Aziridine catalysts, palladium complexes

Trost et al. demonstrated for several years that the trime-thylenemethane palladium complex 120 could be generated from 2-(trimethylsilyl)methyl-prop-2-en-l-yl acetate 117 with zero valent palladium catalysts and engaged in [3+2] cycloadditions.The use of this reagent was extended to [3+3] cycloadditions with aziridines in which the nitrogen is substituted with an electron-withdrawing group." ... 

Aziridines undergo carbonylation with ring opening in presence of palladium(O) complexes. The nature of the product is dependent on the ligands used.552,553 With [Pd(PPh3)4] (103) as catalyst a ring-fused /3-lactam is obtained (equation 139). 

The palladium-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of vinylic oxirane 20a [42] and aziridine 20b [39] with the activated olefin 4a for the formation of five membered cyclic ether 21a and pyrrolidine derivative 21b has also been reported in our laboratories. The mechanistic issue is very much similar to that discussed in Scheme 9. Pd(0) catalyst added oxidatively to 20 to produce the 7r-allylpalladium complex 22. The Michael addition of a hetero nucleophile in 22 to the activated olefin 4a gives 23 which undergoes intramolecular nucleophilic attack on the inner 7r-allylic carbon atom to give the cy-clized products 21 and Pd(0) species is generated (Scheme 10). Similarly, the palladium-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition of vinylic oxirane 20a with the N-losylimincs 24 is also known (Scheme 11) [43]. Intermolecular cycloaddition of vinyl epoxides and aziridines with the heterocumulenes such as isocyanates, carbodiimides and isothiocyanates is also known [44,45]. Alper et al. reported the regio- and enatioselective formation of the thiaolidine, oxathiolane, and dithiolane derivatives by the palladium-catalyzed cyclization reaction of 2-vinylthiirane with heterocumulenes [46]. 

As an approach to the synthesis of piperidines with stereocontrol, multiple functionality, and flexibility, the authors employed a [3+3] cycloaddition reaction of a silylpropenyl acetate with aziridines in the presence of a palladium catalyst. The key intermediate is a palladium-trimethylenemethane (Pd-TMM) complex <03JOC4286>. Optically active aziridines gave enantiomerically pure piperidines. 

Finally, it should be mentioned that two years later, an enantioselective oxidative (boron) Heck-type reaction was reported by Jung and coworkers [32] for a dinuclear NHC-derived CNO-based pincer complex for which for the first time a Pd /Pd" mechanism was suggested to be operative with palladium pincer-type crosscoupling catalysts. Reaction mechanisms without a change of the palladium s oxidation state have never been proposed to be operative for Heck cross-couphng reactions, but have been shown to be operative for xylene-derived selenium-based pincer complexes and related systems in the cross-couphng of vinyl epoxides (and aziridines) with organoboronic acids [24d, 33]. 

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