Asymmetric Induction by a Nitrogen14N/15N Isotopomer in Conjunction with Asymmetric Autocatalysis

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201608955

Chirality arising from isotope substitution, especially with atoms heavier than the hydrogen isotopes, is usually not considered a source of chirality in a chemical reaction. An N²,N²,N³,N³-tetramethyl-2,3-butan

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201608955

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International Edition: DOI: 10.1002/anie.201608955
German Edition: DOI: 10.1002/ange.201608955
Asymmetric Catalysis Very Important Paper
Asymmetric Induction by a Nitrogen 14N/15N Isotopomer in
Conjunction with Asymmetric Autocatalysis
Arimasa Matsumoto,* Hanae Ozaki, Shunya Harada, Kyohei Tada, Tomohiro Ayugase,
Hitomi Ozawa, Tsuneomi Kawasaki, and Kenso Soai*
Abstract: Chirality arising from isotope substitution, especially
with atoms heavier than the hydrogen isotopes, is usually not
considered a source of chirality in a chemical reaction. An
N2,N2,N3,N3-tetramethyl-2,3-butanediamine containing nitro-
gen (14N/15N) isotope chirality was synthesized and it was
revealed that this isotopically chiral diamine compound acts as
a chiral initiator for asymmetric autocatalysis.
we demonstrated that a subtle difference of isotopic chirality
can induce asymmetric induction in an asymmetric autoca-
talysis reaction.[12] Chiral compounds (as the result of hydro-
gen (H/D),[13] carbon (12C/13C),[14] and oxygen (16O/18O)[15]
isotopes) act as chiral initiators for asymmetric autocatalysis.
Herein, we report the first example of asymmetric induction
by chiral nitrogen (14N/15N) isotopomers with a smaller
relative mass difference compared to previously reported
isotopomers (Scheme 1).
Nitrogen is one of the abundant atoms in the construction
of various bioorganic molecules, and the coordinating ability
of nitrogen atoms is widely exploited in various ligands. 15N is
a useful NMR-active isotope and the isotope ratio of 14N/15N
M
ost of the chemical elements have stable isotopes.
Isotope-substituted compounds (isotopomers) have almost
the same chemical reactivity, isotope substitution and isotope
effect, therefore they are widely used for studies of reaction
mechanisms and tracing compounds.[1] However, isotope
substitution sometimes breaks the molecular symmetry and
produces hidden chirality in usually achiral molecules.
Usually, this hidden chirality does not receive much attention
because the difference between these isotopically chiral
compounds is very small and negligible in asymmetric
induction. Although the chirality arising from isotope sub-
stitution was discussed after the finding of stable isotopom-
ers,[2–4] the isotope effect in chirality has mainly been studied
on hydrogen isotopes because the almost double relative mass
ratio of H and D produces relatively large isotope effects
compared with other element isotopomers.[5] Thus, chirality
induction in a reaction arising from heavier atoms[6] is a highly
challenging and interesting topic, especially in the study of the
origin of homochirality.[7]
Scheme 1. Asymmetric autocatalysis of pyrimidyl alkanol 3 triggered by
a nitrogen (14N/15N) isotopically chiral diamine.
We have been studying asymmetric autocatalysis of
pyrimidyl alkanol,[8] which causes significant amplification
of enantiomeric excess (ee) during the progress of a reaction.
This reaction can recognize the various chiral environments[9]
and attracts wide attention from the viewpoint of symmetry
breaking[10] and its unique reaction mechanism.[11] Recently,
is also used in the study of the origin of meteorites.[16]
However, to our knowledge, isotopically chiral compounds
arising from nitrogen isotope (14N/15N) substitution have not
been synthesized and studied as a chiral initiator. Herein, we
demonstrate the synthesis of compounds that are isotopically
chiral by nitrogen isotope substitution and their chiral
induction of asymmetric autocatalysis (Scheme 1).
[*] Dr. A. Matsumoto, H. Ozaki, S. Harada, K. Tada, T. Ayugase,
H. Ozawa, Prof. Dr. K. Soai
We focused on an achiral diamine, meso-N2,N2,N3,N3-
tetramethyl-2,3-butanediamine 1. This diamine is a derivative
of the frequently used achiral ligand, tetramethylethylenedi-
amine, and has mirror symmetry. However, replacing one
nitrogen atom with the 15N isotope breaks the symmetry and
affords the isotopically chiral diamine, [15N](S)-1 or [15N](R)-
1. We synthesized these isotopically chiral diamines 1 and
achieved asymmetric induction in the asymmetric autocata-
lytic reaction of pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde 2 and iPr2Zn to
give pyrimidyl alkanol chiral compounds 3 with high ee.
The nitrogen (14N/15N) isotopically chiral diamine
Department of Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science
Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8601 (Japan)
E-mail: soai@rs.kagu.tus.ac.jp
matsumoto@rs.tus.ac.jp
Dr. A. Matsumoto, Prof. Dr. T. Kawasaki, Prof. Dr. K. Soai
Research Institute for Science and Technology
Tokyo University of Science
Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8601 (Japan)
Prof. Dr. T. Kawasaki
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, University of Fukui
Bunkyo, Fukui, 910-8507 (Japan)
was synthesized from (2R,3R)-butane-2,3-diol
4 using
Supporting information for this article can be found under:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201608955.
15N-phthalimide as a 15N source (Scheme 2). First, one alcohol
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in (2R,3R)-butane-2,3-diol 4 was protected with a benzyl
group, followed by stereoinversion of the remaining alcohol
by the Mitsunobu reaction to give the alcohol (2S,3R)-5. A
Mitsunobu reaction of (2S,3R)-5 with 15N-phthalimide
afforded 15N-amine (2[15N]R,3R)-6. After deprotection of
the phthalimide by hydrazine, the obtained amine was
protected with a tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc) group. The
benzyl group was removed with hydrogen and Pd/C to give
(2[15N]R,3R)-7. A Mitsunobu reaction with non-labeled
phthalimide, followed by reduction and deprotection,
afforded the isotopically chiral diamine [15N](R)-9. The
methylation reaction was performed with formaldehyde and
picoline borane, and the tetramethylated diamine [15N](R)-
1 isolated as the diammonium chloride salt and purified by
recrystallization from ethanol.[17]
[15N]-1 were synthesized in a stereoselective manner from the
same (2R,3R)-butane-2,3-diol. By employing this procedure,
preservation of chirality was assured even when chiral
contaminants from (2R,3R)-butan-2,3-diol 4 or its derivative
are present in the final diamine 1. Therefore, even when chiral
contaminants (instead of chiral diamine isotopomer 1) trigger
the asymmetric autocatalysis, pyrimidyl alkanol 3 with the
same absolute configuration should be formed. Furthermore,
to eliminate the possibility of chiral contamination from the
synthetic route, we synthesized both [15N](S)-1 and [15N](R)-
1 from the opposite enantiomer (2S,3S)-4 (Scheme 3).
The enantiomer of this diamine [15N](S)-1 was also
synthesized from the (2R,3R)-butane-2,3-diol 4 starting
material, by changing the order of 15N-labeled and non-
labeled phthalimide in the synthetic Scheme 2; that is, by
introducing non-labeled phthalimide first and introducing
15N-labeled phthalimide second. Thus, both enantiomers of
Scheme 3. Synthesis of nitrogen (14N/15N) isotopically chiral diamine
from (2S,3S)-4 (Route B).
Nitrogen isotope incorporation can be observed in the
13C NMR spectrum. Non-labeled meso-tetramethylbutane-
2,3-diamine 1 afforded one resonance for the 2,3-position of
the carbon atom. In the case of 15N-labeled diamine the
observed 13C NMR resonance resulted in two signals
1.5C:0.5C. It seems that there is a high-field shift for one
carbon resonance that is directly connected to the 15N atom.
This signal becomes a doublet because of 15N-13C coupling,
and one resonance of the doublet overlaps with that of the
carbon atom bonded to 14N (Figure 1). Nitrogen isotope
substitution was also signaled by a change in the N-H
stretching region of the IR spectrum (Supporting Informa-
tion). Nitrogen isotope incorporation was also confirmed by
high-resolution ESI-TOF-MS. Although the ee of the final
isotopically chiral diamine 1 cannot be directly determined
because of the lack of optical activity and chiral interaction
with the chiral HPLC column, the ee of the product was
determined for the precursor 8. Chiral HPLC analysis of 8
showed that the compound has a high ee (> 98% ee) and
there are no other detectable diastereomers.
Scheme 2. Synthesis of nitrogen (14N/15N) isotopically chiral diamine
1 (Route A). Key: phthalimide (HNPhth), diisobutylaluminum hydride
(DIBAL), diethyl azodicarboxylate (DEAD), 2-picoline-borane
(2-pic.-BH3).
Figure 1. 13C NMR of 15N-substituted diamine 1.
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To examine asymmetric induction with nitrogen isotopi-
Experimental Section
cally chiral diamine, the addition of diisopropylzinc to the
pyrimidin-5-carbaldehyde 2 was performed in the presence of
diamine 1 (a chiral trigger) in pursuit of asymmetric
autocatalysis of pyrimidyl alkanol 3. The results are summar-
ized in Table 1. The addition of diisopropylzinc (iPr2Zn) to
Experimental details pertaining to the synthesis and characterization
of 15n-substituted compounds are described in the Supporting
Information.
Typical procedure for asymmetric autocatalysis initiated by
a diamine containing isotopically chiral nitrogen (Table 1, entry 1):
Isotopically chiral diamine [15N](R)-1 (5.5 mg, 0.025 mmol, 1 equiv)
was placed in a dried flask under argon. To this flask, a toluene
solution of diisopropylzinc (1.0m, 0.15 mL, 0.15 mmol, 6 equiv) was
added at 08C and stirred for 20 min. Subsequently, pyrimidine-5-
carbaldehyde 2 (4.7 mg, 0.025 mmol, 1 equiv) in toluene (0.15 mL)
was added dropwise over 1 h at 08C. After 2 h stirring at 08C, one-pot
scale-up of asymmetric autocatalysis was performed by adding
Table 1: Asymmetric autocatalysis initiated by nitrogen (14N/15N) iso-
topically chiral diamine.
toluene (0.4 mL) and
a diisopropylzinc toluene solution (1m,
0.2 mL, 0.2 mmol), followed by dropwise addition of aldehyde 2
(18.8 mg, 0.1 mmol) in toluene (0.5 mL) over 1 h. After an additional
2 h of stirring, a second scale-up of asymmetric autocatalysis was
performed by adding toluene (3.6 mL), diisopropylzinc (1m, 0.8 mL,
0.8 mmol), and aldehyde 2 (75.3 mg, 0.4 mmol) in toluene (2 mL) in
a similar manner. After 2 h, the reaction was quenched with a mixture
of saturated NH4Cl aq and 30% NH3 aq (2/1, v/v, 10 mL) and
extracted with EtOAc three times. The combined organic layers were
dried over anhydrous Na2SO4 and the volatiles were removed under
reduced pressure. The crude products were purified by silica gel
column chromatography (eluent: hexane/EtOAc = 2/1) to give the
(R)-alkanol 3 in 84% yield (103.2 mg) with 45% ee. The ee value was
determined by HPLC analysis on a chiral stationary phase (Daicel
Chiralpak IB: f 4.6 mm ꢀ 250 mm, 254 nm UV detector, RT, 5%
2-propanol in hexane, 1.0 mLminÀ1. Retention times: 10.9 min for
(S)-3 and 15.5 min for (R)-3).
Entry
Chiral diamine 1
Config. Synthetic route
Pyrimidyl alkanol 3
Yield [%] ee [%]
Config.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
[15N](R)
[15N](S)
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B
B
B
B
B
84(82[b]) 45(>99.5[b])
85(82[b]) 35(>99.5[b])
R
S
R
S
R
S
R
S
R
S
R
S
R
S
58
71
86
81
54
79
69
67
75
69
77
73
38
37
26
18
12
18
40
54
24
41
16
22
9
10
11
12
13
14
Acknowledgements
[a] Reaction conditions: 1, 2, and iPr2Zn (1:1:6) in toluene 08C,
additional aldehyde 2 (4 equiv and 8 equiv) and iPr2Zn (16 equiv and
32 equiv) were added stepwise. [b] After scale-up by additional auto-
catalytic reaction with isolated alkanol.
This work was financially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 23685012,
26810026, and 15H03781) and MEXT-Supported Program
for the Strategic Research Foundation at Private Universities,
2012–2016.
the pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde 2 in the presence of [15N](S)-
1 afforded (S)-pyrimidyl alkanol 3. In contrast, (R)-alkanol 3
was obtained from the reaction with [15N](R)-1. The ee was
amplified by further asymmetric autocatalytic reaction with
the obtained pyrimidyl alkanol (Table 1, entries 1 and 2). The
selectivity has good reproducibility and diamines with nitro-
gen isotope chirality, synthesized from different starting
material, also show the same selectivity in the asymmetric
Keywords: asymmetric amplification ·
asymmetric autocatalysis · chirality · isotopes · nitrogen isotopes
autocatalytic reaction of pyrimidyl alkanol
3 (Table 1,
entries 9–14). These results support the contention that the
sense of enantioselectivity actually came from the nitrogen-
isotope-substituted chiral diamine 1. Thus, a diamine with
nitrogen isotope chirality can act as a chiral initiator in
asymmetric autocatalysis.
In summary, we have synthesized a diamine arising from
nitrogen isotope (14N/15N) substitution from a diol, by
stepwise synthesis with 15N-substituted and non-substituted
phthalimide. Using this isotopically chiral diamine, asymmet-
ric induction of asymmetric autocatalysis can be achieved.
This result is the first example of enantioselective induction
by chirality using only the nitrogen isotope 14N/15N difference.
This is an important demonstration that the chiral effect of
nitrogen isotope substitution can affect the reaction selectiv-
ity of asymmetric induction.
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Received: September 13, 2016
Published online: && &&, &&&&
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Asymmetric Catalysis
Hidden chirality: A nitrogen (14N/15N)
isotopically chiral diamine, N2,N2,N3,N3-
tetramethyl-2,3-butandiamine, was syn-
thesized. This compound acts as a chiral
initiator for an asymmetric autocatalysis
reaction only by a difference in the nitro-
gen isotope.
A. Matsumoto,* H. Ozaki, S. Harada,
K. Tada, T. Ayugase, H. Ozawa,
T. Kawasaki, K. Soai*
&&&& — &&&&
Asymmetric Induction by a Nitrogen 14N/
15N Isotopomer in Conjunction with
Asymmetric Autocatalysis
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