Acyl azides from acid chlorides

Scheme 3,42 Acyl azides from acid chlorides ...

It should be mentioned at this stage that instead of acyl chlorides, mixed anhydrides may also be used for the synthesis of acyl azides. From carboxylic acids and chloroformates/triethylamine, mixed anhydrides are formed, which can directly react with azide ions. Sterically hindered acids fail in this procedure (equation 31)." " The similar synthesis of /-butyl azidoformate by reaction of /-butylcarbonic diethylphosphoric anhydride with KN3 is described in Organic Syntheses. ... 

V-Dimethylchlorosulfitomethaniminium chloride (54), prepared from thionyl chloride and dimethyl-formamide, together with sodium azide is useful for the direct preparation of acyl azides from carboxylic acids (equation 35). ... 

Warren, J. D., Press, J. B. Trimethylsilylazide/KN3/18-crown-6. Formation and Curtius rearrangement of acyl azides from unreactive acid chlorides. Synth. Commun. 1980, 10, 107-110. 

Acyl Azides from Mixed Acid Chlorides... 

Bandgar et al. reported a general route for the synthesis of acyl azides from aryl, heteroaryl, alkylaryl and alkyl acids with cyanuric chloride (297) in the presence of sodium azide and (V-methylmorpholine. Acid activation can also be achieved using triphosgene. In fact, aromatic and aliphatic carboxylic acids react with triphosgene in the presence of sodium azide and triethylamine giving acyl azides in good yield (e.g. synthesis of 301). 

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. 

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. 

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