Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201105739
Synthetic Methods
Catalytic Asymmetric [3+2] Annulation of Allylsilanes with Isatins:
Synthesis of Spirooxindoles**
Nadine V. Hanhan, Nicolas R. Ball-Jones, Ngon T. Tran, and Annaliese K. Franz*
Allylsilanes are readily available, nontoxic, and versatile
reagents for organic synthesis. Although fairly weak nucleo-
philes, allylsilanes exhibit a dynamic reactivity pattern that is
dependent upon the electronic and steric properties of the
silyl group, the electrophilic partner, and the reaction
conditions.[1] Two primary pathways are known for the
silanes.[5] This enantioselective annulation represents a par-
ticular challenge because Lewis acid catalysts often favor the
competing allylation pathway, and a balance of reactivity and
product selectivity is required. Herein we report the first
example of a catalytic asymmetric [3+2] annulation of
allylsilanes and develop a method to access silyl- and
hydroxy-substituted spirooxindoles with superb enantioselec-
tivity.
We chose to study the catalytic asymmetric annulation of
allylsilanes with isatin electrophiles as a route to access
spirooxindoles because of the important biological activities
of this class of compounds.[6,7] We examined a wide variety of
chiral Lewis acid metal complexes (Pd, Cu, Ti, Sc, In, etc.) to
find a catalyst that would provide sufficient activation of the
electrophile to compensate for the relatively weak nucleo-
philicity of allylsilanes without favoring formation of the
allylation product. On the basis of our previous studies
investigating asymmetric additions to isatins, we envisioned
that a scandium(III)/L complex[8,9] could be optimized for the
annulation reaction with allyltriisopropylsilane (Table 1);
however, several variations of the Sc(OTf)3/L complex did
not provide the necessary reactivity (entries 1, 2).
=
addition of an allylsilane to a C X p electrophile in the
presence of a Lewis acid: 1) an elimination pathway to afford
allylation products (Hosomi–Sakurai reaction), and 2) a
pathway wherein the allylsilane acts as a three-carbon unit
in a [3+2] annulation reaction to afford cyclized products
(Scheme 1).[2] The silyl group enhances the nucleophilicity of
the alkene and stabilizes the b-carbocation, which is formed
We proceeded to investigate additives to enhance the
reactivity of the scandium(III) catalysts, and found that upon
addition of both AgSbF6 and TMSCl the annulation and
allylation products (3 and 4, respectively) were observed in a
ratio of 39:61, each with excellent enantioselectivity (Table 1,
entries 3–5). By using a ScCl3 complex in place of Sc(OTf)3,[10]
the annulation product was obtained as the major product in
an 85:15 ratio using CH2Cl2 solvent (entry 8). The annulation
product is obtained with a consistently high (95:5) diastereo-
selectivty. Although the counterion is essential for the desired
reactivity, additional investigations demonstrated that
increasing the amount of the counterion favors the competing
allylation pathway, even with the bulky allyltriisopropylsilane
(entries 8–10). Using NaSbF6 demonstrated that there is no
specific dependency on silver salts (entry 13).[11] Finally, other
additives were also investigated (entries 7, 11, 14, and 15), but
TMSCl was ideal for both rate enhancement and product
ratio.[12,13] Through this screening process, it was established
that: 1) a silyl chloride is an essential activator for this
reaction, 2) the halide ligands and counterion of the scandium
complex play a significant role in controlling the pathway
selectivity between the competing annulation and allylation
reactions, and 3) the diastereoselectivity and enantioselectiv-
ity for the annulation product are excellent under all reaction
conditions.
Scheme 1. Mechanism of allylation versus annulation pathways.
Bn=benyzl, Ts=4-toluenesulfonyl.
upon initial attack, through s–p hyperconjugation (referred to
as the b-silyl effect).[3] The [3+2] allylsilane annulation
reaction represents a powerful method for efficient stereose-
lective synthesis of complex heterocycles and carbocycles;
however, catalytic asymmetric variants have remained elu-
sive.[4] In contrast, numerous methods have been reported
that describe enantioselective allylation reactions with allyl-
[*] N. V. Hanhan, N. R. Ball-Jones, N. T. Tran, Prof. A. K. Franz
Department of Chemistry, University of California
One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 (USA)
E-mail: akfranz@ucdavis.edu
[**] This research was supported by the University of California, Davis
and the Donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum
Research Fund (49I8I-DNI1). A.K.F. acknowledges the 3M Corpo-
ration for a Nontenured Faculty Award. N.V.H. is a recipient of the
Eugene Cota-Robles, the Bradford Borge, and the Bryan Miller
Graduate Fellowships, and N.T.T. is a recipient of the Bradford
Borge Chemistry Fellowship and a Department of Education
GAANN Fellowship. We would also like to acknowledge Dr. James C.
Fettinger for consultations regarding X-ray analysis.
With optimized reaction conditions for the selective
formation of the spirocyclic annulation product 3 in hand,
we explored the scope of isatins for this reaction (Table 2). In
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 989 –992
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