Methylation with diazomethane

Methylation with diazomethane may be carried out as follows (FUME CUPBOARD )-. Dissolve 2-3 g. of the compound (say, a phenol or a carboxylic acid) in a little anhydrous ether or absolute methanol, cool in ice, and add the ethereal solution of diazomethane in small portions until gas evolution ceases and the solution acquires a pale yellow colour. Test the coloured solution for the presence of excess of diazomethane by removing a few drops into a test-tube and introducing a glass rod moistened with glacial acetic acid immediate evolution of gas should... 

Nitraminothiazoles are sufficiently acidic to be alkylated by diazomethane the methyl substituent is introduced on the exocyclic nitrogen (194). When sulfathiazole is methylated with diazomethane in ether, a mixture of ring-methylated and amino-methylated products is obtained, the ratio being 30 70 (85). With anion 31 (R = p-NO CsH4SO -) the ratio becomes 15 85 (195). 

Cinnolin-3(2//)-one (7) is methylated with diazomethane or methyl sulfate to give 2-methylcinnolin-3(2H)-one. In a similar manner, benzylation with benzyl chloride, cyanoethylation with acrylonitrile in the presence of benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide and glucosidation with tetra-O-acetyl-a-o-glucopyranosyl bromide in the presence of a base affords the corresponding 2-substituted cinnolin-3(2//)-ones. However, glucosidation of the silver salt of cinnolin-3(2//)-one produces the corresponding O-substituted compound. 

Oxo substituents are, in a few cases, methylated with diazomethane to give methoxy derivatives in addition to the major iV-methylation, and oxo groups in the 3-deazaflavins have been acylated. 

Sometimes compounds which exist predominantly in the hydroxyl form give products of N-methylation with diazomethane, for example 3-hydroxy-5-phenylisothiazole (63AHCi2)245) of course, the ambident anion (493) is an intermediate. 3-Hydroxypyrazoles, under rather severe conditions, can be converted into 3-chloropyrazoles with POCI3 <66AHQ6)347). 

Dihydromorphinone, Cj,Hjg03N, and derivatives. Dihydromorphinone (LIII MeO HO) is formed when morphine in solution is treated with relatively large quantities of platinum or palladium catalyst under various conditions.It melts at 262-3° and yields an oxime, m.p. > 234°. The hydrochloride is the drug known as dilaudid. On 0-methyla-tion dihydromorphinone yields dihydrocodeinone (see above), and when dissolved in ether and treated with methyllithium the corresponding tertiary alcohol, 6-methyldihydromorphine, CigHggOgN, m.p. 209-211°, Wd ° 14i7° (EtOH), is formed. This on methylation with diazomethane gives 6-methyldihydrocodeine as described above (Small and Rapoport... 

The hexahydro derivatives are weakly basic substances, some of them forming hydrochlorides. Dioxohexahydrotriazine yields a 1,5-diacetyl derivative (35), in which the positions of the acetyl groups were determined by acetylation of the A-alkyl derivatives and methylation with diazomethane according to Scheme 4. ... 

Cyclic hydroxamic acids and V-hydroxyimides are sufficiently acidic to be (9-methylated with diazomethane, although caution is necessary because complex secondary reactions may occur. N-Hydroxyisatin (105) reacted with diazomethane in acetone to give the products of ring expansion and further methylation (131, R = H or CH3). The benzalphthalimidine system (132) could not be methylated satisfactorily with diazomethane, but the V-methoxy compound was readil3 obtained by alkylation with methyl iodide and potassium carbonate in acetone. In the pyridine series, 1-benzyl-oxy and l-allyloxy-2-pyridones were formed by thermal isomeriza-tion of the corresponding 2-alkyloxypyridine V-oxides at 100°. 

The classical theory of methylation with diazomethane was developed by Arndt from a different basis. It depends on the postulate (which can be traced back to von Pechmann " 0 of direct methylation mobile hydrogen in an acid compound is directly replaced by the methyl group, i.e., the methyl group appears in the place which the hydrogen previously occupied. For the reaction of tautomeric substances with diazomethane, the following equation is applicable ... 

The foregoing investigations which demonstrate the equilibrium character of the primary step in methylation with diazomethane necessitate the additional assumption for Eq. (9) that the complex 1 shows the properties of an oriented ion pair (there is evidence " which can be thus interpreted) and the formation of 1 is reversible. It should be noted that in no stage of the process (including complex 1) is a mesomeric anion formed. A direct methylation is only possible when the compound retains a fixed structure throughout the reaction. 

This mechanism does not require a decision as to the question of whether the association of imidazole occurs through hydrogen bonding or by ionization. - However, if the methylation with diazomethane is considered together with methylations with dimethyl sulfate, dimethyl sulfate and alkali, and methyl iodide and the silver derivative of the imidazole, then such a comparison is best done using the hydrogen-bonded association model. 

The above keto-nitrile (15 grams) was methylated with a solution of diazomethane in ether. (The diazomethane solution was prepared using 20 grams of N-nitrosomethylurea.) The ether and excess diazomethane were evaporated on the steam bath and the oil dissolved in ethanol (50 ml). To this was added a solution of guanidine in ethanol (100 ml) (prepared from 8.1 grams of the hydrochloride). The solution was refluxed for 5 hours, the alcohol removed and the residue treated with 5N sodium hydroxide. The insoluble material was then filtered. After purification by precipitation from dilute acetic acid with sodium hydroxide and by recrystallization from ethanol the product formed clear colorless needles (8.0 grams), MP 218°-220°C as described in U.S. Patent 2,602,794. 

Ethyl 6,7-diaryl-3-hydroxy-2-oxo-2,5-dihydro-l//-azepine-4-carboxylates, e.g. 20, with diazomethane methylate solely at the 3-hydroxy group, whereas with Meerwein s reagent the 7-ethoxy-4/7-azepines, e.g. 21, are formed.48... 

Methylation of the 6,7-dimethyl derivative of 133 with methyl iodide in sodium hydroxide or sodium ethoxide gave two S,N-dimethyl derivatives, whereas in sodamide or ammonia, only the 5-methyl derivative was obtained. Methylation with diazomethane gave four methyl derivatives and with methyl chloride two di-jV-methyl and one 5,/V-dimethy] derivative were obtained (80H1139). Methylation of 153, obtained from 152, gave 4-methyl-3-methylthio-triazinoindole 155, whose hydrolysis or oxidation gave 154 (76T1735). On the other hand, methylation of 156 gave methiodide... 

A major metabolite was detected in the ethanol extract of 2,7-dichlo-rodioxin-treated soils. The metabolite was less mobile than DCDD in benzene-acetonitrile on TLC. The metabolite was eluted from the silica gel and methylated with diazomethane. The methylated metabolite was rechromatographed in benzene and migrated to the solvent front, suggesting a polar group on the non-methylated metabolite. 

For cottonseeds, pyrithiobac-sodium is extracted with acetone-water (4 1, v/v). After filtration, the acetone is removed by evaporation under reduced pressure. The residue is adjusted to pH 1 and extracted with ethyl acetate. The extract is cleaned up by liquid-liquid partitioning and methylated with diazomethane. The methyl ester of pyrithiobac is purified by silica gel column chromatography. Pyrithiobac-methyl is determined by gas chromatography (GC) with nitrogen-phosphorus detection (NPD). 

After recovering fluthiacet-methyl from the crop extract with n-hexane, acidify the residual aqueous layer and extract the free form of fluthiacet-methyl with n-hexane-ethyl acetate (2 1, v/v). After evaporating the solvent, clean up the residue with an Ci8 Empore Disk Cartridge. After methylation of the free form with trimethylsilyl-diazomethane, clean up the ester with a Bond Elut LRC SI and a Sep-Pak Plus NH2 cartridge, and quantify as fluthiacet-methyl by GC/FTD. 

On the basis of fundamental experiments (see Section IV,A,2) some indenobenzazepine alkaloids have been efficiently synthesized from the corresponding protoberberines via 8,14-cycloberbines. For example, the cycloberbine 428 derived from the protoberberine 427 was heated with methanesulfonic acid in aqueous tetrahydrofuran to afford a 2 1 mixture of cis- and trans-indenobenzazepines 429 in 92% yield (Scheme 85). The mixture was methylated with methyl iodide to give the cts-N-methyl derivative 430 and the unchanged trans secondary amine (21%), which was very difficult to methylate and which gave the /V-methyl derivative only in 6% yield even on treatment with dimethyl sulfate for 43 hr. Contrary to the ordinary cases (Section IV,A,2), the trans derivative did not isomerize to the cis isomer 430 under various acidic conditions. Debenzylation of 430 by hydrogenolysis afforded fumarofine (417), which was converted to O-methylfumarofine (316) by methylation with diazomethane (215). 

The seco amide alkaloids have been subjected to various transformations, mainly for structure elucidation purposes. When treated with lithium aluminium hydride, arnottianamide (206) was converted to the tertiary amine, deoxyarnottianamide (224), which on methylation with the Rodionow reagent gave deoxy-O-methylarnottianamide (225) (172,175). Arnottianamide (206) could be O-acetylated (174) as well as O-methylated with diazomethane in HMPA (172). Isoarnottianamide (208) was O-methylated to trimethoxy derivative 226, which under Bischler-Napieralski conditions recyclized to the benzophenantridine alkaloid, chelilutine (227) (176) (Scheme 33). 

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