Jesús María García Castillo

The direct, asymmetric conjugate addition of unactivated α-branched nitroalkanes is developed based on the combined use of chiral amine/ureidoaminal bifunctional catalysts and a tunable acrylate template to provide tertiary nitrocompounds in 55-80% isolated yields and high enantioselectivity (e.r. up to 96:4). Elaboration of the ketol moiety in thus obtained adducts allows a fast entry to not only carboxylic and aldehyde derivatives but also nitrile compounds and enantioenriched 5,5-disubstituted γ-lactams.

Formally, a unified enantioselective conjugate addition of aldehydes to acrolein, alkyl–vinyl ketones and acrylic esters is feasible using simple commercially available aminocatalysts and α′-hydroxy enones as self-activated acceptor templates.

Various sets of enolizable alkynyl ketones (including methyl ynones with α‐aryl, α‐alkenyl, and α‐alkoxy groups) were able to react smoothly with nitroolefins with the assistance of bifunctional Brønsted base/H‐bond catalysts to provide adducts with two consecutive tertiary stereocenters in a highly diastereo‐ and enantioselective fashion. Further transformation of the obtained adducts into optically active acyclic and polycyclic molecules, including some with intricate carbon skeletons, was also demonstrated.

The catalyst‐controlled enantioselective direct addition reaction of enolizable esters and related carboxylic acid derivatives to π electrophiles remains a difficult synthetic transformation. In this study, the suitability of α‐hydroxy ketones as ester equivalents capable of being activated by bifunctional Brønsted base catalysts in the context of conjugate addition reactions to nitroolefins is demonstrated. The scope of the reaction, which affords the corresponding Michael adducts with very high stereoselectivity (diastereomeric ratio (d.r.) ≥95:5, up to 99 % enantiomeric excess (ee)), and its limitations are explored, as is the aftermath elaboration of adducts into densely functionalized enantioenriched products.

An efficient, highly diastereo‐ and enantioselective assembly of acyclic carbonyl fragments possessing nonadjacent all‐carbon tertiary/quaternary stereoarrays is reported based on a Brønsted base catalyzed Michael addition/α‐protonation sequence involving α‐cyanoacetates and 2,4‐dimethyl‐4‐hydroxypenten‐3‐one as novel methacrylate equivalent.

Catalytic and asymmetric Michael reactions constitute very powerful tools for the construction of new C–C bonds in synthesis, but most of the reports claiming high selectivity are limited to some specific combinations of nucleophile/electrophile compound types, and only few successful methods deal with the generation of all-carbon quaternary stereocenters. A contribution to solve this gap is presented here based on chiral bifunctional Brønsted base (BB) catalysis and the use of α′-oxy enones as enabling Michael acceptors with ambivalent H-bond acceptor/donor character, a yet unreported design element for bidentate enoate equivalents. It is found that the Michael addition of a range of enolizable carbonyl compounds that have previously demonstrated challenging (i.e., α-substituted 2-oxindoles, cyanoesters, oxazolones, thiazolones, and azlactones) to α′-oxy enones can afford the corresponding tetrasubstituted carbon stereocenters in high diastereo- and enantioselectivity in the presence of standard BB catalysts. Experiments show that the α′-oxy ketone moiety plays a key role in the above realizations, as parallel reactions under identical conditions but using the parent α,β-unsaturated ketones or esters instead proceed sluggish and/or with poor stereoselectivity. A series of trivial chemical manipulations of the ketol moiety in adducts can produce the corresponding carboxy, aldehyde, and ketone compounds under very mild conditions, giving access to a variety of enantioenriched densely functionalized building blocks containing a fully substituted carbon stereocenter. A computational investigation to rationalize the mode of substrate activation and the reaction stereochemistry is also provided, and the proposed models are compared with related systems in the literature.

An effective asymmetric route to functionalized 1,6‐ and 1,7‐enynes has been developed based on a direct cross‐aldol reaction between ω‐unsaturated aldehydes and propargylic aldehydes (α,β‐ynals) promoted by combined α,α‐dialkylprolinol ether/Brønsted acid catalysis. This synergistic activation strategy is key to accessing the corresponding aldol adducts with high stereoselectivity, both enantio‐ and diastereoselectivity. The aldol reaction also proceeds well with propargylic ketones (α,β‐ynones) thus enabling a stereocontrolled access to the corresponding tertiary alcohols. The utility of these adducts, which are difficult to prepare through standard methodology, is demonstrated by their transformation into trisubstituted bicyclic enones using standard Pauson–Khand conditions.

A catalytic and highly stereoselective entry to propargylic alcohols and products derived thereof is reported based on an unprecedented cross-aldol coupling between unmodified aldehydes and ynals. The method requires an amine–metal salt–Brønsted acid ternary catalyst system and implies synergistic activation of the donor aldehyde via enamine and of the acceptor carbonyl via unique and reversible metal–alkyne complexation. Specifically, by using a combined α,α-dialkylprolinol silyl ether–CuI–PhCO₂H catalyst system, remarkably high levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity (anti/syn up to >20 : 1, ee up to >99%) are achieved.

Approaching the Nature's efficiency in controlling both reactivity and stereoselectivity of organic reactions by means of a catalyst species remains a formidable challenge for chemists to face. Despite impressive advances in the design of novel catalysts and activation modes, current catalytic and asymmetric methodologies rarely meet desirable standards of robustness, substrate scope, and selectivity altogether. One trick to improve catalyst behaviour is to identify adequate substrate template–catalyst combinations so that optimum performance of the reaction system could be achieved. During the last couple of years α-hydroxy ketones, and most particularly α′-hydroxy enones, have emerged as useful templates with applications in a number of metal-catalyzed as well as organocatalyzed C–C and C–X bond-forming stereoselective reactions. The first review of these accomplishments is presented here along with a brief historical introduction.