Highly Stereoselective Metal-Free Catalytic Reduction of Imines: An Easy Entry to Enantiomerically Pure Amines and Natural and Unnatural α-Amino Esters
摘要:
A highly efficient catalytic stereoselective ketimine reduction is described. The combination of an inexpensive chiral organocatalyst, easily prepared in a single step, and of a very cheap removable chiral auxiliary allowed us to obtain enantiomerically pure amino compounds. The methodology allowed synthesis of chiral secondary and primary amines and natural and unnatural amino esters in high yields often with total control of the absolute stereochemistry.
The reduction of the carbon-nitrogen double bond is an important transformation. Here we report our studies on a family of chiral organic catalysts able to promote the stereoselective reduction of ketimines with trichlorosilane. The very cheap, metal-free catalysts were easily prepared in one step from commercially available products, namely a chiral aminoalcohol and picolinic acid derivatives. The catalyst structure was extensively modified in a study that allowed to identify an extremely active species, able to promote the reduction on a large variety of substrates with high efficiency (up to 95% ee). A three component methodology has been also developed, where the enantiomerically enriched amine was isolated after performing the reaction by mixing a ketone and an amine in the presence of trichlorosilane and the catalyst. Its synthetic potentiality was demonstrated by employing the present metal-free catalytic procedure in the preparation of (S)-metolachlor, a potent and widely used herbicide. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Highly Stereoselective Metal-Free Catalytic Reduction of Imines: An Easy Entry to Enantiomerically Pure Amines and Natural and Unnatural α-Amino Esters
A highly efficient catalytic stereoselective ketimine reduction is described. The combination of an inexpensive chiral organocatalyst, easily prepared in a single step, and of a very cheap removable chiral auxiliary allowed us to obtain enantiomerically pure amino compounds. The methodology allowed synthesis of chiral secondary and primary amines and natural and unnatural amino esters in high yields often with total control of the absolute stereochemistry.