Reductive aldol cyclizations of unsaturated thioester derivatives of 1,3-cyclopentanedione catalyzed by chiral copper hydrides

The first study on the asymmetric reductive aldol reactions of enethioate derivatives of 1,3-cyclopentanedione showed that 5 mol % of TANIAPHOS (SL-T001-1), and Cu(OAc)2·H2O, together with phenylsilane as the stoichiometric reductant, generated the best yields and enantioselectivities of β-hydroxythioester products. With S-benzyl keto-enethioate as substrate, the bicyclo[4.3.0] hydroxythioester product was obtained only as the all-cis diastereomer, in good yield (84%) and enantioselectivity (up to 90% ee). With the related indanedione enethioate derivatives, the reductive aldol cyclization could attain up to 96% ee. These results demonstrate that enethioates have a significantly different reactivity and selectivity profile compared to enoate derivatives in the copper-catalyzed reductive aldol cyclization.