Desymmetrization of meso-2-alkene-1,4-diol derivatives through copper (I)-catalyzed asymmetric boryl substitution and stereoselective allylation of aldehydes

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200905993

(Figure prsented) Breaking the mirror: The reaction sequence described in the title was applied to the synthesis of a valuable chiral drug precursor and the rapid stereoselective assembly of complex compounds with multiple chiral centers (see scheme).

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.200905993

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200905993
Desymmetrization
Desymmetrization of meso-2-Alkene-1,4-diol Derivatives through
Copper(I)-Catalyzed Asymmetric Boryl Substitution and
Stereoselective Allylation of Aldehydes**
Hajime Ito,* Takuma Okura, Kou Matsuura, and Masaya Sawamura
Desymmetrization reactions of meso compounds through
enantioselective catalysis are a powerful strategy for the
synthesis of chiral molecules with multiple stereocenters. One
well-known example is the Pd-catalyzed desymmetrization of
meso-2-alkene-1,4-diol derivatives (Trostꢀs Pd-catalyzed
asymmetric allylic alkylation, AAA; Scheme 1a).[1] Such a
procedure is demonstrated by the concise synthesis of a
precursor of the reverse transcriptase inhibitors used to treat
HIV, Abacavir and Carbovir.[3] Furthermore, this procedure
enables the rapid convergent assembly of more-complex
chiral molecules bearing four new stereocenters from meso-2-
alkene-1,4-diol derivatives with two different aldehyde elec-
trophiles.
We recently reported the copper(I)-catalyzed enantiose-
lective synthesis of allylboronates from allylic carbonates with
diboron[4–6] and envisaged that this could be used in the
desymmetrization of meso compounds (Table 1). The reaction
Table 1: Copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric reaction of allylic carbonates 1a
with diboron 2.[a]
Scheme 1. Desymmetrization of meso-1,4-diol derivatives. pin=pinaco-
lato.
reaction allows nucleophilic substitution accompanied by
differentiation of enantiotopic leaving groups and has been
applied to the total syntheses of various natural products.[1]
However, the Pd-catalyzed desymmetrization of meso-2-
alkene-1,4-diol derivatives is limited to the reaction with
nucleophiles; desymmetrization with electrophiles, the umpo-
lung version, have not been reported.[2] We report a new
desymmetrization procedure: copper(I)-catalyzed asymmet-
ric boryl substitution and stereoselective allylation of alde-
hydes (Scheme 1b). In this one-pot reaction, the core part of
the meso substrate is connected to an aldehyde electrophile in
a highly diastereo- and enantioselective manner (d.r. > 99:1
to 92:8, up to 97% ee), forming the product with three new
stereodefined chiral centers. The synthetic utility of this
Entry Ligand
Solvent t [h] Yield [%][b] d.r.[c] ee [%][c]
3/3’
1
(R,R)-quinoxP*
toluene
THF
4
5
87
87
63
80
45
49
79
25
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
>99:1
97
95
97
97
96
87
82
46
2
(R,R)-quinoxP*
(R,R)-quinoxP*
(R,R)-quinoxP*
(R)-segphos
(R)-binap
3[d]
4[e]
5
DMI
5
THF
96
[*] Prof. Dr. H. Ito, T. Okura, K. Matsuura, Prof. Dr. M. Sawamura
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810 (Japan)
Fax: (+81)11-706-3749
toluene 67
toluene 67
6
7
(R,R)-Me-duphos toluene
3
8
(R)-(S)-josiphos toluene 67
E-mail: hajito@sci.hokudai.ac.jp
[a] Conditions: 1a (0.5 mmol), 2 (0.75 mmol), Cu(OtBu) (0.025 mmol),
and ligand (0.025 mmol) in solvent (0.5 mL), then benzaldehyde
(0.5 mmol). [b] Yield of isolated product. [c] The d.r. and ee values
were determined by HPLC on a chiral stationary phase. [d] The reaction
was carried out at room temperature. [e] CuCl (15 mol%), K(OtBu)
(10 mol%), and ligand (5 mol%) were used to generate the catalyst.
DMI=1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone, binap=2,2’-bis(diphenylphos-
phino)-1,1’-binaphthyl, Me-duphos=1,2-bis((2R,5R)-2,5-dimethylphos-
Prof. Dr. H. Ito
PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012 (Japan)
[**] This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research
(B) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology and by the PRESTO program from Japan Science and
Technology Agency.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200905993.
pholano)benzene),
phosphino)ferrocenyl]ethyldiphenylphosphine.
(R)-(S)-josiphos=(R)-(À)-1-[(S)-2-(dicyclohexyl-
560
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Chemie
Table 2: Asymmetric synthesis of homoallylic alcohols 3 through desym-
metrization of 1a–c with 2 and subsequent aldehyde allylation.[a]
of the carbonate derivative of meso-diol (1a) and bis(pina-
colato)diboron 2 (1.5 equiv) was complete within 4 h in the
presence of Cu(OtBu) (5.0 mol%) and a chiral ligand, (R,R)-
QuinoxP* (5.0 mol%)[7] in toluene at À208C. This reaction
was followed by the addition of benzaldehyde (1.0 equiv) at
08C to produce 3a in high yield (87%) with excellent
diastereo- and enantioselectivities (3a/3a’ > 99:1, 97% ee)
(Table 1, entry 1).[8] The isolation of the allylboronate inter-
mediate A was not successful, but the stereochemical out-
come evident in 3a strongly suggest the formation of the
allylboronate A with high enantio- and diastereoselectivity.
When other solvents were used (THF, DMI), lower yield
or enantioselectivity was observed (Table 1, entries 2 and 3).
The reaction with a mixture of CuCl (15 mol%) and K(OtBu)
(10 mol%), which are more accessible than Cu(OtBu),
Entry Product
Cond.[b] Yield d.r.[d]
ee
[%][c] 3/3’
[%][d]
08C,
23 h
1[e]
85
>99:1 96
08C,
20 h
2[e]
3[e]
4[e]
5[e]
6[e]
85
93
81
64
97:3
92:8
98:2
95
97
97
08C,
96 h
afforded
a comparable result (80%, 97% ee, Table 1,
entry 4), but required a longer reaction time (96 h). Use of
(R)-segphos instead of (R,R)-quinoxP* resulted in a lower
yield even after a long reaction time (45%, 96% ee, 67 h,
Table 1, entry 5). Reactions with other ligands [(R)-binap,
(R,R)-Me-duphos, and (R)-(S)-josiphos] gave lower yields
and enantioselectivities (79–25%, 87–46% ee, Table 1,
entries 6–8).
We next examined the scope of the reaction as shown in
Table 2. Reactions with aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes
afforded products 3b–e in good yields with high diastereo-
and enantioselectivities (93–81% yield, 3/3’ > 99:1–92:8, 97–
95% ee, Table 2, entries 1–4). The reaction with cinnamalde-
hyde gave the product 3 f in a moderate yield with high
selectivity (64%, 3 f/3 f’ > 99:1, 96% ee, Table 2, entry 5).
(2R)-2,3-O-Cyclohexylidene glyceraldehyde, which has a
chiral center at the a-position to the carbonyl group gave
3g as an almost single diastereomer in a high yield (Table 2,
entry 6, 85%). The six-membered-ring compound 3h can be
obtained in a lower yield at a high temperature (Table 2,
entry 7, 43%, 3h/3h’ 99:1, 95% ee). A substrate with a linear
structure (1c) also gave products as a mixture of E/Z isomers
(66:34) in low yields with decreased enantioselectivities
(36%, 84% ee (E), 85% ee (Z), Table 2, entry 8).
08C,
25 h
08C,
15 h
RT, 3 h
>99:1 96
RT, 3 h 85
>95:5
–
08C,
13 h
7[f]
43
36
99:1
–
95
RT, 4 h
08C,
48 h
84
(E)
8[g]
[a] Conditions: 1 (0.5 mmol), 2 (0.75 mmol), Cu(OtBu) (0.025 mmol), and
(R,R)-quinoxP* (0.025 mmol) in toluene (0.5 mL) at À208C for 4 h, then
aldehyde (0.5 mmol). [b] Conditions for the aldehyde allylation. [c] Yield of
isolated product. [d] The d.r. and ee values were determined by HPLC on a
chiral stationary phase. [e] 1a was used. [f] 1b was used. Borylation was
carried out at room temperature for 2 h and 508C for 68 h with 10 mol%
Cu(OtBu) and 5 mol% ligand. 1.5 equiv of aldehyde was used. [g] 1c was
used. Borylation was carried out at 508C for 72 h.
A proposed reaction mechanism is shown in Scheme 2.[9]
In the first step the borylcopper(I) intermediate C is
generated by the reaction between alkoxycopper(I) B and
diboron 2. Coordination of the meso substrate to the chiral
borylcopper(I) intermediate affords complex D, and forma-
tion of sterically unfavorable D’ is avoided. Next, the addition
of borylcopper(I) across the carbon–carbon double bond
produces alkylcopper(I) E and subsequent elimination gives
the formal anti-SN2’ product, allylboronate A and a copper(I)
carbonate. The alkoxycopper(I) B is regenerated by decar-
boxylation of the copper carbonate. Carbonyl addition of A
proceeds through a six-membered transition state so that the
R2 group of the aldehyde takes the equatorial position (F) to
give the adduct 3 after hydrolysis.
The desymmetrization reaction was applied to the concise
asymmetric synthesis of an antiviral drug precursor
(Scheme 3). The reaction of 1a with 2 was carried out using
the (S,S)-quinoxP*/Cu(OtBu) catalyst in THF, and then the
4’-hydroxymethyl group was introduced by the reaction of the
allylboronate intermediate G with aqueous formaldehyde in
Scheme 2. Proposed mechanism. L=(R,R)-quinoxP*.
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Communications
Scheme 5. Stereoselective synthesis of 8b and 8g. xantphos=4,5-
bis(diphenylphosphino)-9,9-dimethylxanthene.
Scheme 3. Concise synthesis of a precursor to established antiviral
drugs. TIPS=triisopropylsilyl.
syn/anti switch is probably related to the steric properties of 7.
Subsequent Lewis acid catalyzed aldehyde allylation of the
allylboronate intermediate H gave product 8b or 8g in good
yields with high stereoselectivities [Scheme 5, 8b, 78%,
97% ee, d.r. > 98:2; 8g, 81%, d.r. > 95:5].[10] The stereo-
chemical and skeletal structure of the products (8) can be
modulated easily by changing the aldehyde electrophiles as
well as the catalyst ligand [(R,R)- or (S,S)-quinoxP*]. This
procedure thus serves as a powerful tool for the diversity-
oriented synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted five-membered-ring
compounds, which often occur as core structures in biolog-
ically active compounds.[13,14]
In summary, we have developed a new desymmetrization
procedure for meso-2-alkene-1,4-diol derivatives through
copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric borylation and stereoselec-
tive aldehyde allylation. This reaction was used for the
efficient synthesis of chiral molecules, including a drug
precursor, and the rapid stereoselective assembly of complex
compounds with multiple chiral centers. This reaction is a
desymmetrization method complementary to Pd-catalyzed
AAA.
the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst, Sc(OTf)3.[10] The
resultant mixture was purified after silyl protection to afford
the adduct 4 in 64% yield and 96% ee. Hydrolysis of the
carbonate moiety of 4 gave 5, which was subjected to a
Tsunoda–Mitsunobu condensation with 2-amino-6-chloropur-
ine to give the drug precursor (À)-6 in an overall yield of 17%
in only three steps from the achiral starting material 1a.[11,12]
This process represents a very short formal synthesis of
(À)-Abacavir or (À)-Carbovir (total five steps).[3c]
The combination of borylation/aldehyde addition reac-
tions provides a rapid synthesis approach for more-complex
chiral molecules (Scheme 4). The enantioenriched products
Received: October 24, 2009
Published online: December 15, 2009
Keywords: asymmetric synthesis · boron · copper ·
desymmetrization · drugs
Scheme 4. Rapid assembly of chiral molecules by repeated borylation/
aldehyde addition reactions. TBS=tert-butyldimethylsilyl.
.
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