Direct, highly enantioselective pyrrolidine sulfonamide catalyzed Michael addition of aldehydes to nitrostyrenes

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200461959

Just can't get enough: The highly versatile pyrrolidine sulfonamide organocatalyst 1, which has been used in α-aminoxylation and Mannich-type reactions, also mediates diastereo- and enantioselective Michael addition reactions of aldehydes and ketones to n

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.200461959

Angewandte
Chemie
Asymmetric Organocatalysis
the process would take place by the preferential enamine
addition to the less hindered Si face of the nitroolefin
[Eq. (1)]. Consequently, high levels of enantio- and/or
diastereoselectivity are expected. In addition, the bifunctional
nature of catalyst 1, which possesses an acidic sulfonamide[14]
and a basic pyrrolidine group, could be expected to lead to
high catalytic activities even in the absence of an acidic
additive. Herein, we describe the results of the studies using 1
to promote highly enantio- and diastereoselective Michael
addition reactions.
Direct, Highly Enantioselective Pyrrolidine
Sulfonamide Catalyzed Michael Addition of
Aldehydes to Nitrostyrenes**
Wei Wang,* Jian Wang, and Hao Li
Dedicated to Professor Victor J. Hruby
on the occasion of his 65th birthday
The Michael addition reaction is without question one of the
À
most general and versatile methods for formation of C C
bonds in organic synthesis.[1] Thus, it is not surprising that the
development of enantioselective catalytic protocols for this
cornerstone reaction has received much attention.[2] Efforts
aimed at achieving asymmetric versions of the process by
using chiral organocatalysts have been explored intensively in
recent years.[3] l-Proline and other pyrrolidine-based catalytic
systems for asymmetric Michael reactions have been de-
scribed, but only moderate enantioselectivities are typically
observed.[4,5] As a result, the design and development of new
and efficient chiral organocatalysts to achieve high levels of
enantio- and/or diastereoselectivity in Michael conjugate
additions remain a major challenge in synthetic organic
chemistry.[6–9] Recently, Kotsuki and his co-workers described
a chiral pyrrolidine–pyridine catalyst that promoted highly
enantio- and diastereoselective Michael addition reactions of
ketones with nitrostyrenes.[10] However, poor enantioselec-
tivity (ca. 22% ee) resulted when an aldehyde was used as the
substrate. Herein, we describe the chiral pyrrolidine sulfona-
mide 1, which catalyzes the Michael conjugate additions of
aldehydes to nitrostyrenes with high levels of enantio- (89–
99% ee) and diastereoselectivity (ꢀ 20:1 d.r.).
The reaction of isobutyraldehyde with trans-b-nitrosty-
rene in the presence of the pyrrolidine sulfonamide 1
(20 mol%) in various solvents at room temperature was
investigated initially. As evident in Table 1, the reaction yields
varied significantly in the solvents tested. In general, the
reaction proceeded more rapidly in polar solvents. For
example, in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), isopropyl alcohol
(iPrOH), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and MeCN
(Table 1, entries 1–5), high yields (64–93%) were obtained,
whereas reactions in less polar THF and 1,4-dioxane were
very sluggish (Table 1, entries 7 and 8). Interestingly, regard-
less of the solvents used, the reactions were highly enantio-
selective (63–83% ee). The use of iPrOH led to the highest ee
value (83%), which was further increased to 90% ee when the
reaction temperature was lowered to 08C without a signifi-
cant reduction in the reaction rate (Table 1, entry 3).
As part of a program aimed at developing new organo-
catalysts for asymmetric organic transformations, we recently
observed that the pyrrolidine sulfonamide 1 serves as an
efficient catalyst for a-aminoxylation and Mannich-type
reactions.[11,12] These processes take place with exceptionally
high levels of enantio- and/or diastereoselectivity. Moreover,
the catalyst also shows high activity for a-sulfenylation
reactions of aldehydes and ketones.[13] Based on these
observations, we envisioned that the (S)-pyrrolidine sulfona-
mide 1 would react with an aldehyde to form a chiral enamine,
which could serve as a Michael donor in reactions with
nitroolefins. In addition, a model inspection suggested that
Table 1: Effect of solvents on the asymmetric Michael addition reaction
of isobutyraldehyde to trans-b-nitrostyrene.[a]
Entry
Solv.
t [d]
Yield [%][b]
ee [%][c]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
DMSO
iPrOH
2
3
4.5
3
3
3
3
3
3
93
89
85
87
64
63
83
90
73
73
71
[*] Prof. Dr. W. Wang, J. Wang, H. Li
Department of Chemistry
iPrOH[d]
DMF
University of New Mexico, MSC03 2060
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 (USA)
Fax: (+1)505-277-2609
CH3CN
CH3NO2
THF
1,4-dioxane
CHCl3
37
<10
<10
43
n.d.[e]
n.d.[e]
79
E-mail: wwang@unm.edu
[**] This research was supported by the Department of Chemistry and
the Research Allocations Committee, University of New Mexico. We
thank Professor Patrick S. Mariano for making critical editorial
comments about the manuscript.
[a] For reaction conditions see the Experimental Section. [b] Yield of
isolated product. [c] Determined by chiral high-performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC) analysis (Chiralpak AS-H). [d] Reaction con-
ducted at 08C. [e] Not determined.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://www.angewandte.org or from the author.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 1369 –1371
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200461959
ꢀ 2005 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
1369

Communications
Encouraged by these results, we next probed the scope of
styrenes used in reaction with isobutyraldehyde had no effect
on the enantioselectivities (Table 2, entries 1–3). Reaction of
the more bulky cyclopentanecarboxaldehyde gave even
higher enantioselectivity (93% ee) and yield (89%)
(Table 2, entry 4). More significantly, catalyst 1 catalyzed
reactions of linear chain aldehydes yielded adducts with
excellent enantioselectivity (94–99% ee), diastereoselectivity
(ꢀ 20:1 d.r.), and high yields (63–99%, Table 2, entries 5–9).
In these processes, two adjacent stereogenic centers were
generated with complete stereocontrol. Again, changes in the
electronic properties of the nitroolefins (Table 2, entries 5–7)
and steric demands of the aldehydes (Table 2, entries 5, 8, and
9) had only a small effect on the stereoselectivities and yields.
the reaction with a variety of aldehydes and nitroolefins
(Table 2). All reactions were conducted in iPrOH at 08C in
the presence of 20 mol% of 1. In each case, smooth reactions
occurred to generate Michael adducts in high yields (63–
99%), high enantioselectivities (89–99% ee), and excellent
diastereoselectivities (d.r. ꢀ 20:1). Variations in the nitro-
Table 2: Michael addition reactions of aldehydes to trans-b-nitrostyrenes
catalyzed by 1.
=
The aliphatic nitroolefin trans-Ph(CH2)2CH CHNO2 pro-
Entry
1
Product
t [h]
Yield [%][a]
85
ee [%][b]
d.r.[c]
–
vided the desired product in good yield (76%) and high
diastereoselectivity (50:1 d.r.), but poor enantioselectivity
(22% ee, Table 2, entry 10). The relative and absolute con-
figurations of the Michael adducts were determined by
4.5
90
1
comparison with H NMR spectroscopic analysis and optical
rotation studies of known compounds.[15]
2
6
67
90
–
The results of a preliminary study demonstrated that 1
also catalyzed Michael addition reactions of ketones (Table 2,
entry 11). Under the reaction conditions described above, the
addition of cyclohexanone to trans-b-nitrostyrene resulted in
the formation of the adduct in 96% yield, 97% ee, and
50:1 d.r.
In conclusion, we have found that the pyrrolidine
sulfonamide organocatalyst 1 can be used to promote highly
efficient, asymmetric Michael addition reactions of aldehydes
and ketones to nitroolefins. In these transformations, 1
exhibits a high catalytic activity that takes place with excellent
diastereo- and enantioselectivity. The full scope of this new
catalytic reaction is currently being investigated.
3
4
6
75
89
89
93
–
–
42
5
6
20
28
99
63
96
94
50:1
22:1
Experimental Section
Typical procedure: The catalyst pyrrolidine sulfonamide 1 (10 mg,
0.044 mmol) was added to a vial containing n-hexanal (0.27 mL,
2.19 mmol) and iPrOH (1.0 mL) at 08C. The mixture was stirred
vigorously for 15 min, and then trans-b-nitrostyrene (33 mg,
0.22 mmol) was added. After 24 h of stirring, the reaction mixture
was concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by flash silica gel
chromatography (ethyl acetate/hexane = 1:30) to afford 51 mg (94%)
of the adduct as a clear oil; 30:1 d.r. (by 1H NMR) and 99% ee, (chiral
HPLC, Chiralcel OD-H column, l = 254 nm, 20% iPrOH/hexane at
7
8
24
24
86
94
99
99
20:1
30:1
1.0 mLminÀ1
,
tR = 10.4 min (minor) and 11.8 min (major));
[a]D(major) = + 52.4 (c = 0.5 in CHCl3), ref. [5a] [a]D = + 33.4 (c =
1.4 in CHCl3).
9
26
24
10
91
76
96
97
22
97
50:1
50:1
50:1
Received: September 12, 2004
Published online: January 21, 2005
10
11
Keywords: aldehydes · asymmetric catalysis · Michael addition ·
.
nitroalkenes · organocatalysts
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thesis, Pergamon, Oxford, 1992.
[a] Yield of isolated product. [b] Determined by chiral high-performance
liquid chromatography analysis (Chiralpak AS-H, or AD and Chiralcel
OD-H). [c] Determined by H NMR spectroscopic analysis.
[2] For recent reviews of asymmetric Michael addition reactions,
see: a) K. Tomioka, Y. Nagaoka, and M. Yamaguchi in
Comprehensive Asymmetric Catalysis, Vol. III, chap. 31.1 and
1
1370
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 1369 –1371

Angewandte
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[15] For further details, see the Supporting Information.
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