Amino acids from nucleophilic substitution reactions

Nucleophilic substitution by ammonia on a-halo acids (Section 19.16) The a-halo acids obtained by halogenation of carboxylic acids under conditions of the Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky reaction are reactive substrates in nucleophilic substitution processes. A standard method for the preparation of a-amino acids is displacement of halide from a-halo acids by nucleophilic substitution using excess aqueous ammonia. 

The indan-based a-amino acid derivatives can be synthesized by PTC. Kotha and Brahmachary [11] indicated that solid-liquid PTC is an attractive method that offered an effective way of preparing optically active products by chiral PTC. They found that ethyl isocyanoacetate can be easily bisalkylated in the presence of K2CO3 as the base and tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate as the catalyst. The advantage of isolating water from the reaction medium is to avoid the formation of unwanted hydroxy compounds in the nucleophilic substitution reaction. If liquid-liquid PTC is applied in the system with the strong base NaOH and dichloromethane as the organic solvent, the formation of dihydroxy or cyclic ether can be observed. 

Another method for sequence analysis is the Sanger N-terminal analysis, based on the use of 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). When a polypeptide is treated with DNFB in mildly basic solution, a nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction (SnAt, Section 21.1 lA) takes place involving the free amino group of the N-terminal residue. Subsequent hydrolysis of the polypeptide gives a mixture of amino acids in which the N-terminal amino acid is labeled with a 2,4-dinitrophenyl group. After separating this amino acid from the mixture, it can be identified by comparison with known standards. 

The incorporation of unnatural amino acids into peptides to enhance their metabolic stability and activity is an area of major interest in peptidomimetic chemistry. In order to accomplish this goal. Park and colleagues have developed nucleophilic substitutions of a-bromo amides derived from L-amino acids in the presence of amine nucleophiles on the basis of DKR processes. Whereas moderate stereoselectivities were obtained when using benzylamine as the nucleophile, the nucleophilic substitution reactions of various a-bromo amides with the more sterically demanding secondary amine nucleophile, dibenzylamine, allowed the stereoselectivity of the reactions to be increased remarkably. This methodology provided, in the presence of tetra-n-butyl-ammonium iodide (TBAI) and TEA, the corresponding dipeptide analogues in up to 98% yield and 98% de (Scheme 1.15). 

The most general methods for the syntheses of 1,2-difunctional molecules are based on the oxidation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (p. 117) and the opening of oxiranes by hetero atoms (p. 123fl.). There exist, however, also a few useful reactions in which an a - and a d -synthon or two r -synthons are combined. The classical polar reaction is the addition of cyanide anion to carbonyl groups, which leads to a-hydroxynitriles (cyanohydrins). It is used, for example, in Strecker s synthesis of amino acids and in the homologization of monosaccharides. The ff-hydroxy group of a nitrile can be easily substituted by various nucleophiles, the nitrile can be solvolyzed or reduced. Therefore a large variety of terminal difunctional molecules with one additional carbon atom can be made. Equally versatile are a-methylsulfinyl ketones (H.G. Hauthal, 1971 T. Durst, 1979 O. DeLucchi, 1991), which are available from acid chlorides or esters and the dimsyl anion. Carbanions of these compounds can also be used for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (p. 65f.). 

In the second major method of peptide synthesis the carboxyl group is activated by converting it to an active ester, usually a p-nitrophenyl ester. Recall from Section 20.12 that esters react with ammonia and amines to give fflnides. p-Nitrophenyl esters are much more reactive than methyl and ethyl esters in these reactions because p-nitrophenoxide is a better (less basic) leaving group than methoxide and ethoxide. Simply allowing the active ester and a C-protected amino acid to stand in a suitable solvent is sufficient to bring about peptide bond formation by nucleophilic acyl substitution. 

With Sulfur Nucleophiles N-Carboxy-protected aziridine-2-carboxylates react with thiols to give P-mercapto-ot-amino acid derivatives. The reaction is usually catalyzed by BF3 and the yields range from fair to excellent [15, 16, 108-111]. With N-unprotected 3-substituted aziridine-2-carboxylates, the ring-opening with thiols usually takes place with anti stereoselectivity, especially in the case of the C-3 aliphatic substituted substrates. In cases in which C-3 is aromatic, however, the stereoselectivity has been found to be a function of the substitution pattern on the aromatic ring 3-p-methoxy ph eri yl-su bs li In led aziridines 143a (Scheme 3.51) and... 

Optically active five- or six-membered cyclic A -acyliminium ions of this type are generated from the a-inethoxy derivatives, easily obtainable through anodic methoxylation of intermediates that are prepared via ex-chiral-pool syntheses from certain natural amino acids. Reaction of 5-substituted five-membered cyclic A -acyliminium ions with various nucleophiles leads to the predominant formation of cw-products with moderate selectivity. The trans-selective reaction with alkyl copper reagents appears to be an exception. 

---