Asymmetric amplification in phosphoric acid catalyzed reactions

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201001723

Aneeamp: Asymmetric amplification in reactions catalyzed by phosphoric acids arose from the formation of less soluble supramolecular structures (see scheme; O red, P yellow, C gray, H white) of the racemic phosphoric acids that participate in hydrogen bon

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201001723

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201001723
Asymmetric Amplification
Asymmetric Amplification in Phosphoric Acid Catalyzed Reactions**
Nan Li, Xiao-Hua Chen, Shi-Ming Zhou, Shi-Wei Luo, Jin Song, Lei Ren, and Liu-Zhu Gong*
Methodologies involving chiral resolution, chiral auxiliary
induced transformations, and asymmetric catalytic reactions,
including those catalyzed by metal, biological, and organic
catalysts, have been developed and, typically, these processes
have exploited optically pure catalysts to ensure high
enantioselectivity. In these reactions, the enantiomeric
excess (ee) of the reaction product was linearly proportional
to the ee value of the chiral catalyst or auxiliary. However,
chemists have observed numerous exceptions to this linear
relationship, some characterized by a positive nonlinear
correlation between the ee value of the reaction product
and that of the chiral catalyst or auxiliary.[1–7] This phenom-
enon, termed asymmetric amplification, has not only pro-
vided cost effective asymmetric synthetic protocols in com-
parison with those using enantiomerically pure catalysts, but
has also been considered a basis for the origin of homochir-
ality in nature.[8–9] In the last decades, metal-based asymmetric
amplified catalysis has undergone great advances.[6] Recent
applications of asymmetric amplification in organocatalysis,
particularly the use of biologically relevant molecules such as
amino acids as catalysts, have advanced the long standing
inquiry into the evolution of homochirality in the prebiotic
system.[10–13] However, the importance of asymmetric amplifi-
cation in reactions catalyzed by phosphoric acids and its
derivatives,[14–18] an important class of pentavalent phosphorus
compounds relevant to nucleic acids, has been less recog-
nized.[19]
During our studies on the phosphoric acid catalyzed
Figure 1. Asymmetric amplification in the Biginelli reaction catalyzed
by phosphoric acid 1a. The reaction was catalyzed by 1a at different
Biginelli reaction,[20] we found a strong positive nonlinear
effect (NLE) for the reaction of para-nitrobenzaldehyde (2),
thiourea (3), and ethyl acetoacetate (4) in the presence of
10 mol% of the non-enantiopure 3,3’-ditriphenylsilyl binol-
derived phosphoric acid 1a in toluene (Figure 1a).[21] In
contrast, an absolutely linear effect was observed for the same
reaction under almost identical reaction conditions except
optical purities: a positive NLE was observed in toluene (a) and a
linear effect was observed in chloroform (b). Optically pure 1a gave a
much faster reaction than the racemate in [D8]toluene (c), however
similar reaction rate was observed for optically pure and racemic 1a in
CDCl3 (d).
that chloroform was used as the reaction medium instead of
toluene (Figure 1b). Kinetic studies revealed that the opti-
cally pure phosphoric acid afforded a much faster reaction in
toluene (Figure 1c), but in chloroform, the optically pure and
the racemic catalysts exhibited comparable catalytic activities
(Figure 1d). Similarly, electron-rich benzaldehydes also par-
ticipated in the reaction to show similar positive NLE as
exemplified by 2-methylbenzaldehyde (see the Supporting
Information).
The strong dependence of the NLE upon the solvent
prompted us to investigate this observation in detail. In
proline-catalyzed reactions, the nature of the solvent played a
distinct role in the NLE, and this role was attributed to the
solubility differences between racemic and optically pure
samples.[12–13] In the phosphoric acid catalyzed Biginelli
reaction, we speculated that the significant dependence of
the asymmetric amplification upon the solvent is also
[*] Dr. X.-H. Chen, S.-M. Zhou, Dr. S.-W. Luo, J. Song, L. Ren,
Prof. L.-Z. Gong
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale
and Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology
of China, Hefei, 230026 (China)
Fax: (+86)551-360-6266
E-mail: gonglz@ustc.edu.cn
N. Li, Prof. L.-Z. Gong
Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of
Sciences (CAS), Chengdu, 610041 (China)
N. Li
Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
[**] We are grateful for financial support from NSFC (20732006), MOST
(973 program 2010CB833300), and the Ministry of Health
(2009ZX09501-017).
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201001723.
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Table 1: The ee values of the solution and precipitated solid measured
attributed to the enhancement of ee value of the solution
arising from the differences in solubility of the racemic and
optically pure phosphoric acids. When we compared the
solubility of racemic and optically pure phosphoric acid 1a in
toluene and in chloroform, we found that both the racemic
and optically pure samples of phosphoric acid 1a were soluble
and formed a clear solution. However, with stirring of the
toluene solution a large amount of solid precipitated from the
solution containing the racemic phosphoric acid (Figure 2).
Interestingly, the optically pure sample maintained a clear
solution even with prolonged stirring (6 h). In contrast, both
racemic and optically pure samples were very soluble in
chloroform and remained as clear solutions after being stirred
for 36 hours.
for toluene solutions of 1a having varying levels of enantiomeric
excess.[a]
Entry ee value of 1a [%] Solution
ee [%][b]
Solid (precipitated)
ee [%][b]
1
2
3
4
5
6
9
89 (93)
93 (97)
90 (98)
99 (99)
>99 (>99)
>99 (>99)
<5 (<5)
<5 (<5)
<5 (<5)
<5 (<5)
<5 (<5)
<5 (<5)
15
20
39
57
77
[a] The solution and solid ee values were obtained at a concentration of
0.01m. The data within parentheses were obtained at a concentration of
0.02m. [b] The ee value was determined by HPLC analysis.
obtained for the individual enantiomers.[24–26] The solubility
of the racemic compound, as opposed to that of its enantio-
mer, might result in the ability of the racemic phosphoric acid
to form an aggregate which is a more energetically preferable
diastereomeric species compared to that obtained from the
optically pure enantiomer and is more difficult to dissociate in
a nonpolar solvent. To investigate this possibility, we per-
1
formed HNMR studies on the solution of phosphoric acid
1a. Interestingly, the fresh solution of the racemic compound
1
in [D8]toluene gave a HNMR spectrum identical to that of
the optically pure enantiomer, whereas the OH proton of the
racemic phosphoric acid shifted down field for about d =
0.33 ppm with elapsing time. In sharp contrast, the optically
Figure 2. Observed changes to the toluene solutions of the pure
enantiomer (left tube) and the racemic mixture (right tube) of the
phosphoric acid with stirring at room temperature. The white object
on the bottom is the stir bar.
1
pure sample maintained an almost identical HNMR spec-
trum (see the Supporting Information). This finding demon-
strated that stronger intermolecular hydrogen-bonding inter-
actions were present in the racemic system and enforced the
association of racemic phosphoric acid molecules, thereby
leading to the formation of heterochiral polymeric aggregates
that were less soluble than aggregates of the homochiral
polymers.
We then undertook crystallography studies on the struc-
tures of racemic and enantiomerically pure phosphoric acids
(Figure 3). Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed
that the solid formed from the powdered racemate 1a was the
same as those of the corresponding single crystals (see the
Supporting Information). Single crystals of the racemic and
the optically pure forms of 1a were grown from toluene under
an atmosphere of n-hexane vapors. Interestingly, the crystals
had similar structural motifs, but different hydrogen-bonding
patterns. In the heterochiral crystal, individual enantiomers of
phosphoric acid 1a assembled as a supramolecular chain
stabilized by three hydrogen bonds formed between either the
We next measured the ee values of the toluene solutions of
phosphoric acid 1a having varying levels of enantiomeric
excess (9–77%) at different concentrations (Table 1). The
solid phosphoric acid 1a that precipitated from the solution
has an ee value of less than 5%, and is somewhat independent
of the optical purity of the original samples. Notably, the
solution ee value was greatly enriched. A high solution
ee value was obtained (89%) even when the enantiopurity
of the phosphoric acid 1a was only 9% ee (entry 1). The
solution ee value was slightly affected by the concentration of
optically active phosphoric acid solution because increasing
the concentration from 0.01m to 0.02m led to an enhanced
optical purity, in particular for the samples with low optical
purity (entries 1–3). In contrast, the precipitates were also
obtained with ee values of less than 5%, and were independ-
ent of the concentration.
Previous reports have revealed that a mixture of enantio-
mers occasionally exhibits unusual physical and chemical
properties attributable to the formation of diastereomeric
species in solutions.[22–23] A racemic chiral compound had a
1HNMR spectrum that significantly differed from that
=
phosphoryl oxygen atom (P O) or the hydroxy group with
crystalline water (O1-OW3, O2-OW2, and OW2-OW3). The
supramolecular chain is aligned parallel to the other chain
consisting of the opposite enantiomer and features an addi-
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stable than the individual enantiomer by about 25.00 kcal
molÀ1 (see the Supporting Information).
The preceding experimental evidence underpins the idea
that, unlike the optically pure enantiomer, the racemic
phosphoric acid forms energetically favored supramolecular
aggregates that are less soluble in nonpolar solvents (e.g.,
toluene), and leads to the enhancement of solution ee value.
The enhanced solution ee value resulted in the dramatic
positive NLE observed in the phosphoric acid catalyzed
Biginelli reaction. To investigate if this phenomenon is
general for binol-derived phosphoric acids, we measured the
solution ee value of 3,3’-diphenyl phosphoric acid (1b) and
3,3’-di(2-naphthyl) phosphoric acid (1c), which are typical
privileged catalysts for several enantioselective transforma-
tions.[27–29] As shown in Figure 4, the enhancement in the
solution ee value was observed in both cases, therefore
asymmetric amplification should occur in the corresponding
reactions catalyzed by these phosphoric acids when the
precipitates, having low optical purity, are removed from
the solution.
Figure 3. The crystal structures of racemic (a) and optically pure (b)
3,3’-triphenylsilyl phosphoric acid 1a. To simplify the structure, the
3,3’-triphenylsilyl groups are omitted. The full structures are shown in
the Supporting Information.
Figure 4. The ee values for a solution of and for the precipitated solid
of 3,3’-diphenyl phosphoric acid 1b (a) and 3,3’-di(2-naphthyl) phos-
phoric acid 1c (b).
tional six-membered hydrogen-bonded network (O2-OW1 =
2.684 ꢀ, OW1-OW2 = 2.519 ꢀ), leading to a stable two-
dimensional (2D) supramolecular sheet (Figure 3a). In the
homochiral crystal (Figure 3b), the phosphoric acid also
forms a supramolecular chain by forming two hydrogen bonds
with crystalline water molecules. However, the two supra-
molecular chains are aligned antiparallel to each other and
are connected by hydrogen bonds between OW1 and O1 as
well as those between OW1 and OW2; these are much weaker
than those in the heterochiral crystal, as indicated by longer
hydrogen-bond lengths (O1-OW1 = 3.052 ꢀ, OW1-OW2 =
2.973 ꢀ), and lead to the formation of a somewhat distorted
2D supramolecular sheet. This finding is consistent with the
Finally, we investigated NLE in some reactions with or
without removal of phosphoric acid precipitates having low
ee values. In principal, if substrates and products do not
contain hydrogen-bond-breaking elements and the reaction
was performed in a solvent that shows different solubility for
optically pure phosphoric acid and its racemic aggregates, a
positive NLE should be observed even without removal of the
precipitates. Indeed, we observed a positive NLE in the
reaction of an imine with either an enamide[30] or ethyl
diazoacetate[31] (Table 2, entries 1 and 2). However, a linear
effect was obtained in the Friedel–Crafts reaction of indole
(11) with nitrostyrene (12; Table 2, entry 3)[32] and in an
asymmetric transfer hydrogenation (Table 2, entry 5).[33] This
linear effect was probably a result of the presence of basic
functional groups, such as amine and pyridine, which could
break the aggregates of the insoluble racemic solid catalyst,
thereby enabling them to dissolve in toluene and catalyze the
reaction just as the enantiomerically pure phosphoric acids. In
contrast, when the phosphoric acid precipitates were
removed, a strong positive NLE was observed in the
Friedel–Crafts and transfer hydrogenation reactions, respec-
tively (Table 2, entries 4 and 6).
1
conclusion drawn from the HNMR studies. The difference
between the heterochiral and the homochiral crystals suggests
that the association of the racemate is more energetically
favorable than that of the enantiomerically pure phosphoric
acid, and therefore contributes to the easier formation of the
less soluble heterochiral phosphoric acid aggregates, thereby
facilitating the precipitation of the racemates from the
enantiomerically enriched phosphoric acid solution (Figures 2
and 3). DFT calculations of the single-point energy for the
dimer of both the racemic and enantiopure crystal structure of
1a indicated that the dimer of the racemic catalyst is more
In summary, we have found an unprecedented asymmetric
amplification in reactions catalyzed by phosphoric acids. The
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bonds formed with crystalline water molecules. The NLE is a
general phenomenon that was observed in different phos-
phoric acid catalyzed reactions with either removal of or in
the presence of the racemic solid catalyst. Because pentava-
lent phosphorus compounds constitute key elements in living
systems, particularly in nucleic acids, this finding may be
related to the evolution of chirality in biomolecules in the
prebiotic environment.
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Received: March 23, 2010
Revised: May 30, 2010
Published online: July 22, 2010
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Keywords: asymmetric amplification · asymmetric catalysis ·
.
nonlinear effect · organocatalysis · phosphoric acids
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