Biocatalytic stereoselective synthesis of pyrrolidine-2,3-diones containing all-carbon quaternary stereocenters†
Mansour Shahedi,Niloofar Omidi,Zohreh Habibi,Maryam Yousefi,Jesper Brask,Behrouz Notash,Mehdi Mohammadi
Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry Pub Date : 03/09/2023 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/D2OB02294J
Abstract

Highly functionalized pyrrolidine-2,3-diones can be synthesized efficiently and stereoselectively under mild conditions using a biocatalytic approach. The reaction led to the formation of new all-carbon quaternary stereocenters from Myceliophthora thermophila laccase (Novozym 51003) catalyzed oxidation of catechols to ortho-quinones and subsequent 1,4-addition with 3-hydroxy-1,5-dihydro-2H-pyrrol-2-ones. The reaction was conducted with various substituents on both reactants, resulting in 13 products in moderate to good yields (42–91%). The same 15 reactions were also tested with K3Fe(CN)6 as a catalyst, but here only one reaction resulted in a product (60% yield).

Graphical abstract: Biocatalytic stereoselective synthesis of pyrrolidine-2,3-diones containing all-carbon quaternary stereocenters