Alkynes in the synthesis

Among the simplest syntheses of this type are those of tetrahydro-quinolines or -iso-quinolines based on Friedel-Crafts cyclizations. The use of side-chain halides is shown by the synthesis of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines (158) (71CC799), and of 3,4-dihydroquinol-2-ones (159) (27CB858). Electrophilic carbon atoms can be developed from secondary or tertiary alcohols, or from alkenes or alkynes. In the synthesis of the tetrahydroisoquinoline... 

The difficulty in trying to forecast which way round a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition will go is well illustrated when a substituted azide adds to an alkyne in the synthesis of 1,2,3-triazolcs. Reaction of an alkyl azide with an unsymmetrical alkyne, having an electron-withdrawing group at one end and an alkyl group at the other, gives mostly a single triazole. 

Transition metal-catalized reactions of alkynes in the synthesis of fu-ranones and furandiones 88CRV1081. 

As an example of the use of alkynes in the synthesis of non-natural products, Hubert and Hubert have synthesized the novel bicyclic macrocycle (29) by high dilution treatment of the tris alkynide (27) with the tribromide (28). 

Scheme 38 Transition-metal catalyzed hydroalkoxylation of internal alkynes in the synthesis of spiroacetals...

Sulfitation and Bisulfitation of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons. Sulfites and bisulfites react with compounds such as olefins, epoxides, aldehydes, ketones, alkynes, a2iridines, and episulftdes to give aHphatic sulfonates or hydroxysulfonates. These compounds can be used as intermediates in the synthesis of a variety of organic compounds. 

An unexpected varying regiochemistry in intramolecular benzannulation has also been observed in the synthesis of cyclophanes. As mentioned above, there are only two possible regiochemical outcomes in the benzannulation reaction, which differ in the direction of alkyne incorporation. / -Tethered vinyl-carbene chromium complexes undergo an intramolecular benzannulation reaction with incorporation of the tethered alkyne with normal regioselectivity to give meta-cyclophanes [28]. 

This photodriven benzannulation was used in the synthesis of indolocar-bazoles (Eq. 22) [96] and calphostins (Eq. 23) [97]. The thermal insertion of isonitriles into these same classes of carbenes provided a complementary approach to similar benzannulations [98-100]. Manganese alkoxycarbene complexes underwent both inter- [101] and intramolecular [102] photodriven benzannulation reactions with alkynes (Eqs. 24 and 25). 

Indolones and isoindolones have been utilised in the synthesis of fused azepine derivatives. In the one reaction, rearrangement of the alkynes 18 to 2-benzazepine-l,5-diones 19 in the presence of Lewis acids has been reported <96XL393>. Xhe yields vary from moderate to very good. Xricyclic azepines 20 are obtained by the reaction of the 4-[2 -(p-toluenesulfonyloxy)ethyl]-2-oxindole with imines <96JHC209>. 

The cycloaddition of alkynes and alkenes to nitrile oxides has been used in the synthesis of functionalised azepine systems <96JHC259>, <96T5739>. The concomitantly formed isoxazole (dihydroisoxazole) ring is cleaved by reduction in the usual way. Other routes to 1-benzazepines include intramolecular amidoalkylation <96SC2241> and intramolecular palladium-catalysed aryl amination and aryl amidation <96T7525>. Spiro-substituted 2-benzazepines have been prepared by phenolic oxidation (Scheme 5) <96JOC5857> and the same method has been applied to the synthesis of dibenzazepines <96CC1481>. 

NHC-Pd(ll) complexes have also been used in tandem reactions involving a Sonogashira couphng and hydroalkoxylation of the resulting alkyne for the synthesis of benzofurans [131] as well as sequential Heck-Sonogashira couphngs [132] (Scheme 6.44). 

A Cp2ZrCl2-catalyzed addition of Bu2AlH to terminal alkynes has been applied in the synthesis of (E)-vinyl phosphonates [84]. 1-Hexyne and 1-octyne were hydroalu-minated at 0°C and the resulting vinylalanes transformed into the respective alumi-nate complexes by treatment with methyllithium. Subsequent addition of oxaza-phospholidinone 79, derived from (-)-ephedrine, lead to the homochiral vinyl phosphonates in yields of ca. 75% (Scheme 2-23). 

Catalytic hydration and alcoholation of unsaturated compounds such as alkenes or alkynes would be a high value-adding step in the synthesis of compounds of complicated structure as well as in the large-scale production of industrially useful simple compounds. The activation of the O-H bond of water, alcohol, or carboxylic acid by transihon metals is relevant to a variety of such catalytic processes. 

Alkyne-nitrile cyclotrimerization is a powerful synthetic methodology for the synthesis of complex heterocyclic aromatic molecules.118 Recently, Fatland et al. developed an aqueous alkyne-nitrile cyclotrimerization of one nitrile with two alkynes for the synthesis of highly functionalized pyridines by a water-soluble cobalt catalyst (Eq. 4.62). The reaction was chemospecific and several different functional groups such as unprotected alcohols, ketones, and amines were compatible with the reaction.119 In addition, photocatalyzed [2+2+2] alkyne or alkyne-nitrile cyclotrimerization in water120 and cyclotrimerization in supercritical H2O110121 have been reported in recent years. 

A similar approach was used by the Alcaide group [183] in the synthesis of tricyclic (3-lactams 6/1-391 from 6/1-390 (Scheme 6/1.99). In this domino process the primarily obtained it-allyl-Pd-complex reacts with the N-nucleophile of the urethane moiety to form a C-N-bond and a vinyl halide. The final step is then an intramolecular Heck-type reaction of the vinyl halide with the alkyne moiety and re-... 

Kitching employed the titanium (Il)-based czs-reduction of alkynes in their synthesis of (3 ,8Z,llZ)-3,8,ll-tetradecatrienyl acetate (9), the pheromone of the moth Scrobipalpuloides absoluta as shown in Scheme 15 [15]. 

The utilization of solid-support pyridinium salts in the synthesis of bicyclic pyridines has been reported. Yue et al. synthesized 1,2,3,7-tetrasubstituted indolizines using poly(ethyleneglycol)bound pyridinium salts <06JHC781>. The PEG-bound pyridinium salts 53 were reacted with alkenes or alkynes in the presence of Et3N, via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, to give polymer-bound indolizines 54 and 55, respectively. Liberation of the heterocycle with KCN/MeOH afforded 1,2,3,7-tetrasubstituted indolizines 56 and 57 in good to excellent yield. 

Similarly, Yli-Kauhaluoma and co-workers have studied the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of polymer-bound alkynes to azomethine imines, generated in situ from A-ami nopyridine iodides, in the synthesis of pyrazolopyridines <06JCC344>. 

Donor-free gold(i) alkynyls play an important role as precursors in the synthesis of related complexes. The compounds are generally prepared from the alkyne, a gold(i) compound with ligands L, which are readily displaced, and a base (Equations (10) and (11)). 

Otera and coworkers developed an alternative procedure to the Julia method for generating dienes or alkynes in the same reaction by the double elimination of /J-acetoxy or /1-alkoxy sulphones with potassium /-butoxide (equation 58)98,99. The reaction pathway leading to the diene or an alkyne depends on the substrate structure and the reaction conditions. If an allylic hydrogen is present in the substrate then diene is formed, otherwise, the alkyne is the product of the reaction. This modified Julia methodology has een applied to the synthesis of vitamin A (equation 59)100, alkaloids piperine (equation and trichonine (equation 61)102. 

Addition of a boron-boron bond across a carbon-carbon triple bond is known for some 40 years since the finding that diboron tetrahalides add to alkenes and alkynes in the absence of catalysts.36 Although the reaction seemed to be potentially attractive, the instability of diboron tetrahalides was the critical drawback for the practical use in synthesis. In 1993, much more stable pinacol ester derivative of diboron was found to add to alkynes in the presence of platinum catalysts such as Pt(PPh3)4, Pt(CH2=CH2)(PPh3)2, and Pt(CO)2(PPh3)2 (Figure 1, Scheme 2).37,38 Other... 

The robustness and excellent turnover numbers of platinum complexes with terminal alkynes have made it the catalyst of choice for the synthesis of polymers and other macromolecular architechtures. Alkyne hydrosilylation with platinum has also served as a key element in the synthesis of dendrimers. Sequential reaction of an alkyne with HSiMeCl2 and lithiated phenylacetylene afforded the branching unit of a dendrimer synthesis which has been used to afford a large variety of structures at high generation.44,4411 441 ... 

Advantage has been taken of the aforementioned observations in the synthesis of a terthiophene natural product, arctic acid (147) [123]. Pd-catalyzed carbonylation of bromobisthiophene 25, obtained from the Kumada coupling of 2-thienylmagnesium bromide and 2,5-dibromothiophene, gave bithiophene ester 144, which was converted to iodide 145 by reaction with iodine and yellow mercuric oxide. Subsequent propynylation of 145 was then realized using the Sonogashira reaction with prop-l-yne to give bisthienyl alkyne 146, which was subsequently hydrolyzed to 5 -(l-propynyl)-2,2 -bithienyl-5-carboxylic acid (147), a natural product isolated from the root of Arctium lappa. 

In the late 1970s, Kirchhoff at Dow Chemical Company developed the use of benzocyclobutenes in polymer synthesis and modification. These efforts culminated in 1985 with the issuance of the first patent describing the use of benzocyclobutene in the synthesis of high-molecular-weight polymer.27 Similar work that involved a thermosetting system based on Diels-Alder cycloaddition between terminal benzocyclobutene and alkyne groups,28,29 was reported separately and independently by Tan and Arnold.28 Since these initial discoveries, the field of benzocyclobutene polymers has expanded rapidly and benzocyclobutene chemistry constitutes the basis of a new and versatile approach to the synthesis of high-performance polymers for applications in the electronics and aerospace industries.30... 

Allenylcobaloximes, e.g. 26, react with bromotrichloromethane, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroacetonitrile, methyl trichloroacetate and bromoform to afford functionalized terminal alkynes in synthetically useful yields (Scheme 11.10). The nature of the products formed in this transformation points to a y-specific attack of polyhaloethyl radicals to the allenyl group, with either a concerted or a stepwise formation of coba-loxime(II) 27 and the substituted alkyne [62, 63]. Cobalt(II) radical 27 abstracts a bromine atom (from BrCCl3) or a chlorine atom (e.g. from C13CCN), which leads to a regeneration of the chain-carrying radical. It is worth mentioning that the reverse reaction, i.e. the addition of alkyl radicals to stannylmethyl-substituted alkynes, has been applied in the synthesis of, e.g., allenyl-substituted thymidine derivatives [64],... 

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