Anions phthalimides

Electrostatic potential map for phthalimide anion shows most negatively-charged regions (in red) and less negatively-chaiged regions (in blue). 

The second proposed mechanism involves initial ring opening of the phthalimide. Alkoxide attack on one of the imide carbonyls furnishes amide anion 26. Proton transfer affords enolate 27, which undergoes Diekmann type condensation followed by aromatization to afford the requisite isoquinoline 23. 

The anion of A-nitromethyIphthalimide 17 also acts as a formyl anion equivalent with Michael acceptors to afford 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds 18 in good to excellent yields, although difficulty was experienced in isolating the products under the conditions required for removal of the phthalimide group (77CJC2919). 

The two-step procedure includes formation of a N-substituted phthalimide 3, and its subsequent cleavage to the primary amine 5. Phthalimide (which can be obtained from reaction of phthalic acid with ammonia) shows NH-acidity, since the negative charge of the phthalimide anion (the conjugated base) is stabilized... 

An isoindol1 none moiety forms part of the aromatic moiety of yet another antiinflammatory propionic acid derivative. Carboxylation of the anion from -nitro-ethylbenzene (45) leads directly to the propionic acid (46). Reduction of the nitro group followed by condensation of the resulting aniline (47) with phthalic anhydride affords the corresponding phthalimide (48). Treatment of that intermediate with zinc in acetic acid interestingly results in reduction of only one of the carbonyl groups to afford the isoindolone. There is thus obtained indoprofen (49). ... 

Pi peridinobenzimidazole also serves as starting material for the antipsychotic agent halopemide (69). In the absence of a specific reference, one may speculate that the first step involves alkylation with bromochloro-ethane to give halide The chlorine may then be converted to the primary amine by any of several methods such as reaction with phthalimide anion followed by hydrazinolysis. Acylation with j -fluorobenzoyl chloride then gives the desired product. 

Another alternative for preparing a primary amine from an alkyl halide is the Gabriel amine synthesis, which uses a phthalimide alkylation. An imide (—CONHCO—) is similar to a /3-keto ester in that the acidic N-H hydrogen is flanked by two carbonyl groups. Thus, imides are deprotonated by such bases as KOH, and the resultant anions are readily alkylated in a reaction similar to the acetoacetic ester synthesis (Section 22.7). Basic hydrolysis of the N-alkylated imide then yields a primary amine product. The imide hydrolysis step is analogous to the hydrolysis of an amide (Section 21.7). 

Amides are weakly nucleophilic and react only slowly with alkyl halides. The anions of amides are substantially more reactive. The classical Gabriel procedure for synthesis of amines from phthalimide is illustrative.58... 

The enhanced acidity of the NH group in phthalimide permits formation of the anion, which is readily alkylated by alkyl halides or tosylates. The amine can then be liberated by reaction of the substituted phthalimide with hydrazine. 

The mechanism presumably involves initial oxidative addition of the alkenyl halide to the Cu(I) species and ensuing cyclization analogy for this type of process is provided by the Cu(I)-mediated reaction of phthalimide anions with alkenyl and aryl halides.40 The -isomer of 15 reacts in a different fashion to give an isothiazolidinone derivative, albeit in low yield. 

Of particular interest was the reaction of two equivalents of potassium phthalimide with PFB using 18-crown-6 in refluxing acetonitrile. This reaction with either small molecules or the polymeric analogs represents a novel approach to arylimide synthesis via PTC. After 4 hr. under nonoptimized PTC reaction conditions, disubstitution afforded the bisimide 6 in ca. 50% yield. This shows that phthalimide anion, a considerably poorer nucleophile than either the phenoxide or thiophenoxide, is a strong enough nucleophile in the presence of 18-crown-6 to displace aryl fluoride with facility, and demonstrates that the synthesis of polyimides, an important class of thermally stable polymers, is feasible by this PTC polycondensation route. 

Gabriel synthesis is used for the preparation of primary amines. Phthalimide on treatment with ethanolic potassium hydroxide forms potassium salt of phthalimide which on heating with allqrl halide followed by alkaline hydrolysis produces the corresponding primary amine. Aromatic primary amines cannot be prepared by this method because aryl halides do not undergo nucleophilic substitution with the anion formed by phthalimide. 

Guanidine forms salts with such relatively weak acids as nitromethane, phthalimide, phenol and carbonic acid [20], Interactions between carboxylate anions of proteins and added guanidinium ion are thought [19, 56] to be weaker than the interactions with ammonium ions the role of guanidinium-carboxylate interactions in stabilizing natural protein conformations has been discussed [36c]. A few reports of metal complex formation by guanidines [57-60], and aminoguanidines [61] have appeared. 

V - Phcny I sc Icncn oph th a I i m i dc is an excellent reagent for this process and permits the formation of large-ring lactones.74 75 The advantage of the reagent in this particular application is the low nucleophilicity of the phthalimide anion, which does not compete with the remote internal nucleophile. 

Use ester rather than acid to prevent conversion of anion to phthalimide. 

Where there are two carbonyl groups to stabilize the amide anion, as in the l,2-benzenedicarboximide (phthalimide) anion (Section 18-IOC), the acidity increases markedly and imides can be converted to their conjugate bases with concentrated aqueous hydroxide ion. We have seen how imide salts can be used for the synthesis of primary amines (Gabriel synthesis, Section 23-9D and Table 23-6). 

The reactions of the ambident ArNH ions, which do not IV-arylate to a great extent, are discussed in Section 2.2.3.1.4. Based on the negative results obtained with IV-acyl anions such as AcNH and AcNMe-,68 and the anion of phthalimide,134 it would appear that these anions do not undergo IV-arylation under SrnI conditions. 

An alternative reagent equivalent for the amide anion synthon is the potassium salt of phthalimide which can only react with one molecular proportion of alkyl halide. The resulting JV-alkylphthalimide is then cleaved to the primary amine (the Gabriel synthesis). The preliminary preparation of potassium phthalimide (from a solution of phthalimide in absolute ethanol and potassium hydroxide in 75% ethanol) may be avoided in some cases by boiling phthalimide with the halide in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate. The cleavage of the JV-substituted phthalimide is best effected by reaction with hydrazine hydrate and then heating the reaction mixture with hydrochloric acid. The insoluble phthalylhydrazide is filtered off, leaving the amine hydrochloride in solution from which the amine may be liberated and isolated in the appropriate manner. 

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