β,γ-trans-selective γ-butyrolactone formation via homoenolate cross-annulation of enals and aldehydes catalyzed by sterically hindered N-heterocyclic carbene
Highly sterically hindered N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), can be readily prepared from the corresponding anilines, and serve as organocatalysts in NHC-catalyzed homoenolate cross-annulation of α,β-enals and aryl aldehydes. This catalysis enables the convergent construction of β,γ-trans-disubstituted γ-butyrolactones that are an important class of molecules in synthetic and medicinal chemistry. The
The N-heterocycliccarbene-catalyzedconjugateUmpolung of differently substituted α,β-unsaturatedaldehydes, e. g. cinnamaldehydes, a-methylcinnamaldehydes, and crotonaldehydes, is described. Coupling of these compounds with a variety of electrophilic aldehydes and ketones results in the selective formation of highly substituted β- and γ-butyrolactones.
A serial of imidazolium chiral ionic liquids starting from commercially available (â)-menthol as a chiral pool have been synthesized and successfully used for catalyzing conjugate umpolung of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes to stereoselectively synthesize γ-butyrolactones. The catalytic activities of these ionic liquids are examined and compared. The reaction of trans-cinnamaldehyde and p-methoxycarbonyl benzaldehyde as a model has been investigated in detail, and the reaction conditions have been optimized. Under the selected conditions, the ionic liquid catalyst can catalyze the annulations of trans-cinnamaldehyde with different aromatic aldehydes to afford differently substituted γ-butyrolactones. The recyclability of the ionic liquid catalyst is investigated, and the results have indicated that the catalyst can be recycled six times without obvious activity decreasing.
NHC-catalyzed reactions of enals with water as a solvent
作者:Wendy Wen Yi Leong、Xingkuan Chen、Yonggui Robin Chi
DOI:10.1039/c3gc40397a
日期:——
Water is demonstrated as a suitable solvent for NHC-catalyzed reactions of enals. The use of D2O as a solvent allows for the effective incorporation of deuterium isotopes into organic molecules.
An asymmetric homoenolate cross-annulation of enals and aldehydes with high enantioselectivity is realized by NHC-catalyzed chemoselective umpolung of enals. The reaction proceeds in a highly chemoselective manner, selectively generating the conjugated Breslow intermediates fromenals rather than aldehydes, enabling the homoenolate addition of enals to aldehydes in preference to competing acyl anion-mediated