A Brønsted Acid-Amino Acid as a Synergistic Catalyst for Asymmetric List-Lerner-Barbas Aldol Reactions

Herein, for the first time, a combination of l-amino acid, (R)-5,5-dimethyl thiazolidinium-4-carboxylate (l-DMTC) with simple Brønsted acid TFA is reported as the suitable synergistic catalyst for the List-Lerner-Barbas aldol (LLB-A) reaction of less reactive 2-azidobenzaldehydes with various ketones at ambient temperature to furnish the optically active functionalized (2-azido­phenyl)­alcohols with very good yields, dr’s, and ee’s. This method gives first time access to the novel azido-containing multifunctional compounds, which are applicable in material to medicinal chemistry. Chiral functionalized (2-azido­phenyl)­alcohols were transformed into different molecular scaffolds in good yields with high selectivity through Lewis acid mediated NaBH₄ reduction, aza-Wittig and Staudinger reaction (azide reduction), followed by oxidative cyclizations, allenone synthesis, and click reaction, respectively. Chiral LLB-A products might become suitable starting materials for the total synthesis of natural products, ingredients, and inhibitors in medicinal chemistry. The mechanistic synergy of l-DMTC with TFA to increase the rate and selectivity of LLB-A reaction in DMSO-D₆ is explained with the controlled and online NMR experiments.