On the mechanism of catalytic enantioselective hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of carbonyl compounds catalyzed by chiral aluminum complexes - a concerted, step-wise or Mukaiyama-aldol pathway

The mechanism for the hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of benzaldehyde with Dani shefsky's diene catalyzed by various types of achiral and chiral aluminum c omplexes has been studied from a theoretical point of view using semi-empir ical and ab initio calculations. The uncatalyzed reaction proceeds as a con certed reaction with an unsymmetrical transition state. The catalytic react ion has been studied using first (MeO)(2)AlMe, followed by (S)-BINOL-AlMe a s the catalysts, and the transition states and intermediates have been calc ulated for different reaction paths. The catalyst activates benzaldehyde ma king the carbon atom in the carbonyl, functionality more electrophilic. Att empts to calculate a concerted reaction path failed. However, a two-step pr ocess, the first step being a nucleophilic attack of the activated diene to the carbonyl carbon atom, with a transition-state energy of up to 13 kcal mol(-1), depending on the catalyst and calculation method used, was found t o take place leading to an aldol-like local energy-minimum intermediate. Th e second step, the ring-closure, which has a significantly lower transit-io n-state energy leads to the hetero-Diels-Alder adduct. The mechanistic aspe cts of the catalytic hetero-Diels-Alder reaction is discussed on the basis of the calculations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.