Iminium salts, addition with Grignard reagents

E)-l-Chloro-3-(N,N-dimethylamino)-1-arylprop-l-enes are conveniently prepared from aryl chloropropeniminium salts by reduction with sodium cyanoborohydride.75 Those iminium salts also undergo 1,2-addition of Grignard reagents (Scheme 32). N,N-Dialkylaminomethyl arenes can be obtained by the reaction of... 

The allylation of imines with allylindium reagents in organic solvents gives the corresponding homoallylic amines.251-253 Under solvent-free conditions, the indium-mediated reaction of iV-benzylideneaniline furnishes a mixture of mono-allylated 79 and bis-allylated products 80 (Equation (56)). The bis-allylated product 80 presumably arises via a formation of an iminium salt, which is subsequently attacked by the allylindium nucleophiles. Formation of 80 is entirely suppressed by addition of allyl bromide to indium metal prior to any addition of the imine (Grignard-type reaction).254... 

Both the silyl derivative (59) and the alcohol (60) may be used as sources of the iminium salt (61) in reactions with a wide variety of nucleophiles. In practice, it was found feasible to use Grignard reagents for reaction with the silyl derivative, while TiC was effective in promoting attack on the carbinol amine by weaker nucleophiles. The process is shown in Scheme 24 using the addition of indole as an example. 

Preformed iminium salts have been used extensively in organic synthesis. The facility of the condensation is a function of iminium salt substitution. Treatment of formaldehyde-derived methyl(methylene)ammonium halides (or trifluoroacetates) (46) with Grignard and lithium reagents results in the high yield formation of dimethylaminomethyl-containing compounds (47). Subsequent oxidation or alkylation of these products has been employed to generate terminal alkenes (48 Scheme 7). As expected, addition yields are modest for the mote-hindered iminium salts derived frrom other aldehydes and are somewhat lower for those derived from cyclic ketones. ... 

Iminium salts bearing a labile trimethylsilyl group can be generated in situ and undergo nucleophilic addition (see Sections 1.12.4.2 and 1.12.7.3). Bis(trimethylsilyl)methoxymethylamine (75), for example, has been used as a formaldehyde equivalent for the preparation of primary amines. Cyclic imines, such as 3,4-dihydroquinolines, react with trimethylsilyl triflate (TMS-OTf) to provide reactive labile iminium salts (55), which condense with picoline anions. The addition of nonstabilized Grignard and organolithium reagents to acyclic aromatic ketimines and aldimines, however, is often not facilitated by the presence of TMS-OTf ... 

There is another important method by which a cyano group can be converted to an amino group. When a nitrile reacts with a nucleophilic organometallic such as a Grignard reagent, addition to the acyl carbon generates an iminium salt (1.59). 

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