Addition reactions to imines

Amberlyst 15 DRY, a sulfonic cation exchange resin with a large surface area, was found to catalyze the imino aldol reaction of imines with ketene silyl acetals to provide racemic y9-amino esters in yields up to 99% [104]. 

The polymer-bound catalyst was recyclable by filtration and showed just slightly decreased activity when reused. Catalyst (33) also promotes asymmetric Reissert-type reactions [106]. 

---

Chiral phosphoric acids powerful organocatalysts for asymmetric addition reactions to imines (S. J. Connon, 2006) [5a]. 

These highly enantioselective Lewis-acid/Lewis-base-catalyzed dialkylzinc and phenylzinc addition reactions to imines give rise to arylalkylamides and diaryl-methylamides in excellent yields and enantioselectivities. Due to the simplicity of the process and the good availability of the imine precursors 23 from the corresponding aldehydes, wide applicability of the reported catalytic reaction can be expected. 

The development of organozinc addition reactions to imines and imine derivatives has been somewhat limited by both the poor electrophilicity of the azomethine carbon and the low reactivity of organozinc reagents. 

Kobayashi et al. found that lanthanide triflates were excellent catalysts for activation of C-N double bonds —activation by other Lewis acids required more than stoichiometric amounts of the acids. Examples were aza Diels-Alder reactions, the Man-nich-type reaction of A-(a-aminoalkyl)benzotriazoles with silyl enol ethers, the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrones to alkenes, the 1,2-cycloaddition of diazoesters to imines, and the nucleophilic addition reactions to imines [24], These reactions are efficiently catalyzed by Yb(OTf)3. The arylimines reacted with Danishefsky s diene to give the dihydropyridones (Eq. 14) [25,26], The arylimines acted as the azadienes when reacted with cyclopentadiene, vinyl ethers or vinyl thioethers, providing the tet-rahydroquinolines (Eq. 15). Silyl enol ethers derived from esters, ketones, and thio-esters reacted with N-(a-aminoalkyl)benzotriazoles to give the /5-amino carbonyl compounds (Eq. 16) [27]. The diastereoselectivity was independent of the geometry of the silyl enol ethers, and favored the anti products. Nitrones, prepared in situ from aldehydes and N-substituted hydroxylamines, added to alkenes to afford isoxazoli-dines (Eq. 17) [28]. Addition of diazoesters to imines afforded CK-aziridines as the major products (Eq. 18) [29]. In all the reactions the imines could be generated in situ and the three-component coupling reactions proceeded smoothly in one pot. 

Figure 7.1 Nucleophilic addition reactions to imines and iminium ions.

Since alkenes are relatively impotent precursors to aziridines, especially with regard to stereoselective reactions, substantially greater advances have been made in this field by means of the addition reactions between imines and a range of car-bene equivalents. 

The addition of terminal acetylenes to imines is an important reaction because of the importance of these products as building blocks. Conventionally, the addition reaction shown in Scheme 5.2 is performed with stoichiometric amounts of butyllithium in a step that is, separate from the subsequent nucleophilic addition reaction (see (b)). Carreira has recently developed a procedure that utilizes an iridium catalyst to effect the addition reaction to a wide range of aldimines and ketimines (see (a)). ... 

Nitrones have a more reactive C=N bond toward nucleophilic addition compared to imines. In spite of this fact, there have been only a limited number of studies on the nucleophilic addition reactions of nitrones, particularly organometallic reagents.352-355 During the last decade, research related to reactions of nitrones with zinc-containing reagents was essentially focused on (i) dialkylzinc-assisted alkynylations356-358 and vinylations359 of nitrones, (ii) catalytic asymmetric nucleophilic additions to the C=N bond,360-364 and (iii) nitrone allylations by allylzinc halides.365,366... 

Beak and coworkers found the (—)-sparteine-complex of iV-Boc-Af-(p-methoxyphe-nyl)benzyllithium 244, obtained from 243 by deprotonation with n-BuLi/(—)-sparteine (11) in toluene, to be configurationally stable (equation 57) . On trapping 244 with different electrophiles, the substitution products 245 are formed with high ee. Efficient addition reactions with imines and aldehydes have also been reported. The p-methoxyphenyl residue is conveniently removed by treatment with cerinm ammoninm nitrate (CAN). 

Stereoselective addition to carbonyl groups is a powerful tool in organic synthesis and has received a great deal of attention. Addition to imines can be equally as powerful, but has received much less attention. Denmark and co-workers first introduced the use of bis(oxazoline) ligands in the addition reactions of imines.The most successful ligand has been the modified bu-box ligand 182. This ligand was used both stoichiometrically and catalytically in the reaction between various imines and several alkyllithium species. Selected examples are summarized in Table 9.32 (Fig. 9.54). 

Among addition reactions of imines, malonate esters have been added to dihydroiso-quinolines (27) at C(l), to give the corresponding tetrahydro derivatives in high ee,74 and enantiopure aromatic sulfoxides (prepared by o-dircctcd metallation) have been added enantioselectively to imines.75... 

The reactions of ketone dilithio ,/i-dianions with imines and hydrazones have been investigated.77 The nucleophilic addition reaction to C—N double bonds took place selectively at the -position of dianions to form lithium (Z)-enolates containing a lithium amide portion, which is then transformed into y-amino ketones and related compounds by the subsequent reaction with electrophiles. 

Early examples of intramolecular aryl radical addition reactions to heteroatom containing multiple bonds included cyclizations on N=N and C=S moieties [52, 53]. Recently, cyclizations to imines have been used as part of a new enantio-selective approach to indolines (Scheme 8). In the first step of the sequence, the required ketimines 19 were obtained by phase-transfer catalyzed alkylation of 2-bromobenzyl bromides 20 with glycinyl imines 21 in the presence of a cincho-nidinium salt [54], Due to the favorable substitution pattern on the imine moiety of 19, the tributyltin hydride mediated radical cyclization to 22 occurred exclusively in the 5-exo mode. The indoline synthesis can therefore also be classified as a radical amination. 

Coordination of the Lewis acid zinc(II) chloride to glycosyl imines has strong influence on the stereodifferentiation in nucleophilic addition reactions to these imines (see Scheme 3). 

Apart from the addition reaction to electrophilic olefins, the / -carbon atom of 1,1-enediamines can also substitute a,/ -unsaturated compounds carrying a leaving group. Schafer and Gewald129 have shown that 141 and 142 react with 143 to give product 144 in moderate to good yields (equation 54). Ketene dithioacetals derived from an alkyl cyanoacetate and malononitrile behave similarly to 143130. When imine 145 is employed, the reaction results in the formation of 146 (equation 55)129. Apparently displacement of ethoxy group and cyclocondensation by attack on the nitrile moiety are the key steps in the reaction. 

Even the very efficient enantioselective catalysts used in organozinc addition reactions to carbonyl compounds failed to catalyze the corresponding addition reactions to nonactivated imines such as A-silyl-, A-phenyl-, or iV-benzyl-imines. However, enantioselective additions of diaUcylzinc compounds to more activated imines, like iV-acyl- or iV-phosphinoyl-imines, in the presence of catalytic or stoichiometric amounts of chiral (see Chiral) aminoalcohols, have been recently reported. For example, in presence of 1 equiv of (A,A-dibutylnorephedrine) (DBNE) diethylzinc reacts with masked A-acyl imines like A-(amidobenzyl)benzotriazoles, to give chiral A-(l-phenylpropyl)amides with up to 76% e.e. (equation 68). 

Several addition reactions to C=N groups have been developed in recent years with a high synthetic potential but with no commercial use so far [12 zb]. The addition reaction of (MeO)2PHO to cyclic imines (58-60), an interesting method for the preparation of a-amino phosphonic acids, seems to be an exception [46]. While ee values of the heterobimetallic catalyst (cf. Section 3.1.5) are very high, TON and TOP values are relatively low. 

Muller and coworkers have recently developed a coupling-isomerization reaction, initially identified as a side reaction which occurred under standard Sonogashira conditions [79]. As demonstrated below, the coupling reaction is followed by a shuffling of oxidation states via an alkyne-allene isomerization [80]. The product, a,P-unsaturated ketone 146, is reminiscent of a product which would be obtained from a Heck reaction. The utility of this reaction was further demonstrated when diamine 147 was added to the reaction pot. Following a conjugate addition reaction and imine formation, compound 148 resulted from the three-component, one-pot reaction sequence enabled by the coupling-isomerization reaction. 

Nitrenes undergo addition reactions to neutral nucleophiles.60 51 Accordingly, they add to the nitrogen atom of pyridines, forming iV-imines. This method of preparation was described first by Curtius et a/.62-66 They heated aromatic sulfonyl azides in pyridine and obtained various A-sul-fonylimines [Eq. (5) ] the structures of which were not at that time recognized. They formulated sulfonyl nitrenes as intermediates in this reaction. 

Scheme 19. Bertrand s radical addition reaction to glyoxylate imines...

Trialkyl phosphites were evaluated for addition reactions to a,P-unsaturated imines (170). Tandem 1,4- and 1,2-additions occurred in an acidic medium providing 3-phosphonyl-l-aminophosphonates (171) that are glutamate analogues. The reaction is supplementary to the method previously reported using dialkyl trimethylsUyl... 

---