Diaziridines reactions

It was reported only recently that A-methyl transfer from an oxaziridine to an amine occurs with formation of an N—N bond (79JA6671). N—N bond forming reactions with A-unsubstituted oxaziridines had been found immediately after discovery of this class of compound (64CB2521) and have led to simple hydrazine syntheses (79AHC(24)63). Secondary amines like diethylamine or morpholine are A-aminated by (52) in the course of some minutes at room temperature with yields exceeding 90% (77JPR195). Further examples are the amination of aniline to phenylhydrazine, and of the Schiff base (96) to the diaziridine (97). 

There are differences in the high temperature behavior. While oxaziridines almost always isomerize to acid amides, a similar reaction of diaziridines, which should lead to amidines, has not been observed. Sensitivity towards bases, often encountered in oxaziridines, is observed only in some special substituted diaziridines. The tendency of some classes of oxaziridines to transfer the nitrogen function also lacks in the diaziridine field. On homolytic reactions of diaziridines there are only a few observations. 

S.08.3.2.1 Reactions of diaziridines with conservation of the three-membered ring... 

Acylations were often carried out with diaziridines. Twofold acylation is normally observed when two NH groups are present. Most acylations were performed with benzoyl chloride, acetyl chloride or phenyl isocyanate (B-67MI50800). Ring opening reactions during acylation, foreseeable for intermediates of electrophilic attack on nitrogen, were observed only seldom, provided mild conditions were used. 

Several reactions lead to opening of the diaziridine ring leaving the N—N bond intact. Besides the generally possible hydrolysis to hydrazines there are some thermal reactions of acylated diaziridines proceeding especially cleanly. 

Maleic hydrazide (149), produced on a large scale as a herbicide, can be obtained, according to a patent, from a simple diaziridine, which on an industrial scale could be less expensive than hydrazine hydrate. In the proposed manufacture of diamide (150) from a diaziridine and urea it must be taken into account that the reaction of urea is preceded by solvolytic hydrazine formation, which probably proceeds under the reported conditions (several hours, 70-80 °C, acidic media) (79AHC(24)63). 

Diaziridines are also very strong oxidizing agents, even liberating chlorine from hydrochloric acid. The reaction with iodide in acidic solution proceeds almost quantitatively in most cases. The two equivalents of iodine obtained from a diaziridine (151) are of analytical value together with the number of acid equivalents consumed (B-67MI50800). 

Diaziridines (156) unsubstituted on both nitrogens decompose at 125 °C by a redox reaction yielding one mole of a diazirine (157) together with two moles of ammonia and one mole of ketone from two moles of (156). The reaction proceeds below 60 °C when copper salts are present (64AG(E)229). 

A radical reaction is sometimes observed to compete with the particularly slow acid hydrolyses of diaziridines derived from formaldehyde. With other diaziridines the radical reaction can be made to predominate by using HCl in carbon tetrachloride solution. Acetaldehyde, butyraldehyde, butylamine and ammonia are obtained from (160) (64CB49). 

Most diaziridines are not sensitive towards alkali. As an exception, diaziridines derived from 2-hydroxyketones are quickly decomposed by heating with aqueous alkali. Acetaldehyde, acetic acid and ammonia are formed from (162). This reaction is not a simple N—N cleavage effected intramolecularly by a deprotonated hydroxy group, since highly purified hydroxydiaziridine (162) is quite stable towards alkali. Addition of small amounts of hydroxybutanone results in fast decomposition. An assumed reaction path — Grob fragmentation of a hydroxyketone-diaziridine adduct (163) — is in accord with these observations (B-67MI50800). 

It was not their reactivity but their chemical inertness that was the true surprise when diazirines were discovered in 1960. Thus they are in marked contrast to the known linear diazo compounds which are characterized by the multiplicity of their reactions. For example, cycloadditions were never observed with the diazirines. Especially surprising is the inertness of diazirines towards electrophiles. Strong oxidants used in their synthesis like dichromate, bromine, chlorine or hypochlorite are without action on diazirines. Diazirine formation may even proceed by oxidative dealkylation of a diaziridine nitrogen in (186) without destruction of the diazirine ring (75ZOR2221). The diazirine ring is inert towards ozone simple diazirines are decomposed only by more than 80% sulfuric acid (B-67MI50800). 

Diazirines (3) smoothly add Grignard compounds to the N—N double bond, giving 1-alkyldiaziridines. Reported yields are between 60 and 95% without optimization (B-67MI50800). The reaction is easily carried out on a preparative scale without isolation of the hazardous diazirines and may serve as an easy access to alkylhydrazines. The reaction was also used routinely to detect diazirines in mixtures. The diaziridines formed are easily detected by their reaction with iodide. Phenyllithium or ethylzinc iodide also add to (3) with diaziridine formation. 

Diaziridine, 3-benzyl-1,3-dimethyl-inversion, 7, 7 Diaziridine, 1,2-dialkyl-reaction with iodides, 7, 217 thermal decomposition, 7, 217 Diaziridine, dibenzoyl-rearrangement, 7, 214 Diaziridine, 3,3-dimethyl-Raman spectra, 7, 202 Diaziridine, fluoro-synthesis, 7, 232 Diaziridines acylation, 7, 213 from azomethines, 7, 231 calculations, 7, 198 from chloramine, 7, 230 cycloaddition reactions, 7, 28 electron diffraction, 7, 19 199 c/s-fused NMR, 7, 201 hydrolysis, 7, 216 inversion stability, 7, 200... 

All these syntheses form variations of the same reaction. The three-membered ring is formed from an A-halogenoamine with ketone-ammonia mixtures or the Schiff s base 3,4-dihydroisoquinoline. Starting from these first observations the three groups of authors were able to generalize their diaziridine syntheses quickly in the years 1959-1962 they were extended to generally applicable reactions. In numerous variations of the syntheses, large numbers of diaziridincs were prepared. 

By the same method, diaziridines can be prepared from aldehydes. Here the reaction does not stop at the stage of the diaziridine unsubstituted at the N-atom (36) further condensation of two aldehyde... 

The reactions of chloramine are not generally successful with N-chloroalkylamines. Therefore it was surprising that the diaziridine synthesis occurred smoothly from aliphatic Schiff s bases and V-chloro-alkylamines [Eq. (33), Table VII]. As can be seen from examples... 

A final statement on the mechanism of the diaziridine formation cannot yet be made. The obvious formulation [Eq. (36) ] as a reaction of the CN double bond with the imen 39 (with an electron sextet) is almost certainly excluded. The formation of 39 as an intermediate has been jiroposed for the Raschig hydrazine synthesis, but has been disjmted. The following facts are against a diaziridine formation corresjionding to Eq. (36) ... 

The rate of the diaziridine formation shows that the chloramine is attacked by the Schiff s base. Although ethereal chloramine solutions are only decomposed after weeks of standing, in the presence of a Schiffs base the chloramine is consumed after a few hours. The Schiff s base therefore does not enter into the reaction merely after the decomposition of the chloramine as it would have to do if formula 39 was an intermediate. Probably the chloramine adds onto the Schiff s base [Eq. (37) ] and ring closure of the geminal addition ]>roduct occurs. ... 

The diaziridines arc somewhat more stable than the oxaziranes. The three-membered ring of the oxaziranes is decomposed in all of its reactions, but with the diaziridines substitution on the nitrogen atoms can be effected and reactions involving fission and expansion of the ring to a five-membered ring are i)ossiblc,... 

Reactions of the Diaziridines with Retention of the Three-Memhered Ring... 

With aldehydes some diaziridines condense under the conditions of preparation. The formation of a fused triazolidine ring occurs regularly if aldehydes are treated with ammonia and chloramine to give diaziri-dines [Eq. (39)]. If, however, chloral is added previously to the reaction mixture, the 3-aIkyl-diaziridines (45) arc caught as their chloral adducts. By the alkali fission of these chloral adducts, 3-alkyl-diaziridines, e.g. (45), can be prepared. 

For the characterization of 1,3-dialkyl-diaziridines, derivatives can be prepared with phenyl isocyanate. The reaction products (47) are... 

The same ring expansion occurs on the reaction of 3,3-di-n-propyl-diaziridine with two molecules of phenyl isocyanate [Eq. (40)]. ... 

In their thermal stability the diaziridines approximate to the oxaziranes. As with most oxaziranes, they are stable at 100° C for short periods they are decomposed by heating at 200°C 1,2-di-n-butyl-3-ri-propyldiaziridine thus eliminates butylamine. The thermal decomposition has not yet been investigated in detail. Similarly no information is available on the reaction of radical reagents on diaziridines. 

The acid hydrolysis of diaziridines has been investigated kinetic-ally. The reaction is first order and shows a relatively high temperature coefficient. Thus one finds a relatively high activation enthalpy (23-28 kcal) and a positive activation entropy (2-6 eu). The influence of substitution on nitrogen is small. The velocity of the diaziridine hydrolysis depends only in the weakly acid region on the acid concentration. Between pH 7 and 3 the fc-values rise by nearly 10 . For the... 

The action of strong reducing agents on diazirines leads to basic products. Diaziridines can be detected as intermediates in the reaction. The reduction of 3,3-diethyldiazirine to 3,3-diethyldiaziridine [Eq. (61)1 serves as a proof of structure of the diazirines. 

Thus the diazirines could be related by a smooth reaction to a well investigated class of compounds. The three-membered ring structure of the diazirines was thus largely confirmed. They can be obtained from compounds which certainly have a three-membered ring structure [Eq. (54)] and are easily convertible into compounds which have equally well confirmed three-membered ring structures. The structure of the 1-alkyl-diaziridines (43) obtained by the Grignard reaction were confirmed by identification with known compounds, usually prepared by the reaction of Schiff s bases with chloramine [Eq. (32)]. The results of some of these reactions are collected in Table XII. 

The 1-alkyl-diaziridines can easily be hydrolyzed to alkyl hydrazines. Hence alkyl hydrazines are easily available from Grignard reagents and thus from alkyl halides. The three last examples of Table XII show the yield of alkyl hydrazine calculated on the diazirine used. The reaction has preparative interest because the alkylation of hydrazine with alkyl halides only gives monoalkyl hydrazines in exceptional cases. ... 

The reaction of hexafluoroacetone azine with cycloheptatriene at 70 °C provides after 8 days a mixture containing 28% of unchanged azine 290 and products formed by three distinct mechanistic pathways, that is, criss-cross cycloaddition product 294, a bis-ene adduct 295 and its oxidation product 296, and [3+6] cycloaddition leading to diaziridine 297, in the ratio 15 38 7 (Scheme 40) <1995JFC(73)203>. 

---