Switching of enantioselectivity in the catalytic addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes by regioisomeric chiral 1,3-amino sulfonamide ligands.

Twenty chiral 1,3-amino sulfonamides of two classes (2a-i and 3a-k) have been prepared from (-)-cis-2-benzamidocyclohexanecarboxylic acid (1) and studied as ligands for catalytic enantioselective addition of Et(2)Zn to a variety of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes. The ligands 2 and 3 are regioisomers in which the position of the amine and sulfonamide groups is exchanged. Each class of ligands with the same chirality was shown to afford sec-alcohols with the opposite stereochemistry. Structural surveys revealed that the combination of tertiary amino and p-toluenesufonylamido groups works most effectively for the reaction. Through optimization of the structural and reaction conditions, the best ligands quantitatively provided both enantiomeric secondary alcohols in good to excellent enantioselectivity of up to 94% and 98% ee for (S)- and (R)-enantiomers, respectively.