Imidazoles acyl reduction

Acylation of the common starting 3,4-diaminonitrobenzene with furoyl chloride proceeds on the more basic amino group meta to the nitro group to give 140. This is then cyclized to imidazole 141 by means of acetic anhydride. Reduction of the nitro group (142), followed by condensation with ethyl acetoacetate affords furodazole (143) [26]. 

In general, reduction of amides to alcohols is difficult. More commonly the amide is reduced to an amine. An exception uses LiH2NBH3 to give the alcohol. Reduction with sodium metal in propanol also gives the alcohol.Acyl imidazoles are also reduced to the corresponding alcohol with NaBH4 in aqueous HC1. °... 

In aprotic media a l-(acyloxycarbonyl)imidazole such as 16 is formed primarily which reacts to the acylimidazole and carbon dioxide. Imidazole now serves as a good leaving group and so the previously synthesized amine 6 could be added and the desired amide was formed via the usual addition elimination mechanism. One of the advantages of using this more expensive way of activation is the possibility to run the nitro reduction, acid activation and acylation in the same solvent (ethyl acetate) thus all three reactions could be telescoped into a single step during production. 

The ideas for delocalization of nitrogen lone pair electron density into an aromatic or heteroaromatic system were pursued through reduction of acylated pyrazoles and imidazoles to aldehydes in high yield. 3,5-Dimethyl-A -acylpyrazoles are easy to prepare and afford 77-96% yields of aldehydes with LiAlH4 in diethyl ether at 0 Further examples of this reaction have appeared.Although these later publications commented unfavorably on the ability of LiAlH4 to reduce acyl imidazoles to aldehydes (low yields), other workers have demonstrated that yields of 60-80% could be attained at temperatures of -20 to 4-20 °C in diethyl ether.It was considered that the earlier failure may have been caused by the presence of impurities in the acyl imidazoles. The latter are easy to prepare from the parent carboxylic acid and A jV -carbonyldiimidazole. 

The aromaticity of the imidazole nucleus ensures stability towards reduction, and when benzimidazole (27) is hydrogenated over Adams catalyst in acetic acid the carbocyclic ring is reduced first to give the tetrahydrobenzimidazole (28). However, if the solvent is changed to acetic anhydride, A(-acylation promotes the reduction of the heterocycle and the 1,3-diacetylbenzimidazoline (29) is then formed (Scheme 1). Imidazole (30) under these conditions gives 1,3-diacetylimidazoline (31). Imidazolium salts (32) are easily reduced and treatment with excess sodium borohydride in 95% aqueous ethanol culminates in the formation of 1,2-diamines, (33) or (34). Either N—C bond may cleave, although if the substituent R is benzyl the major products are benzylamines (33 R = Bn). ... 

Such substrates as a-(acylamino)enaminones (4) can be made by catalytic reduction of acylated 4-aminoisoxazoles (3) [16, 17J, or acetamidines made from 4-amino-5(4/f)-isoxazolones [18]. Although the starting materials require multistep syntheses, they are quite readily available in high yields, and their reduction and transformation into imidazoles are often quantitative (see Section 6.1.2(e)). 

When primary amines react with a-acylaminoketones the resulting Schiff bases can be cyclized in the presence of phosphoryl chloride, phosphorus pentachloride, or triphenylphosphine and triethylamine in hexachloroethane to give 1-substituted imidazoles (11) (Scheme 2.1.4). The starting a-acyl-aminocarbonyls are readily prepared from a-amino acids by reduction with sodium amalgam [31, 32] or by the Dakin-West reaction [33, 34], which is most conveniently conducted in the presence of 4-(AUV-dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) as an acylation catalyst [35 37]. 

Acylainino-4-acylimidazoles have been made from 3-amino-l,2,4-oxadiazoles and 1,3-dicarbonyl reagents (see Section 2.2.1 and Scheme 2.2.5). 4(5)-Acylimidazoles can be derived from 4-acylaininoisoxazoles (see Section 6.1.2 and Scheme 6.1.3). (See also the discussion in Section 2.2.1 on 4-acylimidazole synthesis.) 5-Acyl-l-arylimidazoles can be made from or-oxoketene-SJV-acetals and nitrosoaromatics (see Section 3.2 and Scheme 3.2.5), and 4-acyl-imidazoles by nitration of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in their enolic forms, reduction to iV-alkenylformamides and subsequent cyclization (see Section 3.2 and Scheme 3.2.4). Examples have also been isolated from reactions of 2-oximino-l,2,3-tricarbonyls and amines (see Section 4.1 and Scheme 4.1.7), from compounds such as 3-chloro-4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone and 3,4-disubstituted 3-buten-2-ones (see Section 4.3 and Scheme 4.3.5), and by ultraviolet irradiation of 1-alkenyltetrazoles which bear an acyl group conjugated with the exocyclic double bond (see Section 6.1.2.3). 

Now the seven-membered ring must be built up. Here an azole-based reagent, CDI, carbonyl di-imidazole proves invaluable. Reaction with 232 gives the acylimidazole 233 and this acylates the potassium enolate of nitromethane in good yield to give 234 and hence, by reduction, the diamine 235. The /V-benzyl group can now be removed and the synthesis of the seven-membered ring is completed with the one-carbon electrophile HC(OEt)3. 

Amino acid residues, except hydrocarbon chains, may provide nucleophilic sites (electron-rich centers) or electrophilic sites (electron-deficient centers) for chemical modifications. Electron-rich centers include sulfur nucleophiles (thiol of Cys and thioether of Thr), nitrogen nucleophiles (e-amino of Lys, imidazole of His and Guanidyl of Arg), oxygen nucleophiles (phenolic of Tyr, carboxyl of Asp and Glu and hydroxyl of Ser and Thr), and carbon nucleophile (a-position of indole ring of Trp), with an increasing nucleophilicity in that order. They provide nucleophilic sites for alkylation (nncleophilic substitution), acylation, addition and oxidation at pH near or above their pK values. Electron-deficient centers include ammonium cation of Lys, guanidiiun cation of Arg and imidazolium cation of His. They provide electrophilic sites for metalation and reduction at pH near or below their pK values. 

In parallel with the directed hydroarylation of olefins, a series of papers described the formation of ketones from heteroarenes, carbon monoxide, and an alkene. Moore first reported the reaction of CO and ethylene with pyridine at the position a to nitrogen to form a ketone (Equation 18.28). Related reactions at the less-hindered C-H bond in the 4-position of an A/-benzyl imidazole were also reported (Equation 18.29). - Reaction of CO and ethylene to form a ketone at the ortho C-H bond of a 2-arylpyridine or an N-Bu aromatic aldimine has also been reported (Equations 18.30 and 18.31). Reaction at an sp C-H bond of an N-2-pyridylpiperazine results in both alkylative carbonylation and dehydrogenation of the piperazine to form an a,p-unsaturated ketone (Equation 18.32). The proposed mechanism of the alkylative carbonylation reaction is shown in Scheme 18.6. This process is believed to occur by oxidative addition of the C-H bond, insertion of CO into the metal-heteroaryl linkage, insertion of olefin into the metal-acyl bond, and reductive elimination to form the new C-H bond in the product. 

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