J. I. García, C. I. Herrerías et al.
FULL PAPER
solution of 2,2Ј-methylene-bis[(4S)-4-phenyl-4,5-dihydrooxazole]
(306 mg, 1 mmol) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (5 mL) was com-
bined with another solution of tBuOK (112 mg, 1 mmol) also in
anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (5 mL). After stirring for 1 h at room
temperature, α,αЈ-Dibromo-p-xylene (132 mg, 0.5 mmol) was
added. The mixture was stirred at 77 °C overnight. The solvent was
evaporated under reduced pressure and the residue was partitioned
between ethyl acetate (10 mL) and a saturated NaCl solution
(10 mL). The aqueous phase was extracted with ethyl acetate (3ϫ
10 mL) and the combined organic phases were dried with anhy-
portant to point out that these results are the best yet ob-
tained for this reaction and this type of catalyst complex.
Finally, complex Cu-4b was applied to the cycloprop-
anation reaction (Table 7). As shown in the Table, although
product yields during all the cycles are better than those
obtained using monotopic ligand complex Cu-1b, the
enantioselectivity found in the first two cycles was exceed-
ingly low. Interestingly, after the second cycle of reaction,
enantioselectivity induced by Cu-4b increased, even ex-
ceeding the enantioselectivity induced during cyclopropan- drous MgSO4. Evaporation of the solvent yielded the product as a
light yellow solid.
ations with Cu-1b. We attribute this change in Cu-4b-in-
duced enantioselectivity to the presence of free copper in
the reaction medium introduced during initial complex-
ation. Free Cu(OTf)2 catalyzes the racemic reaction and this
would explain the poor ee values noted for runs 1 and 2
with Cu-4b (Table 7, Entries 2 and 3). We envision that,
after two reaction cycles, all unbound copper would have
been extracted. Consequently, enantioselectivity values as-
sociated with Cu-4b (generated during runs 3–20) would
now be comparable to those noted for complex Cu-1b.
As with the other coordination polymers, the recoverabi-
lity of Cu-4b was found to be excellent. In this case, up to
13 runs could be carried out affording both good yields and
enantioselectivities.
1,4-Bis{2,2-bis[(S)-4-tertbutyl-4,5-dihydrooxazol-2-yl]ethyl}benzene
(tBuDiBox) (2c): Yellow solid in almost quantitative yield. [α]2D0
=
–72.3 (c = 2.3, CH2Cl2); m.p. 75–77 °C. 1H NMR (400 MHz,
CDCl3): δ = 7.12 (s, 4 H), 4.06 (m, 8 H), 3.78 (m, 4 H), 3.37 (m, 2
H), 3.14 (m, 4 H), 0.89 (s, 9 H), 0.83 (s, 9 H), 0.82 (s, 9 H), 0.77
(s, 9 H) ppm. 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 164.11, 164.06,
163.8, 163.7, 136.39, 136.3, 130.4, 130.0, 129.0, 128.5, 75.6, 75.5,
68.85, 68.80, 41.3, 41.2, 35.4, 33.9, 33.75, 33.70, 33.54, 25.85, 25.83,
25.69, 25.68, 25.66, 25.64 ppm. IR (C=N): ν = 1654 cm–1. HRMS
˜
(ESI+): m/z = 635.4531 [M + H]+, calcd. for C38H58N4O4H:
635.4536.
1,4-Bis{2,2-bis[(S)-4-isopropyl-4,5-dihydrooxazol-2-yl]ethyl}benzene
(iPrDiBox) (2d): Transparent oil in almost quantitative yield: [α]2D5
= –57.5 (c 0.54, CHCl3); 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 7.10 (s,
4 H), 4.28–4.06 (m, 4 H), 4.01–3.79 (m, 8 H), 3.76–3.63 (m, 2 H),
3.25–3.05 (m, 4 H), 1.79–155 (m,4 H), 0.89 (d, J = 6.8 Hz, 6 H),
0.82 (d, J = 6.8 Hz, 6 H), 0.81 (d, J = 6.8 Hz, 6 H), 0.75 (d, J =
6.8 Hz, 6 H) ppm. 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 164.0, 163.9,
136.4, 128.9, 71.82, 71.81, 70.05, 70.04, 41.3, 35.4, 32.3, 32.2, 18.6,
Conclusions
In this work we have described the preparation of several
new polytopic chiral ligands based on bis(oxazoline) units,
both ditopic (tBuDiBox, PhDiBox, and InDiBox) and
tetratopic (click-tBuQAX and click-iPrQAX). The copper
complexes of these ligands have been tested in a benchmark
asymmetric cyclopropanation reaction, using a release–cap-
ture strategy based on the formation of coordination poly-
mers at the end of the reaction to recover and recycle cata-
lysts. The use of this strategy has allowed, in the case of the
tetratopic ligands, the recovery and reuse of catalysts in at
least up to 20 reaction cycles leading to very good yields
and enantioselectivities. These results are among the best
described thus far for a recoverable catalyst in this kind of
reaction. These findings broaden the scope of application
for this recycling strategy and also highlight its strength as
a convergence of the best of the homogeneous and hetero-
geneous catalysis worlds.
18.5, 17.8, 17.7 ppm. IR (C=N): ν = 1665.2 cm–1. HRMS(ESI+)
˜
m/z = 579.3931 [M + H]+, calcd. for C34H50N4O4 + H 579.3910.
1,4-Bis{2,2-bis[(4S)-4-phenyl-4,5-dihydrooxazol-2-yl]ethyl}benzene
(PhDiBox) (2e): Light yellow solid in almost quantitative yield.
[α]2D5 = –42.0 (c 0.6, CH3OH); m.p. 86–89 °C. 1H NMR (400 MHz,
CDCl3): δ = 7.36–4.14 (m, 20 H), 7.09–6.99 (m, 4 H), 5.26–5.11
(m, 4 H), 4.69–4.55 (m, 4 H), 4.20–4.12 (m, 2 H), 4.11–3.95 (m, 4
H), 3.48–3.35 (m, 4 H) ppm. 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3): δ =
165.49, 165.37, 141.96, 141.90, 136.39, 130.72, 129.27, 128.65,
128.59, 127.56, 127.53, 126.78, 126.75, 126.66, 126.61, 125.47,
125.44, 75.34, 75.15, 69.53, 69.54, 41.4, 35.4 ppm. IR (C=N): ν
˜
= 1657 cm–1. HRMS(ESI+) m/z = 715.3288 [M + H]+, calcd. for
C46H43N4O4 + H 715.3284.
1,4-Bis{2,2-bis[(3aR,8aS)-8,8a-dihydro-3aH-indeno[1,2-d]oxazol-2-
yl]ethyl}benzene (InDiBox) (2f): Yellow solid in almost quantitative
yield. [α]2D5 = –209.5 (c 0.58, CH3OH); m.p. 88–91 °C; 1H NMR
(400 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 7.50–7.45 (m, 2 H), 7.40–7.15 (m, 18 H),
5.51 (d, J = 7.8 Hz, 2 H), 5.47 (d, J = 7.6 Hz, 2 H), 5.29–5.21 (m,
4 H), 3.46 (t, J = 8.4 Hz, 2 H), 3.35–3.25 (m, 4 H), 3.05–2.87 (m,
8 H) ppm. 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3): δ = 167.2, 164.8, 164.5,
164.4, 141.6, 139.8, 139.7, 139.5, 135.3, 135.2, 134.0, 129.9, 128.4,
128.3, 128.0, 127.5, 127.3, 125.6, 125.5, 125.2, 125.0, 83.4, 83.1,
76.4, 76.3, 76.2, 41.2, 41.1, 39.6, 39.5, 39.2, 38.3, 35.1, 29.7 ppm.
Experimental Section
General Information: All reactions were carried out under an argon
atmosphere in oven-dried glassware. Anhydrous solvents such as
tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane, and hexane were obtained from
an SPS-device. The purchased reagents were used as received with-
out further purification. Amino acids were used as commercially
available. The starting azabis(oxazolines) and 1,3-diazido-2,2-bis-
(azidomethyl)propane were prepared according to literature pro-
cedures.[17–20,38] The chemical shifts were relative to TMS as an
IR (C=N): ν = 1652 cm–1. HRMS(ESI+) m/z = 763.3296 [M +
˜
H]+, calcd. for C50H43N4O4 + H 763.3285.
Synthesis of 2,2Ј-(2-Phenyletano-1,1-diyl)bis(8,8a-dihydro-3aH-
indano[1,2-d]oxazol) (InBox-Bn) (7): A solution of bis[(3aR,8aS)-
8,8a-dihydro-3aH-indeno[1,2-d]oxazol-2-yl]methane
(200 mg,
1
internal reference for H NMR spectroscopy.
0.61 mmol) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (5 mL) was combined
Synthesis of 1,4-Bis{2,2-bis[(4S)-4-phenyl-4,5-dihydrooxazol-2- with another solution of tBuOK (67.8 mg, 0.61 mmol) also in an-
yl]ethyl}benzene (PhDiBox) (2e) as a representative procedure: A hydrous tetrahydrofuran (5 mL). After stirring for 1 h at room tem-
1538
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Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2014, 1531–1540