Enamines, methylation

Finally a general approach to synthesize A -pyrrolines must be mentioned. This is tl acid-catalyzed (NH4CI or catalytic amounts of HBr) and thermally (150°C) induced tea rangement of cyclopropyl imines. These educts may be obtained from commercial cyan> acetate, cyclopropyl cyanide, or benzyl cyanide derivatives by the routes outlined below. Tl rearrangement is reminiscent of the rearrangement of 1-silyloxy-l-vinylcyclopropancs (p. 7 83) but since it is acid-catalyzed it occurs at much lower temperatures. A -Pyrrolines constitut reactive enamines and may be used in further addition reactions such as the Robinson anei lation with methyl vinyl ketone (R.V. Stevens, 1967, 1968, 1971). 

One route to o-nitrobenzyl ketones is by acylation of carbon nucleophiles by o-nitrophenylacetyl chloride. This reaction has been applied to such nucleophiles as diethyl malonatc[l], methyl acetoacetate[2], Meldrum s acid[3] and enamines[4]. The procedure given below for ethyl indole-2-acetate is a good example of this methodology. Acylation of u-nitrobenzyl anions, as illustrated by the reaction with diethyl oxalate in the classic Reissert procedure for preparing indolc-2-carboxylate esters[5], is another route to o-nitrobenzyl ketones. The o-nitrophenyl enamines generated in the first step of the Leimgruber-Batcho synthesis (see Section 2.1) are also potential substrates for C-acylation[6,7], Deformylation and reduction leads to 2-sub-stituted indoles. 

Acylation of the Leimgruber Batcho enamines with phosgene followed by methanolysis and reductive cyclization generates methyl indole-3-carb-oxylates[8]... 

The symmetrical dye, bis-(3-methyl-4-phenylthiazole)monomethine cyanine (not mentioned by Mills), has also been identified, and its formation is explained by the enamine character of 20 (Scheme 27). 

Mills and Smith (504) were the first, in 1922, to develop a systematic study of the reactivity of methyl groups fixed on nitrogen-containing heterocycles. While in alkylpyridines the 2- (or 6) and 4-positions are activated, only the 2-position in thiazole corresponds to an enhanced reactivity of the methyl groups in condensation with aldehydes 4- and 5-methylthiazoles bear inert methyl groups. Quatemization of the thiazole nitrogen enhances still further the reactivity of the methyl in the 2-position (cf. Chapter IX), but it does not increase the reactivity of a methyl group in the 4-position (504). The authors invoke the possibility for 2- (and 6) methylpyridine and 2-methylthiazole to pass, to some extent, into the reactive enamine form (245), while 4-methylthiazole could adopt such a structure only with the participation of an unusual formula such as 247 (Scheme 112). 

Reaction conditions depend on the reactants and usually involve acid or base catalysis. Examples of X include sulfate, acid sulfate, alkane- or arenesulfonate, chloride, bromide, hydroxyl, alkoxide, perchlorate, etc. RX can also be an alkyl orthoformate or alkyl carboxylate. The reaction of cycHc alkylating agents, eg, epoxides and a2iridines, with sodium or potassium salts of alkyl hydroperoxides also promotes formation of dialkyl peroxides (44,66). Olefinic alkylating agents include acycHc and cycHc olefinic hydrocarbons, vinyl and isopropenyl ethers, enamines, A[-vinylamides, vinyl sulfonates, divinyl sulfone, and a, P-unsaturated compounds, eg, methyl acrylate, mesityl oxide, acrylamide, and acrylonitrile (44,66). 

Since 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of diazomethane are HOMO (diazomethane)-LUMO (dipolarophile) controlled, enamines and ynamines with their high LUMO energies do not react (79JA3647). However, introduction of carbonyl functions into diazomethane makes the reaction feasible in these cases. Thus methyl diazoacetate and 1-diethylaminopropyne furnished the aminopyrazole (620) in high yield. 

Attempted alkylation of methyl nitroacetate in base produced an isoxazoline Af-oxide (Scheme 140) (74CPB477), and the enamine (497) gave an isoxazoline A-oxide when reacted with methyl nitroacetate (74IZV845, 74MI41605). 

Diazoalkanes add to the carbon-carbon double bonds of 2,3-diphenylthiirene 1-oxide and 1,1-dioxide. The adducts lose SO or SO2 to give pyrazoles and related compounds (Scheme 103) (80CB1632). Mesoionic oxazolones (75CLH53), 4-methyl-5-phenyl-l,2-dithiolene-3-thione (80JOU395) and pyrylium betaines (72JOC3838) react similarly via intermediate adducts (Scheme 104). Enamines (Scheme 96) and ynamines add to the double bond of 2,3-diarylthiirene 1,1-dioxides to give acyclic and cyclic sulfones by a thermal. 

The pAT values of the conjugate acids of several enamines derived from 2-methyl-propanal have been reported. Rationalize the observed variation with the structure of the amino constituent. 

Enamines are stable to Grignard reagents, methyl iodide and lithium aluminum hydride. 

Hydrolysis of the enamine, ketal or enol ether function results in the formation of 4-methyl-A -3-ketones (23). 

Tnalkylindoles undergoFnedel-Crafts reactions at position 6, however, in tnfluoroacetic anhydride the a-methyl group of 1,2,3-trimethylindole is acylated through an intermediate enamine [41, 42] (equation 27) Similarly, tnfluoroacetic anhydnde acylates the double bond of the a-methylene compound shown [42] (equation 28)... 

Annelation of enamines or enolates with fluorinated methyl vinyl ketones gives the corresponding cyclohexenones [116, 117] (equation 101)... 

In 1954 Stork et al. (i) reported that the alkylation of the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone (5) with methyl iodide followed by acid hydro-I ysis led to the monoalkylated ketone. It was thus obvious that the enamine (7) derived by the loss of proton from the intermediate methylated iminium cation (6) failed to undergo any further alkylation. 

That the methyl group in the pyrrolidine enamine of 2-methylcyclo-hexanone (7) is in fact axial was demonstrated by Johnson and Whitehead (8). They found that careful hydrolysis of the pyrrolidine enamine of the conformationally more stable system, i.e., 2-methyI-4-t-butylcyclohexanone (13), led to a 1 4 mixture of cis and trans isomers of the ketone (14 and 15), showing that the methyl group in the enamine is largely in the axial orientation. 

The tetrasubstituted isomer of the morpholine enamine of 2-methyl-cyclohexanone (20) because cf the diminished electronic overlap should be expected to exhibit lower degree of enamine-type reactivity toward electrophilic agents than the trisubstituted isomer. This was demonstrated to be the case when the treatment of the enamine with dilute acetic acid at room temperature resulted in the completely selective hydrolysis of the trisubstituted isomer within 5 min. The tetrasubstituted isomer was rather slow to react and was 96% hydrolyzed after 22 hr (77). The slowness might also be due to the intermediacy of quaternary iminium ion 23, which suffers from a severe. 4< strain 7,7a) between the equatorial C-2 methyl group and the methylene group adjacent to the nitrogen atom, 23 being formed by the stereoelectronically controlled axial protonation of 20. 

That the methyl group in the less substituted isomer of the enamine (20) is axial was borne out by the work of Johnson et al. (18) in the total synthesis of the glutarimide antibiotic //-dehydrocycloheximide (24). The acylation of the morpholine enamine of 2,4-dimethylcyclohexanone (25) with 3-glutarimidylacetylchloride (26), followed by the hydrolysis of the intermediate product (27) with an acid buffer, led to the desired product in 35 % yield. The formation of the product in a rather low yield could most probably be ascribed to the relatively low enamine-type aetivity exhibited by the tetrasubstituted isomer, which fails to undergo the acylation reaction, and also because in trisubstituted isomer one of the CHj groups is axial. Since the methyl groups in the product are trans to each other, the allylic methyl group in the less substituted isomer of the enamine should then be in the axial orientation. 

Although the enamine (30) underwent addition reaction with ethyl azido-dicarboxylate, it failed to add another mole of jS-nitrostyrene. In a similar manner the morpholine enamine of 2-methylcyclohexanone also failed to react with this olefin, i.e., jS-nitrostyrene, which is undoubtedly due to the 1,3-diaxial interaction between the methyl group and the incoming electrophile in the transition state. 

---