Isoquinoline, activation nucleophilic substitution

To derive the maximum amount of information about intranuclear and intemuclear activation for nucleophilic substitution of bicyclo-aromatics, the kinetic studies on quinolines and isoquinolines are related herein to those on halo-1- and -2-nitro-naphthalenes, and data on polyazanaphthalenes are compared with those on poly-nitronaphthalenes. The reactivity rules thereby deduced are based on such limited data, however, that they should be regarded as tentative and subject to confirmation or modification on the basis of further experimental study. In many cases, only a single reaction has been investigated. From the data in Tables IX to XVI, one can derive certain conclusions about the effects of the nucleophile, leaving group, other substituents, solvent, and comparison temperature, all of which are summarized at the end of this section. 

Quinoxalinyl, 4-cinnolinyl, and 1-phthalazinyl derivatives, which are all activated by a combination of induction and resonance, have very similar kinetic characteristics (Table XV, p. 352) in ethoxylation and piperidination, but 2-chloroquinoxaline is stated (no data) to be more slowly phenoxylated. In nucleophilic substitution of methoxy groups with ethoxy or isopropoxy groups, the quinoxaline compound is less reactive than the cinnoline and phthalazine derivatives and more reactive than the quinoline and isoquinoline analogs. 2-Chloroquinoxaline is more reactive than its monocyclic analog, 2-chloropyrazine, with thiourea or with piperidine (Scheme VI, p. 350). 

This type of chemistry is also observed with 1-methyl isoquinoline 6.28. However 3-methyl isoquinoline is much less activated because delocalisation of charge in 6.29a,b involves disruption of aromaticity of the benzenoid ring. This phenomenon is closely related to the reluctance of 3-halo isoquinolines to undergo nucleophilic substitution. 

Benzo-annelated nitrogen heterocycles (indoles, quinolines, isoquinolines, etc.) are often found to be a part of biologically active compounds of both natural and synthetic origin. In a considerable body of data on the syntheses of these compounds, which have so far been documented in the literature, the crucial step is vicarious nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen in nitroarenes. Good examples are presented by the synthesis of nordehydrobufotenine [49], eupolauramine [50, 51], damirone [52], and aklavinone [53]. 

Jun et al. demonstrated a Rh(I)-catalyzed cyclization of an N-benzyl aromatic ketimine with diphenylacetylene to provide isoquinoline 44 [27]. The chelation-assisted C-H activation strategy was employed for the first time for isoquinoline synthesis. However, the reaction required a high temperature (150 C) and led to two different isoquinoline derivatives 44 and 44. Based on the experimental results, the authors proposed a plausible reaction mechanism that involved ortho-alkenylation, 6. r-electrocyclization, intermolecular nucleophilic substitution, and dehydrogenative aromatization (Eq. (5.43)). 

Even poor nucleophiles such as the amides 46 can react with azines in the presence of alkynes as activating agents [59, 60]. Various nucleophiles (including alkoxides, thiols, amines and nitrogen heterocycles) were recently employed in a related process with Ai-oxide azaindoles (Reissert-Henze reaction. Scheme 10). In the process, the oxygen is alkylated with dimethyl sulfate and, after the nucleophilic attack, methanol is released to aromatize the initial adduct [61,62]. Following similar mechanistic trends, V-heteroatom-activated azines afford the corresponding substituted adducts. Likewise, W-tosylated isoquinoline [63, 64] and W-fluoropyridinium salts [65] are also reactive substrates in Reissert-Henze type processes. 

Dialkyl phosphites such as 49 (Scheme 9) have been reacted as nucleophiles with activated pyridines [69, 70]. The first examples of this chemistry involved either 77-alkyl-pyridinium salts in the presence of DDQ, or pyridine and terminal alkynes as activating agents in a one-step protocol. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions that include AI2O3 catalysis. Quinolines 1 and chloroformates afford the expected adducts 68. The latter structures can be easily oxidized with O3 to provide the substituted indoles 69 (Scheme 12a). Isoquinolinephosphonates obtained this way have been used in Wittig-Homer chemistry. The whole sequence offers ready access to alkyl substituted isoquinolines [71]. Analogously, sUyl substituents have been introduced into A-acylated pyridines by using silylcuprates [72]. 

Following the dipole moments presented, quaternary alkylations on nitrogen take place readily. But unlike pyridine, both quinoline and isoquinoline heterocyclic nitrogen promote the reaction with nucleophiles. What is more, electrophilic substitution takes place much more easily than in pyridine, and the substituents are generally located in carbocyclic ring preferentially in the more activated positions of the benzene ring, with a positional selectivity in the case of quinolines in the order of C8 > C5 > other positions. 

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