Iso nitrile reaction

Hofmann s Iso-cyanide or Iso-nitrile Reaction.— As the iso-cyanides have a very characteristic odor, their formation is easily detected and the reaction is used as a test for primary amines. 

It was discovered by Hofmann and is therefore known as the Hofmann iso-cyanide or iso-nitrile reaction. In this connection the other tests for primary, secondary and tertiary amines should be recalled (pp. S9-6i). 

In this reaction the nitrogen changes from tri-valent to penta-valent, or according to the other view in regard to the constitution of iso-cyanides (p. 71), the carbon changes from tetravalent to bivalent. It will be recalled that this reaction has been met with before (p. 70), and is known, as Hofmann s iso-nitrile reaction. It is a test for primary amines as it is necessary for the amine to have two hydrogen atoms in order to withdraw two chlorine atoms from the chloroform. The characteristic odor of the iso-nitrile makes the reaction a distinctive test, for either a primary amine or for chloroform. 

From Ammonia.—A third method for the synthesis of hydrocyanic acid supports the constitution of an iso-cyanide with the linkage of hydrogen to nitrogen. The Hofmann iso-nitrile reaction (p. 71) consists in the formation of iso-cyanides (iso-nitriles) by the reaction between chloroform and primary amines in the presence of an alkali. 

DMF at room temperature. Solid-phase-mediated iso nitrile synthesis under microwave irradiation led to much faster reactions and in many cases improved yields therefore, allowing rapid access to this important class of compounds, amenable for a broad range of subsequent synthesis. 

HFA and cyanotrimethylsilane react stoichiometrically with formation of the substituted cyanhydrin 9 (775). Increasing the molar ratio of the reactants to 4 1 yields, in addition to 9, compound 10, with nitrile-isonitrile equilibrium competing with direct attack of HFA (242). The five-membered ring is also formed in the reaction of organic iso-nitriles with HFA (188). The same structural feature in addition to insertion has been found when triethylamine is present as a catalyst, as well as minor amounts of 9 (83, 242). 

In the aromatic series the direct conversion of acid amides into acid nitriles does not take place readily but the acid itself is made from the acid amide by the reverse process as indicated above, viz., by hydration to the ammonium salt of the acid, which then yields the acid. A related method, however, is used for preparing acids from anilides of formic acid. Aniline being an ammonia compound yields acid-amidelike products with aliphatic acids, e.g. acet anilide, CH3—CO—NH— CeHs (p. 556). Such a compound can not, however, lose water in the same way as the acid amide in the above reaction for the ammonia residue in an anilide contains only one hydrogen. Nevertheless anilides lose water but in a different way. In the case of the anilide of formic acid, i.e. formanilide, H—CO—NH—CeHs, the loss of water results in a compound in which the carbon and nitrogen remain linked to the benzene ring and an iso-cyanide or iso-nitrile is formed. The isonitrile is readily converted into the nitrile and the acid may then be obtained from that. 

The A-benzenesulfonyl imines of hexafluoroacetone readily react with nitrile oxides to give [3-1-2] adducts, apparently in a multistep reaction [151] (equation 36) Although only a few examples of [3-1-2] cycloaddition reactions of this type have been descnbed so far, most 1,3-dipoles should react in this way with predictable regiochemistry [5 146, ISO 151]... 

Dipolar addition is closely related to the Diels-Alder reaction, but allows the formation of five-membered adducts, including cyclopentane derivatives. Like Diels-Alder reactions, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition involves [4+2] concerted reaction of a 1,3-dipolar species (the An component and a dipolar In component). Very often, condensation of chiral acrylates with nitrile oxides or nitrones gives only modest diastereoselectivity.82 1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition between nitrones and alkenes is most useful and convenient for the preparation of iso-xazolidine derivatives, which can then be readily converted to 1,3-amino alcohol equivalents under mild conditions.83 The low selectivity of the 1,3-dipolar reaction can be overcome to some extent by introducing a chiral auxiliary to the substrate. As shown in Scheme 5-51, the reaction of 169 with acryloyl chloride connects the chiral sultam to the acrylic acid substrate, and subsequent cycloaddition yields product 170 with a diastereoselectivity of 90 10.84... 

Table 4-1 compares two different reactions, namely, anode oxidation and oxidation with cerium ammonium nitrate (which are bona fide electron-transfer processes) and bromination by /V-bromosuccinimide in the presence of azobis(iso-butyro)nitrile (which is bona fide hydrogen-atom-transfer process). Both electron-transfer and hydrogen-atom-transfer processes have the benzylic radical as a common intermediate, but positional selectivity is stronger for electron-transfer processes. Another important point is the preference of the 2-positioned methyl group over the 1-positioned group, in terms of selectivity. For 1,2,3-tetramethylbenzene, such a preference reaches values from 16 to 55, and it is over 200 for 5-methoxy-1,2,3-tctramcthylbcnzcnc. 

Reactions which generate nitrile oxides can lead to isoxazoles and iso-xazolines by cycloaddition to acetylenes and olefins, respectively. The cleavage of the furoxan ring into two nitrile oxide molecules (or to a bis-nitrile oxide, in the case of a fused furoxan) is described in Section IV,A,... 

The masked 1,3-dipole, thiatriazole (135), undergoes intramolecular cycloaddition with subsequent elimination of molecular nitrogen, smoothly in ethanol at 75 C to give (136). These reactions were studied in detail with iso thiocyanates, isocyanates, ketenes, and electrophilic nitriles <92T7505>. 

By using a multicomponent cascade reaction. Parsons et al. [88] achieved one-pot sequential [1+4] and [3+2] cycloadditions to synthesize highly substituted iso-xazolines via nitrile oxides (Scheme 11.28). These five-component reactions proceed by initial formation of isonitriles 109 that react with nitroalkenes 110 to form unstable N-(isoxazolylidene)alkylamines, which in turn fragment to generate the nitrile oxides 111. Cycloaddition then occurs with methyl acrylate, chosen for its expected reactivity with nitrile oxide dipoles, to generate the isoxazolines 112. Reactions using standard thermal conditions and microwave irradiation were com-... 

The continuing development of solid-phase synthesis and combinatorial chemistry has led to solid-phase oxazole syntheses with a minimum of purification. Iso and co-workers generated ot-(trimethylsilyl)diazoketones on a Wang resin and employed rhodium-catalyzed diazo transfer methodology to prepare oxazoles (Scheme 1.47). Reaction of the resin-bound benzoyl chloride 169 with (trimethyl-silyl)diazomethane gave the corresponding a-(trimethylsilyl)diazoketone 170 in excellent yield. Treatment of 170 with an aryl nitrile in the presence of catalytic Rh2(OAc)4 then furnished a resin-bound 2,5-diaryl-4-(trimethylsilyl)oxazole 171. 

Olah et al. reported the triflic acid-catalyzed isobutene-iso-butylene alkylation, modified with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) or water. They found that the best alkylation conditions were at an acid strength of about//q = —10.7, giving a calculated research octane number (RON) of 89.1 (TfOH/TFA) and91.3 (TfOH/HaO). Triflic acid-modified zeohtes can be used for the gas phase synthesis of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and the mechanism of activity enhancement by triflic acid modification appears to be related to the formation of extra-lattice Al rather than the direct presence of triflic acid. A thermally stable solid catalyst prepared from amorphous silica gel and triflic acid has also been reported. The obtained material was found to be an active catalyst in the alkylation of isobutylene with n-butenes to yield high-octane gasoline components. A similar study has been carried out with triflic acid-functionalized mesoporous Zr-TMS catalysts. Triflic acid-catalyzed carbonylation, direct coupling reactions, and formylation of toluene have also been reported. Tritlic acid also promotes transalkylation and adaman-tylation of arenes in ionic liquids. Triflic acid-mediated reactions of methylenecyclopropanes with nitriles have also been investigated to provide [3 + 2] cycloaddition products as well as Ritter products. Tritlic acid also catalyzes cyclization of unsaturated alcohols to cyclic ethers. ... 

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