a
Table 1
S
N
Ar reaction of amides 1a and 1b with n-BuLi and t-BuLi
Table 2 Kinetic parameters for the racemization of amides 2 and 3 in
n-nonane
a
DG{/
1/2/s kcal mol
DH{/
kcal mol
DS /cal
21
K
{
Temperature/
uC
2
1
21
21
Amide
t
mol
2
2
3
3
a
a
b
a
b
40
40
100
100
5585 24.39
1057 23.35
11184 29.71
3182 28.78
21.72
20.01
28.91
24.34
28.53
210.69
22.13
211.90
The Arrhenius parameters (E values) were 22.34, 20.63, 29.65 and
5.08 kcal mol for 2a, 2b, 3a and 3b, respectively.
2
1
2
Yield of ee of
Temperature/ Conversion 2 or 3 2 or 3
b
(%)
Entry Amide RLi
uC
(%)
(%)
9
(
17.6 min) at 40 uC. These results clearly show the reason why the
c
e
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
a
1a
1b
1a
1a
1a
1a
1b
1b
1b
1b
n-BuLi 280
n-BuLi 280
32
35
92
92
92
94
97
82
99
85
28
65
36
0
ee values of 2a and 2b were low (Table 1, entries 1 and 2). On the
other hand, both amides 3a and 3b have stable axial chirality and
did not racemize at room temperature for several months. The t1/2
of 3a racemization was about 11184 s (186 min) at 100 uC, and
that of 3b was 3182 s (53.0 min).
c
e
f
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
d
t-BuLi
t-BuLi
20
0
43
68
71
72
52
87
98
97
43
58
81
85
12
31
79
85
f
f
f
f
f
f
f
t-BuLi 240
t-BuLi 280
t-BuLi
t-BuLi
20
0
Bulk crystals of naphthamides 1a and 1b used for the
asymmetric reaction were prepared by stirred crystallization from
10
the melt. The samples melted completely at 120 uC, well over
their melting points (mp: 1a, 103–105 uC; 1b, 110–112 uC), and
were cooled and solidified by lowering the temperature with
stirring to 95 uC for 1a and 100 uC for 1b. In five crystallization
t-BuLi 240
t-BuLi 280
0
Powdered crystals of 1 (0.5 mmol) were added to a cooled toluene
solution (5.0 mL) containing butyllithium (1.5 mmol), and the
reaction mixture was stirred for 1 h at the same temperature under
an argon atmosphere. The ee was determined by HPLC using a
CHIRALCEL-IA column. Isolated yield of 2. Isolated yield of 3.
ee of 2. ee of 3.
b
c
d
experiments of 1a followed by an S Ar reaction, product 3a
N
e
f
showed optical activities of 90, 85, 84, 89 and 85% ee, respectively.
High reproducibility of both chiral crystallization and asymmetric
reaction were achieved by this method; however, the direction of
the optical rotation of the photoproduct was inconsistent and
appeared random. This is because the first-generated enantio-
morphic crystal acts as a seed in the crystallization step, and all the
crystals in the batch turn out with the same absolute configuration;
three experiments yielded (2)-3a and two gave (+)-3a. As a matter
of course, a large quantity of the desired crystals can be prepared
by seeding the desired crystal through crystallization.
magnesium sulfate. The organic solvent was removed in vacuo and
the residual mixture was subjected to chromatography on silica gel.
Analysis of the reaction product showed the formation of
2
-n-butyl derivatives 2a and 2b, as shown in Table 1, entries 1–2.
The S Ar product 2a was obtained in an optically active form
N
with 36% ee; on the other hand, in the case of the reaction of 1b,
racemic 2b was isolated. Furthermore, it was observed that the ee
value of 2a decreased gradually as time passed. Even if an optically
active product was yielded, these results show that racemization
had occurred in the work-up process.
In conclusion, we have provided an example of the generation
of chirality by the spontaneous crystallization and hitherto
unknown absolute asymmetric synthesis of axially chiral com-
pounds by locking the apparent molecular chiral conformation via
The n-butyl group was not bulky enough to lock the bond
rotation along Ar–C(LO). Therefore, a reaction with t-BuLi was
tried. A toluene solution containing 3.0 equiv. of t-BuLi was
cooled to 280 uC and was followed by the addition of chiral
crystals of 1a. After reaction for 1 h at the same temperature, the
mixture was treated in the same way as the reaction with n-BuLi.
Analysis of the reaction product showed the formation of 2-tert-
butyl derivatives 3a in 72% yield and in an optically active form
with 85% ee (Table 1, entry 6). With rises in temperature, ee values
decreased (Table 1, entries 4–6); however, even at 20 uC, a 43% ee
of the product was obtained (Table 1, entry 3). When chiral
an S Ar reaction.
N
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research on Priority Area (417) and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research (no 1720511) from the Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of the Japanese
Government.
Notes and references
1 L. Addadi and M. Lahav, in Origins of Optical Activity in Nature, ed.
D. C. Walker, Elsevier, New York–Basel, 1979; S. F. Mason, Nature,
crystals of 1b were used for the S Ar reaction, similar results were
N
1984, 311, 19–23; W. E. Wlias, J. Chem. Educ., 1972, 49, 448–454.
obtained. The reaction at 20 uC gave a 12% ee of product 3b
Table 1, entry 7), and a high ee product (85%) was obtained in a
2
3
J. Jacques, A. Collet and S. H. Wilen, Enantiomers, Racemates and
Resolutions, Wiley, New York, 1981; M. Sakamoto, Chem.–Eur. J.,
1997, 3, 384–389; J. Crusats, S. Veintemillas-Verdaguer and J. M. Ribo,
Chem.–Eur. J., 2006, 12, 7776–7781.
For reviews, see: V. Ramamurthy and K. Venkatesan, Chem. Rev.,
1987, 87, 433–481; J. R. Scheffer, M. Garcia-Garibay and O. Nalamasu,
(
reaction at 280 uC (Table 1, entry 10). When crystals of (+)-1a/1b
were used for the S Ar reaction, (+)-2 and (+)-3 were obtained;
N
however, their absolute configurations could not be determined.
The rate of racemization of all amides 2a/2b and 3a/3b were
in Organic Photochemistry, ed. A. Padwa, Marcel Dekker, New York–
Basel, 1987, vol. 8, pp. 249–338; M. Vaida, R. Popovitz-Biro,
L. Leiserowitz and M. Lahav, in Photochemistry in Organized and
Constrained Media, ed. V. Ramamurthy, VCH, New York, 1991,
pp. 249–302; B. L. Feringa and R. Van Delden, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.,
1999, 38, 3419–3438; M. Sakamoto, in Chiral Photochemistry, ed.
measured on the basis of changes to their [a]D value in n-nonane,
and their DG{ and t1/2 were calculated (Table 2). The t1/2 of
racemization of 2a was about 5585 s (93.1 min) at 40 uC; however,
that of 2b was rather shorter than that of 2a, and was 1057 s
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