Hydrogen-bond catalysts can also accelerate reactions by assisting in the formation of electrophilic species through abstracting and/or coordinating an anion such as a halide. Urea and thiourea catalysts are the most common donors in anion-binding catalysis, and their ability to bind halides and other anions has been well established in the literature. The use of chiral anion-binding catalysts can create an asymmetric ion pair and induce remarkable stereoselectivity.
One of the first reactions proposed to proceed through anion-binding catalysis is the Pictet-Spengler-type cyclization of hydroxylactams with TMSCl under thiourea catalysis. In the proposed mechanism, after initial substitution of the hydroxyl group with chloride, the key ion pair is formed. The activated iminium ion is closely associated with the chiral thiourea-bound chloride, and intramolecular cyclization proceeds with high stereoselectivity.
Asymmetric ion pairs can also be attacked in intermolecular reactions. In an interesting example, asymmetric addition of enol silane nucleophiles to oxocarbenium ions can be effected by catalytically forming the oxocarbenium through anion binding. Starting from an acetal, the chloroether is generated with boron trichloride and reacted with the enol silane and catalyst. The mechanism of formation of the oxocarbenium-thiourea-chloride complex is not fully resolved. It is thought that under the reaction conditions, the chloroether can epimerize and thiourea can stereoselectively bind chloride to form a closely associated ion pair. This asymmetric ion pair is then attacked by the silane to generate alkylated product.
A notable example of the anion-binding mechanism is the hydrocyanation of imines catalyzed by Jacobsen's amido-thiourea catalyst depicted in the below diagram. This reaction is also one of the most extensively studied through computational, spectroscopic, labeling and kinetic experiments. While direct addition of cyanide to a catalyst-bound imine was considered, an alternative mechanism involving formation of an iminium-cyanide ion pair controlled by catalyst was calculated to have a barrier that is lower by 20 kcal/mol. The proposed most likely mechanism begins with binding of the catalyst to HNC, which exists in equilibrium with HCN. This complex then protonates a molecule of imine, forming an iminium-cyanide ion pair with the catalyst binding and stabilizing the cyanide anion. The iminium is thought to also interact with the amide carbonyl on the catalyst molecule (see bifunctional catalysis below). The bound cyanide anion then rotates, and attacks the iminium through carbon. The investigators conclude that though imine-urea binding was observed through spectroscopy and was supported by early kinetic experiments, imine binding is off-cycle and all evidence points toward this mechanism involving thiourea-bound cyanide.