Imines formation from nitriles

Xie X, Liotta CL, Eckert CA (2004) C02-protected amine formation from nitrile and imine hydrogenation in gas-expanded liquids. Ind Eng Chem Res 43 7907-7911... 

The addition of Grignard reagents to aldehydes, ketones, and esters is the basis for the synthesis of a wide variety of alcohols, and several examples are given in Scheme 7.3. Primary alcohols can be made from formaldehyde (Entry 1) or, with addition of two carbons, from ethylene oxide (Entry 2). Secondary alcohols are obtained from aldehydes (Entries 3 to 6) or formate esters (Entry 7). Tertiary alcohols can be made from esters (Entries 8 and 9) or ketones (Entry 10). Lactones give diols (Entry 11). Aldehydes can be prepared from trialkyl orthoformate esters (Entries 12 and 13). Ketones can be made from nitriles (Entries 14 and 15), pyridine-2-thiol esters (Entry 16), N-methoxy-A-methyl carboxamides (Entries 17 and 18), or anhydrides (Entry 19). Carboxylic acids are available by reaction with C02 (Entries 20 to 22). Amines can be prepared from imines (Entry 23). Two-step procedures that involve formation and dehydration of alcohols provide routes to certain alkenes (Entries 24 and 25). 

The formation of several pyrazolylpyrazolino[60]fullerene adducts (208a-c) from nitrile imines have been described (Scheme 9.64) [111]. The nitrile imines are generated in situ from the corresponding hydrazone 205 and NBS in the presence of Et3N... 

The abovementioned transformation proceeds via initial formation of a,p-unsat-urated imines 114 from the starting aromatic nitriles, which then undergo the further nucleophilic attack at C3 atom by the exocyclic amino group of aminoazole followed by the cycUzation and aromatization and yielding the observed products 113 (Scheme 53). 

In principle, it would appear that the presence of bulky substituents R and E should kinetically favor the formation of nitrile imines. Lithium salts have been used for much of this work and it has been shown that this is generally the case [e.g., for 151 (X = S)] bulky electrophiles favor the nitrile imine (e.g., 153) while smaller analogues favor diazo compounds (e.g., 152). Reducing the size of the substituent on the diazo compound has a similar effect (e.g., 150 from 151) (X = lone pair). 

The synthetic importance of reaction (a) ° comes from the fact that it reduces to one step the pathway for conversion of an acid chloride into a nitrile (instead of the classical and rather inconvenient two-step route via an acid amide). Reaction is an example of a new transformation for aliphatic amines. Previously, there were no methods available for the direct transformation of an amino into a nitro group and the stepwise procedures were too cumbersome to be of practical use. Transformation of a nitro group into a carbonyl is a well-known reaction. Its modification, shown in reaction represents a welcome opportunity to obtain a protected carbonyl group as the immediate result of such a transformation. The viability of the sequential reactions (b) plus (c) enables the employment of a > CHNH2 moiety as a synthetic equivalent to a protected carbonyl group. A one-pot sequence of imine formation and its reduction with sodium triacetoxyborohydride represents a convenient... 

With few exceptions, organometalUcs add only once to nitriles (Section 8.6.4). Only if there is a very strong Lewis acid present to activate the anionic intermediate of the first nucleophilic attack will a second addition take place. An example of this second addition is the reduction of nitriles with LiAlH4, which proceeds all the way to the amine (Section 8.6.3). The AIH3 formed from the initial reduction acts as a Lewis acid to catalyze the second addition. This second addition can be prevented by using one equivalent of a less reactive aluminum hydride like LiAlH(OEt)3 or diisobutylaluminum hydride, [(CH3)2CHCH2l2AlH. The reactions in the acidic water workup are the reverse of imine formation (Section 10.5.2). 

Other methods for the synthesis of l,4-dihydro-l,2,4,5-tetrazines 9 which can be explained by intermediate formation of nitrile imines 8 are the photolysis of 1,2,3-triazoles 2181 and sydnones 3,182 reaction of tetrazoles 4180 with tosyl chloride, elimination of pyridine from the pyridinium compounds 5,189-190 of hydrogen chloride from the hydrazonic acid chlorides 1 s.3-i88 or elimination 0f sulfinate from the a-sulfonyl hydrazone 7.189... 

In the reactions of imines, one drawback is their instability. It is desirable from a synthetic point of view that imines, generated in situ from aldehydes and amines, immediately react with TMSCN and provide a-amino nitriles in a one-pot reaction. However, most Lewis acids cannot be used in this reaction because they decompose or deactivate in the presence of the amines and water that exist during imine formation. On the other hand, it was reported that a-amino nitriles were prepared by simply mixing aldehydes, amines, and TMSCN without any catalysts (Leblanc and Gibson 1992, Chakraborty et al. 1991). The reports insisted that water which was produced in the imine formation catalyzed the reactions. It was assumed that water would react with TMSCN... 

Formation of several pyrazolyl-pyrazolino[60]fullerene adducts (45a-c) from nitrile imines by use of this procedure has been described (Scheme 21.17) [53, 54]. The nitrile imines are generated in situ from the corresponding hydrazone 42a-c and NBS in the presence of EtsN and then reacted with Ceo (1) under the action of microwave irradiation, using a focused microwave oven. The route is simpler than the previously described method, which involved cycloaddition of Qo to nitrile imines prepared from the corresponding N-chlorobenzylidene derivatives [55]. 

The formation of secondary and tertiary amines results from the reaction of the amine product with the intermediate imine formed from the half-hydrogenated nitrile followed by further reduction (Scheme 30). 

The tertiary amine is formed in a similar manner from the imine and a secondary amine. This side reaction can be minimized by carrying out the hydrogenation in the presence of ammonia, which tends to shift the equiHbrium back towards the imine. When a compound with two or more nitrile groups is hydrogenated, the formation of both cycHc and acycHc secondary and tertiary amines is possible, depending on whether the side reaction is intramolecular or intermolecular. For example, for the hydrogenation of adiponitfile ... 

Besides the weak bonds listed in the previous table, there are other multiple bonds that endow the molecules in which they are situated with a positive enthalpy of formation. Such compounds are termed endothermic compounds. The danger they represent does not necessarily come from the fact that they are unstable, but is related to the exothermicity of their decomposition reaction. The most convincing examples are the acetylenic compounds, and in particular, acetylene. It is also the case for ethylene, aromatic compounds, imines and nitriles. 

The selectivity of RNH2 on M/A1203 and Raney catalysts decreased in the order Co Ni Ru>Rh>Pd>Pt. This order corresponds to the opposite sequence of reducibility of metal-oxides [8] and standard reduction potentials of metalions [9], The difference between Group VIII metals in selectivity to amines can probably been explained by the difference in the electronic properties of d-bands of metals [3], It is interacting to note that the formation of secondary amine, i.e. the nucleophilic addition of primary amine on the intermediate imine can also take place on the Group VIII metal itself. Therefore, the properties of the metal d-band could affect the reactivity of the imine and its interaction with the amine. One could expect that an electron enrichment of the metal d-band will decrease the electron donation from the unsaturated -C=NH system, and the nucleophilic attack at the C atom by the amine [3], Correlation between selectivity of metals in nitrile hydrogenation and their electronic properties will be published elsewhere. 

Photoelimination of nitrogen from the tetrazole 429 results in the formation of the dihydropyrazole 430, presumably via intramolecular addition of the photochemically generated nitrile imine 431.358 Other examples of this type of behavior have been reported.359... 

The photoelimination of carbon dioxide from esters and lactones is a process that has been the subject of detailed investigations. Discussion here is limited to nitrogen containing systems. 3,4-Diphenylsydnone (464), on irradiation in benzene, is converted via the nitrile imine 465 into 2,4,5-triphenyl-1,2,3-triazole (466)388 initial bond formation between N-2 and C-4 followed by loss of carbon dioxide to give the diazirine 467 is proposed to account for the formation of the nitrile imine. Nitrile imines generated in this way have been trapped with alkenes and alkynes to give pyrazoles389... 

Catalytic asymmetric cyanide addition to imines constitutes an important C—C bondforming reaction, as the product amino nitriles may be converted to non-proteogenic a-amino acids. Kobayashi and co-workers have developed two different versions of the Zr-catalyzed amino nitrile synthesis [73]. The first variant is summarized in Scheme 6.22. The bimetallic complex 65, formed from two molecules of 6-Br-binol and one molecule of 2-Br-binol in the presence of two molecules of Zr(OtBu)4 and N-methylimidazole, was proposed as the active catalytic species. This hypothesis was based on various NMR studies more rigorous kinetic data are not as yet available. Nonetheless, as depicted in Scheme 6.22, reaction of o-hydroxyl imine 66 with 5 mol% 65 and 1—1.5 equiv. Bu3SnCN (CH2C12, —45 °C) leads to the formation of amino nitrile 67 with 91 % ee and in 92 % isolated yield. As is also shown in Scheme 6.22, electron-withdrawing (— 68) and electron-rich (—> 69), as well as more sterically hindered aryl substituents (— 70) readily undergo asymmetric cyanide addition. 

Simultaneous formation of a two-ring system from acyclic intermediates has also been reported. For example, the reaction of carbonyl-stabilized sulfur ylides with nitrile imines afforded furo[3,2-c]pyrazoles (69TL853). 

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