Imine formation aminoketone

This approach to the five-membered pyrrole ring reacts an a-aminoketone with a P-ketoester. The mechanism will probably involve imine formation then cyclization via an aldol-type reaction using the enamine nucleophile. Dehydration leads to the pyrrole. Only the key parts of this sequence are shown below. 

In the presence of benzylamine, ketone 183 is converted into the aminoketone 186 by alkene hydroformylation, imine formation and aldol reaction. Under more drastic hydroformylation conditions the reaction of 183 with benzylamine leads to the amine 187, which results from a mechanism similar to those above including reductive amination of the ketone moiety. 

The problems involved are exemplified here by Knorr s pyrrole synthesis (A. Gossauer, 1974). It has been known for almost a century that a-aminoketones (C2N components) react with 1,3-dioxo compounds (C2 components) to form pyrroles (C4N-heterocycles). A side-reaction is the cyclodimerization of the a-aminoketones to yield dihydropyrazines (C4Nj), but this can be minimized by keeping the concentration of the ar-aminoketone low relative to the 1,3-dioxo compound. The first step in Knorr s pyrrole synthesis is the formation of an imine. This depends critically on the pH of the solution. The nucleophilicity of the amine is lost on protonation, whereas the carbonyl groups are activated by protons. An optimum is found around pH 5, where yields of about 60% can be reached. At pH 4 or 6 the yield of the pyrrole may approach zero. The ester groups of /7-keto esters do not react with the amine under these conditions. If a more reactive 1,3-diketone is used, it has to be symmetrical, otherwise mixtures of two different imines are obtained. The imine formed rearranges to an enamine, which cyclizes and dehydrates to yield a 3-acylpyrrole as the normal Knorr product (A. Gossauer, 1974 G.W. Kenner, 1973 B). 

An asymmetric version of aminoallylation has been developed via a transfer aminoallylation protocol. This methodology involves the initial aminoallylation of camphorquinone 207 with 5-allylpinacol boronate 177 in alcoholic ammonia, furnishing the a-aminoketone 208 stereoselectively, which upon treatment with an aldehyde 209 and achiral allyl boronate 177 leads to the in situ formation of chiral imine 210 followed by allylation to yield the homoallylic amines 212 (Scheme 35) <2006JA11038>. Excellent levels of enantio- and diastereo control were observed for the allylation of a wide array of aldehyde substrates. 

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