Conspectus
So far,
over 150 natural products
and pharmaceuticals containing
an allene moiety have been identified. During the last two decades,
allenes have also been demonstrated as synthetically versatile starting
materials in organic synthesis. In comparison to alkenes and alkynes,
allenes are unique unsaturated hydrocarbons due to their axial chirality,
which could be transformed to central chirality via chirality transfer
to provide an irreplaceable entry to chiral molecules. Thus, methods
for allene synthesis from readily available chemicals are of great
interest.
In 1979, Crabbé et al. reported the first CuBr-mediated
allenation of terminal alkynes (ATA) reaction to form monosubstituted
allenes from 1-alkynes and paraformaldehyde in the presence of diisopropylamine.
During the following 30 years, the ATA reactions were limited to paraformaldehyde.
This Account describes our efforts toward the development of ATA reactions
in the last ten years. First, we improved the yields and scope greatly
for the synthesis of monosubstituted allenes by modifying the original
Crabbé recipe. Next we developed the ZnI2-promoted
or CuI-catalyzed ATA reactions for the synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted
allenes from terminal alkyne and normal aldehydes. Furthermore, we
first realized the CdI2-promoted ATA reaction of ketones
with pyrrolidine as the matched amine for the preparation of trisubstituted
allenes. Due to the toxicity of CdI2, we also developed
two alternative approaches utilizing CuBr/ZnI2 or CuI/ZnBr2/Ti(OEt)4. The asymmetric version of ATA reactions
for the synthesis of optically active 1,3-disubstituted allenes has
also been achieved in this group with two strategies. One is called
“chiral ligand” strategy, using terminal alkynes, aldehydes,
and nonchiral amine with the assistance of a proper chiral ligand.
The other is the “chiral amine” strategy, applying terminal
alkynes, aldehydes, and chiral amines such as (S)-
or (R)-α,α-diphenylprolinol or (S)- or (R)-α,α-dimethylprolinol.
Optically active 1,3-disubstituted allenes containing different synthetically
useful functionalities such as alcohol, amide, sulfamide, malonate,
carboxylate, and carbohydrate units could be prepared without protection
with the newly developed CuBr2-catalyzed chiral amine strategy.
Recently, we have applied these enantioselective allenation of terminal
alkyne (EATA) reactions to the syntheses of some natural allenes such
as laballenic acid, insect pheromone, methyl (R)-8-hydroxyocta-5,6-dienoate,
phlomic acid, and lamenallenic acid, as well as some non-allene natural
γ-butyrolactones such as xestospongienes (E, F, G, and H), (R)-4-tetradecalactone, (S)-4-tetradecalactone,
(R)-γ-palmitolactone, and (R)-4-decalactone.