A New Pyridine‐2,6‐bis(oxazoline) for Efficient and Flexible Lanthanide‐Based Catalysts of Enantioselective Reactions with 3‐Alkenoyl‐2‐oxazolidinones

Abstract

A new pyridine-2,6-bis(oxazoline) (4) has been easily synthesised from the reaction of (1S,2S)-2-amino-1-phenylpropane-1,3-diol (1) and dimethyl pyridine-2,6-dicarboximidate (2), followed by TIPS (TIPS=triisopropylsilyl) protection of the 4'-CH2OH group. The catalysts derived from 4 and eight lanthanide(III) triflates have been tested over three reactions involving 3-acryloyl- and 3-crotonoyloxazolidinones (5 a,b): the Diels-Alder (DA) reaction with cyclopentadiene, the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with diphenyl nitrone and the Mukaiyama-Michael reaction with 2-trimethylsilyloxyfuran. Several reactions exhibit very good enantioselectivity (ee>90 %), and the opposite enantiomers can be easily obtained simply by changing the cation. This specific feature of the ligand can be appreciated in the DA reaction of 5 a, since the catalyst [Sc(III)4] gives the adduct (2'S)-9 a with 99 % ee, whereas the catalyst [Y(III)4] gives the opposite enantiomer with 95 % ee. A rationale of the enantioselectivity is proposed on the basis of the NMR spectra of La-based complexes involving 4 and 5 as ligands.