Helicenes as Chirality-Inducing Groups in Transition-Metal Catalysis: The First Helically Chiral Olefin Metathesis Catalyst

Helical chirality is a novel enantioselectivity-inducing property in transition-metal-catalyzed transformations. The principle is illustrated herein for the example of asymmetric olefin metathesis. This work reports the synthesis of the first helically chiral Ru-NHC alkylidene complex from an aminohelicene-derived imidazolium salt, which was ligated to the first generation Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst. Kinetic data were acquired for benchmark test reactions and compared to an achiral catalyst. The helically chiral Ru-catalyst was evaluated in asymmetric ring-closing metathesis (RCM) and ring-opening metathesis-cross-metathesis (ROM/CM) reactions, which proceeded with promising levels of enantioselectivity. Extensive NMR-spectroscopic investigations and a DFT geometry optimization were performed. These results led to a topographic steric map and calculation of percent-buried-volume values for each quadrant around the metal center.