Enantioselective organocatalytic alpha-fluorination of aldehydes

J Am Chem Soc. 2005 Jun 22;127(24):8826-8. doi: 10.1021/ja051805f.

Abstract

The first direct enantioselective catalytic alpha-fluorination of aldehydes has been accomplished. The use of enamine catalysis has provided a new organocatalytic strategy for the enantioselective fluorination of aldehydes to generate alpha-fluoro aldehydes, an important chiral synthon for medicinal agent synthesis. The use of imidazolidinone 1 as the asymmetric catalyst has been found to mediate the fluorination of a large variety of aldehyde substrates with N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide serving as the electrophilic source of fluorine. A diverse spectrum of aldehyde substrates can also be accommodated in this new organocatalytic transformation. While catalyst quantities of 20 mol % were generally employed in this study, successful halogenation can be accomplished using catalyst loadings as low as 2.5 mol %.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aldehydes / chemical synthesis*
  • Aldehydes / chemistry
  • Amines / chemistry
  • Catalysis
  • Hydrocarbons, Fluorinated / chemical synthesis*
  • Imidazolidines / chemistry
  • Stereoisomerism

Substances

  • Aldehydes
  • Amines
  • Hydrocarbons, Fluorinated
  • Imidazolidines