Amines Curtius rearrangement

In these cases the acyl azides formed have been used to prepare amines via Curtius rearrangement. The acyl chloride or azide intermediates can. however, also be reacted with amines or alcohols to form amides or esters. 

If primary or secondary amines are used, A/-substituted amides are formed. This reaction is called aminolysis. Hydra2ines yield the corresponding hydra2ides, which can then be treated with nitrous acid to form the a2ides used in the Curtius rearrangement. Hydroxylamines give hydroxamic acids. 

The Curtius rearrangement can be catalyzed by Lewis acids or protic acids, but good yields are often obtained also without a catalyst. From reaction in an inert solvent (e.g. benzene, chloroform) in the absence of water, the isocyanate can be isolated, while in aqueous solution the amine is formed. Highly reactive acyl azides may suffer loss of nitrogen and rearrange already during preparation in aqueous solution. The isocyanate then cannot be isolated because it immediately reacts with water to yield the corresponding amine. 

An isocyanate 2 formed by a Curtius rearrangement can undergo various subsequent reactions, depending on the reaction conditions. In aqueous solution the isocyanate reacts with water to give a carbaminic acid 6, which immediately decarboxylates to yield an amine 3. When alcohol is used as solvent, the isocyanate reacts to a carbamate 7 ... 

Carboxylic acid derivatives can be converted into primary amines with loss of one carbon atom by both the Hofmann rearrangement and tire Curtius rearrangement. Although the Hofmann rearrangement involves a primary-amide and the Curtius rearrangement involves an acyl azide, both proceed through similar mechanisms. 

Problem 24,13 How would you prepare the following amines, using both Hofmann and Curtius rearrangements on a carboxjdic acid derivative ... 

Curtius rearrangement, 933 diazotization reaction, 941 Gabriel amine synthesis, 929 heterocycle, 945... 

Curtius rearrangement (Section 24.6) The conversion of an acid chloride into an amine by reaction with azide ion, followed by heating with water. 

The methyl ester 2 can be converted into the trithiatriazepinamine 12 via the hydrazide 9. Nitrosation gives the azide 10. which undergoes a Curtius rearrangement to the isocyanate 11, which is not isolated but hydrolyzed in situ to the amine 12.418... 

The actual product of the reaction is thus the ketene, which then reacts with water (15-3), an alcohol (15-5), or ammonia or an amine (15-8). Particularly stable ketenes (e.g., Ph2C=C=0) have been isolated and others have been trapped in other ways (e.g., as P-lactams, 16-64). The purpose of the catalyst is not well understood, though many suggestions have been made. This mechanism is strictly analogous to that of the Curtius rearrangement (18-14). Although the mechanism as shown above involves a free carbene and there is much evidence to support this, it is also possible that at least in some cases the two steps are concerted and a free carbene is absent. 

Section A of Scheme 10.15 contains a number of examples of Curtius rearrangements. Entry 1 is an example carried out in a nonnucleophilic solvent, permitting isolation of the isocyanate. Entries 2 and 3 involve isolation of the amine after hydrolysis of the isocyanate. In Entry 2, the dihydrazide intermediate is isolated as a solid and diazotized in aqueous solution, from which the amine is isolated as the dihydrochloride. Entry 3 is an example of the mixed anhydride procedure (see p. 948). The first stage of the reaction is carried out in acetone and the thermolysis of the acyl azide is done in refluxing toluene. The crude isocyanate is then hydrolyzed in acidic water. Entry 4 is a reaction that demonstrates the retention of configuration during rearrangement. 

The carboxylic acid group is converted by CDI and sodium azide into an acid azide, which via a Curtius rearrangement gives the corresponding amine.[135a3... 

There are two rearrangements that do not involve ring opening. The azides 285 undergo Curtius rearrangement on heating in dioxane the amine is formed, in acetic anhydride the Af-acetylamine.72 The acid chloride 286 is reported to be converted to the mesoionic compound 287 when treated with acetic acid and triethylamine at room temperature.263... 

The Curtius rearrangement provides a route to carbamates of a-amino sulfonamides (Scheme 25). 108 Reaction of the ethyl ester of an a-bromo acid 52 with Na2S03 yielded the sodium salt of the corresponding sulfonic acid 53. Treatment of 53 with PQ5 afforded the sulfonyl chloride 54 which on reaction with an amine gave the sulfonamide 55. The latter... 

The use of acyl azides in the preparation of amines by the Curtius rearrangement has been discussed previously (Section 23-12E). Alkyl azides can be reduced readily by lithium aluminum hydride to amines and, if a pure primary amine is desired, the sequence halide — azide — amine may give as good or better results than does the Gabriel synthesis (Section 23-9D). 

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