(1S,2R)-2-Amino-1,2-diphenylethanol

Chiral tetranuclear and dinuclear copper(ii) complexes for TEMPO-mediated aerobic oxidation of alcohols: are four metal centres better than two?[Pubmed:24986135]

Dalton Trans. 2014 Aug 28;43(32):12313-20.

The one-pot reaction of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, (R)-2-aminoglycinol and Cu(OAc)2.2H2O in a 1 : 1 : 1 ratio in the presence of triethylamine led to the isolation of X-ray quality crystals of the chiral complex (R)- in high yield. The single crystal structure of (R)- reveals a tetranuclear copper(ii) complex that contains a {Cu4(mu-O)2(mu3-O)2N4O4} core. A reaction using (1S,2R)-2-Amino-1,2-diphenylethanol as precursor under the same conditions generated the chiral complex (S,R)-; its structure was determined by single crystal X-ray crystallography and was found to contain a {Cu2(mu-O)2N2O2} core. Both (R)- and (S,R)- have been used for catalytic aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols in combination with the TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl) radical. (R)- selectively catalyses the conversion of various aromatic primary alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes with high yields (99%) and TONs (770) in the air, while (S,R)- exhibits less promising catalytic performance under the same reaction conditions. The role of the cluster structures in (R)- and (S,R)- in controlling the reactivity towards aerobic oxidation reactions is discussed.

An Activated Germanium Metal-Promoted, Highly Diastereoselective Reformatsky Reaction.[Pubmed:11672062]

J Org Chem. 1998 Feb 6;63(3):691-697.

Activated germanium metal, prepared by the reduction of germanium(II) iodide with potassium metal, was found to promote the Reformatsky reaction effectively under mild conditions. In the presence of activated germanium metal, the reactions of alpha-bromo ketones 2a and 2b and alpha-bromo imides 2e and 2f with benzaldehyde (1a) proceeded smoothly to give the corresponding beta-hydroxy carbonyl compounds 3a, 3b, 3e and 3f, respectively, in good yields and with good syn diastereoselectivity. The activated germanium metal-promoted, asymmetric Reformatsky reaction of enantiomerically pure-oxazolidinone derivatives 2g-j with various aldehydes 1a-d was also examined; the highest diastereoselectivity was achieved when (1S,2R)-2-Amino-1,2-diphenylethanol-derived 2j was used as the Reformatsky donor. The excellent diastereoselectivity could be explained in terms of the formation of a chairlike, six-membered transition state between the aldehyde and enolate as in the Zimmerman-Traxler model. A single recrystallization of the Reformatsky adducts, followed by hydrolysis and subsequent esterification, led to enantiomerically pure methyl 3-hydroxy-2-methylalkanoates 10j-m, with almost quantitative recovery of the enantiomerically pure 2-oxazolidinone 14.