Continuous Flow Preparation of Enantiomerically Pure BINOL(s) by Acylative Kinetic Resolution

Abstract

AbstractA polystyrene‐immobilized isothiourea has been applied to the enantioselective acylative kinetic resolution (KR) of monoacylated BINOL(s) with inexpensive isobutyric anhydride in batch and flow. High selectivity values (s=29 at 0 °C) and a remarkable stability of the catalytic system in the operation conditions have been recorded for unsubstituted BINOL. No significant loss of activity/selectivity is recorded after 10 consecutive KR cycles in batch. A continuous flow process has been implemented and operated with a 100 mmol (32.8 g) sample of racemic monoacetylated BINOL in dichloromethane solution in an 84 hours experiment with a packed bed reactor containing 1 g (f=0.37 mmol.g−1) of the functional resin (s=17–21). Residence time can be decreased to 10 min with the same reactor to achieve a conversion of 58% with a selectivity factor s=17 when a more highly functionalized catalyst (f=0.88 mmol.g−1) is used. This translates into a remarkable combined productivity of 5.5 mmolprod ⋅ mmolcat−1 ⋅ h−1.magnified image