Nitroalkenes Friedel-Crafts reactions

Chen and co-workers presented, in 2007, a Michael-type Friedel-Crafts reaction of 2-naphthols and trans-P-nitroalkenes utilizing the bifunctional activating mode of cinchonine-derived catalyst 117 [277]. The nitroalkene was activated and steri-cally orientated by double hydrogen bonding, while the tertiary amino group interacts with the naphthol hydroxy group to activate the naphthol for the nucleophilic P-attack at the Michael acceptor nitroalkene (Scheme 6.117). 

Shudo and coworkers have reported that 0,0-diprotonated nitroalkenes (16) behave as novel electrophilic species which can efficiently alkylate aromatics such as benzene, anisole, chlorobenzene, naphthalene, etc. under extremely mild conditions (equation 28). The reaction enables the synthesis of a-arylated ketones (17) which are difficult to synthesize by conventional Friedel-Crafts reactions. 

Alkylation solves the awkward problem of how to make aryl ketones of the pattern 151, awkward because the Friedel-Crafts reaction doesn t work with this substitution pattern. Alkylation of a nitroalkane with the benzylic halide 149 does work well and the product 150 can be oxidised to the ketone32151. Reactions with aldehydes work even with masked aldehydes33 like dihydropyran to give 154 and hence the ketone 155 with a 1,2-substitution pattern after hydrolysis.34 More vigorous conditions give nitroalkenes 145 from aldehydes and these will be very useful later as a2 reagents. 

TfOH protonates nitroalkenes, even nitroethylene, to give N,N-dihydroxyiminium carbenium ions, which react with arenes to give arylated oximes. This overall process provides a route to a-aryl methyl ketones from 2-nitropropene (eq 11) and constitutes a versatile synthetic method for the preparation of a-arylated ketones, otherwise difficult to s)Tithesize by the conventional Friedel-Crafts reaction. 

On the other hand, 2-naphthols have been used with different success as Michael donors in conjugate Friedel Crafts reactions with nitroalkenes and related substrates (Scheme 4.53). For example, cinchonine-derived thiourea 72b was identified as an excellent promoter for the reaction of a wide variety of 2-naphthols and nitroolefins, providing excellent yields and enantioselectivities. Remarkably, the more challenging p-alkyl substituted nitroalkenes were also found to undergo the reaction in a highly stereoselective way and with comparable yields to those obtained when nitrostyrene derivatives were employed. 

Recently, the Michael-type asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction of electron-deficient alkenes has been established as an important route to chiral benzylic stereocentres. " However, applications of this methodology for the synthesis of all-carbon quaternary stereocentres are conspicuously limited. PFMonosubstituted nitroalkenes have turned out to be active substrates in... 

Hirata, T. Yamanaka, M. DFT Study of Chiral-Phosphoric-Acid-Catalyzed Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts Reaction of Indole with Nitroalkene Bifunctionality and Substituent Effect of Phosphoric Acid. Chem. Asian J. 2011, 6, 510-516. 

With respect to cupreidine, C9 0-benzoyl esters of this cinchona derivative were demonstrated to be the best catalysts for the nitroaldol reaction of a-ketoesters [55], the conjugate addition of anthrone to nitroalkenes [56], the Henry reaction with fluoromethyl ketones (Scheme 6.25) [57], and an aza-Friedel-Crafts reaction of naphthols with N-sulfonyl imines [58]. 

Takenaka and coworkers used 2-aminopyridinium salts as dual hydrogen-bond donors for the activation of nitroalkenes. The 7-azaindolium salt 65 was found to be particularly effective for the Friedel-Crafts reaction of nitroalkenes with various electron-rich arenes as well as for intra- and intermolecular Diels-Alder reactions (Scheme 10.63) [163, 164]. The same concept was successfully applied to the enantioselective conjugate addition of 4,7-dihydroindoles to nitroalkenes using helical chiral 2-aminopyridinium salts (Scheme 10.64) [165]. The reaction was found to have a broad substrate scope, affording various 2-substituted indoles in good to high enantiomeric ratios. 

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reactions using metal-based chiral catalysts or chiral organocatalysts have been investigated extensively because the reactions directly provide alkylated arenes, a pharmacologically important substructure, in optically active forms. The chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed Friedel-Crafts reaction was first accomplished via the activation of imines but, currently, the scope of the electrophilic components has been broadened to include the Michael addition to nitroalkenes, a, 3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, and so on. 

The enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation of indoles with nitroalkenes is one of the most important carbon-bond-forming reactions for the preparation of biologically active compounds, such as indole alkaloids [39], Although several chiral catalysts have been investigated for the reaction, the enantioselectivities are not always satisfactory. Akiyama and coworkers developed a highly enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of nitroalkenes 77 with indoles 75 using chiral phosphoric acid Ih (Scheme 11.21) [40]. They found that the addition of molecular... 

Scheme 11.21 Asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with nitroalkenes.

You and coworkers employed 4,7-dihydroindoles 79 instead of indoles 75 in the Friedel-Crafts reaction with nitroalkenes 77 (Scheme 11.22) [41]. Catalyst Ig with a 9-anthryl group displayed excellent performance. The notable point in this reaction is the use of the syringe pump technique to achieve high enantioselectivities and suppress the background reaction. Subsequent oxidation of Friedel-Crafts adducts 80 by p-benzoquinone afforded 2-substituted indole derivatives 81 in excellent yields without racemization. This approach and the simple asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles are complementary methods for obtaining the different substitution patterns of chiral indole derivatives. 

A similar organocatalytic quadruple domino Friedel-Crafts/Michael/Michael/ aldol condensation reaction initiated by Friedel-Crafts reaction of indole to acrolein was also developed by Enders et al. [48], as well as a microwave-assisted qnadruple cascade organocatalytic Michael/Henry condensation/Michael/aldol condensation anploying acetaldehyde and nitroalkenes as substrates [49]. 

Other types of cinchona-catalyzed enantioselective Friedel-Crafts type reactions such as the conjugate addition of naphthols to nitroalkenes [77] and Friedel-Crafts amination [78] are discussed in the respective sections of Chapters 6 and 9. 

Lin JH, Zhang CP, Zhu ZQ et al (2009) A novel pyrrohdinium ionic liquid with 1,1,2,2-tetra-fluoro-2-(l,l,2,2-tetrafluoroethoxy)ethanesulfonate anion as a recyclable reaction medium and efficient catalyst for Friedel-Crafts alkylations of indoles with nitroalkenes. J Fluorine Chem 130 394-398... 

Nitroalkenes are not the only substrates employed as electrophiles in these conjugate Friedel-Crafts alkylations using chiral phosphoric acids as catalysts. In fact, the first reports in this field were focused on the reaction of indoles with p,y-unsaturated ot-ketoesters as Michael acceptors, which underwent clean... 

The combination of an imine derived from the reaction of acrolein organocatalyst 1 with simple indoles 84 and nitroalkenes 85 affords the 3-(cyclohexenylmethyl)-indoles 86 (Scheme 7.16) [59]. In this reaction, the indole 84 initiates the Friedel-Crafts-type reaction followed by a Michael reaction with nitroalkenes 85 to the intermediate 87. From this process, a hydrolysis takes place and the resulting compound enters another catalytic cycle involving a Michael/aldol condensation reaction similar to those reported previously. 

In 2004, Ricci and coworkers reported a sustainable Friedel-Crafts adulation of nitroalkenes with various aromatic and heteroaromatic substrates utilising 10 mol% of thiourea 8 under solvent-free reaction conditions. When applied to indoles, this method provides excellent yields and high selectivities (Scheme 19.8). Additionally, allqrlation at the difficult 2-position of the 3-methylindole was accomplished in a solvent-free reaction with the assistance of microwave irradiation (MW). 

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