Azomethine ylides, cycloaddition with aziridines

Unactivated dipolarophiles readily participate in intramolecular azomethine ylide cycloadditions with a more reactive azomethine ylide. Thus, flash vacuum pyrolysis of aziridine (113) afforded a 67% yield of the 5,5-fused bicyclic pyrrolidine (Scheme 34).59 A singly stabilized azomethine ylide was the apparent intermediate. Similarly, cyclization of the azomethine ylides derived from (114a-c) gave the corresponding cw-fused 6,6-bicyclic pyrrolidines in 69%, 26% and 16% yield, respectively the original double bond stereochemistry was retained in the latter two cases. 

Few examples are known for the generation of C-heterosubstituted azomethine ylides by the aziridine route. Interesting is the thermolysis of 2,2-dichloroaziridine, readily accessible by the reaction of an imine with di-chlorocarbene (81JOC2079). Thermoylsis of 16 in the presence of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate gave pyrrole 18 by the cycloaddition of intermediate 1,1-dichlorinated azomethine ylide 17 (84JCR(S)82). None of the usual thermolysis product, 2-chloroacetoimidoyl chloride (19), was obtained (78JOC1346). 

The azomethine ylides, generated from aziridines 1, xmderwent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition wiffi dimethyl acetyl-enedicarboxylate in supercritical CO2 (Scheme 1) [17]. Under photolysis conditions, dihydropyrrole 2 was formed with 43% yield. It was foxmd that using small quantity of acetonitrile as a cosolvent improved the yield to 63%. The photolysis of similar aziridine (1, = Bn, = Ph) was not efficient and the thermolysis was used to generate a reac-... 

The similar [3 + 2] cycloaddition of benzyl allenoates with azomethine ylides, generated from aziridines 1, was accompanied by a retro-aldol-type fragmentation with elimination of benzaldehyde and therefore leading to ffie... 

Aziridines, e.g. (91), undergo thermal ring opening in a conrotatory manner to generate azomethine ylides. These azomethine ylides are 47r-components and can participate in [4 + 2] cycloadditions with 1-azirines acting as the 27r-component 73HCA1351). 

Synthetic work commenced with evaluation of an azomethine ylide dipole for the proposed intramolecular dipolar cycloaddition. A number of methods exist for the preparation of azomethine ylides, including, inter alia, transformations based on fluoride-mediated desilylation of a-silyliminium species, electrocyclic ring opening of aziridines, and tautomerization of a-amino acid ester imines [37]. In particular, the fluoride-mediated desilylation of a-silyliminium species, first reported by Vedejs in 1979 [38], is among the most widely used methods for the generation of non-stabilized azomethine ylides (Scheme 1.6). 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions to unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds have been known for quite some time and have become an important part of strategies for organic synthesis of many compounds (Smith and March, 2007). The 1,3-dipolar compounds that participate in this reaction include many of those that can be drawn having charged resonance hybrid structures, such as azides, diazoalkanes, nitriles, azomethine ylides, and aziridines, among others. The heterocyclic ring structures formed as the result of this reaction typically are triazoline, triazole, or pyrrolidine derivatives. In all cases, the product is a 5-membered heterocycle that contains components of both reactants and occurs with a reduction in the total bond unsaturation. In addition, this type of cycloaddition reaction can be done using carbon-carbon double bonds or triple bonds (alkynes). 

The intermolecular reaction of imines with acceptor-substituted carbene complexes generally leads to the formation of azomethine ylides. These can undergo several types of transformation, such as ring closure to aziridines [1242-1245], 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions [1133,1243,1246-1248], or different types of rearrangement (Figure 4.9). 

In synthetic efforts toward the DNA reactive alkaloid naphthyridinomycin (164), Gamer and Ho (41) reported a series of studies into the constmction of the diazobicyclo[3.2.1]octane section. Constmction of the five-membered ring, by the photolytic conversion of an aziridine to an azomethine ylide and subsequent alkene 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, was deemed the best synthetic tactic. Initial studies with menthol- and isonorborneol- tethered chiral dipolarophiles gave no facial selectivity in the adducts formed (42). However, utilizing Oppolzer s sultam as the chiral controlling unit led to a dramatic improvement. Treatment of ylide precursor 165 with the chiral dipolarophile 166 under photochemical conditions led to formation of the desired cycloadducts (Scheme 3.47). The reaction proceeded with an exo/endo ratio of only 2.4 1 however, the facial selectivity was good at >25 1 in favor of the desired re products. The products derived from si attack of the ylide... 

The chiral dipolarophiles of Garners and Dogan, which were derived from Oppolzer s sultam, have been previously discussed in Section 3.2.1 and, in an extension to these results, the sultam moiety was used as the stereodirecting unit in enantiopure azomethine ylides (56). The ylides were generated either by thermo-lytic opening of N-substituted aziridines or by the condensation of the amine functionality with benzaldehyde followed by tautomerism. These precursors were derived from the known (+)-A-propenoylbornane-2,10-sultam. Subsequent trapping of the ylides with A-phenylmaleimide furnished the cycloaddition products shown in Schemes 3.60 and 3.61. 

Chiral aziridines having the chiral moiety attached to the nitrogen atom have also been applied for diastereoselective formation of optically active pyrrolidine derivatives. In the first example, aziridines were used as precursors for azomethine ylides (90-95). Photolysis of the aziridine 57 produced the azomethine ylide 58, which was found to add smoothly to methyl acrylate (Scheme 12.20) (91,93-95). The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition proceeded with little or no de, but this was not surprising, as the chiral center in 58 is somewhat remote from the reacting centers... 

Garner et al. (90,320) used aziridines substituted with Oppolzer s sultam as azomethine ylide precursors. The azomethine ylide generated from 206 added to various electron-dehcient alkenes, such as dimethyl maleate, A-phenylmalei-mide, and methyl acrylate, giving the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition product in good yields and up to 82% de (for A-phenylmaleimide). They also used familiar azomethine ylides formed by imine tautomerization (320). Aziridines such as 207 have also been used as precursors for the chiral azomethine ylides, but in reactions with vinylene carbonates, relatively low de values were obtained (Scheme 12.59) (92). 

The presence of an aroyl fragment in azomethine ylides obtained from opening of three-membered rings in the case of dipolarophiles with high LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) energy or in the absence of an external dipolarophile can lead to the possibility of such unusual reactions as intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition [80]. Examples of such reactions are the thermal isomerization of aroyl aziridines 63 into a pyrrole derivative 64 [81, 82] or into 2,5-diphenyloxazole 65 (in the presence of diphenyliodonium iodide) [83] (Scheme 1.16). 

As early as 1967, Huisgen and coworkers [37] had shown that, upon photolysis, certain aziridines of type 96 undergo C—C bond fragmentation stereospecifkally to produce octet-stabilized azomethine ylides which, on cycloaddition with electron-deficient dipolarophiles, produce pyrrolidine ring systems (Scheme 8.29). 

In order to improve the diastereoselectivity further, the cycloaddition of enantio-merically pure azomethine ylide 106, generated by photolysis (254 nm) of the corresponding aziridine 105, with dipolarophile 102, is also reported to give the cycloadduct 107 as a single diastereomer in 61% yield (Scheme 8.31). In order to control the diastereoselectivity, the same group has also explored the intramolecular version of this cycloaddition reaction [50]. 

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