Synthesis of function-oriented 2-phenyl-2H-chromene derivatives using L-pipecolinic acid and substituted guanidine organocatalysts

Organocatalytic domino oxa-Michael/aldol reactions between salicylaldehyde with electron deficient olefins are presented. We screened guanidine, 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine (TMG) and L-pipecolinic acid as organocatalysts for this transformation. 3-Substituted 2-phenyl-2H-chromene derivatives are synthesized with high yields and with poor enantioselectivity (5-17% ee) using L-pipecolinic acid while TMG works well with cinnamaldehyde without using co-catalyst. These 3-substituted-2-phenyl-2H-chromene derivatives are further derivatized to synthesize triazole and biotin-containing chromene derivatives, to facilitate purification of protein targets. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.