Esters with boranes

Reaction of halo esters or diazo esters with boranes... 

Reaction of halo sulfonic acid esters with boranes 10-125 Alcoholysis of sulfonic acid derivatives 13-15 Vicarious substitution of aryl nitro compounds... 

Segment Cl was synthesized from (tf)-malic acid as a starting material in the following three steps (Scheme 27) (I) diesterification with acetyl chloride in methanol, (II) selective reduction of a-hydroxy ester with boran dimethylsulfide complex and sodium borohydride in THF, and (III) acid catalyzed lactonization of 145 (90). 

A number of less hindered monoalkylboranes is available by indirect methods, eg, by treatment of a thexylborane—amine complex with an olefin (69), the reduction of monohalogenoboranes or esters of boronic acids with metal hydrides (70—72), the redistribution of dialkylboranes with borane (64) or the displacement of an alkene from a dialkylborane by the addition of a tertiary amine (73). To avoid redistribution, monoalkylboranes are best used /V situ or freshly prepared. However, they can be stored as monoalkylborohydrides or complexes with tertiary amines. The free monoalkylboranes can be hberated from these derivatives when required (69,74—76). Methylborane, a remarkably unhindered monoalkylborane, exhibits extraordinary hydroboration characteristics. It hydroborates hindered and even unhindered olefins to give sequentially alkylmethyl- and dialkylmethylboranes (77—80). 

The oxazaborolidines are easily prepared by heating ephedrine with borane dimethyl sulfide or the appropriate boronate ester. The aluminum reagent C is obtained by mixing ephedrine and trimethylaluminum. Borolidinc A is superior to its methyl derivative B and to the aluminum analog C. The diastereomeric borolidine obtained from borane and (S,S)-pseu-doephedrine failed to show any cnantioselectivity25. A variety of aromatic aldehydes can be enantioselectively alkylated in the presence of A, however, with heptanal the enantioselectivity is poor25. 

Decomposition of the reaction mixtures with water followed by dilute acids applies also to the reductions with boranes and alanes. Modifications are occasionally needed, for example hydrolysis of esters of boric acid and the alcohols formed in the reduction. Heating of the mixture with dilute mineral acid or dilute alkali is sometimes necessary. 

Other reagents used for reduction are boranes and complex borohydrides. Lithium borohydride whose reducing power lies between that of lithium aluminum hydride and that of sodium borohydride reacts with esters sluggishly and requires refluxing for several hours in ether or tetrahydrofuran (in which it is more soluble) [750]. The reduction of esters with lithium borohydride is strongly catalyzed by boranes such as B-methoxy-9-bora-bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane and some other complex lithium borohydrides such as lithium triethylborohydride and lithium 9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane. Addition of 10mol% of such hydrides shortens the time necessary for complete reduction of esters in ether or tetrahydrofuran from 8 hours to 0.5-1 hour [1060],... 

The amidic group in methyl A -acetyl-p-aminobenzoate was reduced preferentially to an ester group with borane in tetrahydrofuran (1.5-1.8 mol per mol of the amide), giving 66% yield of methyl p-A -ethylaminobenzoate. Similarly l-benzyl-3-methoxycarbonyl-5-pyrrolidone afforded methyl l-ben2yl-3-pyr-rolidinecarboxylate in 54% yield and l,2-diethyl-5-ethoxycarbonyl-3-pyra-zolidone gave ethyl l,2-diethylpyrazolidine-3-carboxylate in 60% yield. 

REDUCTION WITH BORANE IN SITU Reduction of Esters to Alcohols [738]... 

Similarly, lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution has also been applied to intermediate nitrile alcohol 46 (Scheme 14.14). Best results were obtained by using immobilized Pseudomonas cepacia (PS-D) in diisopropyl ether, leading to excellent yield and enantiomeric excess of the desired (5)-alcohol 46a, along with (/J)-nitrile ester 47. Reduction of 46a with borane-dimethylsulhde complex, followed by conversion to the corresponding carbamate and subsequent lithium aluminum hydride reduction gave rise to the desired (S)-aminoalcohol intermediate 36, a known precursor of duloxetine (3). 

The N-N bond of polystyrene-bound hydrazines, which are prepared by reaction of organolithium compounds with resin-bound hydrazones [457], can be cleaved by treatment with borane to yield a-branched, primary amines (Entry 9, Table 3.23). An additional example of reductive cleavage to yield amines is shown in Entry 10 (Table 3.23), in which a resin-bound a,a-disubstituted nitroacetic ester undergoes decarboxylation and reduction to the primary amine upon treatment with lithium aluminum hydride. 

Polystyrene-bound amides, including peptides, can be reduced to the corresponding amines by treatment with borane in ethereal solvents. Other reagents, such as lithium aluminum hydride, are less convenient for reductions on insoluble supports, because insoluble precipitates can readily form and clog frits. Carbamates, tert-butyl ethers or thioethers, and trityl or benzhydryl amines remain unchanged upon treatment with borane, but carboxylic esters may undergo partial or complete reduction [178],... 

Although lithium aluminum hydride and boranes are very useful reagents, they are expensive and impractical to employ on a large scale. Other methods of reduction then may be necessary. Of these, the most important are reduction of esters with sodium and ethanol (acids do not react readily),... 

Reduction with borane/tetrahydrofuran8 regenerated enantiomerically pure (S)-(-)-2-methyl-1 -butanol, as shown by esterification with Mosher s acid and subsequent NMR analysis of the ester (see Note 1). 

An asymmetric synthesis of 3,4,5-trisubstituted-tetrahydro-l-benzazepines has been reported based on a type a ring construction process mediated by triethylaluminium with a chiral amino ester followed by lactam reduction with borane <2006OL2667>. Dynamic thermodynamic resolution in a lithiation-substitution sequence was integral to the preparation of the amino ester. An acid-catalyzed ring construction approach to the asymmetric synthesis of 4,5,6-trisubstituted- and 3,4,5,6-tetrasubstituted azepanes based on chiral acyclic precursors has also been described <2006JA2178>. 

Reduction of amides. Sodium borohydride combined with methanesulfonic acid in DMSO reduces amides to the corresponding amines in 60-90% isolated yield. I he system also reduces acids and esters to primary alcohols. These reductions have been conducted with lithium aluminum hydride and with borane-tetrahydrofurane (5,48),2 hut with somewhat different selectivities. This new reagent, however, appears to be less hazardous than the latter reagent. 

A Princeton group announced the first synthesis of L-5-deazaFA (91) via a path which to date remains the shortest and most direct route to this series [79, 80], In one step, reaction of 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine (87a) with purified triformylmethane [81a,b] produced 2-amino-5-deazapterin-6-carbox-aldehyde (88a), which was characterized as the acetamide (89a). Reaction of (89a) with dimethyl p-aminobenzoyl-L-glutamate in glacial HOAc afforded an intermediate imine which was reduced in situ with borane-triethylamine, yielding (90). Saponification of the amide and esters then completed the synthesis of (91) in 62% yield from (88a) (Scheme 3.18). Adaptation of this... 

In related chemistry, the borane/silane catalytic system can cleanly dealkylate phosphonic and phosphinic esters RPO(OR,)2 or R2PO(OR/) to give silyl esters with trialkyl silanes.259 If more active silane reagents like Ph2SiH2 or PhSiH3 are employed, catalytic reduction to primary or secondary phosphines is observed. Mechanistic experiments strongly support a silane activation pathway for this chemistry. 

The oxazolidin-2-ones 53 (R = H=CCH=CH2 or COEt) are obtained in a one-pot reaction of amino alcohol carbamates 52 with sodium hydroxide, followed by allyl bromide or propi-onyl chloride (94TL9533). A modified procedure for the preparation of chiral oxazolidin-2-ones 56 from a-amino acids 54, which avoids the hazardous reduction of the acids with borane and the intermediacy of water-soluble amino alcohols, is treatment of the methyl ester of the amino acid with ethyl chloro-formate to give 55, followed by reduction with sodium borohydride and thermal ring-closure of the resulting carbamate f95SC561). The 2-prop-ynylcarbamates 57 (R = Ts, Ac, Bz, Ph or allyl) cyclize to the methyleneoxazolidinones 58 under the influence of silver cyanate or copper(I) chloride/triethylamine (94BCJ2838). 

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