Developing the Catalytic Applications of 1,3,2-Diazaphospholenes

The development of new catalytic methods for organic synthesis is a critical endeavour in order to obviate the economic and ecological drawbacks of stoichiometric organic synthesis. While catalysis can offer significant advantages in terms of atom-economy, step-economy and energy input, the catalysts themselves may suffer from pitfalls such as toxicity or scarcity. Consequently, there is a growing need to develop catalysts based on more sustainable materials such as phosphorus. This thesis is an account of the work done in developing the catalytic applications of 1,3,2-diazaphospholenes. The first chapter provides an introduction to the canonical reactivity of phosphorus-based catalysts, fol-lowed by a review of the known reactivity of 1,3,2-diazaphospholenes, in order to provide context for experimental work presented in this thesis. Chapter 2 describes the development of a new methodology to effect enantioselective 1,4-reductions of Î±,Î²-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. In order to overcome issues of reactivity and selectivity, a new class of chiral 1,3,2-diazaphospholenes, based around a rigid backbone, were designed. Various Î±,Î²-unsaturated acyl pyrroles, ketones and amides were reduced with moderate to excellent levels of enan-tioselectivity. Chapter 3 presents the development of a cascade reaction triggered by a 1,3,2-diazaphospholene-catalysed 1,4-reduction of allylic acrylate esters. The intermediary enolate that is thus formed undergoes a [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement, thereby generating a new carbon-carbon bond. We demonstrate that the diastereoselectivity of this process can be modulated through different catalysts and solvent choices, while a proof-of-principle for an enantioselective variant is given. Chapter 4 demonstrates the viability of Î±,Î²-unsaturated carboxylic acids as substrates for 1,3,2-diazaphospholene catalysed reductions. It is shown that the presence of the acidic proton on the carbox-ylate group does not inhibit the reactivity. An example demonstrating the possibility for enantioselectivity at the Î±-position is also provided. Finally, a view on the opportunities that still exist in the field of diazaphospholene catalysis is offered.

Palladium Catalysed Intramolecular Carbo-oxygenation of Propargylic Amines to Access 1,2-Amino Alcohols and alpha-Amino Ketones via in situ Tether Formation

Phillip Gulliver Dominic Greenwood

a-Amino ketones and 1,2-amino alcohols are important structural motifs in organic chemistry, that can be observed in natural products, pharmaceutically and bioactive compounds. For these reasons, they constitute privileged targets for the development of new and effective synthetic methods. The dual-functionalisation of unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds is a powerful approach to access these crucial motifs. In this context, Pd catalysis has been comprehensively investigated and has consistently demonstrated its capability. Methods enabling the concomitant formation of a carbonâ heteroatom and a carbonâcarbon bond are highly valuable, but the challenges of intermolecular reactions have led to the development of tether systems that require additional steps for their introduction and removal. In situ tethering strategies have previously been explored within the Waser group to circumvent these limitations. This approach relies on a one-pot, three component, Pd catalysed carboetherification or amination reaction, leading to rapidly increase in complexity of simple substrates. So far, the in situ methodologies developed by the Waser group have focused on the functionalisation of alkenes from allylic amines and alcohols. In this regard, the goal of my PhD was to expand the in situ tethering methodologies established within the Waser group, to the synthesis of a-amino ketones and 1,2-amino alcohols. Specifically, my focus was on the formation a trifluoromethyl hemiaminal with a propargylic amine and using the resulting aminal to direct the oxyalkynylation and oxyarylation of the alkyne substrate via a Pd catalysed transformation. Upon optimisation, the reaction of a protected terminal propargylamine, trifluoroacetaldehyde ethyl hemiacetal and silylbromoacetylene using a Pd0 complex with DPEPhos as the catalytic system and Cs2CO3 as the base gave the desired oxazolidine alkenes in high yields and E:Z selectivity. Substrates with substitution on the terminal position and at the propargylic required a change of ligand and base. The transformation was broadly tolerant towards substitution on the nitrogen and the alkyne. An oxyarylative variant was also developed, using Ruphos as ligand, and worked well with a range of iodoarene partners. The obtained oxazolidines could be conveniently orthogonally deprotected to access the a-amino ketone and terminal alkyne; the hydrogenation of the unsaturated oxazolidines has allowed access to 1,2-amino alcohol scaffolds and the application of gold catalysis converted the enyne-oxazolidine system into trisubstituted silyl furans. The identification of a sideproduct of the oxyalkynylation process led to the development of a carboxy-alkynylation reaction using a "CO2" unit derived from the carbonate base. Optimisation established CsHCO3 to the best base/"CO2" source, using DPEPhos as ligand. This transformation gave convenient access to diverse library of cyclic carbamates. Work is ongoing to achieve an enantioselective oxyarylation using chiral phosphine ligands. The asymmetric synthesis of oxazolidines, followed by the diastereoselective alkene hydrogenation and subsequent tether removal would allow the stereodivergent access to interesting diarylalkyl-1,2- amino alcohols. Most recently, the product was synthesised in 66% yield, with 66%ee using commercially available Trost ligand.

EPFL2020

Synthetic methodologies for C-C and C-N bond formation involving alkyl radicals

Guido Barzanò

C-C and C-N bonds are some of the most common structures in molecules ranging from drugs to catalysts and to food additives. Many coupling reactions were developed to form these types of bonds with excellent selectivity and good performance. Still, the synthesis of some of those species either depends on traditional methods or requires expensive and rare reagents and catalysts. The use of precious metals in chemistry, and particularly in the industry, can make molecular synthesis expensive and energy-intensive since the extraction of those materials is costly. Moreover, in homogeneous catalysis, the recovery of metal-based catalysts is almost impossible, making these processes unsustainable for the future. Thus, the discovery of chemical reactions that donât involve precious materials is indispensable. This thesis concentrates on the development of two chemical transformations, one performing an sp2-sp3 radical reductive coupling, one performing a photocatalyzed alkyl amination, involving inexpensive reagents and catalysts. The first chapter reviews the existing methodologies which use alkyl radicals to form carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bonds. Alkyl radicals are formed from alkyl halides and pseudo-halides (Acids, esters, tosylates, etc.) via oxidation or reduction performed by metal or photoredox catalyst. The wide variety of available methodologies was illustrated, highlighting the advantages and weaknesses of each reaction. The second chapter of this dissertation is devoted to the development of a new iron-based catalytic method to form stereoselectively Z-alkene boron species from the corresponding boron-alkyne. This novel stereoselective method opens a new way to obtain these types of molecules with cheap reagents, in high yields, with excellent stereoselectivity (Z:E ratio >10:1), and with good tolerance of functional group. The reaction is radical based, avoiding the problem of beta-hydride elimination, which usually occurs in ionic reactions involving metal centers. In order to prove the versatility of this method, the vinyl boron compound formed from this reaction was used for further functionalizations. The formal total synthesis of a 5-HT2c receptor agonist was successfully performed, improving the overall yield of the process, and avoiding the use of expensive and polluting chemicals. The third chapter of this thesis is concentrated on the development of a tandem photoredox/metal base catalyzed functionalization of anilines and imines with alkyl carboxylic esters. In this reaction, no late transition metal is used, and the traditional metal-based photocatalyst is substituted with an inexpensive and more efficient organic dye. The alkylation of amines is a challenging topic in organic chemistry and classical nucleophilic substitution lacks selectivity and scope. Harvesting visible light with a photoredox catalyst opens the possibility to a radical pathway, making this coupling easy and with high tolerance for functional groups. In order to understand the catalytic cycle of the reaction, additional mechanistic studies were conducted, leading to some insight on how this reaction works.

EPFL2020

Total asymmetric synthesis of advanced polyketide fragments of apoptolidinone and rectricticin using new organic chemistry of sulfur dioxide

Cotinica Craita

Under appropriate conditions sulfur dioxide reacts with 1,3-dienes in a hetero-Diels-Alder fashion. In the case of 1-alkoxy-1,3-dienes the 6-alkoxy-3,6-dihydro-1,2-oxathiin-2-oxides (sultines) so-obtained can be ionized in the presence of Lewis or protic acids. The zwitterionic intermediates can be trapped as electrophiles with enoxysilanes (oxyallylation) to generate substituted silyl alkenylsulfinates. The latter can then be reacted with TBAF and an electrophile to generate polyfunctional sulfones (one pot, four component syntheses). Alternatively, desilylation through silicon/palladium transmetallation, in the presence of a catalytic amount of Pd(OAc)2, leads to intermediate allylsulfinic acids, which, after retro-ene desulfitation, produce 4-alkoxyhept-6-en-2-one core, a valuable fragment in polyketide natural product synthesis. The first part of this work described the application of an asymmetric version of this new SO2 reaction cascade, hetero-Diels-Alder addition/oxyallylation/retro-ene desulfitation (Vogel's cascade), using enantiomerically enriched dienes. The synthesis of a variety of β-alkoxy ketones was realized with good α,β-syn selectivity, starting from different enoxysilanes, illustrating the versatility of the method. An iterative Vogel's cascade employing newly obtained fragments provided long-chain polypropionate fragments such as (-)-(4R,5R,6S,9S,10R,2E,11E)-4,6,10-trimethyl-5,9-bis-((1S)-1-phenylethoxy)-trideca-2,11-dien-7-one in a very short and efficient way. The synthetic potential of Vogel's cascade reaction was demonstrated by the short and elegant synthesis of the enantiomerically enriched polypropionate fragment (C16-C28) of apoptolidinone, aglycon of apoptolidin, a highly potent apoptosis inducing agent. In the second part of thesis the one pot polyfunctional sulfone synthesis, developed in our group was successfully combined with the aldol methodology of Paterson to reach an advanced polyketide fragment, a potential intermediate in the total synthesis of Restricticin. Finally, in the last part of this study, we have demonstrated that methallyl silylsulfinates, known as new reagents for alcohol silylation are very precious and efficient reagents for the silylation of phenols and carboxylic acids. Additionally, the chemoselectivity of these reagents on substrates containing different hydroxyl groups was demonstrated.

EPFL2006

Synthetic methodologies for C-C and C-N bond formation involving alkyl radicals

Guido Barzanò

EPFL2020

Palladium Catalysed Intramolecular Carbo-oxygenation of Propargylic Amines to Access 1,2-Amino Alcohols and alpha-Amino Ketones via in situ Tether Formation

Phillip Gulliver Dominic Greenwood

EPFL2020

Total asymmetric synthesis of advanced polyketide fragments of apoptolidinone and rectricticin using new organic chemistry of sulfur dioxide

Cotinica Craita

EPFL2006