Chiral dihydropyridone derivatives 3 are obtained in high yields and with good enantioselectivities by the title reaction of aldimines such as 1 with Danishefsky's diene 2. 6,6'-Dibromo-1,1'-binaphthol complexes with Group 4 metals serve as catalysts; zirconium proved to be especially effective.
In the presence of 1-5 mol % of a chiral zirconium catalyst, aza Diels-Alder reactions of aldimines with Danisheisky's dienes proceeded smoothly to afford the corresponding piperidine derivatives in high yields with high enantioselectivities. For the catalyst optimization, solid-phase and liquid-phase methods were successfully used. In the solid-phase approach, polymer-supported (R)-1,1'-binaphthols (BINOLs) have been synthesized and rapid optimization using the solid-phase reactions has been achieved. On the other hand, novel chiral zirconium cyanides were developed as excellent catalysts using the liquid-phase approach.