Cooperative Dual Catalysis with Thiourea Organocatalysts
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COOPERATIVE DUAL CATALYSIS WITH THIOUREA ORGANOCATALYSTS By CHENFEI ZHAO A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Chemistry and Chemical Biology Written under the direction of Professor Daniel Seidel And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October, 2017 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Cooperative Dual Catalysis with Thiourea Organocatalysts by CHENFEI ZHAO Dissertation Director: Professor Daniel Seidel Thiourea organocatalysis represents a versatile activation strategy in synthetic organic chemistry. By hydrogen-bonding interactions with neutral or anionic substrates and/or intermediates, thiourea organocatalysts can often direct the reaction pathways with promising levels of stereochemical control. This dissertation demonstrates the cooperative use of thiourea organocatalysts in combination with other types of catalysts in addressing challenging synthetic problems that are not realized by either type alone. Specifically, cooperative catalysis of thiourea and iminium organocatalysts enabled the first highly enantioselective direct oxa-Pictet–Spengler reactions under weakly acidic conditions. In combination with a transition metal catalyst, an acid–thiourea catalyst afforded highly enantioselective A3 reactions with secondary amines. Strong Brønsted acid was also applied cooperatively with thiourea organocatalyst, furnishing the direct reductive etherification reactions with a wide variety of substrates. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Parts of chapter II were adapted from the article “Direct Formation of Oxocarbenium Ions under Weakly Acidic Conditions: Catalytic Enantioselective Oxa-Pictet–Spengler Reactions” (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 9053). Parts of chapter III were adapted from the article “Enantioselective A3 Reactions of Secondary Amines with a Cu(I)/Acid-Thiourea Catalyst Combination” (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 4650). Parts of chapter IV were adapted from the article “Reductive Etherification via Anion-Binding Catalysis” pending publication. I’d like to express my great gratitude to my advisor Professor Daniel Seidel, for his guidance and support throughout my graduate studies. I really appreciate his patience and the great amount of time he has spent on me, not only in helping me excel in research but also in acquiring opportunities for my future development. It has been highly enjoyable and encouraging to work for Professor Seidel, whose goals and priorities often align with my own. I also want to thank my committee members Professor Lawrence Williams, Professor Alan Goldman, Professor Kai Hultzsch and my outside committee member Dr. Blair Wood, for their invaluable time and advices, which have significantly inspired my ways of thinking and carrying out research. I am also grateful to the Seidel group members from the past and present, for their support throughout my graduate studies. I would like to especially thank Dr. Longle Ma, for teaching me and familiarizing me with the lab in many aspects during my very early days here. My progress in research is also inseparable from the help provided by Dr. Tom Emge, Dr. Nagarajan Murali and Dr. Alexei Ermakov and I deeply appreciate their professionalism and passion. I deeply thank my parents, for their love, support and understanding of me pursuing my career far away from home. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ iii Chapter I Introduction to Cooperative Multiple Catalysis ............................................................... 1 1.1 Organocatalysis ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Thiourea Organocatalysis ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Cooperative Multiple Catalysis ........................................................................................ 6 1.2.1 Cooperative Multiple Catalysis with Organocatalysts and Transition Metal Catalysts ................................................................................................................................. 8 1.2.2 Cooperative Multiple Catalysis with Organocatalysts ........................................... 12 1.3 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 19 References .................................................................................................................................. 20 Chapter II Cooperative Dual Catalysis Enables Direct Formation of Oxocarbenium Ions ........... 22 2.1 Background .................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 Concept .......................................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Catalytic Enantioselective Oxa-Pictet–Spenger Reactions ............................................ 27 2.3.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 27 2.3.2 Optimization .......................................................................................................... 29 2.3.3 Substrate Scope ...................................................................................................... 37 2.3.4 Further Mechanistic Studies................................................................................... 38 2.4 Catalytic Enantioselective Acetalization Reactions ....................................................... 40 2.5 Related Systems Using Acetal/Ketal as Carbonyl Surrogate ......................................... 42 iv 2.5.1 Catalytic Enantioselective Oxa-Pictet–Spengler Reactions towards Tetra- substituted Stereogenic Centers ............................................................................................. 43 2.5.2 Catalytic Enantioselective Indole Additions to Oxocarbenium Ions ..................... 45 2.5.3 Catalytic Enantioselective Reduction of Isochroman Ketals. ................................ 46 2.6 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 49 Experimental Section ................................................................................................................. 51 References .................................................................................................................................. 71 Chapter III Metal/Acid–Thiourea Cooperative Dual Catalysis ..................................................... 74 3.1 Background .................................................................................................................... 74 3.1.1 A3 Reactions ........................................................................................................... 74 3.1.2 Conjugate-Base-Stabilized Brønsted Acids ........................................................... 77 3.2 Enantioselective A3 Reactions of Secondary Amines with a Cu(I)/Acid−Thiourea Catalyst Combination................................................................................................................. 78 3.2.1 Optimization .......................................................................................................... 79 3.2.2 Substrate Scope ...................................................................................................... 84 3.3 Transformation of A3 Products to Enantioenriched Allenes .......................................... 86 3.3.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 86 3.3.2 Results and Discussion .......................................................................................... 88 3.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 89 Experimental Section ................................................................................................................. 90 References ................................................................................................................................ 114 v Chapter IV Direct Reductive Etherification Enabled by Cooperative Dual Catalysis of a Thiourea and a Strong Brønsted Acid ......................................................................................................... 116 4.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 116 4.1.1 Williamson Ether Synthesis ................................................................................. 116 4.1.2 Reduction of Acetals ............................................................................................ 117 4.1.3 Reductive Etherification ...................................................................................... 119 4.2 Direct Reductive Etherification Reactions Enabled by a Thiourea and a Strong Brønsted Acid Combination