Kinetic Resolution of the Racemic 2-Hydroxyalkanoates
FULL PAPER
Table 4. Kinetic resolution of racemic benzyl 2-hydroxy-3-methylbuta-
noate ((Æ)-4d) with diphenylacetic acid (3).
Eventually, esterification of a variety of racemic 2-hydrox-
yalkanoates ((Æ)-4a–j) with diphenylacetic acid (3) by pro-
motion with pivalic anhydride and (R)-BTM was demon-
strated in order to assess the generality of this novel method
(Table 3). All the reactions with 2-hydroxyalkanoates that
Table 3. Kinetic resolution of racemic benzyl 2-hydroxyalkanoates ((Æ)-
4a–j) by the mixed-anhydride method.
Entry Solvent
Yield 5d/5d’[b] ee (5d) [%] Yield ee (4d)
s
of 5d
of 4d
[%]
[%][a]
[%][a]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
CH2Cl2
toluene
Et2O
32
26
46
44
40
36
38
10
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
84
84
92
92
93
93
90
92
47
58
50
54
54
58
61
82
49
65
73
77
69
53
57
22
19
22
53
57
52
50
33
28
iPr2O
MTBE[c]
CPME[d]
THF[e]
DMF[f]
Entry
R
Yield
of 5
5/5’[b]
ee (5) Yield ee (4)
s
[%]
of 4
[%]
[%][a]
[%][a]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Me (a)
Et (b)
44
46
50
46
47
45
43
48
47
45
98/2
97
95
95
92
96
94
91
96
93
96
55
43
48
50
51
55
53
47
50
52
82[c] 146
[a] Isolated yield. [b] Determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. [c] Methyl
tert-butyl ether. [d] Cyclopentyl methyl ether. [e] Tetrahydrofuran.
[f] N,N-Dimethylformamide.
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
>99/<1
99/1
94
97
73
88
97
75
95
87
87
126
171
53
128
140
47
202
80
146
nPr (c)
iPr (d)
nBu (e)
iBu (f)
cHex (g)
Ph
TBSOCH2 (i)
(CH2)2 (j)
coupling between alcohol (R)-4d and carboxylic acid 3 in
the presence of (R)-BTM. Other solvents such as dichloro-
methane and toluene were rather less effective (Table 4, en-
tries 1 and 2; s=19 and 22) compared with dialkyl ethers
(Table 4, entries 3–6; s=>50),[7] and N,N-dimethylforma-
mide (DMF) was ineffective for this reaction because only
10% of the desired ester 5d was obtained although the
enantioselectivity factor was acceptable (Table 4, entry 8;
s=28).
The estimated reaction pathway is illustrated in Scheme 1.
First, a mixed anhydride (B) forms as a key intermediate in
situ from pivalic anhydride (A) with diphenylacetic acid (3)
after generation of the zwitterion (Int-I) during steps i and ii
by the promotion of the nucleophilic catalyst ((R)-BTM).
Actually, when pivalic anhydride (A) was treated with 3 in
the presence of triethylamine with (R)-BTM, the facile for-
mation of the mixed anhydride (B) was observed on the
(CH2)2 (h)
>99/<1
>99/<1
10 TBSO
U
[a] Isolated yield. [b] Determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. [c] 5a=2e,
4a=1.
have linear alkyl substituents R next to the carbonyl group
produced the corresponding esters (R)-5a–c, 5e, 5 f, and 5h
in good enantiomeric excesses (Table 3, entries 1–3, 5, 6, and
8; R=Me, Et, nPr, nBu, iBu, and PhACTHNUGTRNEG(UN CH2)2; 94–97% ee)
with excellent s-values (s=126–202). It is noteworthy that
this protocol was successfully applied for the preparation of
chiral dihydroxy ester equivalents (R)-5i (93% ee) and (S)-
4i (87% ee) in the same manner by the asymmetric coupling
reaction starting from the racemic benzyl 3-(tert-butyldime-
thylsiloxy)-2-hydroxypropanoate ((Æ)-4i) with the achiral
electrophile 3, as shown in entry 9 in Table 3 (R=
TBSOCH2, s=80). Furthermore, the kinetic resolution of
racemic benzyl 4-(tert-butyldimethylsiloxy)-2-hydroxybuta-
noate ((Æ)-4j) with 3 also effectively produced the optically
active malic acid derivatives (R)-5j (96% ee) and (S)-4j
(87% ee) in 45% and 52% yields, respectively (Table 3,
1
basis of a H NMR experiment. Next, the mixed anhydride
(B) is activated again by (R)-BTM to form the correspond-
ing zwitterionic species (Int-II), which then selectively reacts
with benzyl (R)-2-hydroxyalkanoates ((R)-4a–j) included in
the racemic mixture (Æ)-4a–j to afford the desired carbox-
ylic esters (R)-5a–j with high enantiomeric excesses through
steps iii and iv. Furthermore, the remaining half of the nu-
cleophiles can be recovered as the unreacted optically active
alcohols (S)-4a–j with high enantiopurities.
Determination of the transition state forming the optically
active diester from methyl (R)-lactate ((R)-8) with the elec-
trophile (Int-II) was carried out by using density functional
theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G*//B3LYP/6-
31G* level according to the method reported by Houk and
Birman et al.[8] We obtained several transition states, and
the most stable structure that produces (S)- or (R)-diester
((S)- or (R)-9) is depicted in Scheme 2.[9,10] It was found that
entry 10; R=TBSOACHTUNGTRENNUNG(CH2)2, s=146).
Several kinds of solvents were next examined in order to
reveal the difference of those effects on the reaction of race-
mic benzyl 2-hydroxy-3-methylbutanoate ((Æ)-4d) with 3
(Table 4). The reactivity of substrate improved when dialkyl
ether was used as a reaction medium (Table 4, entries 3–
7).[4i] These results showed that not only diethyl ether func-
tions as a good medium, but also other ethers such as diiso-
propyl ether, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and cyclopen-
tyl methyl ether (CPME) facilitated the desirable selective
Chem. Eur. J. 2010, 16, 167 – 172
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169