With these considerations in mind, an initial attempt that the Xu-Phos (Xu1, one family member of Sadphos) could indeed enable the catalytic asymmetric tandem Heck/Tsuji-Trost model reaction of flexible halogenated allylic alcohol 1a with conjugated dienes 2a or 2a´ to access chiral sp3-rich cyclic isoprenoids (Fig. 2b). It's worth noting that the cyclic diene 2a give the desired product in 23% yield with 81% ee, while the acyclic 1,3-diene 2a´ led to higher yield but with almost no ee, indicating that the stereodeterming step for this reaction is attrivute to the Heck insertion step. And, this cascade reactions occurred chemo-, regio- and enantio- selectively at the less-hindered olefin of diene. To our delight, amide-type solvents and silver salt as the base could lead to desired product 3aa up to 96% ee (Supplementary Information (SI) for details, Figure S2 and Figure S3). Additionally, switching the counterion of palladium catalyst precursor from acetate to pivalate is beneficial to this transformation (SI for details, Figure S5). With these preliminary results, we then turned our investigation on the asymmetric tandem Heck/Tsuji-Trost reaction of 1a with cyclic 1,3-dienes 2a by using Pd(CO2tBu)2 as a precatalyst and Ag2SO4 as the base in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) at 70 oC. A series of commercially available chiral rigid-flexible ligands (DIOP, Trost’s ligand, BOX, Josiphos, Segphos, BINAP and other family members of Sadphos), which also have shown good performance in asymmetric π-allylpalladium chemistry, were first investigated (Fig. 2c and SI for details, Figure S1), these results once again revealed the fact that adaptive Sadphos ligand is the key involved in regulating the domino Heck/cross-coupling. Inspired by the previous findings that tuning the electron-nature of the backbone could affect the catalytic activity and enantioselectivity,47-48 Xu-Phos (Xu2−Xu5) bearing electron-donating group on the benzene backbone were then synthesized and subjexted to the reaction. To our delight, employing Xu3 as ligand, the yield was indeed significantly improved from 56% to 83% with the enantioselectivity increased from 65% to 99% ee.
With the optimal reaction conditions in hand, the generality of substrates in this asymmetric tandem Heck/Tsuji-Trost reaction of ambiphilic and flexible vinylic halides 1 with conjugated dienes 2 was then investigated as depicted in Fig. 3 and Fig 4. Notably, flexible vinylic halides 1 are easily synthesized by the nucleophilic addition of propargyl alcohol (PA), with a large range of substituted alkenes.49 The structure and configuration of (R,S)-3aa was unambiguously determined
via its X-ray analysis (CCDC: 2323645). Initially, the results demonstrated that vinylic halides 1 bearing halogens (fluorine, chlorine), electron-donating groups (tertiary butyl, methyl, methoxyl) at various positions of the phenyl ring were compatible, delivering corresponding products 3aa–3ag in good to high yields with 84–99% ee. To our delight, various substituents and functional groups on the flexible vinylic halides 1 could be tolerated. For example, 2-naphthyl, 2-allyl, terminal n-butenyl and n-pentenyl could also produce the corresponding target products 3ah–3ak in high yields with 93-97% ee. It is particularly worth mentioning that a series of more flexible straight chain alkyl, branched chain alkyl and cycloalkyl, all can deliver the cyclic isoprenoids 3al–3ax in good to excellent yields with 85–98% ee as a single regioisomer and diasteroisomer. The bicyclic isoprenoid compound 3 shares the core structure with several monoterpene lactones, making it a promising synthetic intermediate for the production of these bioactive natural substances.42
On the other hand, substituted cyclohexadienes 2 are also easily synthesized by the 1,4-dehydration of allyl alcohols. The locked s-cis conformation of double bonds makes the generation of the π-allyl palladium intermediates much easier, with lowered entropy of activation (Fig. 4).50 The applicability of this protocol toward various substituents and functional groups on the cyclohexadienes scope was investigated. For instance, substituents such as fluorine, chlorine, methyl, methoxyl, trifluoromethoxy, trifluoromethyl, trimethylsilyl on the aryl moiety of 1-aryl-cyclohexa-1,3-dienes 2 are compatible, delivering the desired 3ba–3bj in 57–93% yields with 90–99% ee. Moreover, 1-naphthyl, 2-naphthyl, dioxa-phthyl, 5-benzothienyl, 3-thienyl, 1-vinyl, 1-phenylethynyl and n-butyl derived cyclohexa-1,3-dienes could also produce 3bk–3bs in 52−94% yields with 83−97% ee. Specifically, the 1-vinyl and 1-phenylethynyl groups act as versatile handles for subsequent modifications of the bicyclic rings. And 1-vinylcyclohexadiene, which functions as a conjugated triene containing mono-, di-, and trisubstituted olefins, selectively cyclized at the cyclic and less-substituted olefin portion. This selectivity is likely due to the more effective orbital overlap of the cyclic diene. With the derivatives of pharmaceuticals (Menthol and Perillyl alcohol) as the dienes, the corresponding products 3bt and 3bu could be obtained in moderate yields with excellent diastereoselectivity.
To demonstrate the practical utility of our protocol, a gram scale reaction was carried out under standard reaction conditions, furnishing 1.14 g of 3aa in 79 % yield with 99% ee (Fig. 5a). Moreover, the unsaturated bonds present in the cyclic products 3 offer opportunities for further diverse modifications. For instance, the selective dihydroxylation of 3aa with K2OsO4 delivered the the target products 4 in 69% yield with 99% ee. The hydrogenation of 3aa in the presence of Pd/C furnished octahydro-2H-chromene product 5 in 87% yield with 99% ee. The selective difluorocyclopropanation of 3aa led to the highly functionalized product 6 in 74% yield with 96% ee. The selective epoxidation of the two olefin moieties of 3aa with m-CPBA delivered the the target products 7 in 77% yield with 99% ee. In light of the structures of the chiral Pd/Sadphos catalyst35 and the product 3, a catalytic chirality-induction model was proposed for the reaction (Fig. 5b). The 8-membered ring of O,P-chaleting complex, the less-hindered olefin coordinate to the Pd(II) center and the Re-face of alkene is shielded by the 3,5-ditert-butyl-4-methoxy-phenyl group of the ligand leads to intermediate Int-l. Because of these, the syn-migration insertion of 1,3-diene 2 into the C−Pd bond would deliver a palladium complex Int-ll. The intramolecular nucleophilic attack takes place at the Si-face to form the cis-product.
In summary, we have developed a highly chemo-, regio-, and enantio-selective palladium-catalyzed asymmetric tandem Heck/Tsuji-Trost reaction of flexible halogenated allylic halides with cyclic 1,3-dienes. This reaction serves as a promising tool for the modular synthesis of enantioenriched sp3-rich cyclic isoprenoids. The androgyne Xu-Phos ligand plays a crucial role in regulating catalytic activity and selectivity of this domino Heck/cross-coupling. Further studies will focus on the application of Sadphos in asymmetric metal catalysis, particularly in tandem Heck/Tsuji-Trost reactions involving other challenging reactions and substrates.