Baker 's yeast-mediated reduction of ethyl 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3-oxoalkanoates intermediates for potential PPARalpha ligands

Several 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3-oxoesters were prepared in fair to good yields and then reduced in the presence of baker's yeast to the corresponding alcohols having de's up to 92% and ee's > 99%. The absolute configuration of nearly enantiomerically pure ethyl 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3-hydroxybutanoate was assigned by both comparison of the sign of the specific rotation and HPLC retention times of authentic samples prepared from threonines. Reduction of ethyl 2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3-oxo-4-phenylbutanoate afforded only enantiomerically pure ethyl (2R,3S)-2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3-hydroxy-4-phenylbutanoate (out of the four possible stereoisomers), whose absolute configuration was established by single crystal X-ray analysis. Furthermore, reduction of ethyl 2-methyl-2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3-hydroxybutanoate with a quaternary stereogenic carbon (C-2) gave both of the two expected diastereoisomers with ee = 95% and 96%. Insight into the mechanism of baker's yeast-mediated reduction of prochiral ketoesters is also reported.