Water versus solvent-free conditions for the enantioselective inter- and intramolecular aldol reaction employing l-prolinamides and l-prolinethioamides as organocatalysts

Abstract

Organocatalysts 1, derived from L-proline and (1S,2R)-cis-l-aminoindan-2-ol or (R)-l-aminoin-dane, are evaluated as promoters in the direct asymmetric aldol reaction between ketones and aromatic aldehydes in the presence of water and under solvent-free reaction conditions. L-Prolinethioamides 1c and 1d exhibited higher enantioselectivity than the corresponding prolinamides 1a and 1b in the model aldol reaction between cyclohexanone and 4-nitro-benzaldehyde in the presence of 4-nitrobenzoic acid as cocatalyst. In particular, L-prolinethioamide 1d (5 mol%), derived from L-proline and (R)-1-amino-indane, is shown as the most efficient organocatalyst studied promoting the direct aldol reaction of cyclo-alkyl, alkyl, and a-functionalized ketones with aromatic aldehydes in the presence of water and under solvent-free reaction conditions employing only 2 equivalents of nucleophile. Generally, anft-aldol products are obtained in high yields and excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities (up to > 98/2 until syn, up to 98% ee). Solvent-free conditions give slightly higher dr and ee than using water as solvent. In addition, organocatalyst Id can be easily recovered by extractive work-up and reused. Prolinethio-amide Id (5 mol%) in combination with 4-NO2C6H4CO2H (5 mol%) is also a very effective or-ganocatalytic system for the asymmetric solvent-free intramolecular Haj os-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction with comparable or higher levels of enantioselectivity (up to 88% ee) to other reported catalysts in organic solvents. © 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.