Enantioconvergent construction of stereogenic silicon via Lewis base-catalyzed dynamic kinetic silyletherification of racemic chlorosilanes.

Hu, Tianbao; Zhao, Chen; Zhang, Yan; Kuang, Yuzhong; Gao, Lu; Wang, Wanshu; Su, Zhishan; Song, Zhenlei · Nat Commun · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Organosilanes possessing an enantioenriched stereogenic silicon center are important in many branches of chemistry, yet they remain challenging to synthesize in a practical and scalable way. Here we report a dynamic kinetic silyletherification process of racemic chlorosilanes with (S)-lactates using 4-aminopyridine as a Lewis base catalyst. This enantioconvergent approach asymmetrically constructs the stereogenic silicon center in a different manner from traditional resolution or desymmetrization. A range of silylethers have been prepared with high diastereoselectivity on up to 10 g-scale, allowing the practical synthesis of diverse enantioenriched organosilane analogs.