The True Catalyst Revealed: The Intervention of Chiral Ca and Mg Phosphates in Brønsted Acid Promoted Asymmetric Mannich Reactions

The acetylacetone-benzaldimine Mannich reaction catalyzed by Mg­(II) and Ca­(II) salts of chiral phosphoric acids (CPA) has been investigated computationally by QM/MM methods. Enantioselectivity in this reaction is both larger than and in the opposite sense to that observed for the same reaction catalyzed by the protic CPA catalyst alone. We present a mechanistic model from which the characteristic differences between these metal and metal-free catalysts, which can coexist in the same reaction mixture, can be understood. Alkaline earth salts with chiral phosphate counterions are found to be more catalytically active than the protic form, and the Ca­(II) and Mg­(II) CPA salts react via different mechanisms, with a higher coordination number favored by calcium over magnesium. In the well-ordered chiral cavities around these metal centers, asymmetric induction arises from the steric interaction with the imine protecting group in the unfavorable pathway, with both substrates adopting well-defined conformations. These mechanistic models have allowed us to rationalize the stereochemical outcome across a range of bimolecular reactions promoted by divalent metal phosphates formed with different CPAs.