Carbon=nitrogen double bonds, addition reactions

Gycloaddition Reactions. Isocyanates undergo cyclo additions across the carbon—nitrogen double bond with a variety of unsaturated substrates. Addition across the C=0 bond is less common. The propensity of isocyanates to undergo cycli2ation reactions has been widely explored for the synthesis of heterocycHc systems. Substrates with C=0, C=N, C=S, and C=C bonds have been found to yield either 2 + 2, 2 + 2 + 2, or 2 + 4 cycloadducts or a variety of secondary reaction products (2). 

Ester enolates which contain the chiral information in the acid moiety have been widely used in alkylations (see Section D.1.1.1,3.) as well as in additions to carbon-nitrogen double bonds (sec Section D.1.4.2.). Below are examples of the reaction of this type of enolate with aldehydes720. The (Z)-enolate generated from benzyl cinnamate (benzyl 3-phenylpropcnoate) and lithium (dimethylphenylsilyl)cuprate affords the /h/-carboxylic acid on addition to acetaldehyde and subsequent hydrogenolysis, The diastereoselectivity is 90 10. 

These enzymes catalyze the addition of the elements of water to carbon-carbon double bonds (C=C), carbon-carbon triple bonds (C C), carbon-nitrogen double bonds (C=N), or carbon-nitrogen triple bonds (C N). These reactions are completely different from oxidoreductases since no redox reactions are involved. Illustrative examples include the following ... 

Acetylide addition in the racemic version Originally, 4equiv of lithium 2-pyridylacetylide (6) in THF/hexane was added to a mixture of 5 and 4equiv of Mg(OTf)2 in Et20 at room temperature. Precoordination with Mg(OTf)2 and 5 was reported to be essential to prevent reduction of the carbon-nitrogen double bond in 5 [2]. However, it turned out that precoordination was unnecessary for this reaction, as shown in Scheme 1.4, and racemic adduct 7 was obtained in 86% yield by treatment with 1.3 equiv of 6 at -15 °C in THF without Mg(OTf)2. 

N-AryInitrones (XIII) formed by oxidation of N-hydroxy-N-methyl arylamines, show high reactivity toward carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen double bonds in non-aqueous media (21,203) (Figure 10). Under physiological conditions, however, it appears that N-arylnitrones exist as protonated salts that readily hydrolyze to formaldehyde and a primary N-hydroxy arylamine and efforts to detect N-arylnitrone addition products in cellular lipid, protein or nucleic acids have not been successful (204). Nitroxide radicals derived from N-hydroxy-MAB have also been suggested as reactive intermediates (150), but their direct covalent reaction with nucleic acids has been excluded (21). 

A less common reactive species is the Fe peroxo anion expected from two-electron reduction of O2 at a hemoprotein iron atom (Fig. 14, structure A). Protonation of this intermediate would yield the Fe —OOH precursor (Fig. 14, structure B) of the ferryl species. However, it is now clear that the Fe peroxo anion can directly react as a nucleophile with highly electrophilic substrates such as aldehydes. Addition of the peroxo anion to the aldehyde, followed by homolytic scission of the dioxygen bond, is now accepted as the mechanism for the carbon-carbon bond cleavage reactions catalyzed by several cytochrome P450 enzymes, including aromatase, lanosterol 14-demethylase, and sterol 17-lyase (133). A similar nucleophilic addition of the Fe peroxo anion to a carbon-nitrogen double bond has been invoked in the mechanism of the nitric oxide synthases (133). 

Reaction of 2-chloropyridine gives 2-chloro-6-fluoropyridine as the major product which arises from the preferential substitution of hydrogen over chlorine and would be unexpected on the basis of the nucleophilic substitution mechanism described above. The product obtained was suggested, therefore, to arise from the addition of fluorine to the most electron rich carbon-nitrogen double bond, followed by elimination of HF [155]. 

A common method for the preparation of primary amines involves the hydrolysis of isocyanates or isothiocyanates.4 The latter react more slowly and more vigorous conditions are required. The reaction is catalyzed by acids or bases. In this case simple addition of water to the carbon-nitrogen double bond would give an N-substituted carbamic acid (3). Such compounds are unstable and break down to carbon dioxide (or COS in the case of isothiocyanates) and the amine ... 

Diazoalkanes, like azides, are 1,3-dipoles of the propargyl-allenyl type (Scheme 87)15 and their reaction with imines provides a route for building the triazoline framework from the C—N—N and C—N fragments. Although diazomethane addition to the carbon-carbon double bond was achieved by von Pechmann in 1898,325 its reaction toward the carbon-nitrogen double bond was investigated only 50 years later. 

Oximes, hydrazones, semicarbazones, diazines and carbodiimides all undergo reactions involving addition to a carbon-nitrogen double bond (A, D], but these reactions are of limited value, with the exception of the reaction with ketoximes. This last reaction, with an excess of Grignard at elevated temperatures, is a useful route to aziridines, (4), although yields are rarely high. In some cases, reduction of the intermediate azirine (2) leads to an alternative aziridine (5). 

A selective sampling of the photochemical cycloaddition and cyclization chemistry of 2H-azirines has been outlined in this chapter. Some photochemical sequences increase molecular complexity more than others, but each seems to provide complex heterocyclic structures in a very efficient manner. Indeed, many of these photoreactions rapidly construct hetero-polycyclic systems that are difficult to produce in other ways. In contrast to their photochemical behavior, the major thermal reaction of 2H-azirines generally involves C(2)-N bond cleavage to form vinyl nitrenes which further react by either insertion into an adjacent C-H bond or else undergo addition across a neighboring rc-bond. The 27i-electrons of the carbon-nitrogen double bond of 2H-azirines can also participate in thermal symmetry-allowed [4- -2]-cycloadditions with a variety of substrates. It is clear from the above discussion that the chemistry of 2H-azirines is both mechanistically complex and... 

Isocyanates have three possible resonance states, as shown in Figure 2.18. The reaction occurs by addition to the carbon-nitrogen double bond. In case of compounds with active hydrogen, the hydrogen atom becomes attached to the nitrogen of the isocyanate and the remainder of the active hydrogen compound becomes attached to the carbonyl carbon ... 

While the abstraction of protons adjacent to the carbon-nitrogen double bond of imines/imine derivatives has been utilized for tiie regioselective generation of azaallyl anions (which are useful in asymmetric ketone synthesis), it competes with and often prevents the addition of nucleophiles to imines. For this reason, imine additions often involve azomethines (e.g. benzylidineanilines) which are not capable of enolization. Many potentially useful additions, however, involve substrates capable of proton abstraction. By avoiding in certain instances some of the structural features of imines/imine derivatives and the reaction conditions responsible for proton abstraction, products resulting from this serious side reaction can be minimized. 

In addition to providing hydroxy (alkoxy) amines, the reaction of oximes" or oxime ethers " with or-ganometallic reagents can generate additional products. The propensity for proton abstraction a to the carbon-nitrogen double bond, the existence of mixtures of ( )- and (Z)-oxime isomers, the lability of the nitrogen-oxygen bond coupled with the poor oxime reactivity all contribute to the variability of this reaction. 

An interesting variant of the Peterson reaction involves the addition of an a-silylbenzylic anion (173) to a carbon-nitrogen double bond such as an imine. In this case the loss of RN—SiMes occurs less readily than the loss of alkoxytrialkylsilane (O—SiRs). The initial addition reaction is reversible and the stereochemistry of the elimination reaction is predominantly trans (Scheme 76). Both acid- and base-catalyzed elimination reactions lead to the trans product (174). 

Synthetic and biological interest in highly fimctionalized acyclic and cyclic amines has contributed to the wealth of experimental methodology developed for the addition of carbanions to the carbon-nitrogen double bond of imines/imine derivatives (azomethines). While a variety of practical methods exist for the enantio- and stereo-selective syntheses of substituted alcohols from aldehyde and ketone precursors, related imine additions have inherent structural limitations. Nonetheless imines, by virtue of nitrogen substitution, add a synthetic dimension not available to ketones. In addition, improved procedures for the preparation and activation of imines/imine derivatives have increased the scope of the imine addition reaction. 

One must be well aware of the characteristic features concerning the addition of organometallic reagents to carbon-heteroatom multiple bonds such as the carbon-oxygen and the carbon-nitrogen double bonds in order to develop a catalytic asymmetric process for this type of reaction. 

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