Aldimines from acids

C. l-d-2-Methylbutanal. A 1-1. three-necked round-bottomed flask is equipped with a dropping funnel, a gas inlet tube for steam, and a Dean-Stark trap to which is attached a condenser through which acetone cooled to —15° is circulated (Note 15). A solution of 50.4 g. (0.40 mole) of oxalic acid dihydrate in 200 ml. of water is added to the flask, and the solution is heated at reflux. Steam is introduced into the flask, and when some begins to condense,in the Dean-Stark trap, the distilled aldimine from part B is added dropwise from the funnel. The aldehyde and water collect in the trap, and the water layer is periodically removed. After the distillation of the aldehyde is complete, the product is drained from the trap, and the water layer is separated... 

Formation of aldimines from propanal and octanal. To a stirred solution (0°C) of 10 mmol of the methoxyamine dissolved in 30 ml of benzene (CAUTION) (previously washed with concentrated sulphuric acid and distilled) is added 10 mmol of the pure aldehyde. An immediate cloudiness usually results. The mixture is allowed to warm to room temperature and c. 15 g of anhydrous sodium sulphate added. After stirring an additional 30-40 minutes, it is filtered and the sodium sulphate washed thoroughly with dry ether. The solvent is removed first with aspirator pressure and then with a vacuum pump (0.5 mm) to generally furnish 9.5-10 mmol of the aldimine as a colourless oil. The aldimines are dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (0.4 m) and stored at —20 to — 30 °C. Attempts to store the aldimines as neat liquids result in deterioration. The solutions of aldimines are conveniently transferred via a syringe to reaction vessels. 

With Aromatic Aldehydes. To a solution of 10.3 g (20 mmol) of 2,3,4,6-tetra O-pivaloyl-/ -i>galactopyra-nosylaminc in 50 rnL of /-PrOI 1 or heptane are added 30 mmol of the corresponding aromatic aldehyde and 30 drops of acetic acid. After 30 min to 2 h, the Schiff base precipitates from the /-PrOH solution. When the reaction is carried out in heptane, 2 g of Na2S04 or 3 g of 3 A molecular sieves are added after 15 min, and the mixture is filtered. On cooling to 0 °C the Schiff base crystallizes from the heptane solution. The aldimines are collected by filtration and rapidly washed with ice-cold /-PrOH or pentane, respectively. Generally, they are pure enough for further transformations. 

The fluoboric acid-catalyzed aza-Diels-Alder reaction of aldimine and Danishefsky s diene proceeds smoothly to afford dihydro-4-pyridones in high yields [90] (Equation 4.16). Unstable aldimines generated from aliphatic aldehydes can be prepared in situ and allowed to react under one-pot reaction conditions. This one-pot Bronsted acid-catalyzed three-component aza-Diels-Alder reaction affords the adducts in good to high yields. 

The preparation of optically active analogues of the natural amino acids has proven reasonable using the reaction of tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphite with chiral aldimines prepared from optically active amines.225 The asymmetric induction has been observed to be as high as 80%, a significant competitive process compared to the multistep approaches available.226227 An alternative one-step approach involving asymmetric induction upon addition to an aldimine derived from a chiral N-substituted urea provided a product with less desirable optical purity.228... 

Intramolecular addition of trialkylboranes to imines and related compounds have been reported and the main results are part of review articles [94, 95]. Addition of ethyl radicals generated from Et3B to aldimines affords the desired addition product in fair to good yield but low diaster control (Scheme 40, Eq. 40a) [96]. Similar reactions with aldoxime ethers [97], aldehyde hydrazones [97], and N-sulfonylaldimines [98] are reported. Radical addition to ketimines has been recently reported (Eq. 40b) [99]. Addition of triethylborane to 2H-azirine-3-carboxylate derivatives is reported [100]. Very recently, Somfai has extended this reaction to the addition of different alkyl radicals generated from trialkylboranes to a chiral ester of 2ff-azirine-3-carboxylate under Lewis acid activation with CuCl (Eq. 40c) [101]. 

The reversal of this process could potentially occur with reprotonation from either face of the C=N double bond, and a mixture of aldimines would result, leading to generation of a racemic amino acid. This accounts for the mode of action of PLP-dependent amino acid racemase enzymes. Of course, the enzyme controls removal and supply of protons this is not a random event. One important example of this reaction is alanine racemase, employed by bacteria to convert L-alanine into o-alanine for cell-wall synthesis (see Box 13.12). 

It is interesting to see how different products are formed according to which of the three different bonds is cleaved in the aldimine derived from an amino acid and PLP. There is one other point to ponder though. What determines the type of cleavage that occurs The answer must lie in the enzyme and... 

Furthermore, a highly efficient route to A-tert-butoxycarbonyl (Boc)-protected p-amino acids via the enantioselective addition of silyl ketene acetals to Al-Boc-aldimines catalyzed by thiourea catalyst 4 has been reported (Scheme 12.2)." From a steric and electronic standpoint, the A-Boc imine substrates used in this reaction are fundamentally different from the A-alkyl derivatives used in the Strecker reaction. 

Highly enantioselective Mannich-type reactions of A-(2-hydroxyphenyl) aldi-mines with ketene trimethylsilyl acetals and of A-Boc-aldimines with acetyl acetone or furan are catalyzed by chiral phosphonic acids 9 derived from 3,3 -diaryl-(l )-BlNOL and POCI3 (Scheme 12.7). ... 

The Akiyama group tested various BINOL phosphates 3 as catalysts for the indirect Mannich reaction of aldimines 8 derived from 2-aminophenol with silyl ketene acetals 9 (Scheme 4). All of these Brpnsted acids furnished P-amino ester 10a in (nearly) quantitative yields. Both the reaction rates (4-46 h) and the enantioselectivities (27-87% ee) were strongly dependent on the nature of the substituents at the 3,3 -positions. 

Two years later, Terada and coworkers described an asymmetric organocatalytic aza-ene-type reaction (Scheme 28) [50], BINOL phosphate (7 )-3m (0.1 mol%, R = 9-anthryl) bearing 9-anthryl substituents mediated the reaction of A-benzoylated aldimines 32 with enecarbamate 76 derived from acetophenone. Subsequent hydrolysis led to the formation of P-amino ketones 77 in good yields (53-97%) and excellent enantioselectivities (92-98% ee). A substrate/catalyst ratio of 1,000 1 has rarely been achieved in asymmetric Brpnsted acid catalysis before. 

In 2006, Akiyama and coworkers established an asymmetric Brpnsted acid-catalyzed aza-Diels-Alder reaction (Scheme 36) [59]. Chiral BINOL phosphate (R)-3o (5 mol%, R = 2,4,6- Pr3-CgH2) bearing 2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl groups mediated the cycloaddition of aldimines 94 derived from 2-amino-4-methylphenol with Danishefsky s diene 95 in the presence of 1.2 equivalents of acetic acid. Piperidinones 96 were obtained in good yields (72 to >99%) and enantioselectivi-ties (76-91% ee). While the addition of acetic acid (pK= 4.8) improved both the reactivity and the selectivity, the use of benzenesulfonic acid (pK= -6.5) as an additive increased the yield, but decreased the enantioselectivity. A strong achiral Brpnsted acid apparently competes with chiral phosphoric acid 3o for the activation of imine 94 and catalyzes a nonasymmetric hetero-Diels-Alder reaction. The role of acetic acid remains unclear. 

The same group expanded the scope of the aza-Diels-Alder reaction of electron-rich dienes to Brassard s diene 97 (Scheme 37) [60]. In contrast to Danishefsky s diene, it is more reactive, but less stable. Akiyama et al. found chiral BINOL phosphate (R)-3m (3 mol%, R = 9-anthryl) with 9-anthryl substituents to promote the [4 + 2] cycloaddition of A-arylated aldimines 94 and Brassard s diene 97. Subsequent treatment with benzoic acid led to the formation of piperidinones 98. Interestingly, the use of its pyridinium salt (3 mol%) resulted in a higher yield (87% instead of 72%) along with a comparable enantioselectivity (94% ee instead of 92% ee). This method furnished cycloadducts 98 derived from aromatic, heteroaromatic, a,P-unsaturated, and aliphatic precursors 94 in satisfactory yields (63-91%) and excellent enantioselectivities (92-99% ee). NMR studies revealed that Brassard s diene 97 is labile in the presence of phosphoric acid 3m (88% decomposition after 1 h), but comparatively stable in the presence of its pyridinium salt (25% decomposition after 1 h). This observation can be explained by the fact that the pyridinium salt is a weak Brpnsted acid compared to BINOL phosphate 3m. 

Examples of the Bronsted-acid catalysts and hydrogen-bond catalysts are shown in Figure 2.1. We have recently reported the Mannich-type reaction of ketene silyl acetals with aldimines derived from aromatic aldehyde catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid 7 (Figure 2.2, Scheme 2.6) [12]. The corresponding [5-amino esters were obtained with high syn-diastereoselectivities and excellent enantioselectivities. 

On the basis of the observed stereoinduction trend, the addition of HCN took place over the diaminocyclohexane portion of the catalyst away from the amino acid and amide unit. The last hypothesis led to the prediction that a more sterically demanding amino acid or amide unit (Figure 6.14) could additionally favor the cyanide attack compared to the less bulky diaminocyclohexane unit and thus making the Schiff base catalyst more enantioselective in Strecker reactions of aldimines and ketimines. To evaluate this perspechve, the authors performed a model-(mechanism-) driven systematic structure optimizations by stepwise modification of the amide, the amino acid, and the (thio)urea unit of catalyst 42 and examined these derivatives of 42 (lmol% loading ) in the model Strecker reaction (toluene ... 

Scheme 6.49 Typical Boc-protected 5-amino acid derivatives obtained from 48-catalyzed Mannich reactions of N-Boc-protected aldimines with silyl ketene acetal.

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