxidation
of N-protected 1,2-amino aldehydes to afford optically active
amino acid methyl esters in low yield, but with good
enantioselectivity.[9b] In line with our previous work, we
investigated the reaction conditions for oxidative kinetic
resolution of racemic amino aldehydes to improve the yields
and enantioselectivities of the optically active amino acids. To
our delight, we found a simple method for a highly efficient
kinetic resolution of racemic N-protected amino aldehydes.
The use of a chiral copper catalyzed oxidation procedue with
N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) afforded optically active amino acid
methyl esters, including cyclic and acyclic compounds, with
high enantioselectivity (Scheme 1). Additionally, instead of
recovering the starting material, the corresponding optically
active aminoaldehyde dimethyl acetals were preferentially
obtained.
Entry
1
Base
(R)-2a
(S)-1a
(S)-3a
s[c]
K2CO3
12% yield
94% ee
39% yield
85% ee
51% yield
4% ee[b]
–
–
2
none
46% yield
50% ee
20
[a] A mixture of 1a (0.5 mmol), Cu(OTf)2 (0.05 mmol), (R,R)-Ph-BOX
(0.05 mmol), and NBS (0.25 mmol) in MeOH (2 mL) in the presence or
absence of K2CO3 (0.25 mmol) was stirred at RT for 12 h. [b] Determined
after its reduction to the corresponding amino alcohol. [c] s=stereose-
lectivity factor for kinetic resolution.[12] Bz=benzoyl, Tf=triflate.
enantiomeric excess, but the yield was low; the enantiomeric
excess of recovered 1a was also very low. On the other hand,
the absence of a base drastically changed the reaction
(Table 1, entry 2) such that the yield of (R)-2a was signifi-
cantly increased and the optically active aminoaldehyde
dimethyl acetal (S)-(3a)[11] was obtained in an acceptable
yield with good enantioselectivity (s = 20).
Next, we sought to improve the reaction conditions by
varying the amount and type of cationic halogen species
(Table 2). Increasing the amount of NBS from 0.5 equivalents
to 0.75 equivalents had no effect on the yield or the selectivity
(Table 2, entry 1), and the use of other bromo cationic species
(NBPI, DBDMH, Br2) led to a lower s value than that
obtained with NBS (Table 2, entries 2–4). N-Chlorosuccini-
mide (NCS) did not oxidize 1a to afford methyl ester 2a, but
transformed it into acetal 3a in racemic form (Table 2,
entry 5). In contrast, the use of NIS led to a higher s value
than that obtained with NBS (Table 2, entries 6–8). The
[*] D. Minato, Y. Nagasue, Y. Demizu, Prof. Dr. O. Onomura
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University
1-14, Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki 852-8521 (Japan)
Fax: (+81)95-819-2476
E-mail: onomura@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
[**] We thank the JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists, the
Sumitomo Foundation, a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B;
19790017) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and
Culture (Japan), and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C;
19550109) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
9458
ꢀ 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 9458 –9461