Pyrinap ligands for enantioselective syntheses of amines

Amines are a class of compounds of essential importance in organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Due to the importance of chirality in many practical applications of amines, enantioselective syntheses of amines are of high current interest. Here, we wish to report the development of (R,R-a)-N-Nap-Pyrinap and (R,S-a)-N-Nap-Pyrinap ligands working with CuBr to catalyze the enantioselective A(3)-coupling of terminal alkynes, aldehydes, and amines affording optically active propargylic amines, which are platform molecules for the effective derivatization to different chiral amines. With a catalyst loading as low as 0.1mol% even in gram scale reactions, this protocol is applied to the late stage modification of some drug molecules with highly sensitive functionalities and the asymmetric synthesis of the tubulin polymerization inhibitor (S)-(-)-N-acetylcolchinol in four steps. Mechanistic studies reveal that, unlike reported catalysts, a monomeric copper(I) complex bearing a single chiral ligand is involved in the enantioselectivity-determining step. Chiral amines find use as chiral ligands, resolving reagents and versatile building blocks as well as in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Here, the authors developed Pyrinap ligands for the copper-catalyzed enantioselective A(3)-coupling of terminal alkynes, aldehydes, and amines affording optically active propargylic amines.

Automated summary

The article reports the development of Pyrinap ligands for the copper-catalyzed enantioselective A(3)-coupling of terminal alkynes, aldehydes, and amines affording optically active propargylic amines. This method shows potential in the late-stage modification of drug molecules and the asymmetric synthesis of the tubulin polymerization inhibitor (S)-(-)-N-acetylcolchinol.