Enamine annulation

Enamine-enamine in three-component cascades Enamine-activated double a-functionalization Robinson annulations Enamine-iminium cascades... 

The key step of an interesting synthesis of Sempervirine (327) is a triazine Diels-Alder annulation reaction with an enamine (88T3195). 1-... 

The Robinson annulation is a two-step process that combines a Michael reaction with an intramolecular aldol reaction. It takes place between a nucleophilic donor, such as a /3-keto ester, an enamine, or a /3-diketone, and an a,/3-unsaturated ketone acceptor, such as 3-buten-2-one. The product is a substituted 2-cyclohexenone. 

The first step of the Robinson annulation is simply a Michael reaction. An enamine or an enolate ion from a jS-keto ester or /3-diketone effects a conjugate addition to an a-,/3-unsaturated ketone, yielding a 1,5-diketone. But as we saw in Section 23.6,1,5-diketones undergo intramolecular aldol condensation to yield cyclohexenones when treated with base. Thus, the final product contains a six-membered ring, and an annulation has been accomplished. An example occurs during the commercial synthesis of the steroid hormone estrone (figure 23.9). 

Scheme 2.11 shows some examples of Robinson annulation reactions. Entries 1 and 2 show annulation reactions of relatively acidic dicarbonyl compounds. Entry 3 is an example of use of 4-(trimethylammonio)-2-butanone as a precursor of methyl vinyl ketone. This compound generates methyl vinyl ketone in situ by (3-eliminalion. The original conditions developed for the Robinson annulation reaction are such that the ketone enolate composition is under thermodynamic control. This usually results in the formation of product from the more stable enolate, as in Entry 3. The C(l) enolate is preferred because of the conjugation with the aromatic ring. For monosubstituted cyclohexanones, the cyclization usually occurs at the more-substituted position in hydroxylic solvents. The alternative regiochemistry can be achieved by using an enamine. Entry 4 is an example. As discussed in Section 1.9, the less-substituted enamine is favored, so addition occurs at the less-substituted position. 

Quinoline derivatives are of major interest as bioactive compounds. A new method for the synthesis of polycyclic fused quinolines 4-207 was developed by Rossi and coworkers [71], who used the [2+2] cycloaddition of an alkyne 4-204 with enamines 4-205 to give 4-206 (Scheme 4.45). Thereby follows an annulation, with the formation of 4-207a-c. 

Pyrano[3,2 ]indolizines such as 120 can be prepared from the reaction of N-( 1 -benzotriazolylmethyl)indolines with 3,4-dihydro-2//-pyran under acidic or Lewis-acidic conditions (Equation 26) <2001T4933>, and a simpler analogue 122 is the end product of an annulation process starting from the enamine 121 and ethyl acrylate <1996H(43)1391> (Scheme 34). Pyrano[4,3-/]indolizinetriones, for example, 124, result from the hydrolysis of protected 2,3-dihydro-l//-indolizincdioncs 123 (Equation 27) <2000H(53)771>. 

Other general principles applicable to the synthesis of heterocycles refer to cycloreversions (either pericyclic and cheletropic or 1,3-dipolar), valence-bond isomerisations and retro-annulations leading to enamines. 

A variant of the Robinson annulation, where bulky amines such as pyrrolidine are used, making the conjugate addition to methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) take place at the less hindered side of two possible enamines. 

By annulation onto the seven-membered ring 2.5.2.1 Enamine cyclization (Scheme 45)... 

Heterocyclic secondary enamines and dicarboxylic acid dichlorides undergo complex, ring-size-dependent annulation reactions that, in the case of ester 238 and phthaloyl chloride (Scheme 57), lead to lactone-containing derivative 239 (02T2821). 

Takano et al. reported an efficient synthesis of the carbazole framework using the annulation of a 2,3-disubstituted indole (512,513). This method involves the condensation of 2-benzyltryptamine (530) with ethoxymethylene acetoacetate (531) to give the enamine 532, which, on treatment with acetic anhydride/acetic acid (3 2),... 

The product in entry 1 of Scheme 2.10 is commonly known as the Wieland-Miescher ketone and is a useful starting material for the preparation of steroids and terpenes. The Robinson annulation to prepare this ketone can be carried out enantioselectively by using the amino acid L-proline to form an enamine intermediate. The 5-enantiomer of the product is obtained in high enantiomeric excess.89 This compound and the corresponding product obtained from cyclopentane-1,3-dione90 are key intermediates in the enantiose-lective synthesis of steroids.91... 

A much more generally useful process was developed by Robinson to prepare cyclohexenones from ketones and methyl vinyl ketone or its derivatives. Again, because good compilations of the Robinson annulation exist,8 only a few examples are given here. The first step of this process, the Michael addition, is carried out by normal base catalysis, while the second step, the aldol condensation, is best accomplished by the use of a secondary amine to form the enamine of the acyclic ketone, which then cyclizes... 

Bicyclic keto esters can easily be prepared by a process called a,a -annulation.29 Thus, treatment of the enamine of cyclopentanone (64) with ethyl a-(bromomethyl)acrylate (98) affords, after work-up, the bicyclic keto ester (99) in 80% yield (equation IS).2911 The mechanism probably involves an initial Michael addition and elimination (or a simple Sn2 or Sn2 alkylation) followed by an intramolecular Michael addition of the less-substituted enamine on the acrylate unit. The use of the enamine of 4,4-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)cyclohexanone (100 equation 26) with (98) gives a 45% yield of the adaman-tanedione diester (101) (yield based on 100 70% when based on 98) via a,a -annulation followed by Dieckmann condensation.29 Enamines of heterocyclic ketones can also serve as the initial nucleophiles, e.g. (102) and (103) give (105) via (104), formed in situ, in 70% yield (Scheme 11 ).29>... 

The diastereoselectivity of intermolecular Michael additions was first examined in two areas the Robinson annulation using ( )-3-penten-2-one (249 equation 51)62 and the reaction of enamines of cyclic... 

Indoles, which are especially electron-rich and thus unsuitable for ordinary Diels-Alder reactions, have performed successfully in the cation-radical reaction as dienophiles (Scheme 44)107 and as dienes (Scheme 45)126. Interestingly, the site of annulation (across the C—C or the C—N bond) in vinylindole cation radicals (functioning as dienes for eneamine dienophiles) may be manipulated by varying the substituent on the enamine and thereby altering its push-pull nature (Scheme 45). 

For the indole, methyl sustitution at the 2-position (i.e. 71) appears to sterically block C—C annulation vs C—N annulation (Scheme 46)126a. Note also that electrochemical methods are only useful for the substituted vinylindoles, as unsubstituted indoles passivate the working electrode. The results of cycloadditions of substituted enamines 66 and 69 to vinylindoles 65 and 71 are summarized in Tables 7 and 8. 

T7669). Apparently, the first-formed intermediates 323 fail to cyclize into imidazolines 324 due to insufficient stability and steric hindrance. Instead, they lose a propylamine molecule giving enamine 325 that is then converted into pyrrole 236 via the oxidative SNH reaction. Interestingly, the sequence of steps leading to the pyrrole ring annulation in this case is opposite to that in the reaction of pyrimidopyridazine 227 with enamines (see Scheme 69). 

An efficient preparation of 1,5-diketones as precursors to D-ring annulated heterosteroids was elaborated by R.C. Boruah et al. [96] (Scheme 24). Readily available 16-dehydropregnenolone acetate (16-DPA) was used in a Michael reaction with enamines. 

Steroidal, alicyclic or aromatic annulated pyridines were prepared via a microwave-assisted, base-catalyzed Henry reaction of /1-formyl enamides and nitromethane on an alumina support [97]. Highly substituted tri- and tetrasubstituted pyridines were synthesized in a Bohlmann-Rahtz reaction from ethyl /3-amino crotonate and various alkynones. The reaction involved a Michael addition-cyclodehydration sequence and was effected in a single synthetic step under microwave heating conditions [98]. An alternative approach towards polysubstituted pyridines was based on a reaction sequence involving an inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction between various enamines 45 and 1,2,4-triazines 44 (Sect. 3.6), followed by loss of nitrogen and subsequent elimination-aromatization. Enamines 45 were formed in situ from various ketones and piperidine under one-pot microwave dielectric heating conditions [99]. Furthermore, a remarkable acceleration of the reaction speed (from hours and days to minutes) was observed in a microwave-assisted cycloaddition. Unsymmetrically substituted enamines 45 afforded mixtures of regioisomers (Scheme 35). 

Another key event in the history of organocatalytic reaction was the discovery of efficient r-proline-mediated asymmetric Robinson annulation reported during the early 1970s. The so-called Hajos-Parrish-Eder-Sauer-Wiechert reaction (an intramolecular aldol reaction) allowed access to some of the key intermediates for the synthesis of natural products (Scheme 1.4) [37, 38], and offered a practical and enantioselective route to the Wieland-Miescher ketone [39]. It is pertinent to note, that this chemistry is rooted in the early studies of Langenbeck and in the extensive investigations work of Stork and co-workers on enamine chemistry... 

The Sceletium alkaloid ( )-A4 (36) has been synthesized as shown in Scheme 5, using previously developed enamine-vinyl ketone ring annulation methodology (see Vol. 7 of these Reports).12 Treatment of the hydrochloride of the 2-pyrroline (32) with the acetal enone (33) gave a mixture of epimeric keto-acetals (34) in 85%... 

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