Preparation and use of aziridino alcohols as promoters for the enantioselective addition of dialkylzinc reagents to N-(diphenylphosphinoyl) imines

A set of chiral aziridino alcohols 2-5 has been synthesized starting from either readily available amino acids (L-serine, L-threonine, and allo-L-threonine) or simple olefins (using Sharpless asymmetric aminohydroxylation and dihydroxylation reactions). Chiral ligands 2-5 have been tested as promoters for the enantioselective addition of dialkylzinc reagents to N-(diphenylphosphinoyl) imines 1. The influence of the substituents on the aziridine ring and the alcohol moiety on the selectivity has been studied, and in the best case, an enantiomeric excess of up to 94% could be obtained. Acidic hydrolysis of the initially formed N-protected amines 6 led to the corresponding free amines 7 without racemization. Although a stoichiometric amount of the ligand was used, about 90% of it could be recovered during the workup and reused without significant loss of chiral induction. The utility of the aziridino alcohols 2-5 as catalysts for the same reaction has also been evaluated and enantiomeric excesses of up to 76% were achieved using 0.25 equiv of the chiral ligand. A possible transition state for the addition reaction is also proposed.