2- Chloropyrazine alkylation

Although the heteroaryl Heck reactions of chloropyrazines with pyrrole itself were low-yielding for both mono- and bis-arylation products, better yields were obtained for N-phenylsulfonylpyrrole. Bulkier alkyl substituents on the pyrazine ring promoted the formation of C(3)-substituted pyrroles. The C(3)-substituted pyrrole 64 was the major product (62%) for the coupling of 1 and Al-phenylsulfonylpyrrole, while C(2)-substituted pyrrole 63- was a minor product (15%). 

Although there have been few new developments in the period since 1993, halogenopyrazines 42 have been convenient precursors for a variety of pyrazine derivatives. For example, the halogenopyrazines 42 are cyanated by palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling with alkali cyanide or by treatment with copper cyanide in refluxing picoline, to yield cyanopyrazines 48. Alkoxypyrazines 49 are produced by treatment with alkoxide-alcohol, and aminopyrazines 50 are prepared by amination with ammonia or appropriate amines. The nucleophilic substitution of chloropyrazine with sodium alkoxide, phenoxide, alkyl- or arylthiolate is efficiently effected under focused microwave irradiation <2002T887>. 

Deoxidative chlorination of alkyl- or aryl-substituted pyrazine A -oxides with refluxing phosphoryl chloride for 1 h provides 76-78% yields of the chloropyrazines <1997MI1076>. 

The conversion of pyrazine Af-oxides into C-chloropyrazines by phosphoryl chloride, and so on has continued to be widely used recently. It should be noted that the entering chloro substituent does not always become attached to a ring carbon adjacent to the oxide entity it sometimes enters at another ring carbon or even at the a-position on an alkyl substituent. Typical regular and irregular examples from recent literature follow ... 

Normal nucleophilic substitution reactions of alkyl and aryl chloropyrazines have been examined as follows 2-chloro-3-methyl- and 3-chloro-2,5-dimethyl(and diethyl)pyrazine with ammonia and various amines (535, 679, 680) 2-chloro-3(and 6)-methylpyrazine with methylamine and dimethylamine (681, 844), piperidine and other amines (681, 921) 2-chloro-5(and 6)-methylpyrazine with aqueous ammonia (362) alkyl (and phenyl) chloropyrazines with ammonium hydroxide at 200° (887) 2-chloro-3-methylpyrazine with aniline and substituted anilines (929), and piperazine at 140° (759) 2-chloro-3-methyl(and ethyl)pyrazine with piperidine (aqueous potassium hydroxide at reflux) (930,931) [cf. the formation of the 2,6-isomer( ) (932)] 2-chloro-3,6-dimethylpyrazine with benzylamine at 184-250° (benzaldehyde and 2-amino-3,6-dimethylpyrazine were also produced) (921) 2-chloro-3,5,6-trimethylpyrazine with aqueous ammonia and copper powder at 140-150° (933) and with dimethylamine at 180° for 3 days (934,935) 2-chloro-6-trifluoromethylpyrazine with piperazine in acetonitrile at reflux (759) 2-chloro-3-phenylpyrazine with aqueous ammonia at 200° (535) 2-chloro-5-phenylpyrazine with liquid ammonia in an autoclave at 170° (377) 2-chloro-5-phenylpyrazine with piperazine in refluxing butanol (759) but the 6-isomer in acetonitrile (759) 5-chloro-2,3-diphenylpyrazine and piperidine at reflux (741) and 5-chloro-23-diphenylpyrazine with 2-hydroxyethylamine in a sealed tube at 125° for 40 hours (834). 

With palladium catalysis, both 2,6-dichloropyrazine 3 and chloropyrazine-Woxide 4 were methylated using trimethylaluminum to give adducts 5 and 6, respectively [12]. Trimethylaluminum was found to be a useful reagent for the alkylation of substituted pyrazines and their Woxides [12]. 

Note This type of alkylation affords only C-(l-hydroxyalkyl)pyrazines. 2-Chloropyrazine (36, R = H) gave 2-chloro-3-(l-hydroxyethyl) pyrazine... 

Reaction of compound 8 with a-halo nitriles (R CHHalCN) gave the 3-amino compounds 7 after cyclization of the intermediate S-alkylated products 12 with aqueous potassium hydroxide. Similarly reaction of 2-amino-3-chloropyrazine (13) with the mercapto esters 14 in the presence of sodium ethoxide gave the 3-oxo derivatives 16 on refluxing in dioxan. The intermediates 15 are involved in the reaction. The most convenient synthesis of these compounds involves reaction of 2-amino-3-chloropyrazines with thioglycollic acid in alkali and acid-catalyzed cyclization of the carboxymethylthio derivative. ... 

Oxazoles and benzoxazoles are viable participants in the heteroaryl Heck reaction, whereby the alkyl halide or aryl halide is coupled to the unfunctionalized oxazole. First developed by Ohta and colleagues, it was demonstrated that a diverse array of aromatic heterocycles can be substrates in the reaction with chloropyrazines. While substitution was expected to occur at the 2-position, the reaction with chloropyrazine as the aryl halide resulted in substitution at the 5-position. When benzoxazole is used as the coupling partner, substitution is effected at the 2-position. More recently, a systematic study by Strotman and co-workers has demonstrated that slight modifications of the reaction conditions can allow completely regioselective coupling at either the 2- or 5-position. ... 

Aluminum Reagents. Alanes are effective donors of an alkyl group to Pd(II) after the palladium insertion into a carbon-halogen or a carbon-oxygen bond. All carbon positions in pyrazine are electrophilic. Therefore, chloropyrazines can be used as substrates for the methylation with trimethylalanes as in the preparation of the methylpyrazine A-oxides 250 and 251 (Scheme Triflated 5-hydroxy-l,3-... 

The reaction of 5-alkyl/arylamino-6-chloropyrazine-2,3-carbonitriles 37 with phenylacetylene 18, catalyzed by Pd-Cu, in the presence of sodium lauryl sulfate as a surfactant in water leads to the formation of highly substituted pyrazino-pyrroles 38 in good to high yields (Scheme 12) [43]. This palladium-catalyzed heteroannulation reaction... 

Scheme 4-221. Iron-catalyzed cross-coupling of chloropyrazines with alkyl Grignard reagents.

---