Copper-catalyzed aldimine

M. Oestreich et al. studied the copper-catalyzed aldimine addition of nucleophilic silicon, released from Me2PhSiBpin reagent in protic medium (151). The application of tert-butyl(ben-zylidene) carbamate as aldimine component gave rise to tert-butyl- [dimethyl (phenyl) silyl] (phenyl) methyl carbamate 226 in moderate yield. The replacement of CuCN catalyst by NHC— copper(I) complex (L CuCl) led to higher yield of this compound (Scheme 24.28) (152). 

Aziridines have been synthesized, albeit in low yield, by copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of an inline 260). It seems that such a carbenoid cyclopropanation reaction has not been realized with other diazo compounds. The recently described preparation of 1,2,3-trisubstituted aziridines by reaction of phenyldiazomethane with N-alkyl aldimines or ketimines in the presence of zinc iodide 261 > most certainly does not proceed through carbenoid intermediates rather, the metal salt serves to activate the imine to nucleophilic attack from the diazo carbon. Replacement of Znl2 by one of the traditional copper catalysts resulted in formation of imidazoline derivatives via an intermediate azomethine ylide261). 

The synthesis of novel azetidine derivatives remains the subject of intensive study. New procedures for the preparation of this class of compounds include, e.g., rearrangement of /3,7-aziridino-a-amino esters <2007OL4399>, copper-catalyzed multicomponent reactions of terminal alkynes, sulfonyl azides, and carbodiimides <20070L1585>, regioselective addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl dianions to iV-sulfonyl aldimines <2007T4779>, elaboration of a-amino acids <2007TL2471>, palladium-catalyzed iV-arylation of azetidines <2007S243> and... 

Considerable effort has been made in developing iV-diphenylphosphinoyl (Dpp) aid- and keto-imines as electrophilic partners in copper-catalyzed 1,2-additions (Scheme 1-10). Thioamides and aldimines e.g., 123) in the presence of a soft Lewis acidic Cu(I) salt complexed by 6/5-phosphine 124, together with a hard base in the form of a lithium phenoxide, react to afford products in good-to-excellent ee s. Activation resulting from a likely Cu-S interaction increases the acidity of an a-proton and, hence, more facile deprotonation. With alkyinitriles as nucleophiles generated via an initial decarboxylative process e.g., from 125), a DTBM-SEGPHOS-coordinated copper complex arrives at C-C bond formation in usually >80% ee. 

Quinazolinones are an important class of fused heterocycles that have been reported with remarkable activities in biology and pharmacology such as anticancer, antiinflammatory, anticonvulsant, antibacterial, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, and protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Alper and Zheng reported a palladium-catalyzed cyclocarbonylation of o-iodoanilines with imidoyl chlorides to produce quinazolin-4(3H)-ones in 2008. A wide variety of substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-ones were prepared in 63-91% yields (Scheme 3.27a). The reaction is believed to proceed via in situ formation of an amidine, followed by oxidative addition, CO insertion, and intramolecular cyclization to give the substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-ones. Later on, a procedure was established based on generating the amidine in situ by a copper-catalyzed reaction of terminal allq nes, sulfonyl azide and o-iodo-anilines. The desired quinazolinones can be produced by carbonylation with Pd(OAc)2-DPPB-NEt3-THF as the reaction system. In the same year, Alper s group developed a procedure for 2,3-dihydro-4(lH)-quinazolinone preparation. The reaction started with the reaction of 2-iodoanilines and N-toluenesulfonyl aldimines followed by palladium-catalyzed intramolecular... 

In 2006, Zhou s group reported a copper-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis (it was described in the paper as Friedel-Crafts-type reaction) using Al-sulfonyl aldimines with indoles to provide a simple approach to optically active 3-indolylmethanamine derivatives with high enantioselectivity. A bis-oxazoline-copper complex was used (Scheme 6.37) [50]. 

Except for the well-documented conjugate additions of diethylaluminum cyanide,92 triethylaluminum-hydrogen cyanide and Lewis acid-tertiary alkyl isonitriles,93 examples of Lewis acid catalyzed conjugate additions of acyl anion equivalents are scant Notable examples are additions of copper aldimines (233),94, 94b prepared from (232), and silyl ketene acetals (234)940 to a,(3-enones which afford 1,4-ketoal-dehydes (235) and 2,5-diketo esters (236), respectively (Scheme 37). The acetal (234) is considered a glyoxylate ester anion equivalent. 

Enantiomeric purities ranging from 20 to 80% have been reported for the acid-promoted asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides by binaphthyl-derived oxaziridines has been described <2007T6232>. A novel amino hydroxylation of olefins has been developed using /ra t-2-phenylsulfonyl-3-phenyloxaziridine 33 <2007JA1866>. The reaction, which is catalyzed by copper(ll) salts, affords good yields of the product. Oxidation of aldimines to oxaziridines using alumina-supported M0O3 catalyst and anhydrous /-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) has been described. Yields are excellent. 

Scheme 6.37 The enantioselective copper(ll)-catalyzed addition of indoles to N-sulfonyl aldimines, as described by Zhou s group [50].

Carretero and coworkers have successfully employed a copper(I)-Fesulphos complex as a Lewis acid for enantioselective Mannich-type reactions of N-sulfonyl imines [43]. A combination of [151 CuBr]2 and AgCl04 does efficiently catalyze the addition of silyl enol ethers of ketones, esters, and thioesters (150) to N-(2-thienyl)sulfonyl aldimines (Scheme 17.30). The corresponding P-amino carbonyl derivatives (152) were isolated in good yields with generally good enan-tioselectivity. 

Scheme 17 NHC-copper(I)-catalyzed addition of nucleophilic boron to aldimines by Tian and Lin...

Following advances made in reduction reactions (vide supra), hydroboration and diboration have been the subject of intense investigation with NHC-Cu catalysts. Early work by Sadighi revealed that [(ICy)Cu(Ot-Bu)] efficiently catalyzed the 1,2-diboration of aldehydes. Mechanistic studies permitted to rationalize a number of features of this reaction and notably ruled out a possible oxidative addition pathway to favour c-activation of the diboron reagent by the copper centre. [(ICy)Cu(Ot-Bu)] was also used for the diaster-eoselective diboration—in fact, hydroboration after work-up—of sulfinyl aldimines. ... 

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