Iminium ions nucleophilic additions

The formation of 88 is postulated to be occurring by the nucleophilic attack of a hydride ion (47), abstracted from the secondary amine, on the a-carbon atom of the iminium salt (89). The resulting carbonium ion (90) then loses a proton to give the imine (91), which could not be separated because of its instability (4H). In the case of 2-methyIhexamethylenimine, however, the corresponding dehydro compound /l -2-methylazacyclo-heptene (92) was isolated. The hydride addition to the iminium ion occurs from the less hindered exo side. 

There have been extensive investigations on the reaction mechanism. In most cases the reaction proceeds via initial nucleophilic addition of ammonia 2 to formaldehyde 1 to give adduct 5, which is converted into an iminium ion species 6 (note that a resonance structure—an aminocarbenium ion can be formulated) through protonation and subsequent loss of water. The iminium ion species 6 then reacts with the enol 7 of the CH-acidic substrate by overall loss of a proton ... 

Amide reduction occurs by nucleophilic addition of hydride ion to the amicle carbonyl group, followed by expulsion of the oxygen atom as an alumi-nate anion leaving group to give an iminium ion intermediate. The intermediate iminium ion is then further reduced by JL1AIH4 to yield the amine. 

Other methods for the synthesis of a-oxygenated A-alkylamides (or carbamates) include addition of oxygen nucleophiles to A-acyl (or A-alkoxycarbonyl) iminium ions, generated via either... 

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. 

Petasis reported an efficient addition of vinyl boronic acid to iminium salts.92 While no reaction was observed when acetonitrile was used as solvent, the reaction went smoothly in water to give allyl amines (Eq. 11.54). The reaction of the boron reagent with iminium ions generated from glyoxylic acid and amines affords novel a-amino acids (Eq. 11.55). Carboalumination of alkynes in the presence of catalytic Cp2ZrCl2 and H2O affords vinylalane intermediates, which serve as nucleophiles in the subsequent addition to enantiomerically enriched... 

Triisopropylsilyloxyfurans were effective nucleophiles for the vinylogous Mannich addition to iminium ions that were formed by Rh2(cap)4-catalyzed oxidation of N-alkyl groups by THYDRO <06JA5648>. A stereoselective addition of 2-trimethylsilyloxyfurans to aryl aldehydes-derived aldimines employing a chiral phosphine/Ag complex as catalyst was developed <06AG(I)7230>. The prototypical example is shown below. 

Different rate-determining steps are observed for the acid-catalyzed hydration of vinyl ethers (alkene protonation, ks kp) and hydration of enamines (addition of solvent to an iminium ion intermediate, ks increasing stabilization of a-CH substituted carbocations by 71-electron donation from an adjacent electronegative atom results in a larger decrease in ks for nucleophile addition of solvent than in kp for deprotonation of the carbocation by solvent. 

A very elegant expansion of the synthetic utility of this intramolecular amination was the insertion reactions into ethereal G-H bonds. Du Bois and co-workers have exploited this reactivity to prepare cyclic sulfamates that are then used as iminium ion equivalents. Upon treatment with a suitable Lewis acid, nucleophilic addition reactions... 

A hydroxy group can be introduced on this bicyclic system as a nucleophile. The pyrrolo[l,2-c]oxazole system can be hydroxylated at the 7a-position to produce in good yield the corresponding 7a-hydroxypyrrolo[l,2-c]oxazole. The diastereoselectivity of this nucleophilic addition is total, with attack at the iminium ion on the face hindered by the phenyl group at C-3. <2002TL463, 2004JOC7558, 2006TA53>. 

A basic group removes a proton from the P-carbon of the iminium and forms the enamine. This enamine then reacts as a nucleophile towards the aldehyde group of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate in a simple addition reaction, and the proton necessary for neutralizing the charge is obtained from an appropriately placed amino acid residue. Finally, the iminium ion loses a proton and hydrolysis releases the product from the enzyme. 

We saw in Section 7.7.1 that imines and iminium ions could act as carbonyl analogues and participate in nucleophilic addition reactions. 

One simple example was the hydrolysis of imines hack to carbonyl compoimds via nucleophilic attack of water. The Mannich reaction is only a special case of nucleophilic addition to iminium ions,... 

In a series of reports between 1991 and 1997 Yamaguchi showed that rubidium salts of L-proline (9) catalysed the conjugate addition of both nitroalkanes [29, 30] andmalonates [31-33] to prochiral a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in up to 88% ee (Scheme 1). Rationalisation of the selectivities observed involved initial formation of an iminium ion between the secondary amine of the catalyst and the a,p-unsaturated carbonyl substrate. Subsequent deprotonation of the nucleophile by the carboxylate and selective delivery using ion pair... 

Formation of C-C bonds remains the ultimate challenge to the synthetic chemist. The employment of new synthetic methods in complex target synthesis can be frustrated by a lack of functional group tolerance and substrate specificity. These problems can be somewhat alleviated within conjugate addition reactions by the use of secondary amine catalysts where a number of important and highly selective methods have been developed. Two principle classes of nucleophile have been shown to be effective in the iminium ion activated conjugate addition of carbon nucleophiles to a,P-unsaturated carbonyl systems aryl, heteroaromatic and vinyl... 

The majority of recent contributions for the conjugate addition of C-H acids to a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds catalysed through iminium ion intermediates have come from the laboratories of Jprgensen. The ease with which 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and nitroalkanes can be deprotonated, together with the soft nature of the nucleophile mean this is a particularly facile reaction which conveniently leads to useful precursors for further synthetic manipulation. 

Cdrdova has shown that using unprotected iV-hydroxycarbamates 71 as the nucleophile with diarylprohnol ether 30 as catalyst gave direct access to 5-hydrox-yisoxazolidines 72 (91-99% ee) which are convenient precursors to p-amino alcohols and p-amino acids (Scheme 31) [110], Interestingly, these reactions proceed efficiently (3-16 h) without the need for an additional co-acid unlike the majority of other iminium ion catalysed transformations, an unexpected result which highlights the need for further mechanistic understanding. 

However, formation of this bond through the conjugate addition of a soft sulfur nucleophile to a,P-unsaturated aldehydes is efficiently catalysed using iminium ion catalysis [116], Using diarylprolinol silyl ether 55 the addition of a series of sulfur based nucleophiles to a variety of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes was shown to be effective (73-87% yield 89-97% ee). The products were isolated as their p-hydroxy sulfide derivatives 73 after in situ reduction of the products (Scheme 33). 

Simultaneous publication of the iminium ion catalysed hydrophosphination of a,p-unsaturated aldehydes by Melchiorre and Cordova showed diarylprolinol silyl ether 55 was effective in the conjugate addition of diphenylphosphine 74 [117, 118], Direct transformation of the products allowed for one-pot methods for the preparation of P-phosphine alcohols 75 (72-85% yield 90-98% ee), P-phosphine oxide acids 76 (65% yield 92% ee) and 3-amino phosphines 77 (71% yield 87% ee) (Scheme 34). These reports represent the first examples of the addition of P-centred nucleophiles and the resulting highly functionalised products may well have further use in asymmetric catalysis. 

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... 

A less developed but substantial opportunity for reaction of iminium ions is the direct 1,2-addition of a nucleophile. Although this can reduce opportunities for developing a catalytic procedure because of mechanistic considerations, appropriate choice of substrates and reaction conditions has provided a number of successful methods that adopt this mode of reactivity. 

A further example of the use of a chiral anion in conjunction with a chiral amine was recently reported by Melchiorre and co-workers who described the asymmetric alkylation of indoles with a,P-unsaturated ketones (Scheme 65) [212]. The quinine derived amine salt of phenyl glycine (159) (10-20 mol%) provided the best platform with which to perform these reactions. Addition of a series of indole derivatives to a range of a,P-unsaturated ketones provided access to the adducts with excellent efficiency (56-99% yield 70-96% ee). The substrates adopted within these reactions is particularly noteworthy. For example, use of aryl ketones (R = Ph), significantly widens the scope of substrates accessible to iminium ion activation. Expansion of the scope of nucleophiles to thiols [213] and oximes [214] with similar high levels of selectivity suggests further discoveries will be made. 

Malonic acid and cyanoacetic acid can also be used as the potential nucleophiles. The mechanism of the addition step is likely to involve iminium ions when secondary amines are used as catalysts. With malonic acid or cyanoacetic acid as reactant, the products usually undergo decarboxylation. This may occur as a concerted decomposition of the adduct.116... 

Rueping has recently reported an interesting alknylation reaction of a-imino esters employing both phosphoric acid Ip and AgOAc as orthogonal cocatalysts [35]. As seen in the catalytic cycle in Scheme 5.21, generation of chiral iminium ion pair I nucleophilic and alkynyl-silver species II proceeds simultaneously. Subsequent nucelophilic addition completes both parallel cycles [36]. 

The addition of acid to Az-piperideine results in an iminium ion that readily reacts with nucleophilic species. This reaction has been particularly useful for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds in alkaloid total synthesis. For example, key steps in the total synthesis of ( )-porantherine (equation 36) (74JA6517), coccinelidine (equation 37) (77H(7)685) and eburnamonine (equation 38) (65JA1580) were acid-catalyzed ring closures between A2-piperideine derivatives and ends. Even the weakly nucleophilic carbon-carbon double bond can participate in this type of reaction (80JA5955), as has been demonstrated by a recent total synthesis of a morphinan derivative (Scheme 13). 

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