Catalysis of the Michael addition reaction by late transition metal complexes of BINOL-derived salens

Salen metal complexes incorporating two chiral BINOL moieties have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography. The X-ray structures show that this new class of Ni-BINOL-salen catalysts contains an unoccupied apical site for potential coordination of an electrophile and naphthoxides that are independent from the Lewis acid center. These characteristics allow independent alteration of the Lewis acidic and Bronsted basic sites. These unique complexes have been shown to catalyze the Michael reaction of dibenzyl malonate and cyclohexenone with good selectivity (up to 90% ee) and moderate yield (up to 79% yield). These catalysts are also effective in the Michael reaction between other enones and malonates. Kinetic data show that the reaction is first order in the Ni.Cs-BINOL-salen catalyst. Further experiments probed the reactivity of the individual Lewis acid and Bronsted base components of the catalyst and established that both moieties are essential for asymmetric catalysis. All told, the data support a bifunctional activation pathway in which the apical Ni site of the Ni.Cs-BINOL-salen activates the enone and the naphthoxide base activates the malonate.