Iminium ions reacting with enols

In the presence of an enolizable aldehyde or a ketone, the resultant electrophilic iminium ion reacts in situ with the enol to produce, after neutralization, the corresponding (3-amino ketone, also called a Mannich base. Unsymmetrically substituted ketones are aminomethylated preferentially at the more highly substituted carbon of the enol. 

For example, the diene 6.196, which must have a low-energy LUMO, since it is an iminium ion, reacts faster with the enol ether 6.197a, a dienophile with electron-donating substituents, than with acrylonitrile 6.197c, a dienophile with an electron-withdrawing substituent.767 Allyl alcohol 6.197b, which probably has HOMO and LUMO energies very close to those of ethylene itself, reacts at an intermediate rate. 

Mayr has extended his electrophilicity scale to benzaldehyde-derived iminium ions through measurement of rate constants for their reactions with C-nucleophiles such as enamines, silylated ketene acetals and enol ethers." With an E value of -9.27 for Ph-CH=NMe2" (in a range from -8.34 to -10.69 forpara-C j, andpura-OMe, respectively), these iminium ions are 10 orders more reactive than the parent aldehydes. However, the values are restricted to C-nucleophiles the iminium ions react 10 -10 times faster with water and amines than these E values would predict. Such reactions benefit from the anomeric stabilization of 0,Af-acetals and Af,Af-aminals. 

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 ... 

The chiral (V-camphanoyl iminium ion 7, prepared by hydride abstraction from 2-camphanoyl-l,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6,7-dimethoxyisoquinoline 6 (see Appendix) with triphenylcarbenium te-trafluoroborate, reacts with silyl enol ethers to give 1-substituted tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives with reasonable diastereoselectivity, 0°. On addition of titanium(IV) chloride, prior to the addition of the silyl enol ether, the diastereoselectivity gradually rises to an optimum at 2.5 equivalents of the Lewis acid, but the yield drops by 20%. 

The 2-azonia analog of the Cope rearrangement is estimated to be accelerated by 106, relative to the unsubstituted system.270 The product of the rearrangement is an isomeric iminium ion, which is a mild electrophile. In synthetic applications, the reaction is often designed to generate this electrophilic site in a position that can lead to a cyclization by reaction with a nucleophilic site. For example, the presence of a 4-hydroxy substituent generates an enol that can react with the iminiun ion intermediate to form a five-membered ring.271... 

The iminium ion then reacts with an enol (vinyl alcohol) compound (such as the side chain of tyrosine) to form a cross-link (reaction 15.6). 

Other alkylation reactions are observed in the condensation of cyclo-propanium ions (generated in situ) with ketones 89.92)> enamines6, nitroalkanes 93>, dimethylmalonate 92>, and phenol. 92> Thus, 7-hydroxy-7-pyrrolidinobicyclo[4.1.0]heptane (56) as well as the 7,7-dipyrrolidino derivative (54) react with acetone to give the amino ketone 113. 89> This reaction may be pictured as an addition of the enol form of the ketone to the reactive iminium salt formed from the carbinol amine. In like manner, phenol undergoes ortho substitution with the carbinol amine 114 formed from cyclopropanone and dimethyl amine. 

All the substrates A E introduced here are alkenes that are electron-rich. This is why they react with electrophiles. Enols (A), enol ethers (C), silyl enol ethers (D) and silylketene acetals (E) react electrophiles to form oxocarbenium or carboxonium ions, whereas the reaction of enamines (B) with electrophiles gives iminium ions ... 

Under acidic conditions enamines such as compound A in Figure 12.18 and aldehydes undergo condensation to form the conjugated iminium ions D. These will be deprotonated by the concomitantly formed hydroxide ions, In this way dienamines of type F are formed, which will then be hydrolyzed upon acidic workup to give a carbonyl group. The generation of the a,/i-unsaturated ketones E is thus completed. You will learn about type E compounds in Section 13.4.1 in connection with the so-called crossed aldol condensation products. It should be noted that it is not possible to form the same unsaturated ketone by reacting cyclopentanone or its equilibrium fraction of enol with an aliphatic aldehyde. Instead, a cyclodehydration of... 

Enamines are intermediate in reactivity more reactive than an enol, but less reactive than an enolate ion. Enamine reactions occur under milder conditions than enolate reactions, so they avoid many side reactions. Enamines displace halides from reactive alkyl halides, giving alkylated iminium salts. The iminium ions are unreactive toward further alkylation or acylation. The following example shows benzyl bromide reacting with the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone. 

The addition of acid to A2-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 ebumamonine (equation 38) (65JA1580) were acid-catalyzed ring closures between Az-piperideine derivatives and enols. 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). 

Instead of alkyl halides other electrophiles, such as imines or iminium ions, are also used for the nucleophilic attack of enolates. Primary amines react with aldehydes and ketones to produce imines °. For example, the reaction of acetophenone with methyl amine gives... 

Triphenylhydrazine reacts in a similar way with enol ethers to cinnoline derivatives (Table 12, number 5). The electrooxidation of A -alkylhydrazines leads to an iminium ion, which can react with olefins to five-membered rings [Eq. (28)] [254]. The anodic oxidation of phenylhydrazones of benzaldehyde affords diphenylnitrilimines, which add to dipolarophilic compounds [255]. 

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. 

As mentioned previously, acyliminium ions are electrophilic enough to react intramolecularly even with nonactivated alkenic ir-systems. These cyclization reactions have been recognized and elaborated as valuable tools in the stereoselective total synthesis of quinolizidine, indolizidine and pyrrolizidine alkaloids. A typical example from Speckamp s laboratory is the highly stereospecific acid-catalyzed cyclization of (81) to (83 Scheme 40), presumably via the corresponding acyliminium ion (82). Analogously, other more complex natural products, such as the antiulcerogenically active alkaloid ma-trine (85), can be built up with high stereocontrol (Scheme 41), with an enol ether function as a more electron-rich nucleophile for the intermediate iminium ion (84). ... 

The mechanism of the Mannich reaction has been extensively investigated. The reaction can proceed under both acidic and basic conditions, but acidic conditions are more common. Under acidic conditions the first step is the reaction of the amine component with the protonated non-enolizable carbonyl compound to give a hemiaminal, which after proton transfer loses a molecule of water to give the electrophilic iminium ion.°° This iminium ion then reacts with the enolized carbonyl compound (nucleophile) at its a-carbon in an aldol-type reaction to give rise to the Mannich base. 

The Mannich reaction is another version of an aldol reaction that takes place under mildly acidic conditions. There are several variants, but all of them involve the reaction of a nucleophilic ketone with a primary or secondary ammonium ion (RNH3 or R2NH2) and an aldehyde, usually formaldehyde (CH2O). The Mannich reaction proceeds via an iminium ion (RNH=CH2 or R2N=CH2), an electrophilic species that reacts with the enol form of the ketone to give a j8-aminoketone. Sometimes El elimination of the amine (via the enol) follows to give an o./l-unsaturated ketone. 

Experimental evidence has lead to the conclusion that option a does not occur. Kinetic effects, pH dependencies, stoichiometry, and solvent polarity all led to the second option, b, as being the actual mechanistic pathway. Under basic conditions, the key reactive intermediate is the hydroxymethyl amine species 6. The Mannich base 5 is produced through a nucleophilic displacement by the corresponding anion (enolate) of the active hydrogen species 1. As the pH shifts to more acidic conditions, the relative proportions of the reactive intermediates also shift. The hydroxymethyl amine 6 becomes protonated and, with loss of an equivalent of water, generates iminium ion 7. Subsequently, this species can react directly with the active hydrogen species 1 or via the methylene bis-amine 8, formed by the addition of a second equivalent of amine 3 to iminium ion 7 (under conditions of excess amine). 

A special case of aminals is the one derived from benzotriazole. These Ar-(a-aminoalkyl)triazoles 27 are readily prepared by condensation of an amine, aldehyde, and, in this case, benzotriazole. The derivatives 27 can be regarded as masked imines/iminium ions and can react with the appropriate nucleophiles in a Mannich sense. Thus treating the enolate of cyclohexanone (28) with a diverse array of triazoles (27) was able to give rise to the corresponding Mannich bases 29. 

Simple silyl enol ethers have been shown to be of synthetic utility. Thus, the iminium ion generated by activation of 38 with zinc bromide could react with 39 to afford ketone 40 in good yield."... 

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