Amines carboxylic acid reduction

Nitriles are similar in some respects to carboxylic acids and are prepared either by SN2 reaction of an alkyl halide with cyanide ion or by dehydration of an amide. Nitriles undergo nucleophilic addition to the polar C=N bond in the same way that carbonyl compounds do. The most important reactions of nitriles are their hydrolysis to carboxylic acids, reduction to primary amines, and reaction with organometallic reagents to yield ketones. 

Reactions of Nitriles Nitriles undergo acidic or basic hydrolysis to amides, which may be further hydrolyzed to carboxylic acids. Reduction of a nitrile by lithium aluminum hydride gives a primary amine, and the reaction with a Grignard reagent gives an imine that hydrolyzes to a ketone. 

The partial hydrolysis of 4a with methanolic potassium hydroxide followed by selective carboxylic acid reduction with excess borane and treatment of the resulting monoalcohol with methanesulfonyl chloride affords methyl 4-0-methanesulfonyl-2,3-0-isopropylidene-L-threonate (43). Facile displacement of the mesylate with azide followed by ester hydrolysis and catalytic reduction to an amine provides 4-amino-4-deoxy-2,3-0-isopropylidene-L-threonic acid (44). Mild acidic deprotection and ion-exchange desalting of 44 yields (2i ,3 S)-4-amino-4-deoxy-L-threonic acid (45), which has been utilized for the preparation of anthopleurine 46, the alarm pheromone of the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima [4] (Scheme 11). 

The nitro group must be reduced to an amino group and cyclized onto the ketone or the carboxylic acid. Reductive amination (pp. 234-7 in the textbook) allows the amine to cyclize onto the more electrophilic ketone. 

The less hindered f/ans-olefins may be obtained by reduction with lithium or sodium metal in liquid ammonia or amine solvents (Birch reduction). This reagent, however, attacks most polar functional groups (except for carboxylic acids R.E.A. Dear, 1963 J. Fried, 1968), and their protection is necessary (see section 2.6). 

Converting aldehydes and ketones to cyanohydrins is of synthetic value for two reasons (1) a new carbon-carbon bond is formed and (2) the cyano group in the prod uct can be converted to a carboxylic acid function (CO2H) by hydrolysis (to be discussed in Section 19 12) or to an amine of the type CH2NH2 by reduction (to be discussed m Section 22 9)... 

Reduction of Carboxylic Acids to Alcohols. In addition to the nonsupported catalysts mentioned for the hydrogenation of amides to amines, mthenium and rhenium on alumina can be used to reduce carboxyHc acids to alcohols. The conditions for this reduction are somewhat more severe than for most other hydrogenation reactions and require higher temperatures, >150° C, and pressures, >5 MPa (725 psi) (55). Various solvents can be used including water. 

Among the most useful reactions of nitriles are hydrolysis to yield first an amide and then a carboxylic acid plus ammonia, reduction to yield an amine, and Grignard reaction to yield a ketone (Figure 20.3). 

Conversion of Amides into Amines Reduction Like other carboxylic acid derivatives, amides can be reduced by LiAlH.4. The product of the reduction, however, is an amine rather than an alcohol. The net effect of an amide reduction reaction is thus the conversion of the amide carbonyl group into a methylene group (C=0 —> CTbV This kind of reaction is specific for amides and does not occur with other carboxylic acid derivatives. 

The most common reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives are substitution by water (hydrolysis) to yield an acid, by an alcohol (alcoholysis) to yield an ester, by an amine (aminolysis) to yield an amide, by hydride ion to yield an alcohol (reduction), and by an organometallic reagent to yield an alcohol (Grignard reaction). 

We ve already seen in Sections 20.7 and 21.7 how amines can be prepared by reduction of nitriles and amides with LiAlH4. The two-step sequence of 5 2 displacement with C followed by reduction thus converts an alkyl halide into a primary alkylamine having one more carbon atom. Amide reduction converts carboxylic acids and their derivatives into amines with the same number of carbon atoms. 

Notable examples of general synthetic procedures in Volume 47 include the synthesis of aromatic aldehydes (from dichloro-methyl methyl ether), aliphatic aldehydes (from alkyl halides and trimethylamine oxide and by oxidation of alcohols using dimethyl sulfoxide, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, and pyridinum trifluoro-acetate the latter method is particularly useful since the conditions are so mild), carbethoxycycloalkanones (from sodium hydride, diethyl carbonate, and the cycloalkanone), m-dialkylbenzenes (from the />-isomer by isomerization with hydrogen fluoride and boron trifluoride), and the deamination of amines (by conversion to the nitrosoamide and thermolysis to the ester). Other general methods are represented by the synthesis of 1 J-difluoroolefins (from sodium chlorodifluoroacetate, triphenyl phosphine, and an aldehyde or ketone), the nitration of aromatic rings (with ni-tronium tetrafluoroborate), the reductive methylation of aromatic nitro compounds (with formaldehyde and hydrogen), the synthesis of dialkyl ketones (from carboxylic acids and iron powder), and the preparation of 1-substituted cyclopropanols (from the condensation of a 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol derivative and ethyl-... 

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