Insights into Stereoselective Aminomethylation Reaction of α,β-Unsaturated Aldehyde with N,O-Acetal via N-Heterocyclic Carbene and Brønsted Acid/Base Cooperative Organocatalysis

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• 作者：Yang Wang ; Mingsheng Tang ; Yanyan Wang ; Donghui Wei
• 刊名：Journal of Organic Chemistry
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：July 1, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：81
• 期：13
• 页码：5370-5380
• 全文大小：751K
• 年卷期：0
• ISSN：1520-6904

文摘

A theoretical investigation has been performed to interrogate the mechanism and stereoselectivities of aminomethylation reaction of α,β-unsaturated aldehyde with N,O-acetal, which is initiated by N-heterocyclic carbene and Brønsted acid (BA). The calculated results disclose that the reaction contains several steps, i.e., formation of the actual catalysts NHC and Brønsted acid Et₃N·H⁺ coupled with activation of C–O bond of N,O-acetal, nucleophilic attack of NHC on α,β-unsaturated aldehyde, formation of Breslow intermediate, β-protonation for the formation of enolate intermediate, nucleophilic addition on the Re/Si face to enolate by the activated iminium cation, esterification coupled with regeneration of Et₃N·H⁺, and dissociation of NHC from product. Addition on the prochiral face of enolate should be the stereocontrolling step, in which the chiral α-carbon is formed. Furthermore, NBO, GRI, and FMO analyses have been performed to explore the roles of catalysts and origin of stereoselectivity. Surprisingly, the added Brønsted base (BB) Et₃N plays an indispensable role in the esterification process, indicating the reaction proceeds under NHC-BA/BB multicatalysis rather than NHC-BA dual catalysis proposed in the experiment. This theoretical work provides a case on the exploration of the special roles of the multicatalysts in NHC chemistry, which is valuable for rational design on new cooperative organocatalysis.