Carboxylic acid azides amide synthesis

Via intermediates Subst. carboxylic acid amides from carboxylic acid hydrazides via carboxylic acid azides Peptide synthesis... 

Carboxylic acid azides give rise to three different reactions under different conditions. Azide coupling (equation 9) was the earliest method in peptide synthesis and is still one of the most important in fragment condensation and preparation of cyclic peptides due to its almost complete lack of racemization. At elevated temperatures a frequent side reaction is the Curtius rearrangement. Trapping of the intermediate isocyanate with amines (equation 10) gives urea derivatives and with carboxylic acids rearranged amides are obtained (equation 11). ... 

Peptides. A new amide or peptide synthesis is based on the formation of iminophosphoranes, R N=PR3, from the reaction of azides with a tertiary phosphine. These phosphoranes react with carboxylic acids to form amides.1 Ethyl diphenylphosphinite is more useful than a triarylphosphine because the by-product is hydrolyzed to diphenylphosphinic acid, which can be readily removed. The iminophosphorane 2, derived from 1 and ethyl azidoacetate, reacts with CboGly-L-Phe-OH to give optically pure 3 in 70% yield.2... 

Bromination of ketone 3.17 gives 3.18 which can be converted to azide 3.19. Hydrogenation of 3.19 in the presence of hydrochloric acid affords aminoketone hydrochloride salt 3.20. Such aminoketones are often isolated as the corresponding salts because the free aminoketones are prone to dimerisation, having both nucleophilic and electrophilic centres. (For a common alternative preparation of aminoketones, see the Knorr pyrrole synthesis, Chapter 2.) Liberation of the free base of 3.20 in the presence of the acid chloride affords amide 3.21 which is cyclised to oxazole 3.22. Ester hydrolysis then affords the biologically-active carboxylic acid 3.23. 

The Schmidt reaction of carboxylic acids with hydrazoic acid has the advantage over Curtius rearrangement that it is only one step from the acid to the amine, but the conditions are more drastic (usually sulphuric acid plus sodium azide). Under these harsh conditions, the isocyanate intermediate is rarely isolated. For these reasons, the Curtius rearrangement is frequently employed to convert acids to amines. The Schmidt reaction of ketones with hydrazoic acid is a powerful method for the synthesis of amides and lactams. TTiis process is somewhat related to the Beckmann rearrangement of oximes however, the Schmidt reaction is more succinct, allowing the conversion of ketones to amides in a single operation. Considering its widespread... 

Diphenyl phosphoryl azide in dimethylformamide followed by triethylamine added at or below 0° to a soln. of N-carbobenzoxy-L-leucyl-L-leucine and L-valyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester hydrochloride in the same solvent, stirred several hrs. at the above temp, and overnight at room temp. -> product. Y 87%. - Practically no racemization occurred. F. e., also direct prepn. of urethans from carboxylic acids (cf. Synth. Meth. 17, 393) by a simplified Curtius degradation, s. T. Shioiri, K. Ninomiya, and S. Yamada, Am. Soc. 94, 6203 (1972) Tetrah. Let. 1973, 2343 synthesis of N-subst. carboxylic acid amides and peptides with diethyl phosphoryl cyanide s. Tetrah. Let. 1973, 1595 coupling reagents in peptide synthesis, review, s. Y. S. Klausner and M. Bodansky, Synthesis 1972, 453 review of peptide synthesis s. J. Meienhofer, Chem. Technol. 3, 242 (1973). 

In peptide synthesis it is necessary to activate the carboxyl group (COOH-group) during the reaction involving amide bond formation. Earlier methods of COOH-activation were based on the formation of acid chlorides, anhydrides (either mixed or symmetrical carboxyanhydrides, as well as mixed anhydrides of inorganic acids such as sulfuric or phosphorous acids), and azides (Schroder and Lubke, 1965). It was soon... 

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