Cob(1)alamin as Catalyst. 5. Communication Ill. Enantioselective Reduction of a,/l-Unsaturated Carbony1
Derivatives
SummaryThe cob (1)alamin-catalyzed reduction of an a,B-unsaturated ethyl ester in aqueous acetic acid produced the (S)-configurated saturated derivative 2 with an enantiomeric excess of 21%. The starting material 1 is not reduced at pH= 7.0 in the presence of catalytic amounts of cob(1)alamin (see Scheme 2). It is shown that the attack of cob(1)alamin and not of cob(II)alamin, also present in Zn/CH,COOH/ H,O, accounts for the enantioselective reduction observed. All the (2)-configurated starting materials 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 have been transformed to the corresponding (S)-configurated saturated derivatives 2,4, 6,8, 10 and 12, respectively. The highest enantiomeric excess revealed to be present in the saturated product 12 (32,7%, S) derived from the (2)-configurated methyl ketone 11 (see Scheme 3 and Table 1). The reduction of the (E)-configurated starting materials led mainly to racemic products. A saturated product having the (R)-configuration with a rather weak enantiomeric excess (5.9%) has been obtained starting from the (a-configurated methyl ketone 23 (see Scheme 5 and Table 2). The allylic alcohols 16 and 24 have been reduced to the saturated racemic derivative 17.