Azides, acyl

Acyl azides show selectivity for acylation at secondary (rather than primary) hydroxyl groups in nucleosides. Thus, on reaction with an excess of N-(benzyIoxycarbonyl)glycyIglycyl azide in 1,4-dioxane-water at 8° and pH 9, adenosine gave the 2 (3 )-0-(aminoacyl) and 2, 3 -di-0-(aminoacyl) derivatives.183 Furthermore, adenosine and uridine were converted into a variety of 2 (3 )-esters of aromatic amino acids by reaction with the appropriate acyl azide.184 

Amine Acyl Azide Amide Bond Azide Leaving 

The major competing reaction in acyl azide coupling is hydrolysis. The higher the pH, the faster the reactivity, both with regard to amine conjugation and hydrolysis. Crosslinkers or modification reagents containing this compound must be kept dry to preserve activity. Reactions are complete in 2-4 hours at room temperature. 

The use of aqueous solvents is obviously unsatisfactory for acyl halides which hydrolyse very rapidly, e.g. trifluoroacetyl bromide and acetyl chloride, and in such cases it has been preferred to carry out a heterogeneous reaction using a suspension of powdered sodium azide in an inert solvent such as benzene, toluene, xylene, 

Homing and Muchowski have recently presented a modification of the general procedures described above. In an attempt to replace selectively the acyl halogen in 48 with azide ion, these authors examined the reactions of dimethylformamide-acyl halide complexes (49) with nucleophiles (equation 35). The site of attack of a nucleophile on the ambident cation (49) is markedly influenced by the nature of the solvent and the temperature. Control reactions with aniline as the nucleophile enabled the optimum conditions for attack at the acyl carbon atom to be elucidated. With azide ion under these conditions, acyl azides were obtained in 60-100% yield (based on 

Other variations on the synthesis of acid azides have been described. Maffei and Bettinetti for example, have employed thioacids as substrates (equation 37) and Shozda and Vemon have reported the 

The preparation of acyl azides has received considerable attention due to the value of these compounds as synthetic intermediates. In the Gurtius rearrangement for example, acyl azides arc converted into isocyanates, urethans, ureas and amines and this aspect of the chemistry of acyl azides is considered in detail in a later chapter. The use of acyl azides in peptide synthesis has increased the scope of general 

A method which avoids the use of hydrazides has been described by Weinstock who demonstrated that mixed anhydrides interact with sodium azide in excellent yield. Thus the mixed anhydride (53) obtained from 2-phenylcyclopropane carboxylic acid and ethyl chloroformate is converted to the azide (54) after treatment for 30 minutes at 0° with sodium azide in aqueous acetone. It has been 

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In synthetic target molecules esters, lactones, amides, and lactams are the most common carboxylic acid derivatives. In order to synthesize them from carboxylic acids one has generally to produce an activated acid derivative, and an enormous variety of activating reagents is known, mostly developed for peptide syntheses (M. Bodanszky, 1976). In actual syntheses of complex esters and amides, however, only a small selection of these remedies is used, and we shall mention only generally applicable methods. The classic means of activating carboxyl groups arc the acyl azide method of Curtius and the acyl chloride method of Emil Fischer. 

Acyl azides may loose N2 on heating and rearrange to isocyanates (Curtius rearrangement), which may be solvolyzed. Some of the possibilities of classical carboxyl conversions are exemplified in the schemes below, which are taken from a triquinacene synthesis (R. Russo, 1971 C. Merder, 1973) and the ergotamine synthesis of A. Hofmann (1963). 

In these cases the acyl azides formed have been used to prepare amines via Curtius rearrangement. The acyl chloride or azide intermediates can. however, also be reacted with amines or alcohols to form amides or esters. 

In pharmaceutical appHcations, the selectivity of sodium borohydride is ideally suited for conversion of high value iatermediates, such as steroids (qv), ia multistep syntheses. It is used ia the manufacture of a broad spectmm of products such as analgesics, antiarthritics, antibiotics (qv), prostaglandins (qv), and central nervous system suppressants. Typical examples of commercial aldehyde reductions are found ia the manufacture of vitamin A (29) (see Vitamins) and dihydrostreptomycia (30). An acyl azide is reduced ia the synthesis of the antibiotic chloramphenicol (31) and a carbon—carbon double bond is reduced ia an iatermediate ia the manufacture of the analgesic Talwia (32). 

A third approach to 3-amino-/3-lactams is by Curtius rearrangement of the corresponding acyl azides. These are readily prepared from r-butyl carbazides, available via photochemical ring contraction of 3-diazopyrrolidine-2,4-diones in the presence of f-butyl carbazate (c/. Section 5.09.3.3.2). Thus treatment of (201) with trifluoroacetic acid followed by diazotiz-ation gives the acyl azide (202) which, in thermolysis in benzene and subsequent interception of the resulting isocyanate with r-butanol, yields the protected 3-amino-/3-lactam (203) (73JCS(P1)2907). 

Degradation of acid hydrazides or acyl azides to amine or amine derivatives. 

HONZL RUDINGER Peptide Synthesis Peptide synthesis by coupling ot acyl azides with amino esters... 

This derivative, prepared from an amino acid and the acyl azide, is selectively cleaved in 80% yield by chymotrypsin. ... 

The Cunius degradation of acyl azides prepared either by treatment of acyl halides with sodium azide or trimethylsilyl azide [47] or by treatment of acyl hydrazides with nitrous acid [f J yields pnmarily alkyl isocyanates, which can be isolated when the reaction is earned out in aptotic solvents If alcohols are used as solvents, urethanes are formed Hydrolysis of the isocyanates and the urethanes yields primary amines. 

So-called aryl values have been introduced by Imoto et ai. - for the piu pose of systematizing the reactivities of different aromatic systems by means of the linear free-energy relationship, which however, could not be applied to the decomposition rates of heterocyclic acyl azides in toluene. ... 

Attempts in this laboratory to prepare the analogous 1,2,3,4-selenatriazoles have so far been unsuccessful. Acyl azides show no tendency to cyclize to 1,2,3,4-oxatriazoles. ... 

The thermal decomposition of an acyl azide 1 to yield an isocyanate 2 by loss of N., is called the Curtius reaction - or Curtius rearrangement. It is closely... 

The required acyl azide 1 can be prepared from the corresponding acyl chloride... 

The Curtius rearrangement can be catalyzed by Lewis acids or protic acids, but good yields are often obtained also without a catalyst. From reaction in an inert solvent (e.g. benzene, chloroform) in the absence of water, the isocyanate can be isolated, while in aqueous solution the amine is formed. Highly reactive acyl azides may suffer loss of nitrogen and rearrange already during preparation in aqueous solution. The isocyanate then cannot be isolated because it immediately reacts with water to yield the corresponding amine. 

Acyl azides can undergo photolytic cleavage and rearrangement upon irradiation at room temperature or below. In that case acyl nitrenes 8 have been identified by trapping reactions and might be reactive intermediates in the photo Curtius rearrangement. However there is also evidence that the formation of isocyanates upon irradiation proceeds by a concerted reaction as in the case of the thermal procedure, and that the acyl nitrenes are formed by an alternative and competing pathway " ... 

Electrostatic potential maps of a typical amide (acetamide) and an acyl azide (acetyl azide) are shown. Which of the two do you think is more reactive in nucleophilic acyl substitution reactions Explain. 

Carboxylic acid derivatives can be converted into primary amines with loss of one carbon atom by both the Hofmann rearrangement and tire Curtius rearrangement. Although the Hofmann rearrangement involves a primary-amide and the Curtius rearrangement involves an acyl azide, both proceed through similar mechanisms. 

The Curtius rearrangement, like the Hofmann rearrangement, involve migration of an -R group from the G-O carbon atom to the neighboring nitro gen with simultaneous loss of a leaving group. The reaction takes place on heat ing an acyl azide that is itself prepared by nucleophilic acyl substitution of m acid chloride. 

Acyl azide, amines from, 935 Acyl carrier protein, function of, 1 140 Acyl cation, electrostatic potential map of, 558... 

Thermolysis of acyl azides and subsequent cyclization to give aziridines has been reported by Egli and Dreiding [39]. Heating of acylazide 34 (Scheme 3.11) in an autoclave afforded aziridine 35 in 74% yield [39]. 

Acid derivatives that can be converted to amides include thiol acids (RCOSH), thiol esters (RCOSR), ° acyloxyboranes [RCOB(OR )2]. silicic esters [(RCOO)4Si], 1,1,1-trihalo ketones (RCOCXa), a-keto nitriles, acyl azides, and non-enolizable ketones (see the Haller-Bauer reaction 12-31). A polymer-bound acyl derivative was converted to an amide using tributylvinyl tin, trifluoroacetic acid, AsPh3, and a palladium catalyst. The source of amine in this reaction was the polymer itself, which was an amide resin. 

Tertiary alkyl azides can be prepared by stirring tertiary alkyl chlorides with NaN3 and ZnCl2 in 82 ° or by treating tertiary alcohols with NaN3 and CF3-COOH or with HN3 andTiCl4 or BF3. Acyl azides, which can be used in the Curtius reaction (18-14), can be similarly prepared from acyl halides, anhydrides, " esters, or other acyl derivatives. ° Acyl azides can also be prepared... 

Formation of a Nitrene, The decomposition of acyl azides is one of several ways in which nitrenes are formed (see p. 253) ... 

The Curtius rearrangement involves the pyrolysis of acyl azides to yield isocy-anates. " The reaction gives good yields of isocyanates, since no water is present to... 

Rearrangement of acyl azides in the presence of water (Curtius)... 

The formation of the acyl azide may be followed by the growth of the 2130-cm. (—N=N=N) infrared absorption of concentrated dichloromethane extracts of aliquots removed from the reaction. 

Employing this method, enantioenriched phenol esters 68, amides 69, and carbamates 70 (after Curtius rearrangement of the intermediate acyl azide) were prepared in yields often greater than 90% with ee-values reaching up to 97% (generally 80-95%, see Fig. 37). 

The triazoles previously obtained from jS-keto-ylides and acyl azides or ethyl azidoformate are the 2-acyltriazoles (80) formed by isomerization under the basic conditions of the initially formed 1-substituted triazoles (79). The latter can be isolated in some cases if the reactions are interrupted. Aryl mono- and bis-azides have also been used in the preparation of the triazolcs (81). 

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