Dakin-West reaction

A special application of heteroaromatic acylation via a modified Dakin-West reaction leads to a-fluoro ketone derivatives [50] (equation 30) Such fluoro ketones have been successfully used as enzyme inhibitors in modern bioorganic chemistry [5, 6]... 

When an a-amino acid is treated with an anhydride in the presence of pyridine, the carboxyl group is replaced by an acyl group and the NH2 becomes acylated. This is called the Dakin-West reaction The mechanism involves formation of an oxazolone. The reaction sometimes takes place on carboxylic acids even when an amino group is not present. A number of N-substituted amino acids, RCH-(NHR )COOH, give the corresponding N-alkylated products. 

Under Dakin-West reaction conditions (trifluoroacetic anhydride-MeCN/80 °C/5 h), At-methoxycarbonylproline (128 R = Me) yielded Af-methoxycarbonyl-4-trifluoro-acetyl-2,3-dihydropyrrole (129 R = Me) and none of the expected Dakin-West product, the trifluoromethyl ketone (127). A possible mechanism proposed by the authors involves initial formation of a mesoionic l,3-oxazolium-5-olate (130 R = Me), but the pathway to the iV-methoxycarbonyl-2,3-dihydropyrrole (131 R = Me) and thence the final product (129 R = Me) was unexplained. ... 

A-Acyl AAs, when transformed into a-acylaminoketones by the Dakin-West reaction, react with arylhydrazines, arylsulfonylhydrazines, or some primary amines to give the corresponding ketimines which undergo cyclodehydration with POCI3/PCI5 or TPP (Scheme 21) (78LA1916). 

The base-catalyzed Michael addition of oxazolin-5-ones to alkynic ketones produces 4-(3-oxopropenyl) derivatives (405) (79CB3221). The latter compounds are cleaved on warming with oxalic acid dihydrate in acetic acid to y-diketones (406). The mechanism of this transformation corresponds to a vinylogous Dakin-West reaction (Scheme 90). 

Scheme 32 Synthesis of 1-Oxoethylene Peptides using a Modified Dakin-West Reaction 72-73 ...

Treatment of an a-amino acid with an anhydride in the presence of pyridine, known as the Dakin-West reaction,[1431 gives access to a racemic a-amido ketone.1 44 1451 The mechanism involves formation of an oxazolinone (98)J146 In the modified Dakin-West reaction, the oxazolinone is reacted with an acid chloride (Scheme 33)J136 139] Due to the rapid epimer-ization of the oxazolinones, a diastereomeric mixture of product 99 is obtained. No detailed protocol has been published so far for the modified Dakin-West synthesis applied to (oxomethyleneamino) peptides, but the procedure is adapted from that already reported for (oxomethylene) peptides containing the tp[CO-CH2] link.1147 ... 

As with the Henry nitro-aldol condensation, the modified Dakin-West acylation is primarily used for synthesis of trifluoromethyl ketones, although there are several examples of its use in the synthesis of fluoromethyl ketones (Table 3).[31314 The modified Dakin-West reaction utilizes fluoroacetic anhydride (or other appropriate anhydrides) to form an anhydride, which then undergoes cyclization, activation of the a-carbon, and acylation at the a-carbon the precise details of this method will be discussed in Section 15.1.4.3.1. 

Most peptidyl a,a-difluoroalkyl ketones are actually extended chains based on statone, rather than simple difluoromethyl ketones. The statone derivatives are based on pepstatin, which is an extremely potent peptide inhibitor of aspartic proteases. The difluoro derivatives of statone take advantage of both the electronegativity of fluorine and the potential for additional interactions between the protease and structures on the leaving group side of the inhibitor. 15 This dual nature is part of what makes a,a-difluoroalkyl ketones effective inhibitors of aspartyl proteases as well as serine proteases. There are three main methods of synthesizing peptidyl a,a-difluoroalkyl ketones (1) the Reformatsky reaction with peptide aldehydes (Section 15.1.4.2.1), (2) a modified Dakin-West reaction (Section 15.1.4.2.2), and (3) a Henry nitro-aldol condensation (Section 15.1.4.2.3). 

All three isomerizations discussed above seem to occur by analogous mechanistic pathways similar to the mechanism formulated for the Dakin-West reaction [82]. Deacylation of the starting material H by catalyst G affords, in a fast and reversible step (Scheme 13.47, step I), an acylpyridinium/enolate ion-pair I. From this ion pair, enantioselective C-acylation proceeds in the rate-determining and irreversible second step, furnishing the C-acylated product J (Scheme 13.47, step II). 

Dakin-West reaction.1 This reaction involves conversion of an a-amino acid to an a-acetylaminoalkyl methyl ketone by reaction with an acid anhydride and a base at 25-135°. When catalyzed by DMAP, the reaction takes place at room... 

Several reactions are occurring in this step that have been elucidated by others (1). First, an a-ketoester is the initial condensation product of an N-acyl-aminoacid and an alkyl oxalyl chloride via a Dakin-West reaction. Second, at reflux temperatures isomeric enol esters are formed that directly condense with hydrazine to form a triazinone intermediate followed by the second ring closure. Other purines have been prepared in an analogous reaction pathway (2). 

---