ues, but with significantly reduced reaction yields. We then
realized that the relatively low enantioselectivity obtained
with the catalyst B was primarily caused by base-mediated
racemization of the Stetter product 3a. Thus by using a slight
excess of B (30 mol%, relative to 20 mol% DBU) and
decreasing the reaction temperature to 08C, the Stetter
product was obtained in 90% ee with 86% yield (Table 1,
entry 7). Attempts to use using the pre-catalysts C–E under a
range of reaction conditions (Table 1, entries 8–11) did not
lead to improvements in reaction yields or enantioselectiv-
ities. It is interesting to note that the choice of the NHC
catalyst is important to achieve the Stetter reactions. In our
previous work, by using the imidazolium-based bulky IMes
catalyst the reactions with the same sets of substrates
proceeded through an enal enolate pathway to give Diels–
Alder products.[7]
We next examined enals with b-aryl substituents. With the
b-aryl enals, the enolate pathway (giving Diels–Alder prod-
ucts)[7] dominated and was difficult to suppress using the
reaction conditions employed in Table 2 with B as the pre-
catalyst. The use of the less bulky NHC catalyst C did lead to
the Stetter adduct as the sole product, but with low yields and
poor enantioselectivities under various reaction conditions
(see the Supporting Information). We then went back to
catalyst B and extensively optimized the reaction conditions.
Although the enolate pathway[7] was still hard to eliminate
after much effort, the Stetter product could be obtained with
up to 49% yield and good enantioselectivities by using
toluene as the solvent at 08C (Table 3). The difference in
reactivity induced by the b substituents on the enals may
result from the relatively electron-rich and electron-poor
properties of the alkyl and aryl groups, respectively.
Next we used B with DBU as the base in THF at 08C
(Table 1, entry 7) to investigate the scope of the Stetter
reaction. We first studied the reaction using a series of b-alkyl
enal substrates and alkylidene diketones (Table 2). In all cases
Table 3: Scope of the Stetter reaction with b-aryl enals.[a]
Table 2: Scope of the Stetter reaction using b-alkyl enals.[a]
Entry
Ar
R2, R3
5
Yield [%][b]
ee [%][c]
1
2
3
4
5
Ph
3-OMeC6H4, Ph
Ph, Ph
Ph, 4-FC6H4
Ph, Ph
5a
5b
5c
5d
5e
40
33
39
47
49
85
82
88
87
92
4-BrC6H4
2-naphthyl
4-OMeC6H4
2-OMeC6H4
Entry R1
R2, R3
3
Yield [%][b] ee [%][c]
Ph, 4-BrC6H4
1
Me
Ph, Ph
Ph, Ph
Ph, Ph
Ph, Ph
Ph, Ph
3a
3b
3c
3d
3e
3 f
90
86
77
81
84
85
94
90
88
91
91
95
91
90
92
92
85
93
94
92
2
Et
[a] Reaction conditions: 4 (0.45 mmol), 2 (0.15 mmol), toluene (1.5 mL),
08C. Diels–Alder products were also formed in 20-40% yields. [b] Yield of
isolated product. [c] Enantiomeric excess of 5 determined by chiral-phase
HPLC analysis.
3
nPr
4
n-C5H11
5
n-C7H15
=
6
Me-CH CH Ph, Ph
7
Et
3-OMeC6H4, Ph
3g[d] 68
3h[d] 51
3i
3j
3k
8
9
Me
Me
Me
Me
Et
4-iPrC6H4, Ph
4-BrC6H4, Ph
4-FC6H4, Ph
Ph, 4-BrC6H4
3-OMeC6H4, 4-BrC6H4 3l
Ph, 4-ClC6H4
Ph, 4-FC6H4
The tolerance of b,b-disubstituted enals in the Stetter
reaction was also tested. Previously under NHC catalysis
these types of enals were mainly used in self-redox reac-
tions.[9] We reasoned that the additional b substituent (espe-
cially an alkyl group) might enhance the electron density of
the resulting enal acyl anions and thus make these enals
behave more effectively in the Stetter reaction than the
corresponding monosubstituted b-aryl enals. We first tested
the reaction between the b,b-disubstituted enal 6a and
modified enone 2a by using the reaction conditions employed
in Table 3. To our delight, the Stetter product 7a was obtained
in 89% yield with an acceptable enantioselectivity (Table 4,
entry 1). The substrate scope was then briefly examined
(Table 4). An enal having an electron-donating group on the
phenyl ring showed high reactivity and afforded products with
excellent yields, albeit with slightly decreased enantioselec-
tivities (Table 4, entries 3 and 4). The diaryl-substituted enal
reacted as well, but the yield was low even after attempted
optimization which included the use of catechol additives
(Table 4, entry 5). Good yield was achieved when the dialkyl-
substituted enal was used, but with decreased enantioselec-
tivity (Table 4, entry 6). The enone substrates having elec-
tron-withdrawing groups such as COMe or CO2Et were not
effective when using simple enals, but proved to be reactive
80
71
89
86
10
11
12
13
14
Me
Me
3m 64
3n 74
[a] Reaction conditions: 1 (0.45 mmol), 2 (0.15 mmol), THF (1.5 mL).
[b] Yield of isolated product. [c] Enantiomeric excess of 3, determined by
chiral-phase HPLC analysis; the absolute configuration was determined
by X-ray structure analysis of product 3i. [d] Catechol (100 mol%) was
used as an additive.
the reactions proceeded smoothly to afford the Stetter
products with good enantioselectivities and yields. The
Michael acceptor 2 having aryl groups (R2 and R3) with
different electronic properties was investigated (Table 2,
entries 7–14). Electron-donating groups on the phenyl rings
generally gave products with slightly decreased yields
(Table 2, entries 7 and 8); in these cases the addition of a
catechol additive[8] improved the yields without affecting
enantioselectivities. In all the examples studied in Table 2, the
reactions exclusively proceeded to give the Stetter products
without observable formation of the typical products arising
from either the enolate or homoenolate pathways.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 11782 –11785
ꢀ 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim