Imidazolides reaction

A sequence of imidazolide reactions was used in the following synthesis 11491... 

Imidazole-5-thione, 4,4-diphenyl-tautomerism, 5, 368 3 H-Imidazole-2-thione, 1,3-dimethyl-structure, 5, 367 Imidazole-2-thiones acidity, 5, 367 betaines, 5, 372 synthesis, 5, 481 tautomerism, 5, 367 3H-Imidazole-2-thiones synthesis, 5, 473, 6, 992 Imidazolides deacylation, 5, 453 mass spectra, 5, 360 phosphoric acid reactions, 5, 454 reactions, 5, 451-453 Imidazolidine, l-alkyl-3-phenyl-N-oxidation, 5, 427 Imidazolidine, 1,3-benzyl-2-phenyl-oxidation, S, 427... 

Photosensitive functions are in many cases also heat sensitive, so the preparation of photosensitive polyimides needs smooth conditions for the condensations and imidization reactions. Some chemical reactants, which can be used for polyamide preparation, have been patented for the synthesis of polyimides and polyimide precursors. For example, chemical imidization takes place at room temperature by using phosphonic derivative of a thiabenzothiazoline.102 A mixture of N -hydroxybenzotriazole and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide allows the room temperature condensation of diacid di(photosensitive) ester with a diamine.103 Dimethyl-2-chloro-imidazolinium chloride (Fig. 5.25) has been patented for the cyclization of a maleamic acid in toluene at 90°C.104 The chemistry of imidazolide has been recently investigated for the synthesis of polyimide precursor.105 As shown in Fig. 5.26, a secondary amine reacts with a dianhydride giving meta- and para-diamide diacid. The carbonyldiimidazole... 

Acyl imidazolides are more reactive than esters but not as reactive as acyl halides. Entry 7 is an example of formation of a (3-ketoesters by reaction of magnesium enolate monoalkyl malonate ester by an imidazolide. Acyl imidazolides also are used for acylation of ester enolates and nitromethane anion, as illustrated by Entries 8, 9, and 10. (V-Methoxy-lV-methylamides are also useful for acylation of ester enolates. 

In addition to acyl halides and acid anhydrides, there are a number of milder and more selective acylating agents that can be readily prepared from carboxylic acids. Imidazolides, the (V-acyl derivatives of imidazole, are examples.115 Imidazolides are isolable substances and can be prepared directly from the carboxylic acid by reaction with carbonyldiimidazole. 

There were several problems to address in developing the conversion of the unsaturated acyl imidazolide 18 to these ketones. The acetylacetonate ligand was found to add to 18 leading to more than 2% of a by-product, believed to be 59 (Figure 3.7), which proved difficult to remove. The reaction also consumes far more organomagnesium reagent than should be necessary 5 equiv are required for complete conversion (the theoretical is 2.0). Also, the reaction provided best results when carried out at low temperature (-35 °C). 

Although hydrolysis as well as other nucleophilic reactions of A-acylazoles (alcoholysis, aminolysis etc.) most likely follow the addition-elimination (AE) mechanism, there are indications that more complex mechanisms must be taken into account for hydrolysis under specific structural conditions. For example, for neutral hydrolysis of imidazolides with increasing steric shielding of the carbonyl group by one, two, and three... 

Fig. 1—2 shows a Hammett diagram for 14 different imidazolides of benzoic acids with a wide range of substituents upon which the reactivity is strongly dependent for example, the difference in rate constants between jV-(4-nitrobenzoyl)imidazole and iV-(4-dimethylaminobenzoyl)imidazole under the same reaction conditions amounts to a factor of about 3000. The Hammett reaction constant p = + 1.85 for the series shown in Fig. 1—2 indicates clearly that the hydrolysis is following a nucleophilic addition-elimination reaction path. 

Results corresponding to those for the substituted N-benzoylimidazoles have been observed for a series of meta- and para-substituted /V-benzoyl-1,2,4-triazoles which, under the same conditions and over the whole range of substituents, show reaction rates about ten times faster than those of the imidazolides.[9],[10]... 

Based on these reactivity studies on azolides, the imidazolides do not represent the most reactive members of the azolide family. In most cases, however, they are sufficiently reactive to undergo nucleophilic reactions leading to the desired products. Due to the easy and economical availability of imidazole, imidazolides are by far the most commonly used azolides for synthetic purposes. If, on the other hand, imidazolides are not sufficiently reactive in a specific case, one of the more active reagents from the arsenal of azolides might be used, as, for example, an azolide derived from a triazole or a tetrazole. 

The use of AMximethylsilylimidazole has been suggested in the reaction with acid chlorides to form imidazolides.[3] In fact, the rate of conversion to imidazolides by reaction of iV-trimethylsilylimidazole with acid chlorides is remarkably rapid even at rather low temperatures. On the other hand, the preparation of the N-trimethylsilylimid-azole from imidazole requires the heating of imidazole with hexamethyldisilazane for several hours. 

The preparation of imidazolides by acylation of imidazole with acid chlorides is sometimes limited by the inaccessibility or instability of the required acid chlorides (e.g., formyl chloride, highly unsaturated acid chlorides, etc.) or by side-reactions in the case of multifunctional systems. For these reasons and due to the availability of an easy and convenient procedure involving very mild conditions, imidazolides today are usually prepared directly from the corresponding carboxylic acids with jV -carbonyldiimida-zole (CDI) or one of its analoga (see page 16). Use of these reagents has become more and more the preferred method for activation of carboxylic acids to azolides and their further transacylation to esters, amides, peptides, etc. (see subsequent Chapters). 

A V -Carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) is prepared in a convenient and safe procedure from phosgene and imidazole as a non-toxic crystalline compound (m.p. 116-118 °C).[5],[6] It reacts almost quantitatively at room temperature or by short and moderate heating with an equimolar quantity of a carboxylic acid in tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, or similar inert solvents within a few minutes to give the corresponding carboxylic acid imidazolide, which is formed under release of carbon dioxide, together with one equivalent of readily separable and recyclable imidazole.Thus, this reaction leads under very mild conditions to the activation of a carboxylic acid appropriate for transacylation onto a nucleophile with an alcohol to an ester, with an amino compound to an amide or peptide, etc. 

The transformation of carboxylic acids with CDI into imidazolides has a wide range of applicability. CDI reacts with aliphatic, aromatic, and heterocyclic carboxylic acids under very mild conditions, and these reactions are not affected by the presence of functional groups unless the latter are strongly nucleophilic and themselves react with CDI in such cases a reversible protection of the functional groups is necessary. The reaction of CDI also works in such specific cases as trifluoro- and trichloroacetic acids, leading to the very reactive Af-trifluoro- and N-trichloroacetylimidazoles. 1 111... 

With carboxylic acids there was no activation to carboxylic acid imidazolides observed. Reaction with p-toluenesulfonic acid in boiling tetrahydrofuran did not yield the />-toluenesulfonic acid imidazolide, but rather the double p-toluene sulfonate, from which A -sulfonyldiimidazole can be released again quantitatively with imidazole or aniline. Only from the melt of water-free p-toluenesulfonic acid and AyV -sulfonyldiimidazole at 90 °C p-toluenesulfonic imidazolide (m.p. 75.5-77 °C 87% yield) could be obtained1201 (see also Section 10.1.1). 

A mixed anhydride probably is formed as an intermediate which is cleaved inter-molecularily by the imidazole set free in the first step. For example, reaction with the compound in which R1 =thymyl and R2 = C6H5 yielded quantitatively O-thymylphos-phoric imidazolide and benzoylimidazole.[25 Phosphoryldiimidazoles are also used as condensing agents for the synthesis of amides and peptides, as well as for phosphorylations (see Chapters 4, 5 and 12). 

In the preceding sections it has been shown — using the imidazolides as examples - that azolides can be prepared easily by a number of different reaction pathways. In view of the higher or lower reactivities of other members of the azolide family it becomes evident that this class of compounds contributes to a powerful arsenal in synthetic organic chemistry. The various reactions these azolides undergo are dealt with in detail in the chapters that follow. Since imidazolides are utilized for most of the azolide reactions, certain additional information is provided here for this particular group of the azolides. 

In review articles[2] published about three decades ago, data were presented for about 100 imidazolides. In the meantime azolide reactions have developed to the point of becoming standard reactions, based mainly on imidazolides, so it seemed reasonable to underscore once again the structural diversity of the group of azolides. This is done mainly in the context of the following syntheses, most of which were essentially developed within our research group. 

Table 2-1 lists some examples of carboxylic acid imidazolides of various structures prepared by the use of A -carbonyldiimidazole (CDI), A -thiocarbonyldiimidazole (Im-CS-Im), and A -sulfinyldiimidazole (Im-SO-Im). Independent of the specific method applied, the data in Table 2-1 show that reasonable yields of imidazolides and diimidazolides are quite general, irrespective of various substituents and of steric factors. The rather mild reaction conditions also permit the formation of imidazolides of highly unsaturated systems. As a further advantage, it should be mentioned that almost all imidazolides are crystalline compounds, which can be conveniently handled. Melting points are therefore included for the imidazolides listed in Table 2—1. 

The reaction of a carboxylic acid with N,Af -carbonyldiimidazolellH33 (abbreviated as CDI), forming an imidazolide as the first step followed by alcoholysis or phenolysis of the imidazolide (second step), constitutes a synthesis of esters that differs from most other methods by virtue of its particularly mild reaction conditions.t41,[5] It may be conducted in two separate steps with isolation of the carboxylic acid imidazolide, but more frequently the synthesis is carried out as a one-pot reaction without isolation of the intermediate. Equimolar amounts of carboxylic acid, alcohol, and CDI are allowed to react in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran, benzene, trichloromethane, dichloromethane, dimethylformamide, or nitromethane to give the ester in high yield. The solvents should be anhydrous because of the moisture sensitivity of CDI (see Chapter 2). Even such unusual solvent as supercritical carbon dioxide at a pressure of 3000 psi and a temperature of 36-68 °C has been used for esterification with azolides.[6]... 

The second step, nucleophilic attack of an alcohol or phenol on the activated carboxylic acid RCOIm (carboxylic acid imidazolide), is usually slow (several hours), but it can be accelerated by heating[7] or by adding a base[8] [9] such as NaH, NaNH2, imidazole sodium (ImNa), NaOR, triethylamine, diazabicyclononene (DBN), diazabicycloimdecene (DBU), or /7-dimethylaminopyridine to the reaction mixture (see Tables 3—1 and 3—2). This causes the alcohol to become more nucleophilic. Sodium alcoholate applied in catalytic amounts accelerates the ester synthesis to such an extent that even at room temperature esterification is complete after a short time, usually within a few minutes.[7H9] This catalysis is a result of the fact that alcoholate reacts with the imidazolide very rapidly, forming the ester and imidazole sodium. 

While in the uncatalyzed reaction of l-ethyleneimino-2-hydroxy-3-butene in THF, refluxing for four hours was necessary to produce 70% of the ester, in the presence of NaNH2 a 90% yield was achieved at room temperature after only five minutes.[13 14] An especially interesting example of the use of the imidazolide method for ester synthesis is illustrated by the total synthesis of actinomycin C3.[15],[16] Working with N-protected L-TV-methylvaline and CDI, esterification of the hydroxyl group on the threonine residue proved successful whereas this could not be accomplished by any of the conventional methods. 

Similarly applicable for ester syntheses as CDI is A AT -oxalyldiimidazole, which was first described in reference [109]. It has been used to convert not only carboxylic acids but also metal carboxylates into the corresponding imidazolides.[110] Typical reaction conditions for the reactions with oxalyldiimidazole are for the first step 1-2 h, 25-45 °C, and for the second step 4 h, room temperature if X = H if X = Li or Na, if 60 °C and DMF as solvent. In the latter case the resulting Lilm or Naim function as catalysts in the conversion of alcohol into the alcoholate. Results are given in Table 3— 3 [no]... 

An imidazolide-supported polymer was used for transacylation of phosphatidylcholine. The polymer was obtained from a chloromethylated polystyrene with two mol-% divinylbenzene. The imidazolide group was anchored by reaction with 3-hydroxymethyl-1-tritylimidazole, cleavage of the trityl group, and condensation with palmitic acid 122]... 

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