Alkyl nitrites with amines

Doyle et al. (1977 c) and Oae et al. (1980) reported modified Meerwein arylations with significant improvements in the yield by the use of aryl amines and alkyl nitrites in place of arenediazonium salts. However, good yields are only achieved if alkenes activated by electron-withdrawing groups are present. 

Other compounds with nitrogen-nitrogen bonds have been used instead of diazonium salts. Among these are N-nitroso amides [ArN(NO)COR], triazenes, and azo compounds. Still another method involves treatment of an aromatic primary amine directly with an alkyl nitrite in an aromatic substrate as solvent. ... 

Primary, secondary, and tertiary aliphatic amines have been cleaved to give aldehydes, ketones, or carboxylic acids with aqueous bromine and with neutral permanganate. The other product of this reaction is the amine with one less alkyl group. In a different type of procedure, primary alkyl primary amines can be converted to ge/n-dihalides, RCH2NH2 —> RCHX2 (X =Br or Cl), by treatment with an alkyl nitrite and the anhydrous copper(I) halide. 

Alkyl nitrites can also be used in anhydrous media and, for example, 4-hydroxyben-zenediazonium tetrafluoroborate is isolated in 89% yield after diazotization with isopcntyl nitrite, hydrogen fluoride and boron trifluoride in ethanol/diethyl ether.96 Diazotization can also be performed in dichloromethane or ethers (diethyl ether, tetrahydrofuran, 1,2-dimethoxyethane) with terl-butyl nitrite and boron trifluoride-diethyl ether complex which generates nitrosyl fluoride in situ.229 Excess boron trifluoride is used to trap water and tert-butyl alcohol, so that the reaction can be considered as being performed under complete anhydrous conditions. Yields are higher in dichloromethane, but 1,2-dimethoxyethane is preferred for less soluble amines. This procedure has been successfully applied to the synthesis of mono-and difluorobenzo[c]phcnanthrenes.230... 

It has been found possible (K. A. Hofmann and Zedtwitz [5]) to obtain the esters of perchloric acid by treating alcohols with nitrosyl perchlorate, N0C104-H20. Nitrosyl perchlorate is a stable, crystalline substance that reacts explosively on contact with aromatic amines. In the presence of alcohol the perchlorate and alkyl nitrite are produced. 

Acetals result from oxidative coupling of alcohols with electron-poor terminal olefins followed by a second, redox-neutral addition of alcohol [11-13]. Acrylonitrile (41) is converted to 3,3-dimethoxypropionitrile (42), an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of thiamin (vitamin Bl), by use of an alkyl nitrite oxidant [57]. A stereoselective acetalization was performed with methacrylates 43 to yield 44 with variable de [58]. Rare examples of intermolecular acetalization with nonactivated olefins are observed with chelating allyl and homoallyl amines and thioethers (45, give acetals 46) [46]. As opposed to intermolecular acetalizations, the intramolecular variety do not require activated olefins, but a suitable spatial relationship of hydroxy groups and the alkene[13]. Thus, Wacker oxidation of enediol 47 gave bicyclic acetal 48 as a precursor of a fluorinated analogue of the pheromone fron-talin[59]. 

When primary amines are treated with nitrous acid (HONO), or more usually with a nitrite salt or an alkyl nitrite in acid solution, an unstable diazonium salt is formed. You met diazonium salts in Chapter 22 undergoing coupling reactions to give azo compounds, but they can do other things as well. First, a reminder of the mechanism of formation of these diazonium salts. The very first stage is the formation of the reactive species NO+. 

Until recently most of the mechanistic studies on nitrosation have been concerned with N-nitrosation reactions of amines, including the diazotisation reactions of primary amines. Now, work has been extended to include both O- and S-nitrosation, so that comparisons can be made. Mechanistic studies have also been extended in recent years to include reactions of nitrogen oxides, nitrosamines, alkyl nitrites, thionitrites and transition metal nitrosyl complexes. Many of these reactions have been used preparatively for a long time, but little has been known about their detailed reaction mechanisms. 

Many diazonium salts are unstable and must be handled with care, preferably in solution rather than in the dry state. Procedures have been perfected for making stabilized diazonium salts, which can be isolated and dried. If a solid non-stabilized diazonium salt is desired, an alcoholic solution of the amine salt is treated with an alkyl nitrite, and the product is crystallized or precipitated with ether. Glacial acetic acid and dioxane may also be employed as solvents. ... 

The thiazolyl radicals are, in comparison to the phenyl radical, electrophilic as shown by isomer ratios obtained in reaction with different aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds. Sources of thiazolyl radicals are few the corresponding peroxide and 2-thiazolylhydrazine (202, 209, 210) (see Table III-34) are convenient reagents, and it is the reaction of an alkyl nitrite (isoamyl) on the corresponding (2-, 4-, or 5-) amine that is most commonly used to produce thiazolyl radicals (203-206). The yields of substituted thiazole are around 40%. These results are summarized in Tables III-35 and ni-36. 

A general method of replacement of the primary aromatic amino group by hydrogen is reduction of aromatic diazonium salts, prepared by diazotization, typically by treatment of the primary amine or its salts with sodium or potassium nitrite in strongly acidic aqueous media. Conversion to the diazonium salts may also be accomplished in nonaqueous media using acetic acid, or using alkyl nitrites (equation 86). Most diazonium salts decompose at temperatures above 0-5 C. Only certain salts such as naphthalene-1,5-sulfonates,tetrafluoroborates ° ° and hexafluorophosphates ° ° are stable at room temperature. 

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