Communications
of primary allylic alcohols. Deviating hydrogenation catalysts
from their initial goal towards productive isomerization by
adequately tuning the experimental setup allows this most
challenging transformation to take place under mild reaction
conditions. Preliminary investigations have helped our under-
standing and rationalization of crucial features of the reaction
mechanism. Additional work to completely elucidate the
mechanism and the development of new catalysts to circum-
vent the current limitations of the present system is ongoing in
our laboratory.
Received: April 7, 2009
Revised: May 5, 2009
Published online: June 12, 2009
Keywords: allylic compounds · asymmetric catalysis · iridium ·
.
isomerization · P,N ligands
[1] For reviews, see: a) S. Akutagawa in Comprehensive Asymmetric
Catalysis, Vol. 2 (Eds.: E. N. Jacobsen, A. Pfaltz, H. Yamamoto),
Springer, Berlin, 1999, chap. 23; b) S. Akutagawa in Compre-
hensive Asymmetric Catalysis, Vol. 3 (Eds: E. N. Jacobsen, A.
Pfaltz, H. Yamamoto), Springer, Berlin, 1999, chap. 41.4. Semi-
nal contribution: c) K. Tani, Pure Appl. Chem. 1985, 57, 1845 –
1854; Mechanistic studies: d) S. Inoue, H. Takaya, K. Tani, S.
Otsuka, T. Sato, R. Noyori, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 4897 –
4905.
Scheme 3. Proposed mechanisms for the isomerization of allylic alco-
hols (left) and the competing E/Z isomerization pathway (right).
[2] For recent reviews, see: a) R. C. Van der Drift, E. Bouwman, E.
Drent, J. Organomet. Chem. 2002, 650, 1 – 24; b) R. Uma, C.
Crꢁvisy, R. Grꢁe, Chem. Rev. 2003, 103, 27 – 52; c) V. Cadierno,
P. Crochet, J. Gimeno, Synlett 2008, 1105 – 1124.
secondary alkyl hydride intermediate (11a!12). Reversible
binding of the alcohol functionality allows subsequent b-
hydride elimination from C1 to generate the enol dihydride
intermediate 13. Rapid tautomerization, presumably outside
the catalytic cycle, leads to the desired aldehyde.[18]
[3] For rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric isomerization of primary
allylic alcohols, see: a) C. Botteghi, G. Giacomelli, Gazz. Chim.
Ital. 1976, 106, 1131 – 1134; b) K. Tanaka, S. Qiao, M. Tobisu,
asymmetric isomerization of secondary allylic alcohols, see:
C. Mazet, Tetrahedron Lett. 2009, 50, 4141 – 4144; for other
relevant contributions on iridium-catalyzed isomerization of
allylic alcohols, see: c) C. S. Chin, J. Park, C. Kim, S. Y. Lee, J. H.
Shin, J. B. Kim, Catal. Lett. 1988, 203 – 205; d) D. Baudry, M.
Ephritikhine, H. Felkin, Nouv. J. Chim. 1978, 2, 355 – 356;
Interestingly, the cis dihydride regenerated at the end of
the first cycle has a different coordination geometry than that
of the initial active catalyst, and therefore offers a different
stereochemical environment to the next molecule of substrate
(i.e. if 9 was initially involved, 10 is generated after one
turnover, and vice versa). A rapid isomerization between 9
and 10 is therefore likely to occur.[19] This hypothesis is in line
with the results of the labeling experiments. In the key
intermediate 11a only one hydride is stereoelectronically
aligned with the s*C to undergo migratory insertion. The
=
C
transfer of all the hydrides from the catalyst to the product
therefore implicates the existence of a fast cis-hydride
exchange mechanism at some stage in the catalytic cycle.[20]
Migratory insertion is likely to be the rate-determining step
regarding the significant effect of olefin substituents and
olefin geometry on the reaction rate. Decreasing the size of
the R1 substituent leads to migratory insertion at C3 and
competitive E/Z isomerization (11b!14!15) (Table 2,
entries 10 and 21). Reversible binding of the hydroxy group
3272 – 3296; b) K. Kꢂllstrꢃm, I. Munslow, P. G. Andersson,
[6] For catalyst 2, see: a) A. Lightfoot, P. Schnider, A. Pfaltz, Angew.
2897 – 2899; For catalyst 3, see: b) X. Li, L. Kong, Y. Gao, X.
ꢀ
in 14 allows free rotation around the C3 C2 bond and b-
hydride elimination of the diastereotopic proton on C2 to
form 15, wherein the olefin has the opposite conformation. In
the absence of hydrogen pressure, the typical reductive
elimination (14!16) in the hydrogenation pathway is not
observed.
In conclusion, we have identified highly active and
selective iridium catalysts for the asymmetric isomerization
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 5143 –5147