Control of Dynamic sp3-C Stereochemistry

Bismillah, A.N.; Johnson, T.G.; Hussein, B.A.; Turley, A.T.; Saha, P.K.; Wong, H.C.; Aguilar, J.A.; Yufit, D.S.; McGonigal, P.R.

doi:10.1038/s41557-023-01156-7

Control of Dynamic sp3-C Stereochemistry

Bismillah, A.N.; Johnson, T.G.; Hussein, B.A.; Turley, A.T.; Saha, P.K.; Wong, H.C.; Aguilar, J.A.; Yufit, D.S.; McGonigal, P.R.

Authors

Dr Aisha Bismillah aisha.n.bismillah@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

T.G. Johnson

Burhan Hussein burhan.a.hussein@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

A.T. Turley

P.K. Saha

H.C. Wong

J.A. Aguilar

Dr Dmitry Yufit d.s.yufit@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

Dr Paul Mcgonigal paul.mcgonigal@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

Abstract

Stereogenic sp3-hybridized carbon centres are fundamental building blocks of chiral molecules. Unlike dynamic stereogenic motifs, such as sp3-nitrogen centres or atropisomeric biaryls, sp3-carbon centres are usually fixed, requiring intermolecular reactions to undergo configurational changes. Here, we report the internal enantiomerization of fluxional carbon cages and the consequences of their adaptive configurations for the transmission of stereochemical information. The sp3-carbon stereochemistry of the rigid tricyclic cages is inverted through strain-assisted Cope rearrangements, emulating the low-barrier configurational dynamics typical for sp3 nitrogen inversion or conformational isomerism. This dynamic enantiomerization can be stopped, restarted, or slowed by external reagents, while the configuration of the cage is controlled by neighbouring, fixed stereogenic centres. As part of a phosphoramidite–olefin ligand, the fluxional cage acts as a conduit to transmit stereochemical information from the ligand while also transferring its dynamic properties to chiral-at-metal coordination environments, influencing catalysis, ion pairing and ligand exchange energetics.

Citation

Bismillah, A., Johnson, T., Hussein, B., Turley, A., Saha, P., Wong, H., …McGonigal, P. (2023). Control of Dynamic sp3-C Stereochemistry. Nature Chemistry, 15(5), 615-624. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01156-7

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Aug 26, 2022
Online Publication Date	Mar 13, 2023
Publication Date	2023-05
Deposit Date	Oct 27, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Jun 28, 2023
Journal	Nature Chemistry
Print ISSN	1755-4330
Electronic ISSN	1755-4349
Publisher	Nature Research
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	15
Issue	5
Pages	615-624
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01156-7