Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.142, No.33, 14045-14051, 2020
Hydrogen Bonding Phase-Transfer Catalysis with Ionic Reactants: Enantioselective Synthesis of gamma-Fluoroamines
Ammonium salts are used as phase-transfer catalysts for fluorination with alkali metal fluorides. We now demonstrate that these organic salts, specifically azetidinium triflates, are suitable substrates for enantioselective ring opening with CsF and a chiral bis-urea catalyst. This process, which highlights the ability of hydrogen bonding phase-transfer catalysts to couple two ionic reactants, affords enantioenriched gamma-fluoroamines in high yields. Mechanistic studies underline the role of the catalyst for phase-transfer, and computed transition state structures account for the enantioconvergence observed for mixtures of achiral azetidinium diastereomers. The N-substituents in the electrophile influence the reactivity, but the configuration at nitrogen is unimportant for the enantioselectivity.