DOI: 10.1002/chem.201402127
Full Paper
&
Synthetic Methods
Stereoselective Aminoxylation of Biradical Titanium Enolates with
TEMPO
Alejandro Gꢀmez-Palomino,[a] Miquel Pellicena,[a] Juan Manuel Romo,[a] Ricard Solꢁ,[a]
Pedro Romea,*[a] Fꢂlix Urpꢃ,*[a] and Mercꢂ Font-Bardia[b]
Abstract: A highly efficient and straightforward aminoxyla-
tion of titanium(IV) enolates from (S)-N-acyl-4-benzyl-5,5-di-
methyl-1,3-oxazolidin-2-ones with TEMPO has been devel-
oped. A wide array of functional groups on the acyl moiety,
including alkyl and aryl substituents, olefins, esters, or a-cy-
clopropyl, as well as a-trifluoromethyl groups, are well toler-
ated. This transformation can therefore produce the a-ami-
noxylated adducts in excellent yields with high diastereo-
meric ratios (d.r.). In turn, parallel additions to the a,b-unsa-
turated N-acyl counterparts give the corresponding g-ad-
ducts with complete regioselectivity in moderate to good
yields. Removal of the piperidinyl moiety or the chiral auxili-
ary converts the resultant adducts into enantiomerically
pure a-hydroxy carboxyl derivatives, alcohols, or esters in
high yields under mild conditions. Finally, a new mechanistic
model based on the biradical character of the titanium(IV)
enolates has been proposed.
Introduction
action followed by stereoselective free radical reduction of the
resultant a-bromo or a-seleno esters.[5] Apart from this reaction
path, the classical dimerization of metal enolates[6–8] has recent-
ly been updated and some ingenious methods based on the
oxidation of metal enolates and subsequent homo- as well as
heterocoupling of the resultant enolyl radicals have been de-
vised.[9] This radical chemistry was further advanced through
the introduction by MacMillan’s group of SOMO-organocataly-
sis concepts, whereby one-electron oxidation of a transient
chiral enamine derived from an aldehyde provides a cation
radical that can undergo highly enantioselective transforma-
tions.[10] Despite the tremendous advancement in asymmetric
synthesis facilitated by these ideas, the requirement of a stoi-
chiometric amount of an oxidant to generate the reactive in-
termediate is a major drawback in terms of atom economy.[11]
This hurdle has occasionally been overcome by merging pho-
toredox catalysis with organocatalysis.[12] Indeed, upon irradia-
tion, ruthenium(II) photoredox catalysts trigger the formation
of the enamine cation radical, which then reacts with other
radical intermediates produced by the ruthenium(I) species.
Such an ingenious combination of two independent catalytic
cycles permits the enantioselective intermolecular a-alkylation
of aldehydes without the need for an additional oxidant.[13,14]
In this context, we revealed the unconventional biradical
character of the titanium(IV) enolates,[15] which might mean
that they can participate directly in homolytic transformations
without any additional reagents in a highly economic manner.
Zakarian proved the feasibility of this new reaction paradigm
by developing the radical haloalkylation of the titanium(IV)
enolates of chiral N-acyl oxazolidinones catalyzed by rutheni-
um(II) complexes.[16a] Later, the method was expanded to zirco-
nium(IV) enolates,[16b] and it was also found that it could be
carried out using catalytic amounts of TiCl4.[16c] Thus, the biradi-
The development over the last decades of highly chemo-,
regio-, and stereoselective procedures for the enolization of
carbonyl compounds has meant that metal enolates are now
among the most important carbon nucleophiles. This has
paved the way for the use of metal enolates in a wide array of
organic transformations and, nowadays, a significant number
of stereoselective bond-forming reactions can only be under-
stood through considering the contribution of lithium, boron,
titanium(IV), or tin(II) enolates as structurally defined and very
reactive nucleophilic species.[1] Running parallel to this hetero-
lytic profile, attention has also been focused on the exploita-
tion of the homolytic reactivity of a-carbonyl radicals (enolyl
radicals), which can participate in highly stereoselective trans-
formations.[2] To date, a-halo carbonyl compounds have com-
monly been used as the source of such intermediates. For in-
stance, Sibi disclosed highly stereocontrolled radical alkylations
of chiral a-bromo N-acyl oxazolidinones,[3] and Porter reported
related transformations promoted by chiral Lewis acids.[4] In
turn, Guindon has developed a general strategy for polypropi-
onate synthesis based on a sequence of a Mukaiyama aldol re-
[a] A. Gꢀmez-Palomino, Dr. M. Pellicena, J. M. Romo, R. Solꢁ, Prof. P. Romea,
Prof. F. Urpꢂ
Departament de Quꢂmica Orgꢁnica, Universitat de Barcelona
Carrer Martꢂ i Franquꢃs 1–11, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)
Fax: (+34)93-3397878
[b] Dr. M. Font-Bardia
Unitat de Difracciꢀ de RX, CCiTUB, Universitat de Barcelona
Carrer Solꢃ i Sabarꢂs 1–3, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201402127.
Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 10153 – 10159
10153
ꢄ 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim