Esters azlactones

Benzilic acid rearrangement Benzoin reaction (condensation) Blanc chloromethylation reaction Bouveault-Blanc reduction Bucherer hydantoin synthesis Bucherer reaction Cannizzaro reaction Claisen aldoi condensation Claisen condensation Claisen-Schmidt reaction. Clemmensen reduction Darzens glycidic ester condensation Diazoamino-aminoazo rearrangement Dieckmann reaction Diels-Alder reaction Doebner reaction Erlenmeyer azlactone synthesis Fischer indole synthesis Fischer-Speior esterification Friedel-Crafts reaction... 

A recent report describes the conversion of A-formyl- and N-acetyl-L-leucine into optically active azlactones with dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide (DCC) [Eq. (29)]. Other cyclization reagents, e.g. acetic anhydride, POCI3, SOCI2, and polyphosphoric acid, cause racemiza-tion. These azlactones react with optically active amino acid esters to give esters of dipeptides with retention of activity. 

In subsequent studies,22 Sheehan et al. demonstrated that the action of diisopropylcarbodiimide on penicilloate 24, prepared by protection of the free primary amino group in 23 with trityl chloride (see Scheme 6b), results in the formation of the desired -lactam 25 in a very respectable yield of 67 %. In this most successful transformation, the competing azlactonization reaction is prevented by the use of a trityl group (Ph3C) to protect the C-6 amino function. Hydrogenolysis of the benzyl ester function in 25, followed by removal of the trityl protecting group with dilute aqueous HC1, furnishes 6-aminopenicillanic acid (26), a versatile intermediate for the synthesis of natural and unnatural penicillins. 

The method described above may be used for the preparation of a wide variety of butenolides substituted in the arylidene ring with either electron-withdrawing or electron-releasing substituents. y-Lactones such as a-benzylidene-7-phenyl-A 1 -bu-tenolide are isoelectronic with azlactones, but have received much less attention. Like the azlactone ring, the butenolide ring may be opened readily by water, alcohols, or amines to form keto acids, keto esters, or keto amides.7 a,-Benzylidene-7-phenyl-A3,1 -butenolide is smoothly isomerized by aluminum chloride to 4-phenyl-2-naphthoic acid in 65-75% yield via intramolecular alkylation. 

Oxazolones (azlactones) are a form of activated lactones, so they are included in this section. CAL-B is an effective catalyst for the DKR of various racemic four-substituted-5 (4H)-oxazolones, in the presence of an alcohol, yielding optically active N-benzoyl amino acid esters as illustrated in Figure 6.24 [40]. Enantioselective biotransformations of lactides [72,73] and thiolactones ]74] have also been reported. 

The a-arylation of carbonyl compounds (sometimes in enantioselective version) such as ketones,107-115 amides,114 115 lactones,116 azlactones,117 malonates,118 piperidinones,119,120 cyanoesters,121,122 nitriles,125,124 sul-fones, trimethylsilyl enolates, nitroalkanes, esters, amino acids, or acids has been reported using palladium catalysis. The asymmetric vinylation of ketone enolates has been developed with palladium complexes bearing electron-rich chiral monodentate ligands.155... 

In the third transition state (TS3), the neutral catalyst is recovered by transferring the proton back from the catalyst to the substrate. In other words, the (former) azlactone ether oxygen atom deprotonates the tertiary ammonium ion. For proton transfer, again an LBHB is formed (N-0 distance 2.479 A, <(0,H,N)=166.2°). In the product complex, the catayst is neutral and the A-acylamino acid ester is bound in its iminol form to the catalyst (Product(iininol)). Finally, an additional 66.6 kJ moF are gained by the subsequent iminol-amide tautomerization (Product(ainide)) (Fig. 1). 

Scheme 6.90 Chiral N-benzoyl-protected a-amino acid allyl esters obtained from 64- and 78-catalyzed asymmetric DKR of racemic azlactones derived from racemic natural nonnatural a-amino acids.

Scheme 7.20 Ring opening of azlactone with immobilized lipase Cal b to the (S)-y-fluoroleucine ethyl ester.

Compared to the chemo-catalyzed kinetic resolution of alcohols, there are few reports of similar reactions for amines. Building on other work, one elegant example from Berkessel uses bifunctional organocatalysts to enantioselectively hydrolyze a racemic azlactone, and the dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) is achieved by in-situ acid-catalyzed racemization of the azlactone under mild conditions to give product N-acylarnino esters in, for example, 72% ee and 96% conversion with phenylalanine [6]. 

In this case, the amino acid is already oxidized at the (3-position and elimination of the hydroxy group, as the acetate, generates the double bond. Reaction of the unsaturated azlactone and the free base of an amino acid ester produces the dipeptides containing APhe. This approach has been extensively used in the preparation of a series of APhe containing peptides15 63 ... 

Attempts to synthesize ATrp derivatives by the well-known Erlenmeyer-Plochl method using an azlactone result in very poor yields.However, using an altogether different strategy Moriya et alJ143l synthesized ATrp derivatives with Z configuration in much better yields. In this method condensation of 3-(aminomethylene)-3//-indole 53 with A-acylglycine esters 54 was used to synthesize A-acyl-substituted ATrp derivatives 55 (Scheme 18). 

Huisgen s group488 have described a new synthesis of pyrroles (26) from oxazol-5-ones (azlactones) (25) with DMAD and MP. The pyrrole derivatives formed in situ from 2,4-dimethyl- and 4-benzyl-2-methyloxazolone with DMAD underwent nucleophilic addition to a second mole of the acetylenic ester to give the Michael adducts 27 and 28... 

This process relies on rapid base-induced racemization of the azlactone and rate-limiting ring opening by the alcohol nucleophile. In this process the DMAP derivative 79a acts as both Bronsted-basic and as nucleophilic catalyst. With 2-propanol as reagent enantiomeric excesses up to 78% were achieved for the product amino acid esters [87]. 

This process proceeds as a DKR [13, 190] because the DMAP catalyst promotes not only the asymmetric alcoholysis of the azlactone but also its racemization under the reaction conditions the N-benzoyl a-amino acid ester product does not racemize under these conditions. Johannsen has also screened chiral DMAP 21 (Fig. 8.4) for this transformation, but obtained poorer yields and selectivities [102],... 

However, most nucleophiles attack 5-oxazolones at the carbonyl group and the products are derivatives of a-amino acids formed by acyl-oxygen fission. Thus the action of alcohols, thiols, ammonia and amines leads, respectively, to esters, thioesters and amides orthophosphate anion gives acyl phosphates (Scheme 18). The use of a-amino acids in this reaction results in the establishment of a peptide link. Cysteine is acylated at the nitrogen atom in preference to the sulfur atom. Enzymes, e.g. a-chymotrypsin and papain, also readily combine with both saturated and unsaturated azlactones. A useful reagent for the introduction of an a-methylalanine residue is compound (202). Both the trifluoroacetamido and ester groups in the product are hydrolyzed by alkali to give a dipeptide. The alkaline hydrolyzate may be converted into the benzyloxycarbonyl derivative, which forms a new oxazolone on dehydration. Reaction with an ester of an amino acid then yields a protected tripeptide (equation 45). 

---