Zeng X, * Gao JJ, Song JJ, Ma S, Desrosiers J.-N, Mulder JA, Rodriguez S, Herbage MA, Haddad N, Qu B, Fandrick KR, Grinberg N, Lee H, Wei X, Yee NK, Senanayake CH. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Ridgefield, USA
Remarkable Enhancement of Enantioselectivity in the Asymmetric Conjugate Addition of Dimethylzinc to (
Z)-Nitroalkenes with a Catalytic [(MeCN)
4Cu]PF
6–Hoveyda Ligand Complex.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014;
53: 12153-12157
Key words
conjugate addition - copper - zinc
Significance
Asymmetric conjugate addition of organometallic species to nitroalkenes can be an efficient way to access all-carbon quaternary stereocenters. Herein, the authors demonstrate that the use of [(MeCN)4Cu]PF6 plays a crucial role in the asymmetric conjugate addition of dimethylzinc to (Z)-nitroalkenes with the Hoveyda ligand.
Comment
With the reported conditions, the undesired nitroalkene isomerization, resulting in low enantioselectivity, has been solved. The authors also developed a practical and highly controlled method for the synthesis of (Z)-nitroalkenes (Z/E ratio ≥ 99:1).
