Amination of Boriozirconocene Complexes

The use of organozirconium compounds as carbanion equivalents is greatly facilitated by trans metallations to the more reactive aluminum [11,100], copper [104—106], nickel [96—98], and palladium [99] derivatives. Copper-catalyzed carbon—carbon bond-forming reactions of alkyl- and alkenylzirconocene compounds have been particularly well studied, and have found considerable application in organic synthesis [107,108]. 

The amination of styrene, however, led to two products (1 -phenyl- 1-ethylamine and 2-phenyl-l-ethylamine) in a 1 3 ratio [113], indicating that the hydrozirconation was not completely regioselective [114,115], Since it is well known that hydrozirconation of trisubsti-tuted alkenes places zirconium at the least hindered carbon of the chain by a process involving zirconium migration, this class of alkenes was not investigated [5,116], On the other hand, hydrozirconation/amination of 3-methyl-l,2-butadiene gave an allylic amine. Reaction of the latter could either occur at the terminal carbon or proceed with 

Compound 51 was found to be unstable and difficult to purify, as described in the literature [93—95]. Therefore, 51 was not isolated, but was instead converted to the stable pinacol 1-acetamido-l-hexylboronate derivative 52. However, the acylated derivative 52 could not be purified by column chromatography as it was destroyed on silica gel and partially decomposed on alumina. Fortunately, we found that it dissolves in basic aqueous solution (pH 11) and can then be extracted into diethyl ether when the pH of the aqueous layer is 5—6. Finally, pure 52 was obtained by repeated washing with weak acids and bases. It should be mentioned here that exposure to a strongly acidic solution, which also dissolves compound 51, results in its decomposition. Compared with other routes, the present two-step method involves mild reaction conditions (THF, ambient temperature) and a simple work-up procedure. It should prove very useful in providing an alternative access to a-aminoboronic esters, an important class of inhibitors of serine proteases. 

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