General procedure for the Michael addition of aldehydes to
nitroalkenes
2,2,3-Trimethyl-4-nitrobutanal (3p)
The enantioselectivity was determined by HPLC analysis [91%
ee, DAICEL CHIRALCEL OD-H, 20% isopropanol–hexane,
1.0 mL min-1, 209 nm; tr(major enantiomer) = 10.5 min, tr(minor
enantiomer) = 8.4 min]. [a]2D6 = –20.0◦ (c = 1.0, CHCl3), colorless
oil, dH(CDCl3) 1.03 (3H, d, J 6.8 Hz), 1.09 (3H, s), 1.10 (3H, s),
2.65–2.71 (1H, m), 4.17 (1H, dd, J 10.2, 12.2 Hz), 4.44 (1H, dd, J
3.9, 12.2 Hz), 9.47 (1H, s); dC(CDCl3) 12.9, 18.7, 19.1, 36.5, 47.6,
78.3, 203.9; n(neat)/cm-1 2977, 2942, 2883, 2820, 2716, 1725, 1556,
1469, 1436, 1380, 1241, 1128, 1050, 885, 847, 778, 717.
In a 7 mL vial, isobutyraldehyde (1a) (72 mg, 1 mmol) was
added to a slurry of L-phenylalanine lithium salt (17.1 mg,
0.1 mmol), CH2Cl2 (1 mL) and methyl 4-[(E)-2-nitrovinyl]benzoate
(2g) (103.6 mg, 0.5 mmol) at 0 ◦C. After the reaction mixture
was stirred for 72 h at 0 ◦C, saturated aqueous NaCl (1.5 mL)
was added to the vial and extracted with Et2O (3 mL ¥ 3).
The combined organic phase was dried over MgSO4, filtered and
concentrated under reduced pressure. The Michael adduct, methyl
4-(3,3-dimethyl-1-nitro-4-oxobutan-2-yl)benzoate (3g), was iso-
lated by column chromatography (silica gel, hexane–Et2O) in
94% yield (131.3 mg) as white solid. The enantioselectivity was
determined by HPLC analysis [96% ee, DAICEL CHIRALPAK
AD-H, 20% isopropanol–hexanes, 1.0 mL min-1, 209 nm; tr(major
Acknowledgements
This work was partly supported by the Global COE Program
(Project No. B01: Catalysis as the Basis for Innovation in Materials
Science) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and technology, Japan.
enantiomer) = 13.5 min, tr(minor enantiomer) = 11.5 min]. [a]D26
=
+7.9◦ (c = 1.0, CHCl3), white solid, Mp. 88–89 ◦C, dH(CDCl3) 1.01
(3H, s), 1.14 (3H, s), 3.86 (1H, dd, J 4.1, 11.4 Hz), 3.92 (3H, s),
4.73 (1H, dd, J 4.1, 13.2 Hz), 4.89 (1H, dd, J 11.4, 13.2 Hz), 7.30
(2H, d, J 8.2 Hz), 8.01 (2H, d, J 8.2 Hz), 9.52 (1H, s); dC(CDCl3)
18.9, 21.8, 48.1, 48.2, 52.2, 75.9, 129.2, 129.9, 130.1, 140.7, 166.5,
203.6; n(neat)/cm-1 3101, 3060, 3031, 2975, 2952, 2816, 2723,
1723, 1611, 1553, 1436, 1378, 1284, 1192, 1112, 1020, 962, 900,
862, 797, 762, 710, 630; [HR ESI-MS: Calc. for C14H17NNaO5
(M+Na): 302.1004. Found: M++Na, 302.1007].
Notes and references
1 Books and reviews see: (a) D. W. C. MacMillan, Nature, 2008, 455,
304; (b) H. Pellissier, Tetrahedron, 2007, 63, 9267; (c) P. I. Dalko and
L. Moisan, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2004, 43, 5138; (d) A special issue
on asymmetric organocatalysis, Acc. Chem. Res., ed. K. N. Houk and
B. List, 2004, 37, 487; (e) Asymmetric Organocatalysis, ed. A. Berkessel
and H. Gro¨ger, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2005.
2 For reviews on organocatalysis using a primary amines, see: (a) L.-W.
Xu, J. Luo and Y. Lu, Chem. Commun., 2009, 1807; (b) L.-W. Xu and
Y. L u , Org. Biomol. Chem., 2008, 6, 2047; (c) Y.-C. Chen, Synlett, 2008,
1919.
Spectroscopic data of 3a–f,h–j,l,n,o,q–u are in agreement with
the published data and are presented in the Electronic Supple-
mentary Information.†
3 Review on asymmetric Michael additions to nitroalkenes: O. M. Berner,
L. Tedeschi and D. Enders, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2002, 1877.
2,2-Dimethyl-4-nitro-3-(3-pyridyl)butanal (3k)
4 Asymmetric Michael addition of aldehydes to nitroalkenes with a
secondary amine catalyst: (a) A. S. Demir and S. Eymur, Tetrahedron:
Asymmetry, 2010, 21, 112; (b) M. Wiesner, M. Neuburger and H.
Wennemers, Chem.–Eur. J., 2009, 15, 10103; (c) M. Lombardo, M.
Chiarucci, A. Quintavalla and C. Trombini, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2009,
351, 2801; (d) R.-S. Luo, J. Weng, H.-B. Ai, G. Lu and A. S. C. Chan,
Adv. Synth. Catal., 2009, 351, 2449; (e) C. Chang, S.-H. Li, R. J. Reddy
and K. Chen, Adv. Synth. Catal., 2009, 351, 1273; (f) M. Laars, K.
Ausmees, M. Uudsemaa, T. Tamm, T. Kanger and M. Lopp, J. Org.
Chem., 2009, 74, 3772; (g) X.-J. Zhang, S.-P. Liu, X.-M. Li, M. Yan
and A. S. C. Chan, Chem. Commun., 2009, 833; (h) L. Guo, Y. Chi,
A. M. Almeida, I. A. Guzei, B. K. Parker and S. H. Gellman, J. Am.
Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 16018; (i) M. Wiesner, J. D. Revell, S. Tonazzi
and H. Wennemers, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130, 5610; (j) Y. Chi, L.
Guo, N. A. Kopf and S. H. Gellman, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130,
5608; (k) M. Wiesner, J. D. Revell and H. Wennemers, Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 1871; (l) P. Garc´ıa-Garc´ıa, A. Lade´peˆche, R. Halder
and B. List, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 4719; (m) Y. Hayashi,
T. Ito, M. Ohkubo and H. Ishikawa, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2008, 47,
4722; (n) L.-Y. Wu, Z.-Y. Yan, Y.-X. Xie, Y.-N. Niu and Y.-M. Liang,
Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 2007, 18, 2086; (o) M. T. Barros and A. M. F.
Phillips, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2007, 178; (p) N. Mase, K. Watanabe, H.
Yoda, K. Takabe, F. Tanaka and C. F. Barbas, III, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,
2006, 128, 4966; (q) C. Palomo, S. Vera, A. Mielgo and E. Go´mez-
Bengoa, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2006, 45, 4984; (r) J. Wang, H. Li, B.
Lou, L. Zu, H. Guo and W. Wang, Chem.–Eur. J., 2006, 12, 4321; (s) S.
Luo, X. Mi, L. Zhang, S. Liu, H. Xu and J.-P. Cheng, Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed., 2006, 45, 3093; (t) S. Mosse´, M. Laars, K. Kriis, T. Kanger
and A. Alexakis, Org. Lett., 2006, 8, 2559; (u) T. Ishii, S. Fujioka, Y.
Sekiguchi and H. Kotsuki, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126, 9558; (v) A.
Alexakis and O. Andrey, Org. Lett., 2002, 4, 3611.
The enantioselectivity was determined by HPLC analysis [93%
ee, DAICEL CHIRALPAK AD-H, 20% isopropanol–hexane,
1.0 mL min-1, 209 nm; tr(major enantiomer) = 11.1 min, tr(minor
enantiomer) = 13.0 min]. [a]2D3 = +9.9◦ (c = 1.0, CHCl3), orange
oil, dH(CDCl3) 1.05 (3H, s), 1.15 (3H, s), 3.82 (1H, dd, J 4.1,
11.4 Hz), 4.75 (1H, dd, J 4.1, 13.7 Hz), 4.88 (1H, dd, J 11.4,
13.7 Hz), 7.27–7.31 (1H, m), 7.57–7.60 (1H, m), 8.51–8.52 (1H,
m), 8.56–8.58 (1H, m), 9.51 (1H, s); dC(CDCl3) 18.9, 21.8, 46.0,
48.2, 75.7, 123.5, 131.4, 136.1, 149.6, 150.6, 203.4; n(neat)/cm-1
3420, 2975, 2934, 2872, 2822, 2722, 1725, 1555, 1469, 1430, 1379,
1186, 1027, 883, 822, 718; [HR ESI-MS: Calc. for C11H15N2O3
(M+H): 223.1083. Found: M++H, 223.1081].
(E)-2,2-Dimethyl-3-(nitromethyl)oct-4-enal (3m)
The enantioselectivity was determined by HPLC analysis [94%
ee, DAICEL CHIRALCEL OD-H, 20% isopropanol–hexane,
1.0 mL min-1, 209 nm; tr(major enantiomer) = 10.0 min, tr(minor
enantiomer) = 6.1 min]. [a]2D8 = –20.3◦ (c = 1.0, CHCl3), colorless
oil, dH(CDCl3) 0.86 (3H, t, J 7.3 Hz), 1.09 (6H, s), 1.31–1.41 (2H,
m), 1.98 (2H, dt, J 6.8, 7.3 Hz), 3.05 (1H, ddd, J 3.9, 9.8, 10.7 Hz),
4.30 (1H, dd, J 10.7, 11.7 Hz), 4.42 (1H, dd, J 3.9, 11.7 Hz),
5.26 (1H, dd, J 9.8, 15.1 Hz), 5.59 (1H, dt, J 6.8, 15.1 Hz), 9.47
(1H, s); dC(CDCl3) 13.4, 18.8, 20.5, 22.1, 34.5, 46.9, 47.3, 76.9,
123.2, 138.1, 204.0; n(neat)/cm-1 2963, 2931, 2873, 2714, 1728,
1556, 1466, 1436, 1380, 1339, 1202, 1056, 934, 887, 780, 718,
634.
5 Asymmetric Michael addition of aldehydes to nitroalkenes with
a primary amine catalyst: (a) X.-J. Zhang, S.-P. Liu, J.-H. Lao,
G.-J. Du, M. Yan and A. S. C. Chan, Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 2009, 20,
1451; (b) M. P. Lalonde, Y. Chen and E. N. Jacobsen, Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed., 2006, 45, 6366; (c) S. H. McCooey and S. J. Connon, Org.
This journal is
The Royal Society of Chemistry 2010
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, 8, 3031–3036 | 3035
©