Cyclic imines, Staudinger reaction

An efficient and operationally simple synthesis of tetrahydrofuran-derived spiro-P-lactams 15 and 16 using the Staudinger reaction of unsymmetrical cyclic ketones has been described <02JCS(P1)571 02SL69>. Similarly, spiro-P-lactams 17 were synthesized via Staudinger reaction of imines derived from 7-oxanorbomenone with alkoxyacetyl chlorides <02TL6405>. 

The absolute configuration of the structurally unique fungal metabolite mycosporins was determined in the laboratory of J.D. White by means of enantioselective total synthesis." In the endgame of the synthetic effort, the Staudinger reaction was used to elaborate the side chain. The cyclic vinyl azide was first converted to a stable vinyl iminophosphorane, which was subsequently reacted with benzyl glyoxylate to afford the corresponding Schiff base. Reduction of the imine was achieved with sodium cyanoborohydride. 

If the Staudinger reaction of an alkyl azide containing a pendant carbonyl group is heated under anhydrous conditions, the iminophosphorane can nucleophilically attack the carbonyl leading to cyclic imines (via the aza-Wittig mechanism) and liberate phosphine oxide as shown below. The reaction also works intermolecularly. 

Under strictly anhydrous conditions, the iminophosphorane intermediate that is formed as a result of the Staudinger reaction can react with aldehydes and ketones in an intermolecular fashion (as in the synthesis of imine 36 described above) or intramolecularly with a variety of carbonyl containing functional groups to afford a host of products. Nitrogen containing ring systems such as cyclic imines (44) represent just one of the many products one can prepare and the reaction is particularly well suited for the facile synthesis of five, six, and seven-membered rings. In addition to aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, thio-esters, and amides can also react in an intramolecular fashion to trap an iminophosphorane to afford a variety of heterocycles. Examples from the current literature are described in Section 2.5.5. 

An example of the use of the tandem Staudinger/aza-Wittig reaction to form a seven-membered ring comes from the total synthesis of the alkaloid (-)-stemospironine (76).34 In this example, azidoaldehyde 74 was treated with triphenylphosphine to form a seven-membered cyclic imine which was then followed by an in situ sodium borohydride reduction to afford 75. Treatment of the resulting amine with iodine initiated the formation of the pyrrolidino butyrolactone system of the final target. 

The application of the Staudinger reaction to (o-azidoketones is an efficient route to cyclic imines <82CC1224>, a reaction which has been applied to the synthesis of (+)-croomine (129) <89JA1923>, shown in Scheme 20. 

Aldehydes with chiral a-alkoxy substituents may be derived from a-hydroxy acids, sugars, and other chiral pool fragments such as sodium erythorbate. Highly diastereoselective Staudinger reactions have been reported with these imines as well. Glyceraldehyde imines have also been used to provide P-lactam products with high diastereoselectivity, as shown below. Cyclic imines, such as enantiomerically pure dihydropyrazinones ... 

The formation of flve-membered cyclic imines through a Staudinger/intramolecular aza-Wittig reaction can also be performed by solid-phase synthesis and has been applied for the first synthesis of lanopylin Bi (108). The total synthesis, which takes only four steps, starts with a phase-transfer alkylation of diethyl 2-oxopropylphosphonate 105 with a 2-iodoethyl azide, affording the azido phosphonate 106, which undergoes a phase-transfer Homer-Emmons Wittig reaction with heptadecanal to provide the azido enone 107. An intramolecular aza-Wittig reaction of the enone 107 with polymer-supported triphenylphosphine in toluene completed the first total synthesis of lanopylin Bi (108) in 76% yield (Scheme 15.22). 

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