Acceleration of Enantioselective Cycloadditions Catalyzed by Second-Generation Chiral Oxazaborolidinium Triflimidates by Biscoordinating Lewis Acids

The activation of second-generation fluorinated oxazaborolidines by the strong acid triflimide (Tf2NH) in CH2Cl2 solution leads to highly active chiral Lewis acids that are very effective catalysts for (4 + 2) cycloaddition. We report herein that this catalytic activity can be further enhanced by the use of Tf2NH in combination with the biscoordinating Lewis acid TiCl4 or SnCl4 as a coactivator. The effective increase in acidity of an exceedingly strong protic acid is greater for biscoordinating TiCl4 and SnCl4 than for monocoordinating salts, even the strong Lewis acids AlBr3 and BBr3 in CH2Cl2 or CH2Cl2/toluene. The increase in the effective acidity of Tf2NH can be understood in terms of a stabilized cyclic anionic complex of Tf2N- and TiCl4, which implies a broader utility than that described here. The utility of Tf2NH-TiCl4 activation of fluorinated oxazaborolidines is documented by examples including the first enantioselective (4 + 2) Cycloadditiou to alpha,beta-unsaturated acid chlorides.