The role of β-bulky substituents in aldol reactions of boron enolates of methylketones with aldehydes: experimental and theoretical studies by DFT analysis.

In this work, we show the influence of the volume of the β-substituents on the levels of 1,5-stereoselectivities of aldol reactions of boron enolates generated from β-alkoxy methylketones with aldehydes. Excellent levels of 1,5-syn stereoinduction were obtained when the β-protecting group is a silicon ether. This remarkable selectivity is attributed to the volume of the β-bulky substituent of the corresponding boron enolate.

Influence of β-substituents in aldol reactions of boron enolates of β-alkoxy methylketones.

Moderate to good levels of substrate-based 1,5-syn-stereocontrol could be achieved in the boron-mediated aldol reactions of β-tert-butyl methylketones with achiral aldehydes, independent of the nature of the β-alkoxy protecting group (P = PMB or TBS). The analysis of the relative energies of the transition structures by theoretical calculations using the density functional B3LYP shows relative energies favoring the corresponding OUT-1,5-SYN transition structures, explaining the observed 1,5-syn stereoinduction.