Iminium ions aldol reaction

Imines and iminium ions are nitrogen analogs of carbonyl compounds and they undergo nucleophilic additions like those involved in aldol reactions. The reactivity order is C=NR < C=0 < [C=NR2]+ < [C=OH]+. Because iminium ions are more reactive than imines, the reactions are frequently run under mildly acidic conditions. Under some circumstances, the iminium ion can be the reactive species, even though it is a minor constituent in equilibrium with the amine, carbonyl compound, and unprotonated imine. 

Iminium ions are intermediates in a group of reactions that form ,( -unsaturated compounds having structures corresponding to those formed by mixed aldol addition followed by dehydration. These reactions are catalyzed by amines or buffer systems containing an amine and an acid and are referred to as Knoevenagel condensations,2U The reactive electrophile is probably the protonated form of the imine, since it is a more reactive electrophile than the corresponding carbonyl compound.212... 

As expected, some sequences also occur where a domino anionic/pericyclic process is followed by another bond-forming reaction. An example of this is an anionic/per-icyclic/anionic sequence such as the domino iminium ion formation/aza-Cope/ imino aldol (Mannich) process, which has often been used in organic synthesis, especially to construct the pyrrolidine framework. The group of Brummond [450] has recently used this approach to synthesize the core structure 2-885 of the immunosuppressant FR 901483 (2-886) [451] (Scheme 2.197). The process is most likely initiated by the acid-catalyzed formation of the iminium ion 2-882. There follows an aza-Cope rearrangement to produce 2-883, which cyclizes under formation of the aldehyde 2-884. As this compound is rather unstable, it was transformed into the stable acetal 2-885. The proposed intermediate 2-880 is quite unusual as it does not obey Bredf s rule. Recently, this approach was used successfully for a formal total synthesis of FR 901483 2-886 [452]. 

The stereoselective addition of the titanium enolate of A-acetyl-4-phenyl-l,3-thiazolidine-2-thione 153 to the cyclic A-acyl iminium ion 154 is utilized in the synthesis of (-)-stemoamide, a tricyclic alkaloid <06JOC3287>. The iminium ion addition product 155 undergoes magnesium bromide-catalyzed awtz-aldol reaction with cinnamaldehyde 156 to give adduct 157, which possesses the required stereochemistry of all chiral centers for the synthesis of (-)-stemoamide. 

Application of an organocatalytic domino Michael addition/intramolecular aldol condensation to the preparation of a series of important heterocycles has recently received much attention [158] with methods being disclosed for the preparation of benzopyrans [159-161], thiochromenes [162-164] and dihydroquinolidines [165, 166]. The reports all use similar conditions and the independent discovery of each of these reactions shows the robust nature of the central concept. A generalised catalytic cycle which defines the principles of these reports is outlined in Fig. 10. Formation of iminium ion 102 is followed by an intermolecular Michael addition of an oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen based nucleophile (103) to give an intermediate... 

J0rgensen has also reported a sequential Michael/Michael/aldol condensation for the three component coupling of malonitrile 111 and a,P-unsaturated aldehydes that involves two iminium ion catalysed Michael additions followed by an intramolecular aldol condensation (Scheme 43) [170]. Using diarylprolinol ether 55 (10 mol%) in a concentrated toluene solution of malonitrile 111 and 3 equivalents of a,P-unsaturated aldehyde the reaction products can be isolated in just 1 8 h (57-89% yield 97-99% ee). The atom efficiency of this three component reaction is remarkable and the ability to prepare these complex products under... 

Recently, List has described a cascade reaction promoted by phosphoric acid 1 in combination with stoichiometric amounts of achiral amine, which transforms various 2,6-diketones to the corresponding ds-cyclohexylamines (Scheme 5.28) [50]. This three-step process involves initial aldolization via enamine catalysis to give conjugate iminium ion intermediate A. Next, asymmetric conjugate reduction followed by a diastereoselective 1,2 hydride addition completes the catalytic cycle. 

Hence, if the proline-catalyzed aldol reaction between acetone and 4-nitrobenzal-dehyde in DM SO is carried out using 5 mol% proline, decarboxylation occurs and [3 + 2] cycloaddition between the resulting ylide and benzaldehyde gives a 1,3-oxazolidinone as the maj or side product [98]. Therefore, it is important that if catalyst loadings are to be reduced, either the carboxylic acid should be unable to decarbox-ylate (e.g. Appendix 7.B, Entries 12 [97, 98], 35 [99]) or else must be replaced by an isostere [101, 102] (e.g. Appendix 7.B, Entries 7 [103, 104], 8-10 [105], 11 [106], 28 [107]). Alternatively, the relative rate of the aldol reaction can be increased in order to minimize the concentration of iminium ion in solution and remove it from equilibrium before decarboxylation can take place. 

Figure 2 illustrates the formation of 5-acetyl-7-methyl-[iv], 5-acetyl-6-methyl-[v], 7-formyl-5-methyl-[vi] and [vii] 7-acetyl-5-methyl-2,3-dihydro-(lH)-pyrrolizines after Tressl et al. (5). The 2,3-dihydro-(lH)-pyrrolizines require both carbohydrate fragmentation products and proline for their formation. Both the 5-acetyl- pyrrolizines [iv] and [v] increased in quantity as the reaction temperature increased while [vi] and [vii] were found at maximum quantity at 152.5°C. The first pair are formed through an iminium carboxylate intermediate which is decarboxylated into an exocyclic iminium ion which then undergoes an aldol... 

In the reaction of Figure 12.19, the alkoxide formed in this step deprotonates a carboxylic acid (cis-1 —> K), whereas in Figure 12.18 an iminium ion is deprotonated (B — C). Accordingly, different chemoselectivities are observed Figure 12.19 shows an enamine-mediated aldol addition, and Figure 12.18 presents an enamine-mediated aldol condensation. Hydrolysis of the iminium ion K in Figure 12.19 leads to the formation of the aldol addition products B and the amine which, together with the still unconsumed substrate A, forms the new enam-ine C, to start the catalytic cycle anew. 

This catalytic cascade was first realized using propanal, nitrostyrene and cinnamaldehyde in the presence of catalytic amounts of (9TMS-protected diphenylprolinol ((.S )-71,20 mol%), which is capable of catalyzing each step of this triple cascade. In the first step, the catalyst (S)-71 activates component A by enamine formation, which then selectively adds to the nitroalkene B in a Michael-type reaction (Hayashi et al. 2005). The following hydrolysis liberates the catalyst, which is now able to form the iminium ion of the a, 3-unsaturated aldehyde C to accomplish in the second step the conjugate addition of the nitroalkane (Prieto et al. 2005). In the subsequent third step, a further enamine reactivity of the proposed intermediate leads to an intramolecular aldol condensation. Hydrolysis returns the catalyst for further cycles and releases the desired tetrasubstituted cyclohexene carbaldehyde 72 (Fig. 8) (Enders and Hiittl 2006). 

The process mechanism as shown in Figure 2.23 consists of an initial activation of the aldehyde (66) by the catalyst [(5)-67] with the formation of the corresponding chiral enamine, which then, selectively, adds to nitroalkene (65) in a Michael-type reaction. The following hydrolysis liberates the catalyst, which forms the iminium ion of the a,(3-unsaturated aldehyde (62) to accomplish the conjugate addition with the nitroalkane A. In the third step, another enamine activation of the intermediate B leads to an intramolecular aldol condensation via C. Finally, the hydrolysis of it returns the catalyst and releases the desired chiral tetra-substituted cyclohexene carbaldehyde (68). 

The ideal approach for the preparation of conjugated carbonyl compounds having an exo-methylene group would be via a mixed aldol condensation of an enolizable carbonyl substrate with formaldehyde as the electrophilic partner. However, formaldehyde is a very powerful electrophile and tends to react more than once with enols and enolates. This shortcoming can be circumvented by converting the formaldehyde to an iminium ion (Mannich reagent) by reaction with a secondary amine, usually dimethy-lamine, and a catalytic amount of HCl. 

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