Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200906550
Asymmetric Catalysis
Enantioselective Gold Catalysis: Opportunities Provided by
Monodentate Phosphoramidite Ligands with an Acyclic TADDOL
Backbone**
Henrik Teller, Susanne Flꢀgge, Richard Goddard, and Alois Fꢀrstner*
Electrophilic activation of p systems using platinum and gold
complexes is an active frontier of contemporary catalysis
research.[1,2] These exceedingly practical carbophilic Lewis
acids allow readily available substrates to be converted into
diverse carbocyclic or heterocyclic scaffolds with a significant
increase in molecular complexity.[3] Although inherently apt
for asymmetric synthesis, the development of effective chiral
gold catalysts poses considerable challenges,[4] not least
because of the strong preference of AuI for linear dicoordi-
nation. This geometry precludes the chelation of a bidentate
chiral ligand to a single metal center, which arguably
constitutes the most successful strategy in asymmetric catal-
ysis to date.[5] Moreover, the reacting substrate is forced to
approach the reactive gold center trans to the ancillary ligand
(L*), which further hinders the transfer of chiral informa-
tion.
Two different approaches have been reported to over-
come these problems.[4,6] First, the use of chiral counterions as
an escort for a cationic gold template has been successful in
certain cases (see complex 1).[7] Second, dinuclear diphos-
phine complexes, such as 2–5, have proven effective, even
though careful optimization is necessary to match substrate
and catalyst.[8] However, the bis(phosphine) ligands in 2–5 are
elaborate, difficult to modify, and can be more expensive than
the noble metal they bind to; therefore, alternative design
principles are highly desirable. Herein, we report our
approach, which exploits a previously unrecognized oppor-
tunity in TADDOL chemistry[9] for the development of
powerful phosphoramidite gold catalysts.[10]
Early attempts to use the BINOL-derived phosphorami-
dite containing complex [6·AuCl] in asymmetric gold-catal-
ysis essentially met with failure (< 2% ee),[11] and only
recently has this class of ligands been re-utilized. Mascareꢀas
et al. showed that the highly crowded variant [7·AuCl]
successfully effected the [4+2] cycloadditions of allene–
dienes in good to excellent enantioselectivity.[12] In parallel
studies, our research group found that complex [8·AuCl],[13,14]
which also contains bulky substituents at the 3,3’-positions of
the BINOL core, is useful for the enantioselective cyclo-
propanation of styrene derivatives (Scheme 1).[8a]
Although this result merits further investigation, a catalyst
screen gave another promising hit. Complex 12a,[15] which
contains a much simpler TADDOL-derived phosphorami-
dite, furnished cycloadduct 14[16] with 84% ee (Table 1).
Variation of the ligand constituents showed that: 1) bis(1-
phenylethyl)amine 15 performed best amongst all amine
components investigated,[14] and 2) (R,R)-15 and (R,R)-
TADDOL form a matched pair.[14] Moreover, the arene
moiety exerted a striking influence on the outcome. Whereas
12a (Ar= Ph) and 12b (Ar= C6H4OMe) gave similar results,
phenyl groups containing electron-withdrawing substituents
at the meta or para positions afforded higher reaction rates
but significantly lower enantioselectivities (Table 1, entries 3–
5). A through-bond effect seems unlikely to explain these
striking differences in selectivity and reactivity because the
31P NMR shifts of the corresponding gold complexes do not
change much within the entire series (Table 1); rather, a
through-space interaction between the arenes and the elec-
tron deficient Au+ center is more plausible.[17] In this case, a
higher electron density at the aromatic periphery should
tighten the chiral pocket, but also lower the electrophilicity,
and hence decrease the activity of the gold complex after
ionization with AgBF4.
[*] H. Teller, Dr. S. Flꢀgge, Dr. R. Goddard, Prof. A. Fꢀrstner
Max-Planck-Institut fꢀr Kohlenforschung
45470 Mꢀlheim/Ruhr (Germany)
Fax: (+49)208-306-2994
E-mail: fuerstner@mpi-muelheim.mpg.de
[**] Generous financial support by the MPG and the Fonds der
Chemischen Industrie (Kekulꢁ fellowships to H.T. and S.F.) is
gratefully acknowledged. We thank the NMR, X-ray, and Chroma-
tography Departments of our Institute for their excellent support,
and Umicore AG & Co KG, Hanau, for a gift of noble metal salts.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 1949 –1953
ꢀ 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
1949