Tripeptide-Like prolinamide catalysts for the aldol reaction

Abstract

Enzymes are the foundation upon which the majority of organocatalysts bearing more than one catalytic functionalities and act either by covalent or non-covalent interactions, has been developed. The proline and its derivatives containing bio-isosteric groups as replacements of the carboxylic group, constitute a good example of catalysts that bring out transformations as the aldol and Michael reaction succesfully, via bifunctional catalysis.1 Important improvement has been the development of catalysts combining a proline or proline derivative unit with additional functionalities able to act as hydrogen bond donors. Amide catalysts based on (S)-proline and (1S,2S)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine or (1S,2S)-1,2-diphenyl-2-aminoethanol are representative examples featuring amine or hydroxyl group respectively, as the terminal donor group.2 These analogues provide the opportunity of introducing chiral substituents between donor groups and/or to the terminal heteroatom, thus enhancing the efficacy of the resulting catalyst. Furthemore, combination of additional chiral units, together with even more hydrogen bond donors, would mimic much better a “miniature active site”, providing therefore multifunctional organocatalysts. We have shown that prolinamide catalyst based on (1S,2S)- 1,2 diphenylethylenediamine and bears a double hydrogen bond donor thiourea group linked to a substituted aromatic ring, efficiently catalyze the aldol reaction between ketones and aromatic aldehydes in high to quantitative yields and with high stereoselectivities.3 Herein, we report a structure activity relationship study undertaken to identify the functional groups of the catalyst responsible for the activity resembling structure activity relationship studies to identify the pharmacophores of a lead bioactive compound. A tripeptide-like prolinamide-thiourea catalyst having as building blocks (S)-proline (1S,2S)-1,2-diphenylenediamine and (S)-di-tertbutyl aspartate provides the products of the aldol reaction in high to quantitative yields and in high stereoselectivities (up to 99:1 dr and 99% ee).