C-3 Acylation

1 Formylation and Acylation Under Vilsmeier-Haack Condition 

In contrast, with 5,7-dimethoxyindole, the activated C-ring competes with the 

3- position in acylation reactions and formylation gives a 2 1 mixture of the 3- and 

4- products in 99% yield [370]. This reaction can easily be pushed to the 3,4-dialdehyde by warming (93% yield). Acetylation with A, A -dimethylacetamide gives a similar mixture in somewhat lower yield. A 2-carbomethoxy group shifts the favored position to C-4. 3-Methyl- and 2,3-dimethylindole give the A -formyl derivatives as the main products [371]. 

Vilsmeier-Haack formylation was used successfully to formylate a series of indole-2-carboxylic acids bound to Merrifield resin [372]. 

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One route to o-nitrobenzyl ketones is by acylation of carbon nucleophiles by o-nitrophenylacetyl chloride. This reaction has been applied to such nucleophiles as diethyl malonatc[l], methyl acetoacetate[2], Meldrum s acid[3] and enamines[4]. The procedure given below for ethyl indole-2-acetate is a good example of this methodology. Acylation of u-nitrobenzyl anions, as illustrated by the reaction with diethyl oxalate in the classic Reissert procedure for preparing indolc-2-carboxylate esters[5], is another route to o-nitrobenzyl ketones. The o-nitrophenyl enamines generated in the first step of the Leimgruber-Batcho synthesis (see Section 2.1) are also potential substrates for C-acylation[6,7], Deformylation and reduction leads to 2-sub-stituted indoles. 

The main Uab synthetic pathway is illustrated in Scheme 6.1 and corresponds to C-acylation of an o-aminobenzyl carbanion equivalent. Acylation is normally followed by in situ cyclization and aromatization. This route is therefore closely related to the cyclizations of o-aminobenzyl ketones described in Section 2.3 but the procedures described here do not involve isolation of the intermediates. 

Another version of the o-aminobenzyl anion synthon is obtained by dilithi-ation of A-f-Boc-protected o-alkylanilines. These intermediates are C-acylated by DMF or A"-methoxy-At-melhyl carboxamides, leading to either 3- or 2,3-disubstituted indoles. In this procedure dehydration is not spontaneous but occurs on brief exposure of the cyelization product to acid[4]. Use of CO as the electrophile generates oxindoles. 

Acylatmg agents such as acyl chlorides and carboxylic acid anhydrides can react with phenols either at the aromatic ring (C acylation) or at the hydroxyl oxygen (O acylation)... 

As shown in the sixth entry of Table 24 4 C acylation of phenols is observed under the customary conditions of the Friedel-Crafts reaction (treatment with an acyl chloride or acid anhydride m the presence of aluminum chloride) In the absence of aluminum chloride however O acylation occurs instead... 

The preference for O acylation of phenols arises because these reactions are kmetically controlled O acylation is faster than C acylation The C acyl isomers are more stable how ever and it is known that aluminum chloride is a very effective catalyst for the conversion of aryl esters to aryl ketones This isomerization is called the Fries rearrangement... 

On reaction with acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides phenols may undergo either acylation of the hydroxyl group (O acylation) or acylation of the ring (C acylation) The product of C acylation is more stable and predominates under conditions of thermodynamic control when alu mmum chloride is present (see entry 6 m Table 24 4 Section 24 8) O acylation is faster than C acylation and aryl esters are formed under conditions of kinetic control... 

Alkali salts of primary nitroparaffins, but not of secondary nitroparaffins, react with acyl cyanides to yield a-nitroketones by C-acylation (27). 

N-Acylation is readily carried out by reaction of the alkaU metal salts with the appropriate acid chloride. C-Acylation of pyrroles carrying negative substituents occurs in the presence of Friedel-Crafts catalysts. Pyrrole and alkylpyrroles can be acylated noncatalyticaHy with an acid chloride or an acid anhydride. The formation of trichloromethyl 2-pyrryl ketone [35302-72-8] (20, R = CCI3) is a particularly useful procedure because the ketonic product can be readily converted to the corresponding pyrrolecarboxyUc acid or ester by treatment with aqueous base or alcohoHc base, respectively (31). 

Several triazinyl ketones isomerize to 4-acetamidopyrimidines. TTiis is seen in the C-acylation of 2,4,6-trimethyl-l,3,5-triazine (708) with benzoyl chloride in the presence of sodium amide to give the ketone (709) which undergoes a Dimroth-like rearrangement in boiling water to afford A-(2-methyl-6-phenylpyrimidin-4-yl)acetamide (710) it can be seen that the acylating agent determines the identity of the 6-substituent 64JHC145). 

The most useful general method for the C-acylation of pyrroles is the Vilsmeier-Haack procedure in which pyrrole is treated with the phosphoryl chloride complex (55a, b) of an AiA-dialkylamide (54). The intermediate imine salt (56) is hydrolyzed subsequently under mildly alkaline conditions to give the acylated pyrrole (57). On treatment of the imminium salt (56 R =H) with hydroxylamine hydrochloride and one equivalent of pyridine and heating in DMF, 2-cyanopyrrole (58) is formed (80CJC409). 

In order to exploit the reactions of the C-lithio derivatives of iV-unsubstituted pyrroles and indoles, protecting groups such as t-butoxycarbonyl, benzenesulfonyl and dimethyl-amino have been used 81JOC157). This is illustrated by the scheme for preparing C-acylated pyrroles (211) (8UOC3760). 

Deacylations are known. C-Acyl groups in 1,3,4-thiadiazoles are cleaved by sodium ethoxide in ethanol (68AHC(9)165). Imidazole-2-carbaldehyde behaves similarly, yielding imidazole and ethyl formate this reaction involves an ylide intermediate. 3-Acylisoxazoles (405) are attacked by nucleophiles in a reaction which involves ring opening (79AHC(25)147). 

The dimethylsulfonium ylide (568) added readily to aroyl isocyanates to give the intermediate addition product (569). This on heating underwent ring closure with loss of dimethyl sulfide to form the 4-hydroxyoxazole (570) (73T1983). This normal C-acylation of the sulfonium ylide also leads to thiazoles with thiobenzoyl isocyanate in this case the initial acylation product was not isolated, the thiazole being obtained directly. 

Isomerism about a formal Csp —Csp double bond Isomensm about a formal (C—C C-aryl and C-acyl derivatives... 

C-Acylation imidazoles in, 1, 463 ortiio-Acylation 2-alkylpyridines, 1, 436 Acylimines... 

Azirine, C-acyl-rearrangement oxazoles from, 6, 223 Azirine, allyl-... 

Imidazole, 4-acetyl-5-methyl-2-phenyl-synthesis, 5, 475 Imidazole, 1-acyl-reactions, 5, 452 rearrangement, 5, 379 Imidazole, 2-acyl-synthesis, 5, 392, 402, 408 Imidazole, 4-acyl-synthesis, 5, 468 Imidazole, C-acyl-UV spectra, 5, 356 Imidazole, N-acyl-hydrolysis rate constant, 5, 350 reactions, 5, 451-453 synthesis, 5, 54, 390-393 Imidazole, alkenyl-oxidation, 5, 437 polymerization, 5, 437 Imidazole, 1-alkoxycarbonyl-decarboxylation, 5, 453 Imidazole, 2-alkoxy-l-methyl-reactions, 5, 102 thermal rearrangement, 5, 443 Imidazole, 4-alkoxymethyl-synthesis, 5, 480 Imidazole, alkyl-oxidation, 5, 430 synthesis, 5, 484 UV spectra, 5, 355 Imidazole, 1-alkyl-alkylation, 5, 73 bromination, 5, 398, 399 HNMR, 5, 353 synthesis, 5, 383 thermal rearrangement, 5, 363 Imidazole, 2-alkyl-reactions, 5, 88 synthesis, 5, 469... 

It would thus appear that O acylation is the normal course of the acylation of enamino ketones. Surprisingly the enamino ketones 49 and 50 undergo reaction with acid chlorides not having an a-hydrogen (e.g., benzoyl and pivalyl chlorides) to give the products of C acylation (133). 

This result has been rationalized by consideration of the stability of the intermediate iminium salts (93). O acylation would give 134, whereas C acylation would give 135. The latter can undergo loss of a proton to give the product, whereas 134 cannot, but can revert to reactants, so that in this... 

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