Organocatalytic atroposelective heterocycloaddition to access axially chiral 2-arylquinolines

Axially chiral heterobiaryls play a vital role in asymmetric synthesis and drug discovery. However, there are few reports on the synthesis of atropisomeric heterobiaryls compared with axially chiral biaryls. Thus, the rapid enantioselective construction of optically active heterobiaryls and their analogues remains an attractive challenge. Here, we report a concise chiral amine-catalyzed atroposelective heterocycloaddition reaction of alkynes with ortho-aminoarylaldehydes, and obtain a new class of axially chiral 2-arylquinoline skeletons with high yields and excellent enantioselectivities. In addition, the axially chiral 2-arylquinoline framework with different substituents is expected to be widely used in enantioselective synthesis.

Solvent-Driven Chirality Switching of a Pillar[4]arene[1]quinone Having a Chiral Amine-Substituted Quinone Subunit

Several new chiral pillar[4]arene[1]quinone derivatives were synthesized by reacting pillar[4]arene[1]quinone (EtP4Q1), containing four 1,4-diethoxybenzene units and one benzoquinone unit, with various chiral amines via Michael addition. Due to the direct introduction of chiral substituents on the rim of pillar[n]arene and the close location of the chiral center to the rim of EtP4Q1, the newly prepared compounds showed unique chiroptical properties without complicated chiral resolution processes, and unprecedented high anisotropy factor of up to −0.018 at the charge transfer absorption band was observed. Intriguingly, the benzene sidearm attached pillar[4]arene[1]quinone derivative 1a showed solvent- and complexation-driven chirality inversion. This work provides a promising potential for absolute asymmetric synthesis of pillararene-based derivatives.

Modular synthesis of chiral 1,2-dihydropyridines via Mannich/Wittig/cycloisomerization sequence that internally reuses waste

Abstract1,2-Dihydropyridines are valuable and reactive synthons, and particularly useful precursors to synthesize piperidines and pyridines that are among the most common structural components of pharmaceuticals. However, the catalytic enantioselective synthesis of structurally diverse 1,2-dihydropyridines is limited to enantioselective addition of nucleophiles to activated pyridines. Here, we report a modular organocatalytic Mannich/Wittig/cycloisomerization sequence as a flexible strategy to access chiral 1,2-dihydropyridines from N-Boc aldimines, aldehydes, and phosphoranes, using a chiral amine catalyst. The key step in this protocol, cycloisomerization of chiral N-Boc δ-amino α,β-unsaturated ketones recycles the waste to improve the yield. Specifically, recycling by-product water from imine formation to gradually release the true catalyst HCl via hydrolysis of SiCl4, whilst maintaining a low concentration of HCl to suppress side reactions, and reusing waste Ph3PO from the Wittig step to modulate the acidity of HCl. This approach allows facile access to enantioenriched 2-substituted, 2,3- or 2,6-cis-disubstituted, and 2,3,6-cis-trisubstituted piperidines.

Structural differences/similarities of diastereotopic groups in three new chiral phosphoramides

The crystal structures of two single-enantiomer amidophosphoesters with an (O)2P(O)(N) skeleton and one single-enantiomer phosphoric triamide with an (N)2P(O)(N) skeleton were studied. The compounds are diphenyl [(R)-(+)-α-4-dimethylbenzylamido]phosphate, (I), and diphenyl [(S)-(−)-α-4-dimethylbenzylamido]phosphate, (II), both C21H22NO3P, and N-(2,6-difluorobenzoyl)-N′,N′′-bis[(R)-(+)-α-ethylbenzyl]phosphoric triamide, C25H28F2N3O2P, (III). The asymmetric units contain two amidophosphoester molecules for (I) and (II), and one phosphoric triamide molecule for (III). In the crystal structures of (I) and (II), molecules are assembled in a similar one-dimensional chiral ribbon architecture, but with almost a mirror-image relationship with respect to each other through N—H...O(P) and C—H...O(P) hydrogen bonds along [010]. In the crystal structure of (III), the chiral tape architecture along [100] is mediated by N—H...O(P) and N—H...O(C) hydrogen bonds, and the tapes are connected into slabs by C—H...O interactions (along the ab plane). The differences/similarities of the two diastereotopic phenoxy groups in (I)/(II) and the two chiral amine fragments in (III) were studied on the grounds of geometry, conformation and contribution to the crystal packing, as well as 1H and 13C signals in a solution NMR study.