Polymeric salen-Ti(IV) or V(V) complex catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of O-acetylcyanohydrins from KCN, Ac2O and aldehydes

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.tet.2004.08.078

Polymeric salen-Ti(IV) and V(V) complexes were employed in the enantioselective O-acetyl cyanation of aldehydes with potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride. The crosslinked polymeric salen-Ti(IV) catalyst exhibited good activities and enantioselectivities, up to 91% ee with 99% conversion was obtained at -20°C with 1 mol% of catalyst (based on bimetallic catalytic unit). Moreover, six consecutive recyclings with the easily recovered crosslinked polymeric catalyst showed no obvious decrease in either activity or enantioselectivity. Linear polymeric salen-V(V) catalyst showed good catalytic efficiency too, up to 94% ee with 99% conversion was obtained at -42°C with 5 mol% of catalyst. Graphical Abstract.

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.tet.2004.08.078

Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
Polymeric salen-Ti(IV) or V(V) complex catalyzed asymmetric
synthesis of O-acetylcyanohydrins from KCN, Ac2O
and aldehydes
Wei Huang,a,b Yuming Song,a Jing Wang,a Guoying Caoa and Zhuo Zhenga,
*
aDalian Institute of Chemical Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, People’s Republic China
bGraduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic China
Received 15 July 2004; revised 20 August 2004; accepted 23 August 2004
Available online 17 September 2004
Abstract—Polymeric salen-Ti(IV) and V(V) complexes were employed in the enantioselective O-acetyl cyanation of aldehydes with
potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride. The crosslinked polymeric salen-Ti(IV) catalyst exhibited good activities and enantioselectivities,
up to 91% ee with 99% conversion was obtained at K20 8C with 1 mol% of catalyst (based on bimetallic catalytic unit). Moreover, six
consecutive recyclings with the easily recovered crosslinked polymeric catalyst showed no obvious decrease in either activity or
enantioselectivity. Linear polymeric salen-V(V) catalyst showed good catalytic efficiency too, up to 94% ee with 99% conversion was
obtained at K42 8C with 5 mol% of catalyst.
q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
chiral O-acetyl cyanohydrins (Scheme 1), which were
obtained from potassium cyanide, acetic anhydride and
aldehydes catalyzed by bimetallic salen Ti–(m-O)2-Ti
complex 1 (Fig. 1) and monometallic salen-V(V) complex
2 (Fig. 2),23,24 and this is the first report of the asymmetric
synthesis of cyanohydrin derivatives using a cyanide source
which is non-volatile and inexpensive.
As chiral cyanohydrins have potential applications in
pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other fields, many
efficient and successful synthetic methods for their prep-
aration have been developed. The catalytic process with
metal complexes is one of the most attractive methods in
which great progress has been made over the past decade.1–3
Among the metal-complex catalysts, chiral salen-Ti(IV) and
salen-V(IV) complexes have shown excellent catalytic
efficiency in the asymmetric trimethylsilylcyanation of
aldehydes or ketones.4–8 Recently, many efforts have been
devoted to recyclable metal catalysts, such as, organic or
inorganic supported catalysts,9–13 and improving the
catalytic efficiency, for example, using an ionic liquid as
the reaction media.14,15 However, these processes always
use volatile and expensive trimethylsilyl cyanide as the
cyanide source. Although some less expensive cyanide
sources, such as ethyl cyanoformate and benzoyl cyanide,
have been employed in synthesis of O-protected cyano-
hydrins,16–22 exploring a non-volatile and less expensive
cyanide source is still interesting. Recently, Belokon and
North et al. developed an attractive method to synthesize
Scheme 1. Synthesis of chiral O-acetyl cyanohydrins promoted by chiral
salen-metal complexes.
Over the past few years, we have developed some chiral
polymeric salen catalysts, which were successfully
employed in the enantioselective epoxidation and hydro-
lytic kinetic resolution (HKR) of terminal epoxides and
could be easily recovered and reused.25–27 Our former
research indicated that linear polymeric salen-Ti(IV)
showed good activity, but much lower enantioselectivity
compared to complex 1 in the trimethylsilylcyanation of
aldehydes, and we ascribed this result to the spatial block of
polymeric ligand.28 In subsequent work on the HKR of
terminal epoxides, which was based on a known bimetallic
cooperation mechanism, we found that flexible crosslinked
polymeric catalysts showed excellent enantioselectivity and
Keywords: O-Acetyl cyanohydrins; Recyclable polymeric salen-Ti(IV)
complexes; Polymeric salen-V(V) complexes; Potassium cyanide; Alde-
hyde; Asymmetric cyanation.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C86-411-84669077; fax: C86-411-
84684746; e-mail: zhengz@ms.dicp.ac.cn
0040–4020/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tet.2004.08.078

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W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
Scheme 2. Synthesis of 3-tert-butyl-2,5-dihydroxybenzaldehyde.
Figure 1. The bimetallic salen-Ti(IV) complex.
employed, an oligomeric ligand 16 was formed. The
crosslinked polymeric ligands 17 could be obtained by
reaction of different proportions of trialdehyde 13 (the
crosslinking agent) and dialdehyde 14. The degree of
crosslinking of the polymeric ligand, which was closely
related with the Ti–(m-O)2-Ti species formation, could be
finely tuned by changing the ratio of 13 to 14. The average
molecular weights of the polymeric ligands were between
4000 and 10,000, as determined by GPC. The completely
crosslinked polymeric ligand 18 derived from 13 and (R,R)-
1,2-diaminocyclohexane was a gel, which was partially
soluble in THF. The analogous monomeric salen 19 (Fig. 3)
was synthesized by a similar process to that used for 16, 17
and 18. The synthesis of linear polymeric salen ligand 20
(Fig. 4) was described in our previous report.26
Figure 2. The salen-V(V) complex.
activity, but the crosslinked polymeric catalysts were
somewhat degraded in the reaction system.29 In this paper,
to extend the application of polymeric salen metal
complexes in other asymmetric catalytic reactions, the
crosslinked polymeric salen-Ti(IV) and linear polymeric
salen-V(V) complexes were applied to the O-acetyl
cyanation of aldehydes with potassium cyanide as cyanide
source. Our preliminary results showed that the polymeric
ligands of Ti(IV) complexes needed a more flexible
structure to form the active Ti–(m-O)2-Ti complex and
induce high catalytic efficiency.30 The current research on
the V(V) complex showed that the linear polymeric salen
ligand with a rigid structure provided the same efficiency as
the monomeric complex 2.
2.2. Ti(IV)-catalyzed asymmetric O-acetyl cyanation of
aldehydes
Synthesis of polymeric salen-Ti(IV) complexes and their
applications in the O-acetyl cyanation of aldehydes were
carried out by literature procedures.5,23,24 Benzaldehyde
was used as the substrate for screening the catalytic
efficiencies in the O-acetyl cyanation with polymeric
salen-Ti(IV) complexes at 20 and K20 8C and the results
are summarized in Table 1. As a comparison, the result
obtained using salen-Ti(IV) bimetallic complex 1 is also
listed in Table 1 (entry 1).24 The results indicated that
ligands 17 with appropriate degrees of crosslinking, whose
ratios of 13 to 14 were between 0.5:100 and 2:100, exhibited
good results in the asymmetric O-acetyl cyanation of
benzaldehyde (Table 1, entries 2–4). These results were
comparable with those obtained from complex 1. However,
the enantioselectivities decreased gradually with the
increase of the ratio of 13 to 14 (Table 1, entries 5–9).
When the completely crosslinked ligand 18 was used, both
the reactivity and enantioselectivity of the catalyst were
dramatically reduced (Table 1, entry 10). The same trend
could be observed at both 20 and K20 8C, and better results
were obtained at K20 8C. These results meant that the ratio
of 13 to 14 played an important role in forming the
bimetallic Ti–(m-O)2-Ti species. When the proportions of 13
and 14 were between 0.5:100 and 2:100, the bimetallic
species could be formed more easily, thus a comparable ee
to that shown by complex 1 could be obtained. The
polymeric ligand with an excess of 13, which had a more
2. Results and discussion
2.1. Synthesis of polymeric salen ligands
The syntheses of crosslinked polymeric ligands and their
analogues were achieved as described in Schemes 2–4.
3-tert-Butyl-2,5-dihydroxy benzaldehyde 6 was prepared
according to the literature procedure31 with some modifi-
cations. The benzyl protecting group of 5 could be
conveniently removed in a HCl/HOAc system (Scheme 2).
The condensation of 6 with the corresponding acids 10, 11
and 12 produced the key intermediate aldehydes 13, 14 and
15, respectively, (Scheme 3). The reaction of aldehydes (13
and/or 14) with chiral 1,2-diaminocyclohexane stoichio-
metrically afforded the corresponding chiral polymeric
ligands (Scheme 4). When only dialdehyde 14 was

W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
10471
Scheme 3. Synthesis of the key aldehydes.
rigid structure, had difficulty forming the key species and
exhibited an inferior catalytic capability. To further clarify
the importance of the degree of crosslinking, we used
oligomeric ligand 16 without the crosslinking agent 13 to
perform the asymmetric cyanation under identical con-
ditions. The results showed that ligand 16 had the same
enantioselective induction as that of the ligand 17 (0.5:100),
but a lower conversion was observed even when the reaction
time was prolonged (Table 1, entry 11). The poor results
obtained by linear polymeric salen ligand 20 could further
confirm that a rigid ligand within the Ti(IV) complex was
unfavorable for obtaining the best results (Table 1, entry
Scheme 4. Synthesis of the crosslinked salen ligands.

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W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
the results are listed in Table 2. Lowering temperature to
K30 or K42 8C just gave the equivalent ee to that obtained
at K20 8C (Table 2, entries 1 and 2). When the ratio of
potassium cyanide to substrate was reduced, a slightly lower
conversion and the same enantioselectivity were observed
(Table 2, entry 3). Attempts to reduce the catalyst loading
and changing the solvent were unsuccessful (Table 2,
entries 4–10).
Under the optimal conditions, a variety of substituted
benzaldehydes, several aliphatic aldehydes and hetero-
aromatic aldehydes were used as substrates for this
O-acetyl cyanation catalysed by Ti(IV)-(R)-17 complex (13/
14Z0.5:100). The results are listed in Table 3. As a
comparison, the results obtained using the Ti(IV) complex
of linear polymeric salen (S)-20 are listed too. The
substituent of the benzaldehyde derivative had a great
influence on the reactivity and enantioselectivity. When
4-fluorobenzaldehyde was used as substrate, the best result
of 91% ee with 99% conversion was obtained (Table 3,
entry 5). As for the aliphatic aldehydes, the chiral products
were obtained in 81–86% ee with moderate to excellent
conversion (Table 3, entries 11–13), while only 67% ee was
obtained when isobutyraldehyde was used as substrate
(Table 3, entry 14). These results were comparable to those
observed with catalyst 1 at a lower reaction temperature
(K42 8C).23,24 The O-acetyl cyanation of heteroaromatic
aldehydes could also proceed smoothly. By using
2-furaldehyde and 2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde as sub-
strates, good enantioselectivities could be obtained
(Table 3, entries 15 and 16). However, only 6.4% ee was
obtained using 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde as substrate
(Table 3, entry 17). The results of linear ligand 20
were obviously inferior to those of 17 (Table 3, entries 1,
5, 10–12, 15), which could confirm our presumption that the
linear polymeric salen ligand would have great difficulty to
form the Ti–(m-O)2-Ti species completely for spatial reasons.
Figure 3. The monomeric analogue of the salen ligand.
Figure 4. The linear polymeric salen ligand.
12). Finally, monomeric salen analogue 19 (Fig. 3) was also
screened, and similar enantioselectivity and activity as for
complex 1 were obtained (Table 1, entry 13), which
indicated that the phenolic ester group in the ligand had
little influence in the asymmetric O-acetyl cyanation of
benzaldehyde.
Next, we used the Ti(IV) complex of 17 (13/14Z0.5:100) as
a catalyst to examine the influence of the other reaction
conditions in the O-acetyl cyanation of benzaldehyde, and
Table 1. Enantioselective synthesis of the O-acetyl cyanohydrin from benzaldehyde, potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride catalyzed by different salen-
Ti(IV) complexesa
Entry
Ligand (13/14)b
20 8C
K20 8C
Conf.c
Conv.d
Eee
Conv.d
Eee
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
(R)-1f
O90
83
88
92
95
74
78
78
78
75
63
59
88
89
88
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
(R)-17 (0.5:100)
(R)-17 (1:100)
(R)-17 (2:100)
(R)-17 (6:100)
(R)-17 (14:100)
(R)-17 (18:100)
(R)-17 (25:100)
(R)-17 (50:100)
(R)-18 (100:0)
(R)-16 (0:100)
(R)-20
91
89
85 (99)g
84
79
87 (87)g
85
81
86
87
60
77
92
56
60 (99)g
39
13
79 (79)g
70
55
9
NDh
35
NDh
44
10
11
12
13
72
77
62
47
58 (83)g
52
89 (89)g
68
(R)-19
NDh
NDh
68 (96)g
86 (83)g
a
Reaction conditions: benzaldehyde (1 mmol), potassium cyanide, acetic anhydride (ratioZ1:4:4) in 5 mL solvent mixture (CH2Cl2 5 mL, tBuOH 90 mL
and H2O 1.8 mL) in presence of catalyst prepared from 2 mol% (R)-ligand and 2 mol% Ti(i-OPr)4, stirred for 4 h.
The proportion of trisalicylaldehyde 13 and disalicylaldehyde 14 calculated as a weight ratio.
Absolute configurations were assigned by comparison with literature data in Ref. 24.
Based on GC integral area.
Determined by GC analysis using a chiral capillary column (cyclodex-b, 2,3,6-methylated, 30 m!0.25 mm (i.d.)).
Results obtained by catalyst 1 in Ref. 24.
The results in parentheses were obtained after a reaction time of 16 h.
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
ND, not determined.

W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
10473
Table 2. Enantioselective synthesis of the O-acetyl cyanohydrin from benzaldehyde, potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride catalyzed by the Ti(IV) complex
of (R)-17 (13/14Z0.5:100)a
Entry
Cat. (mol%)
KCN/benzal-
dehyde
Solvent
Temp. (8C)
Time (h)
Conv. (%)
Ee (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
1
1
0.5
0.25
0.1
1
1
1
1
4
4
1.5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
CH2Cl2
K30
K42
K20
K20
K20
K20
K20
K20
K20
K20
16
16
20
16
16
16
27
4
99
99
96
84
74
17
14
8
89
89
89
47
35
12
61
43
18
39
CH2Cl2
CH2Cl2
CH2Cl2
CH2Cl2
CH2Cl2
Toluene
Ether
THF
Hexane
4
4
31
16
a
The reaction conditions were the same as in Table 1, except for the indicated conditions.
Table 3. Enantioselective synthesis of O-acetyl cyanohydrins from aldehydes, potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride catalyzed by polymeric catalystsa
Entry
Substrate
Time (h)
Ti(IV)-(R)-17 1 mol% (13/14Z0.5:100)
Ti(IV)-(S)-20 1 mol%
Conv. (%)
Ee (%)
Conf.
Conv. (%)
79
Ee (%)
64
Conf.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
PhCHO
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
4
40
16
16
16
100
99
98
95
99
99
99
99
57
98
99
97
89
88
86
89
91
85
81
70
87
84
83
81
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
S
R
2-CH3C6H4CHO
3-CH3C6H4CHO
4-CH3C6H4CHO
4-FC6H4CHO
4-ClC6H4CHO
4-BrC6H4CHO
4-CF3C6H4CHO
4-MeOC6H4CHO
3-PhOC6H4CHO
PhCH2CH2CHO
Cyclohexanecar-
boxaldehyde
89
63
R
9
10
11
12
80
90
87
48
41
41
R
R
R
13
14
15
16
Me2CHCH2CHO
Me2CHCHO
2-Furaldehyde
2-Thiophenecar-
boxaldehyde
20
20
16
16
62b
61b
99
86
67
66
78
S
S
ND
ND
81
27
ND
62
17
2-Pyridinecarbox-
aldehyde
16
100
6.4
ND
a
The reaction conditions are the same as in Table 1, and stirred at K20 8C.
Isolated yield based on the aldehydes, after flash chromatography (silica gel).
b
Recycling the catalysts derived from these crosslinked
polymeric ligands was investigated in the O-acetyl cyana-
tion of benzaldehyde. Initially, the optimized ligand 17 (13/
14Z0.5:100) was applied in the recycling experiment,
however, the result was discouraging in that the recovered
catalyst showed extremely low activity and enantio-
selectivity, which was probably due to the instability of
the slightly crosslinked ligand. Therefore, we used ligand 17
with a higher degree of crosslinking (13/14Z25:100) to
examine the recycling ability of the catalysts, and the results
are listed in Table 4. As expected, the catalyst derived from
the more highly crosslinked polymeric salen ligand showed
excellent reusability in the O-acetyl cyanation of benzal-
dehyde, up to 74% ee and 95% conversion were obtained
even after seven consecutive runs.
2.3. V(V)-catalyzed asymmetric O-acetyl cyanation of
aldehydes
Table 4. The recycling of crosslinked polymeric salen-Ti(IV) catalyst in the
enantioselective synthesis of the O-acetyl cyanohydrin from benzaldehyde,
potassium cyanide and acetic anhydridea
Salen-V(V) had been applied in the O-acetyl cyanation of
aldehydes.24 To further explore the relationship between the
structure of polymeric salen ligand and the variety of the
central metal, the linear polymeric salen complex of V(V)
was applied to the O-acetyl cyanation of aldehydes with
potassium cyanide as the cyanide source.
Cycle
Time (h)
Conv. (%)
Ee (%)
Fresh
9
99
99
98
99
99
99
95
80
78
78
78
80
80
74
1
2
3
4
5
6
16
16
16
16
20
20
The V(V) complex 21 of the linear salen ligand 20 was
synthesized according to the literature procedure24 with a
slight modification (Scheme 5), and the subsequent O-acetyl
cyanation of aldehydes was carried out under similar
conditions to those employed for the Ti(IV) complexes.
a
The reaction conditions are the same as in Table 3, but 4 mol% of the
ligand 17 (13/14Z25:100) and 4 mol% of Ti(i-OPr)4 were used.

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W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
affect on the enantioselectivity of the reaction. Up to 99%
conversion and 94% ee were obtained at K42 8C with
5 mol% of the complex 21 (Table 5, entry 1), which is
comparable with the result obtained using catalyst 2 except
for the relatively high catalyst loading. The reactivity and
enantioselectivity decreased as the amount of catalyst was
reduced (Table 5, entries 1–5). When 0.1 mol% of complex
21 was used, only 20% conversion with 82% ee was
obtained (Table 5, entry 5). If the reaction temperature was
increased, much lower ee values were obtained (Table 5,
entries 6–9). It is notable that when the reaction was carried
out at 0 8C or higher, both the activity and the enantio-
selectivity were dramatically decreased. At these higher
temperatures, the color of the catalyst became light-green
(similar to the color of salen-V(IV)) from initially dark-
green (the color of V(V) complex) in 10 min, which showed
that the valence of the central metal had been changed to
some degree.
Reactions with different substrates were carried out at
K20 8C using 2 mol% catalyst (Table 6). The substituent of
the benzaldehyde derivative had a great influence on the
activity and enantioselectivity. Substituted benzaldehydes
with electron-donating groups showed poor reactivity and
lower enantioselectivity than benzaldehyde (Table 6, entry
9). By the use of 2-furaldehyde as substrate, a moderate ee
could be obtained (Table 6, entry 11). As for the aliphatic
aldehydes, the chiral products were obtained in 72–83% ee
with moderate to excellent conversion (Table 6, entries
Scheme 5. Synthesis of chiral linear polymeric salen–V(V) complexes.
Benzaldehyde was chosen as the substrate to optimize
catalyst loading and the reaction temperature for the
O-acetyl cyanation (Table 5). As shown in Table 5, both
catalyst loading and the reaction temperature have a great
Table 5. Enantioselective synthesis of the O-acetyl cyanohydrin from benzaldehyde, potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride catalyzed by (S)-21 under
different reaction conditionsa
Entry
21 (mol%)
Temp. (8C)
Time (h)
Conv. (%)
Ee (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
5.0
2.0
1.0
0.5
0.1
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
K42
K42
K42
K42
K42
K30
K20
0
4 (16)
4 (16)
4
88 (99)b
62 (85)b
47
94 (94)b
94 (90)b
90
4
37
20
83
82
4
4 (16)
4
4
4
88 (97)b
90
85
91 (90)b
90
64
10
69
28
a
Reaction conditions: aldehyde (1 mmol), potassium cyanide, acetic anhydride (ratioZ1:4:4) in 5 mL solvent mixture (CH2Cl2 5 mL, tBuOH 90 mL and
H2O 1.8 mL) in the presence of (S)-21, stirred at the indicated temperature.
The results in parentheses were obtained after a reaction time of 16 h.
b
Table 6. Enantioselective synthesis of O-acetyl cyanohydrins from aldehydes, potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride catalyzed by (S)-21a
Entry
Substrate
PhCHO
2-CH3C6H4CHO
3-CH3C6H4CHO
4-CH3C6H4CHO
4-FC6H4CHO
4-ClC6H4CHO
4-BrC6H4CHO
4-CF3C6H4CHO
4-MeOC6H4CHO
3-PhOC6H4CHO
2-Furaldehyde
PhCH2CH2CHO
Cyclohexanecarboxal-
dehyde
Time (h)
Conv. (%)
Ee (%)
Conf.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
99
99
94
93
99
99
99
99
49
97
95
99
85
89
88
89
90
90
84
82
68
79
80
55
80
83
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
16
9
10
11
12
13
R
ND
R
R
14
15
Me2CHCH2CHO
Me2CHCHO
20
20
71
ND
83
72
R
R
a
The reaction conditions are the same as in Table 5, but in the presence of 2 mol% (S)-21, stirred at K20 8C.

W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
10475
12–15). All results catalyzed by linear polymeric salen V(V)
complexes were superior to those obtained with linear salen-
Ti(IV) catalysts (Table 3). We speculated that the
coordination environment of the active species of salen-
V(V) was more tolerant than the active species of salen-
Ti(IV) in the O-acetyl cyanation of aldehydes, so the
drawback of the spatial block of the linear polymeric ligand
is partly overcome in the V(V) complex.
the reaction was complete (detected by TLC), the solvent
was removed under reduced pressure. The residue was
mixed with CH2Cl2 (100 mL), stirred for 30 min, and
filtered. The filtration residue was washed with CH2Cl2
(20 mL!5), water (20 mL!5) and dried to afford of 3-tert-
butyl-2,5-dihydroxy benzaldehyde 6 (15.1 g, 75% yield),
which could be used in next reaction without further
1
purification, as a grass green solid: mp 140–142 8C; H
NMR (DMSO-d6) d 1.32 (s, 9H), 6.92 (d, JZ2.8 Hz, 1H),
7.02 (d, JZ2.8 Hz, 1H), 9.28 (s, 1H), 9.85 (s, 1H), 11.20 (s,
1H); 13C NMR (DMSO-d6) d 29.02, 34.42, 115.33, 120.70,
122.85, 138.43, 149.61, 153.08, 198.24.
A recycling experiment using (S)-21 was also performed.
Unfortunately, using the recovered catalyst for next run was
not successful. Probably, the valence of the central metal
had changed during the reaction process.
4.2.1.2. 1,3,5-Phenylenetrioxytri-acetic acid tri-(3-
tert-butyl-5-formyl-4-hydroxy-phenyl)ester 13 (trialde-
hyde). 1,3,5-Trihydroxybenzene dihydrate 7 (3.24 g,
20.0 mmol) was dissolved in acetone (30 mL), dried over
3A molecular sieves for 24 h, and then filtered into a
mixture of anhydrous K2CO3 (10.37 g, 75 mmol) and
18-crown-6 (15 mg, 0.06 mmol). The mixture was stirred at
room temperature for 10 min. Ethyl bromoacetate (11.02 g,
66.0 mmol) was added and then the reaction was heated to
reflux for 24 h. After the reaction was complete (detected by
TLC; if the reaction was not complete, additional ethyl
bromoacetate was added), the reaction solution was cooled
to room temperature and filtered. The filtration residue was
washed with ether (20 mL!5), and the combined filtrates
were evaporated. The residue was dissolved in CH2Cl2,
washed with 1 N HCl (50 mL!2), saturated NaCl
(20 mL!3), and then dried over anhydrous Na2SO4. The
solution was filtered, evaporated and recrystallized from
anhydrous ethanol to afford ethyl 1,3,5-tris(carboxy-
methoxy)benzene (6.15 g, 80% yield) as white needles.
The crystals were boiled with 10% NaOH (50 mL)
overnight and the reaction system became homogeneous.
The reaction was cooled to room temperature, 36% HCl was
added slowly until pH!1 and a white solid was deposited,
which was filtered and dried to afford 1,3,5-tris(carboxy-
methoxy)benzene 10 (4.78 g, O99%). A mixture of 10
(1.46 g, 4.9 mmol), 6 (2.80 g, 15 mmol), 4-(dimethyl-
amino)pyridine (DMAP) (0.17 g, 1.4 mmol), DMF (1 mL)
and CH2Cl2 (20 mL, freshly distilled from CaH2) was
cooled to 0 8C, and diisopropylcyanamide (DIC) (2.5 mL,
16.6 mmol) was added and stirred for 5 min. The reaction
was allowed to warm to room temperature and stirred for
2 h, then diluted with CH2Cl2 (100 mL), washed with 1 N
HCl (50 mL!2), saturated NaCl (20 mL!3). The organic
layer was separated, and dried over anhydrous Na2SO4. The
solution was filtered, evaporated and purified by flash
chromatography on a silica column (eluted with petroleum
ether/ethyl acetateZ10:1) to give 13 (2.55 g, 63% yield) as
3. Conclusion
In conclusion, crosslinked polymeric salen-Ti(IV) and
linear polymeric salen-V(V) were successfully employed
as asymmetric catalysts in the asymmetric addition of
potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride to aldehydes.
Moreover, salen-Ti(IV) catalysts with a higher degree of
crosslinking exhibited excellent recyclability. These results
were superior to those of linear polymeric salen-Ti(IV),
which clarified that the polymeric ligand structure must be
compatible with the catalytic mechanism to enhance the
catalytic efficiency and this is meaningful for the design of
efficient polymeric catalysts.
4. Experimental
4.1. General
Melting points were measured on a Yazawa micro melting
point apparatus (uncorrected). The molecular weights of
polymers were measured on a PL-GPC210 instrument.
Optical rotations were measured on a JASCO P-1020
polarimeter. The 1H and 13C NMR spectra were recorded on
a BRUKER DRX 400 system with TMS as an internal
standard. The conversion and ee values were determined by
GC (HP4890) with a chiral capillary column (cyclodex-b,
2,3,6-methylated, 30 m!0.25 mm (i.d.)). The absolute
configuration was assigned by comparison with literature
data.24 High resolution mass spectra (HRMS) were recorded
on ABMS 5303 (APCI). All solvents were dried using
standard procedures and freshly distilled before use. All
experiments were carried out under an argon atmosphere
except where specified. All liquid aldehydes were freshly
distilled before use. Potassium cyanide was recrystallized
according to the literature.32 Other reagents were commer-
cially available and used directly without purification. The
catalytic unit weight of a polymeric catalyst was calculated
based on a single salen-metal unit. The catalyst loading of
Ti(IV) complexes was calculated based on a bimetallic
catalytic unit to be consistent with the literature.23,24
1
a white solid; mp 84–86 8C; H NMR (CDCl3) d 1.38 (s,
27H), 4.87 (s, 6H), 6.32 (s, 3H), 7.20–7.23 (m, 6H), 9.72 (s,
3H), 11.72 (s, 3H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) d 28.86, 34.99, 65.21,
95.48, 119.89, 122.93, 127.41, 140.37, 141.57, 159.15,
167.38, 171.17, 196.24.
4.2. Synthesis of polymeric salen ligands
4.2.1.3. p-Phenylenedioxydiacetic acid di-(3-tert-
butyl-5-formyl-4-hydroxy-phenyl)ester 14 (dialdehyde).
Following the same method for the synthesis of 13,
dialdehyde 14 (3.12 g, 75% yield) was prepared from
p-phenylenedioxydiacetic acid 11 (1.61 g, 7 mmol) and 6
4.2.1. Synthesis of aldehydes.
4.2.1.1. 3-tert-Butyl-2,5-dihydroxy benzaldehyde 6. A
mixture of 531 (28.6 g, 0.1 mmol), acetic acid (225 mL) and
36% HCl (35 mL) was heated to 65–70 8C overnight. After
1
(2.80 g, 15 mmol) as a white solid: mp 144–146 8C; H

10476
W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
NMR (CDCl3) d 1.40 (s, 18H), 4.85 (s, 4H), 6.98–7.23 (m,
8H), 9.81 (s, 2H), 11.74 (s, 2H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) d 28.92,
35.04, 66.15, 116.14, 119.92, 122.84, 127.52, 140.40,
141.84, 152.84, 159.17, 167.82, 196.25.
4.3. Asymmetric synthesis of O-acetylcyanohydrins from
potassium cyanide, acetic anhydride and aldehydes
catalyzed by polymeric salen-metal complexes
4.3.1. The typical procedure catalyzed by salen-Ti(IV).
The synthesis of salen-Ti(IV) catalyst was carried out
according to the reported procedure.5 A solution of ligand
(R)-17 (13/14Z0.5:100) (13.0 mg, 0.020 mmol) and
titanium tetraisopropoxide (6.0 mL, 0.020 mmol) in dry
CH2Cl2 (2 mL) was stirred at room temperature under argon
for 2 h. H2O (0.36 mL, 0.020 mmol) was added and the
reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 h.
The resulting yellow solution was concentrated in vacuo to
leave complex as a yellow solid. The residue was dissolved
in CH2Cl2 (2 mL) and benzaldehyde (100 mL, 0.98 mmol),
4.2.1.4. (4-Methoxy-phenoxy)-acetic acid 3-tert-butyl-
5-formyl-4-hydroxy-phenyl ester 15. A mixture of
p-methoxyphenol 9 (6.20 g, 50 mmol) and chloroacetic acid
(5.00 g, 53 mmol) was stirred at room temperature, and then
25% NaOH (17.0 g, 106 mmol) was added dropwise. The
mixture was heated to 75 8C for 3 h, and then cooled to room
temperature, acidified to pH 6 with 36% HCl and extracted
with 4-methyl-2-pentanone (50 mL!2). The aqueous phase
was acidified to pHZ1 and filtered to obtain 5.81 g of a
white solid which was recrystallized from distilled water
(100 mL) to afford (4-methoxy-phenoxy)-acetic acid 12
(3.10 g, 34% yield) as white needles. Following the same
method for the synthesis of 13, monoaldehyde 15 (1.64 g,
92% yield) was prepared from 12 (0.91 g, 5 mmol) as a
white solid: mp 89–91 8C; 1H NMR (CDCl3) d 1.40 (s, 9H),
3.78 (s, 3H), 4.83 (s, 2H), 6.86–7.26 (m, 6H), 9.81 (s, 1H),
11.74 (s, 1H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) d 29.62, 35.74, 56.34,
67.06, 115.44, 116.77, 120.62, 123.61, 128.30, 141.05,
142.48, 152.49, 155.49, 159.86, 168.75, 196.98; HRMS
(m/z): (MKK1) Calcd for C20H22O6-H 357.1344, found
357.1351.
t
H2O (1.8 mL, 0.10 mmol), and BuOH (90 mL, 0.94 mmol)
added. The mixture was cooled to the indicated temperature
and Ac2O (360 mL, 3.81 mmol), KCN (0.24 g, 3.7 mmol)
and CH2Cl2 (3 mL) added. After the reaction was completed
(detected by TLC) or at the indicated time, the catalyst and
solid residue were filtered through a plug of silica (hexane/
etherZ5:1). The conversion and enantiomeric excess were
determined by GC analysis.
4.3.2. The typical procedure catalyzed by salen-V(V).
The synthesis of (S)-21 was carried out according to the
reported procedure with slight modification.24 The
solution of linear polymeric salen ligand (S)-20
(0.50 g, 1.05 mmol) in THF (20 mL) was added to
vanadyl sulfate hydrate (0.50 g, 2.0 mmol) in hot EtOH
(32 mL) under reflux in an argon atmosphere for 3 h
and then stirred under an air atmosphere overnight. The
solvent was evaporated and the residue stirred in water
(100 mL) for 0.5 h, and filtered. The filtration residue
was washed with water (50 mL!2), hexane (50 mL!
2), and then dried to give the dark-green solid (S)-21
(0.53 g, 73% yield). The molecular weight was calculated
according to the literature,24 which is the summation of a
single salen unit, VZO, H2O and ethylsulfonate anion. A
mixture of the salen-V(V) (13.6 mg, 0.02 mmol), benzal-
dehyde (100 mL, 0.98 mmol), H2O (1.8 mL, 0.10 mmol),
4.2.2. Synthesis of ligands. The ligands 16, 17, 18 and 19
were synthesized by the same method.
4.2.2.1. Typical procedure for the synthesis of (R,R)-
crosslinked polymeric salen ligand 17. A mixture of 13
(1.5 mg, 0.0018 mmol) and 14 (300 mg, 0.52 mmol) in THF
(10 mL) was added dropwise to a solution of (R,R)-1,2-
diaminocyclohexane (59.4 mg, 0.52 mmol) in THF (10 mL)
at reflux and maintained at reflux temperature for 2 h. After
the reaction was complete (detected by TLC), the reaction
solution was evaporated in vacuo. The residue was washed
with hexane (40 mL!2), filtered, and dried to obtain the
crosslinked polymeric salen ligand 17 (13/14Z0.5:100) as a
yellow solid in quantitative yield. GPC: MpZ38,518, MwZ
39,575, MnZ8240, MzZ84,860, Mw/MnZ4.803.
t
and BuOH (90 mL, 0.94 mmol) in CH2Cl2 (2 mL) was
cooled to the indicated temperature and Ac2O (360 mL,
3.81 mmol), KCN (0.24 g, 3.7 mmol) and CH2Cl2 (3 mL)
added. After the reaction was complete (detected by TLC)
or at the indicated time, the catalyst and solid residue were
filtered through a plug of silica (hexane/etherZ5:1). The
conversion and enantiomeric excess was determined by GC
analysis.
4.2.2.2. Synthesis of the monomeric salen ligand 19. A
solution of 15 (32.1 mg, 0.09 mmol) in THF (5 mL) was
added dropwise to a solution of (R,R)-1,2-diaminocyclo-
hexane (5.0 mg, 0.04 mmol) in THF (2 mL) at reflux for 2 h.
After the reaction was complete (detected by TLC), the
reaction solution was evaporated in vacuo. The residue was
dissolved in CH2Cl2 (40 mL), and washed with saturated
NaCl (20 mL!3). The organic layer was separated, dried
over anhydrous Na2SO4, filtered, and evaporated to obtain
19 as a yellow solid in quantitative yield: mp 70–72 8C;
[a]2D5ZK191 (c 0.1, CH2Cl2); 1H NMR (CDCl3) d 1.37 (s,
18H); 1.40–1.94 (m, 8H); 3.33 (s, 2H); 3.78 (s, 6H); 4.77 (s,
4H); 6.80–7.22 (m, 12H); 8.23 (s, 2H); 13.81 (s, 2H); 13C
NMR (CDCl3) d 24.83, 29.75, 33.67, 35.59, 56.34, 67.11,
72.89, 115.39, 116.78, 118.74, 121.74, 123.26, 139.50,
141.67, 152.61, 155.37, 159.01, 165.29, 168.82.
4.3.3. Recycling of the catalyst. The polymeric salen-metal
complexes, which were partly soluble in the reaction
system, could be precipitated from the reaction mixture by
the addition of hexane. When the reaction was complete
(detected by TLC), hexane (10 mL) was poured into the
reaction solution, stirred for 10 min and then filtered. The
filtrate was analyzed by GC and the catalyst precipitate was
washed with H2O thoroughly, and then washed with hexane
(20 mL), dried in vacuo at 50 8C for 45 min and used in the
next run.

W. Huang et al. / Tetrahedron 60 (2004) 10469–10477
10477
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (29933050).
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