Aminonitrile hydrolysis

A nice example of the chemical similarity between imines and carbonyl compounds is the Strecker synthesis of amino acids. This involves reaction of an aldehyde with ammonia and HCN (usually in the form of ammonium chloride plus KCN) to give an intermediate a-aminonitrile. Hydrolysis of the a-aminonitrile then produces the a-amino acid. 

Since HCN and aldehydes were produced directly from the electric discharge in the Miller s experiment [33], the Strecker reaction was very early proposed as a likely pathway for the prebiotic synthesis of amino acids. This reaction discovered in 1850 [34] is the most anciently known abiotic synthesis of a-amino acids, it originally consisted in the formation of an a-aminonitrile 1 from a carbonyl compound (either aldehyde or ketone), ammonia and hydrogen cyanide in moderately alkaline aqueous solution followed by aminonitrile hydrolysis in strong acid. 

Figure 1 Strecker and related systems complex network of equilibrium reactions from aqueous solutions of cyanide, ammonia, and aldehyde, 1. Pathways for exiting the equilibrated network correspond to (a) cyanohydrin hydrolysis, (b) aminonitrile hydrolysis, and (c) Biicherer-Bergs reaction. Adducts 6 and 7 and other hydrolysis products can be formed at high concentrations of reactants.

Treating an aldehyde with ammonia and hydrogen cyanide produces an a-aminonitrile. Hydrolysis of the nitrile group (Section 17.3) of the a-aminonitrile converts the latter to an a-amino acid. This synthesis is called the Strecker synthesis ... 

CX-Aminonitriles are compounds containing both cyano and amine substituents attached to the same carbon atom. They are versatile synthetic intermediates that are used to make aminoacids, agrichemicals, chelants, radical initiators, and water-treatment chemicals. In some cases, aminonitriles produced as intermediates are not isolated, but immediately further reacted, for example by hydrolysis, as is the case in producing... 

In a departure from the prototype molecule, the benzylpiperi-done is first converted to the corresponding aminonitrile (a derivative closely akin to a cyanohydrin) by treatment with aniline hydrochloride and potassium cyanide (126). Acid hydrolysis of the nitrile affords the corresponding amide (127). Treatment with formamide followed by reduction affords the spiro oxazinone... 

Aminonitrile formation on 125 with potassium cyanide and piperidine hydrochloride affords the derivative, 135. Hydrolysis as above gives the corresponding amide (136). Debenzylation is accomplished by catalytic reduction. Alkylation of the secondary amine with the side chain (96) used in the preparation of diphenoxylate affords pirintramide (138) This compound, interest-... 

Reaction of the carbonyl group of pi perl done with cyanide and aniline leads to formation of a cyanohydrin-like function known as an oc-aminonitrile (37) hydrolysis under... 

A very efficient and universal method has been developed for the production of optically pue L- and D-amino adds. The prindple is based on the enantioselective hydrolysis of D,L-amino add amides. The stable D,L-amino add amides are effidently prepared under mild reaction conditions starting from simple raw materials (Figure A8.2). Thus reaction of an aldehyde with hydrogen cyanide in ammonia (Strecker reaction) gives rise to the formation of the amino nitrile. The aminonitrile is converted in a high yield to the D,L-amino add amide under alkaline conditions in the presence of a catalytic amount of acetone. The resolution step is accomplished with permeabilised whole cells of Pseudomonas putida ATCC 12633. A nearly 100% stereoselectivity in hydrolysing only the L-amino add amide is combined with a very broad substrate spedfidty. 

The synthesis of a-amino acids by reaction of aldehydes or ketones with ammonia and hydrogen cyanide followed by hydrolysis of the resulting a-aminonitrile is called the Strecker synthesis. Enzymatic hydrolysis has been applied to the kinetic resolution of intermediate a-aminonitriles [90,91]. The hydrolysis of (rac)-phenylglycine nitrile... 

Preparation of optically active P-aminoesters, P-aminonitriles, and P-aminocarbox-amides are of special relevance for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure P-aminoacids compounds of special relevance in several areas of medicinal chemistry. The resolution of P-aminoesters can be carried out by acylation of the amino groups or by other biocatalytic reactions of the ester groups, such as hydrolysis, transesterification, or aminolysis. The resolution of ethyl ( )-3-aminobutyrate... 

The Jacobsen group has also shown that the recycling of the resin-bounded catalyst can be successfully performed [152,154]. Moreover, they have developed an efficient method for the hydrolysis of the aminonitrile into the corresponding amino acid. This method was apphed for the commercial production of optically active K-amino acids at Rhodia ChiRex (e.g. tert-leucine) the catalyst was immobihsed on a resin support (4 mol %, 10 cycles) and the intermediate hydrocyanation adduct was trapped by simply replacing TFAA with HCOOH/AC2O, for example. Highly crystalhne formamide derivatives were thus obtained in excellent yields (97-98% per cycle) with very high enantioselectivities (92-93% per cycle) [158]. 

The psychotropic (stimulant) action of amphetaminil (57) may be intrinsic or due to in vivo hydrolysis of the a-aminonitrile function—akin to a cyanohydrin—to liberate amphetamine itself. It is synthesized by forming the Schiff s base of amphetamine with benzaldehyde to give 56, and then nucleophilic attack on the latter with cyanide anion to... 

The hydrolysis of the aminonitrile. must be carried out under a good hood. The top of the reflux condenser should be connected with the ventilating pipe by means of a piece of glass tubing. 

In addition to the two asymmetric syntheses above described, two racemic syntheses of tetraponerines based on the 5=6-5 tricyclic skeleton have been published. Thus, Plehiers et al. [199] have reported a short and practical synthesis of ( )-decahydro-5Tf-dipyrrolo[l,2-a r,2/-c]pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile (238), a pivotal intermediate in the synthesis of racemic tetraponerines-1, -2, -5 and -6, in three steps and 24% overall yield from simple and inexpensive starting materials. The key reaction of the synthesis was a one-pot stereoselective multistep process, whereupon two molecules of A pyrroline react with diethylmalonate to afford the tricyclic lactam ester 239, possessing the 5-6-5 skeleton (Scheme 10). Hydrolysis of the carboethoxy group of 239 followed by decarboxylation yielded lactam 240, that was converted into a-aminonitrile 238 identical in all respects with the pivotal intermediate described by Yue et al. [200] in their tetraponerine synthesis. 

A synthetically more challenging C-H acid that represents a method for the glyoxylation of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes is aminonitrile 62 [104], Conjugate addition of 62 catalysed by diarylprolinol ether 30 (20 mol%) provides adducts 63. Reduction, protection and hydrolysis of these adducts leads to the glyoxylates 64 showing the impressive functional group tolerance of these transformations (Scheme 26). 

A frequently employed route comprises preparation of 3-alkoxycar-bonyltetramic acids from malonic acid derivatives and a-aminocarboxylic esters (77MI1 84CPB3724) or, alternatively, a-aminonitriles (86UP1) followed by hydrolysis and decarboxylation [72JCS(P1)2121 85AJC1847 86ZN(B)219]. 

Thus, the N,N-dibenzyl-protected aminonitrile 55 was prepared via Swern oxidation of N,N-dibenzylaminoethanol 54 followed by treatment with the enantio-pure amine auxiliary (S,S)-53 and HCN, resulting in the formation of a 3 2 epimeric mixture of the aminonitriles 55 in 55% yield, from which the single dia-stereomers could be isolated by chromatography. After lithiation with LDA, addition to the requisite (E)-a, P-unsaturated esters and hydrolysis of the aminonitrile moiety with silver nitrate, the desired a-amino keto esters R)-S6 were obtained with yields of 65-81% and enantiomeric excesses ee of 78-98%, which could be improved to ee > 98% by a simple recrystallization. Since the amino ketone functionality can be cleaved oxidatively, the 5-amino-4-oxo-esters 56 could be transformed to the corresponding succinic half-esters 57 with hydrogen peroxide in methanol in good to excellent yields (68-90%) (Scheme 1.1.15). 

Four mechanisms have been advanced for the prebiotic formation of amino acids. The first involves a cyanohydrin (reaction 2) and a related route (reaction 3) can be invoked to account for the presence of hydroxy acids. These particular reactions have been studied in considerable detail both kinetically and in terms of thermodynamic quantities.347 An alternative route (4) involves the hydrolysis of a-aminonitriles, which are themselves formed directly in anhydrous CH4/NH3 mixtures.344 Cyanoacetylene, formed in CH4/N2 irradiations,349 yields significant amounts of asparagine and aspartic acids (reaction 5). Finally, a number of workers336,350"354 have proposed that HCN oligomers, especially the trimer aminoacetonitrile and the tetramer diaminomaleonitrile, could have been important precursors for amino acid synthesis. Reaction mixtures involving such species have yielded up to 12 amino acids. Table 11 indicates the range of amino acids produced in these kinds of sparking syntheses. Of some interest is the fact that close parallels between these kinds of experiments and amino acid contents of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites exist.331,355,356... 

The Strecker Synthesis is a preparation of a-aminonitriles, which are versatile intermediates for the synthesis of amino acids via hydrolysis of the nitrile. 

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