A-Amino imines

Scheme 23 Double asymmetric induction in the addition of Grignard reagents to chiral a-amino imines and a-amino iminium ions...

Scheme 30 Substrate-induced diastereoselective reductions of a-aminooximes and a-amino imines...

The reductive amination of ketones can be carried out under hydrogen pressure in the presence of palladium catalysts. However, if enantiopure Q -aminoketones are used, partial racemization of the intermediate a-amino imine can occur, owing to the equilibration with the corresponding enam-ine [102]. Asymmetric hydrogenation of racemic 2-amidocyclohexanones 218 with Raney nickel in ethanol gave a mixture of cis and trans 1,2-diamino cyclohexane derivatives 219 in unequal amounts, presumably because the enamines are intermediates, but with excellent enantioselectivity. The two diastereomers were easily separated and converted to the mono-protected cis- and trans- 1,2-diaminocyclohexanes 220. The receptor 221 has been also synthesized by this route [103] (Scheme 33). 

The nucleophilicity of amine nitrogens is also differentiated by their environments. In 2,4,5,6-tetraaminopyrimidine the most basic 3-amino group can be selectively converted to a Schiff base. It is meta to both pyrimidine nitrogens and does not form a tautomeric imine as do the ortho- and /xira-amino groups. This factor is the basis of the commercial synthesis of triamterene. 

Similarly, 1-alkylpyrroles, indoles, furans, thiophenes [60], a-picoline [61], enols, malonates [76], and organometallic compounds [56, 62] react with acyl imines of trifluoropyruvates to give derivatives of a-trifluoromethyl a-amino acids... 

Hexafluoroacetone and certain perfluorinated or partially fluorinated ketones, aldehydes, and imines react with a-functionalized carboxylic acids (e.g., a-amino, a-At-methylamino [S3, 84], a-hydroxy [S5], and a-mercapto [Sd] acids) to give five-membered heterocyclic systems (equation 13). 

An example of a biologically important aldehyde is pyridoxal phosphate, which is the active form of vitamin Bg and a coenzyme for many of the reactions of a-amino acids. In these reactions the amino acid binds to the coenzyme by reacting with it to form an imine of the kind shown in the equation. Reactions then take place at the amino acid portion of the imine, modifying the amino acid. In the last step, enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis cleaves the imine to pyridoxal and the modified amino acid. 

Yet a third method for the synthesis of a-amino acids is by reductive amination of an a-keto acid with ammonia and a reducing agent. Alanine, for instance, is prepared by treatment of pyruvic acid with ammonia in the presence of NaBH As described in Section 24.6, the reaction proceeds through formation of an intermediate imine that is then reduced. 

The mechanism of the first part of transamination is shown in Figure 29.14. The process begins with reaction between the a-amino acid and pyridoxal phosphate, which is covalently bonded to the aminotransferase by an iminc linkage between the side-chain -NTI2 group of a lysine residue and the PLP aldehyde group. Deprotonation/reprotonation of the PLP-amino acid imine in steps 2 and 3 effects tautomerization of the imine C=N bond, and hydrolysis of the tautomerized imine in step 4 gives an -keto acid plus pyridoxamine... 

Step 1 of Figure 29.14 Transimination The first step in transamination is trans-imination—the reaction of the PLP—enzyme imine with an a-amino acid to give a PLP—amino acid imine plus expelled enzyme as the leaving group. The reaction occurs by nucleophilic addition of the amino acid -NH2 group to the C=N bond of the PLP imine, much as an amine adds to the C=0 bond of a ketone or aldehyde in a nucleophilic addition reaction (Section 19.8). The pro-tonated diamine intermediate undergoes a proton transfer and expels the lysine amino group in the enzyme to complete the step. 

A subclass of lyases, involved in amino acid metabolism, utilizes pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP, 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-5-[(phosphonooxy)methyl]-4-pyridinecarbaldehyde) as a cofactor for imine/ enamine-type activation. These enzymes are not only an alternative to standard fermentation technology, but also offer a potential entry to nonnatural amino acids. Serine hydroxymethyl-tansferase (SHMT EC 2.1.2.1.) combines glycine as the donor with (tetrahydrofolate activated) formaldehyde to L-serine in an economic yield40, but will also accept a range of other aldehydes to provide /i-hydroxy-a-amino acids with a high degree of both absolute and relative stereochemical control in favor of the L-erythro isomers41. 

A-Acido imines (R R"C = N —X=0) like /V-acyl (X = CR) /V-sulfonyl [X = S(R)=0]2-7 or /V-diphenylphosphinoylimines [X = P(C6H5)2]3 are masked inline derivatives of ammonia. Compared to the imines themselves these activated derivatives are better electrophiles showing less tendency to undergo undesired deprotonation rather than addition of organometal-lics1812 The apparent advantages of these compounds have been exploited for asymmetric syntheses of amines, amides, amino acids and /J-lactams1-8 I6. 

TV-aluminum imines are another example of masked inline derivatives of ammonia. They are easily synthesized by partial reduction of nitriles with diisobutylaluminum hydride (D1BAL-H)6. Addition of lithium organic reagents to /V-aluminum iniines 7 derived from O-protected cyanohydrins 6 provides a-amino alcohols 8a and 8b in moderate yields and low to good diastereo-selectivities n 12. 

Like the Strecker synthesis, the Ugi reaction also involves a nucleophilic addition to an imine as the crucial step in which the stereogenic center of an a-amino acid derivative is formed4. The Ugi reaction, also denoted as a four-component condensation (A), is related to the older Passerini reaction5 (B) in an analogous fashion as the Strecker synthesis is to cyanohydrin formation. In both the Ugi and the Passerini reaction, an isocyanide takes the role of cyanide. 

As has been outlined for the Strecker synthesis, the Ugi reaction also proceeds via initial formation of a Schiff base from an aldehyde and an amine. The imine intermediate is attacked by the isocyanidc, a process which is supported by protonation of the imine by the carboxylic acid component. The resulting a-amino nitrilium intermediate is immediately trapped by the carboxylate to give an 6>-acyl imidiate. All steps up to this stage are reversible. Only the final oxygen to nitrogen acyl shift is irreversible and delivers the A-acyl-a-amino amide as the thermodynamically favored product which contains two amide groups. 

The mechanistic analogy to the Streckcr synthesis becomes obvious in the addition of the isocyanide to the imine to produce the a-amino nitrilium intermediate. Since all four components are involved in this step, it might be expected that every chiral component (chiral groups R1, R2, R3, R4) contributes to diastereofacial differentiation in the nucleophilic attack on the imine. However, in peptide syntheses by four-component condensation5, the chiral isocyanide or a chiral carboxylic acid component has only limited influence on the diastereoselectivity of the a-amino amide formation5. 

In general, metalated 2-azaallyl anions derived from imines of a-amino esters serve both as Michael donors and as 1,3-dipolar reagents the course of the reaction, as well as the stereochemical outcome depends upon the base and the reaction conditions82,83. 

Diastereoselective preparation of a-alkyl-a-amino acids is also possible using chiral Schiff base nickel(II) complexes of a-amino acids as Michael donors. The synthetic route to glutamic acid derivatives consists of the addition of the nickel(II) complex of the imine derived from (.S )-,V-[2-(phenylcarbonyl)phenyl]-l-benzyl-2-pyrrolidinecarboxamide and glycine to various activated olefins, i.e., 2-propenal, 3-phenyl-2-propenal and a,(f-unsaturated esters93- A... 

Abelian T., Chinchilla R., Galindo N., Guillena G., Najera C., Sansano J. M. Glycine and Alanine Imines As Templates for Asymmetric Synthesis of a-Amino Acids Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2000 2689-2697... 

Dipolar [3 + 2] cycloadditions are one of the most important reactions for the formation of five-membered rings [68]. The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction is frequently utihzed to obtain highly substituted pyrroHdines starting from imines and alkenes. Imines 98, obtained from a-amino esters and nitroalkenes 99, are mixed together in an open vessel microwave reactor to undergo 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to produce highly substituted nitroprolines esters 101 (Scheme 35) [69]. Imines derived from a-aminoesters are thermally isomerized by microwave irradiation to azomethine yhdes 100,... 

Recently Turner and coworkers have sought to extend the deracemization method beyond a-amino acids to encompass chiral amines. Chiral amines are increasingly important building blocks for pharmaceutical compounds that are either in clinical development or currently licensed for use as drugs (Figure 5.7). At the outset of this work, it was known that type II monoamine oxidases were able to catalyze the oxidation of simple amines to imines in an analogous fashion to amino acid oxidases. However, monoamine oxidases generally possess narrow substrate specificity and moreover have been only documented to catalyze the oxidation of simple, nonchiral... 

More recently Hand et al. (ref. 9) have studied the decomposition reaction of N-chloro-a-amino acid anions in neutral aqueous solution, where the main reaction products are carbon dioxide, chloride ion and imines (which hydrolyze rapidly to amine and carbonyl products). They found that the reaction rate constant of decarboxylation was independent of pH, so they ruled out a proton assisted decarboxylation mechanism, and the one proposed consists of a concerted decarboxylation. For N-bromoamino acids decomposition in the pH interval 9-11 a similar concerted mechanism was proposed by Antelo et al. (ref. 10), where the formation of a nitrenium ion (ref. 11) can be ruled out because it is not consistent with the experimental results. Antelo et al. have also established that when the decomposition reaction takes place at pH < 9, the disproportionation reaction of the N-Br-amino acid becomes important, and the decomposition goes through the N,N-dibromoamino acid. This reaction is also important for N-chloroamino compounds but at more acidic pH values, because the disproportionation reaction... 

The reductive couphng of imines can follow different pathways, depending on the nature of the one-electron reducing agent (cathode, metal, low-valent metal salt), the presence of a protic or electrophihc reagent, and the experimental conditions (Scheme 2). Starting from the imine 7, the one-electron reduction is facihtated by the preliminary formation of the iminiiim ion 8 by protonation or reaction with an electrophile, e.g., trimethylsilyl (TMS) chloride. Alternatively, the radical anion 9 is first formed by direct reduction of the imine 7, followed by protonation or reaction with the electrophile, so giving the same intermediate a-amino radical 10. The 1,2-diamine 11 can be formed from the radical 10 by dimerization (and subsequent removal of the electrophile) or addition to the iminium ion 8, followed by one-electron reduction of the so formed aminyl radical. In certain cases/conditions the radical 9 can be further reduced to the carbanion 12, which then attacks the... 

An approach to the preparation of asymmetrically 1,2-disubstituted 1,2-diamines has been reported the zinc-copper-promoted reductive coupling of two different N-(4-substituted)phenyl aromatic imines, one bearing a 4-methoxy and the other a 4-chloro substituent, in the presence of either boron trifluoride or methyltrichlorosilane, gave a mixture of the three possible 1,2-diamines, where the mixed one predominated [31 ]. Low degrees of asymmetric induction were observed using 1-phenylethylamine, phenylglycinol and its 0-methyl ether, and several a-amino acid esters as the chiral auxiharies meanwhile the homocoupling process was not avoided (M.Shimizu, personal communication). 

Scheme 12 (-)-Sparteine-mediated addition of a-amino organometallic reagents to imines...

The condensation of nitro compounds and imines, the so-called aza-Henry or nitro-Mannich reaction, has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-diamines through the intermediate /3-amino nitro compounds. The method is based on the addition of a nitronate ion (a-nitro carbanion), generated from nitroalkanes, to an imine. The addition of a nitronate ion to an imine is thermodynamically disfavored, so that the presence of a protic species or a Lewis acid is required, to activate the imine and/or to quench the adduct. The acidic medium is compatible with the existence of the nitronate anion, as acetic acid and nitromethane have comparable acidities. Moreover, the products are often unstable, either for the reversibility of the addition or for the possible /3-elimination of the nitro group, and the crude products are generally reduced, avoiding purification to give the desired 1,2-diamines. Hence, the nitronate ion is an equivalent of an a-amino carbanion. 

Scheme 18 Reagent-induced enantioselective catalytic synthesis of 2,3-diamino esters by addition of a-amino and a-iminoester enolates to imines...

Double asymmetric induction operates when the azomethine compound is derived from a chiral a-amino aldehyde and a chiral amine, e.g., the sulfin-imine 144 [70]. In this case, the R configuration at the sulfur of the chiral auxihary, N-tert-butanesulfinamide, matched with the S configuration of the starting a-amino aldehyde, allowing complete stereocontrol to be achieved in the preparation of the diamine derivatives 145 by the addition of trifluo-romethyl anion, which was formed from trifluoromethyltrimethylsilane in the presence of tetramethylammonium fluoride (Scheme 23). The substituents at both nitrogen atoms were easily removed by routine procedures see, for example, the preparation of the free diamine 146. On the other hand, a lower diastereoselectivity (dr 80 20) was observed in one reaction carried out on the imine derived from (it)-aldehyde and (it)-sulfinamide. 

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