Diazoalkanes reaction with imines

Diazoalkanes, like azides, are 1,3-dipoles of the propargyl-allenyl type (Scheme 87)15 and their reaction with imines provides a route for building the triazoline framework from the C—N—N and C—N fragments. Although diazomethane addition to the carbon-carbon double bond was achieved by von Pechmann in 1898,325 its reaction toward the carbon-nitrogen double bond was investigated only 50 years later. 

C=C double bonds which are neither strained nor activated by an EWG or EDG react slowly with azides. The reaction may take weeks or even months. The use of high temperatures is restricted as 1,2,3-triazolines are thermally unstable. In such cases, the imine-diazoalkane reaction is a suitable alternative. This method is a versatile route for the preparation of 1,5-substituted triazolines, especially 1,5-diaryltriazolines (848), from the reaction of a SchifTs base and diazomethane under mild conditions <93JHCl 191>. A wide range of substituents can be incorporated from readily available imines. 

While the electrocyclic ring-opening of aziridines to azomethine ylides is well known, the reverse reaction has also been studied as a route to aziridines . This process is implicit in the cis-trans equilibration of substituted aziridines <67JA1753, 7UA1779), and may be involved in the reaction of diazoalkanes with imines <84T2569>. Convincing evidence for the electrocyclization of... 

Dihydrotetrazines (340), which can easily be oxidized to 1,2,4,5-tetrazines, can be formed by dimerization of thiohydrazides (337) or amidrazones (338). The ring closure of hydrazidines (339) in a [5 + 1] fashion proceeds well with activated carboxylic acid derivatives such as imidates (341), orthocarboxylates (342) or dithiocarboxylates (343). The [4 + 2] procedure is found in the transformation of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles (346) or 1,4-dichloroazines (345) with hydrazine. Finally diazoalkanes (344) can be dimerized in a [3 - - 3] manner under the influence of a base the dimerization of diazoacetic ester is an early example, leading to 3,6-tetrazinedicarboxylate (48), which is frequently used in (4 -I- 2) cycloaddition reactions with inverse electron demand. Nitrile imines, reactive intermediates which are formed from many precursors, can dimerize in a [3 -I- 3] fashion to form 1,3,4,6-tetrasubstituted 1,4-dihydrotetrazines. These reactions are summarized in Scheme 57. 

Cycloadditions were found to be first-order reactions with respect to both 1,3-dipole and dipolarophile, in all cases so far investigated. There are some limits to kinetic studies of these reactions, as many 1,3-dipoles are very reactive substances. While aryl azides, diazoalkanes, some classes of azomethine imines (for instance sydnones), and some classes of azomethine oxides (nitrones) are stable and isolable, azomethine ylides are usually unstable, an exception being represented by a mesoionic oxazolone that has been used for kinetic investigations benzonitrile oxide has a very limited stability, although some substituted derivatives are stable for long periods nitrile imines are not commonly isolable because of their strong tendency to dimerise. 1,3-Dipoles of... 

Type I There is an overlapping of the high-lying HOMO of the dipole with the LUMO of the dipolarophiles. Such a situation is often referred to as a HOMO-controlled dipole or a nucleophilic dipole and includes many commonly used dipoles such as azomethine ylide, carbonyl ylide, nitrile ylide, azomethine imine, carbonyl imine, and diazoalkane. There is a close similarity of these reactions with a normal electron-demand Diels—Alder reaction, which involves the overlapping of the diene HOMO and LUMO of the dienophile. 

Reactions offluorinated dipoles. In recent years, much effort has been devoted to the preparation of tnfluoromethyl-substituted 1,3-dipoles with the goal of using them to introduce trifluoromethyl groups into five-membered nng heterocycles Fluorinated diazoalkanes were the first such 1,3-dipoles to be prepared and used in synthesis A number of reports of cycloadditions of mono- and bis(tnfluo-romethyl)diazomethane appeared prior to 1972 [9] Other types of fluonne-substi-tuted 1,3-dipoles were virtually unknown until only recently However, largely because of the efforts of Tanaka s group, a broad knowledge of the chemistry of tnfluoromethyl-substituted nitrile oxides, nitnle imines, nitnle ylides, and nitrones has been accumulated recently... 

Alkylidene sulfenes (75), generally prepared by the dehydrohalogenation of alkylsulfonyl chlorides, add readily to electron-rich multiple bonds. For example, with enamines, the thietane dioxide (e.g., 76) is formed diazoalkanes yield thiirane dioxides (episulfones) and imines (Schiff bases) afford 1,2-thiazetidine 1,1-dioxides. There are available numerous reviews of sulfenes, including cycloaddition reactions.102... 

Stanovnik and co-workers (100,101) systematically investigated the cycloaddition reactions of diazoalkanes with unsaturated nitrogen heterocycles, such as azolo-[l,5-fl]pyridines, pyridazin-3(2/7)-ones, and [fo]-fused azolo- and azinopyridazines. The Stanovnik group have studied the further transformations of the products and reviews of this chemistry are available. In a typical example, the reaction of 6-chlorotetrazolo[l,5-/7]pyridazine (37) with 2-diazopropane yields the NH,NH-dihy-dro-pyrazolo[4,3-(i]tetrazolo[l,5-/7]pyridazine 38 (102) (Scheme 8.11). The latter substrate reacts with acetone to produce an azomethine imine 39 that thermally rearranges to give the fused dihydro-1,2-diazepine 40. The azomethine imine obtained with glucose can be trapped with methyl acrylate to furnish the C-nucleoside 41 (103). 

The diazoacetonitrile-imine reaction may be considered complimentary to azide addition to cinnamonitriles because in the latter case only triazoline thermolysis products result.284 The reversed order of reactivity of the diazoacetonitrile to that of diazomethane implies an electrophilic attack on the imine and is explained in terms of a LUMOdi MC lonit[ile-HOMOin,int controlled interaction. Thus electron-rich enamines, which do not react with diazoalkanes, may be expected to react with electron-poor diazo compounds. 

An unusual course of thermolysis occurs in 5-amino- and 5-alkoxytri-azolines, which are formed only as intermediates in the reaction of enamines and enol ethers with azides bearing electron-withdrawing groups it involves cleavage of the N-l/N-2 as well as the C-4/C-5 bonds of the triazoline ring to yield diazoalkanes and imines with one fewer carbon than in the triazolines (amidines and imino ethers) (Scheme 144)233.250 272 431-433 in a cycloelimination reaction, the reverse of diazoalkane-imine cycloaddition. The intermediate formation of a diazonium zwitterion is suggested,233,247 but whether the thermolysis occurs in a one- or two-step reaction is not established. 

An unstable adduct between triphenylphosphine and a photochemically-generated dimethylgermylene has been characterised spectrophotometrically.The first 2,3-dihydro-l,3,2-X -benzodiazaphospholes (73) have been formed in the reactions of triphenylphosphine with g-benzoquinone di-imines stabilised by coordination.A complex of phenylnitrene with a tungsten pentacarbonyl acceptor has been trapped using triphenylphosphine. A kinetic study of the reactions of diazoalkanes with triphenylphosphine, leading to the phosphazenes (74), indicates a biphilic mechanism, the dominant interaction in the transition state involving the diazoalkane as a net electron donor,... 

The reactions of diazoalkanes and imines occur in generally low yields, but Lewis acid catalysis is of some help (equation 40). The reaction involves a 1,3-dipolar mechanism which proceeds through an isolable triazoline intermediate (Scheme 21). Treatment of the latter with acid affords aziridine in modest yield. 

Three-membered heterocycles. Decomposition of diazo compounds by the iron complex in the presence of imines leads to aziridines. An analogous reaction of diazoalkanes with aldehydes gives some epoxides and the rearrangement products (ketones) owing to the Lewis acidic nature of the catalyst. Ethyl diazoacetate behaves differently, as 1,2-aryl shift occurs during the reaction. ... 

Syntheses and properties of acetylenic derivatives of pyrazoles 02AHC(82)1. Syntheses of 2-pyrazolines by the reactions of a,/ -unsaturated aldehydes, ketones, and esters with diazoalkanes, nitrile imines, and hydrazines 02JHC1. 

Q ,/i-Unsaturated complexes undergo a number of facile cycloaddition reactions to produce more elaborate complexes. For example, cycloadditions using diazoalkanes, nitrileimines, alkylnitrones, azomethine ylids (see Ylide), and imines are feasible. For example, reaction of the chiral carbene (9) with trimethylsilyldia-zometathane gave the heterocyclic-substituted carbene (10) (Scheme 15). ... 

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