Azides, acyl rearrangement

CHAPTER 4 ALKYL AND ACYL AZIDE REARRANGEMENTS Scheme 4.1 Schmidt reaction. 

Aldehydes can also be precursors for the Curtius acyl azide rearrangement tScheme 4.24) Aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes can be converted to the corresponding acyl azides by treatment with iodine azide. Subsequent heating gave various carbamoyl azides in high yields. A radical pathway, proceeding by homolysis of the iodine-azide bond, was proposed. The resulting carbamoyl azides 65 are relevant precursors for the synthesis of amines or ureas, for example. 

The 4(4 -n.butyl phenylazo)phenylbutyric acid described earlier is easily converted to an acid chloride and thence to a wide variety of activated or activatable species, including acylazide, amine (by acyl azide rearrangement), diazoketone (with diazomethane), iodide (by Huns-diecker reaction) and alkene (by treatment with Wilkinson s catalyst). Alkenes are easily converted to silanes, so that this offers a direct route to a derivative of the type used by Sagiv in the work mentioned earlier. 

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. 

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). 

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 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 " ... 

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. 

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)... 

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). 

Section A of Scheme 10.15 contains a number of examples of Curtius rearrangements. Entry 1 is an example carried out in a nonnucleophilic solvent, permitting isolation of the isocyanate. Entries 2 and 3 involve isolation of the amine after hydrolysis of the isocyanate. In Entry 2, the dihydrazide intermediate is isolated as a solid and diazotized in aqueous solution, from which the amine is isolated as the dihydrochloride. Entry 3 is an example of the mixed anhydride procedure (see p. 948). The first stage of the reaction is carried out in acetone and the thermolysis of the acyl azide is done in refluxing toluene. The crude isocyanate is then hydrolyzed in acidic water. Entry 4 is a reaction that demonstrates the retention of configuration during rearrangement. 

The pyrido[l,2-tf][l,3,5]triazine-2,4(3//)-dione derivative 89 was obtained in a cycloaddition reaction of diphenyl-methyl isocyanate 90 with 2-pyridyl isocyanate 91 derived from the corresponding acyl azide via Curtius rearrangement <2002ARK438>. Compound 89 was also synthesized by the reaction of diphenylacetyl chloride 118 and picolinyl azide 116a in the presence of triethylamine (Scheme 11) <2002ARK438>. ... 

Spruce meal and beech blocks were modified by using a mixture of perfluoroalkyl ethanol and MDI. Improved dimensional stability and water repellency were reported (Engonga etal., 1999). In order to avoid the handling problems associated with the use of most isocyanates, the generation of isocyanates within the wood by thermal rearrangement of acyl azides has been studied (Gdrardin etal., 1995) (Figure 4.8). This is potentially a... 

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