Isoquinoline reactivity

Alkyl Isoquinolines. Coal tar contains small amounts of l-methylisoquinoline [1721-93-3] 3-methylisoquinoline [1125-80-0] and 1,3-dimetliylisoquinoline [1721-94-4J. The 1- and 3-methyl groups are more reactive than others in the isoquinoline nucleus and readily oxidize with selenium dioxide to form the corresponding isoquinoline aldehydes (174). These compounds can also be obtained by the hydrolysis of the dihalomethyl group. The 1- and 3-methyhsoquinolines condense with benzaldehyde in the presence of zinc chloride or acetic anhydride to produce 1- and 3-styryhsoquinolines. Radicals formed by decarboxylation of carboxyUc acids react to produce 1-aIkyhsoquinolines. 

Substituents in the 4-position of these compounds are also a to a multiply-bonded nitrogen atom, but because of bond fixation they are relatively little influenced by this nitrogen atom even when it is quaternized (333). This is similar to the situation for 3-substituents in isoquinolines, cf. Chapter 2.02. In general, substituents in the 4- and 5-positions of imidazoles, thiazoles and oxazoles show much the same reactivity of the same substituents on benzeneoid compounds (but see Section 4.02.3.9.1). 

Formally analogous to the foregoing Grignard additions are the intramolecular condensations of amides with aromatic systems, found in the Bischler-Napieralski reaction 101), which is of particular interest in isoquinoline and indole alkaloid syntheses (102). Condensations of amidines with reactive methylene compounds also led to enamines (103-106). 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction is one of the key methods for construction of the isoquinoline skeleton, an important heterocyclic motif found in numerous bioactive natural products. This reaction involves the condensation of a P-arylethyl amine 1 with an aldehyde, ketone, or 1,2-dicarbonyl compound 2 to give the corresponding tetrahydroisoquinoline 3. These reactions are generally catalyzed by protic or Lewis acids, although numerous thermally-mediated examples are found in the literature. Aromatic compounds containing electron-donating substituents are the most reactive substrates for this reaction. 

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. 

The reactivities of the 1-bromo- and 3-bromo-2-nitronaphthalenes (Table XIII, lines 4, 5, 7 and 8) are markedly different as are those of the isoquinoline analogs discussed below. The uniquely unfavorable... 

The rate of amination and of alkoxylation increases 1.5-3-fold for a 10° rise in the temperature of reaction for naphthalenes (Table X, lines 1, 2, 7 and 8), quinolines, isoquinolines, l-halo-2-nitro-naphthalenes, and diazanaphthalenes. The relation of reactivity can vary or be reversed, depending on the temperature at which rates are mathematically or experimentally compared (cf. naphthalene discussion above and Section III,A, 1). For example, the rate ratio of piperidination of 4-chloroquinazoline to that of 1-chloroisoquino-line varies 100-fold over a relatively small temperature range 10 at 20°, and 10 at 100°. The ratio of rates of ethoxylation of 2-chloro-pyridine and 3-chloroisoquinoline is 9 at 140° and 180 at 20°. Comparison of 2-chloro-with 4-chloro-quinoline gives a ratio of 2.1 at 90° and 0.97 at 20° the ratio for 4-chloro-quinoline and -cinnoline is 3200 at 60° and 7300 at 20° and piperidination of 2-chloroquinoline vs. 1-chloroisoquinoline has a rate ratio of 1.0 at 110° and 1.7 at 20°. The change in the rate ratio with temperature will depend on the difference in the heats of activation of the two reactions (Section III,A,1). 

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). 

Quinoxalines undergo facile addition reactions with nucleophilic reagents. The reaction of quinoxaline with allylmagnesium bromide gives, after hydrolysis of the initial adduct, 86% of 2,3-diallyl-l,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoxaline. Quinoxaline is more reactive to this nucleophile than related aza-heterocyclic compounds, and the observed order of reactivity is pyridine < quinoline isoquinoline < phenan-thridine acridine < quinoxaline. ... 

Halogenations of quinoline, isoquinoline, acridine, and phenanthridine will be discussed here. Reaction usually occurs in a homocyclic fused ring rather than in the 7r-deficient pyridine moiety, especially in acidic media. Relatively mild conditions suffice, but under more vigorous regimes radical involvement can result in heteroring halogenation. Substituents are able to modify reactivity and regiochemistry. 

Substituted heat-reactive resins, 18 782 Substituted isoquinolines, 21 208 Substituted nickel carbonyl complexes, 17 114... 

The most reactive position for base-catalyzed hydrogen exchange of the 1-oxide derivatives of quinoline and isoquinoline is the position adjacent to the heteroatom and nearest the fused benzene ring. Thus for isoquinoline 1-oxide the positionalreactivity is given by 1 > >3 > > 4,... 

Quinoline and isoquinoline are benzopyridines. They behave by showing the reactivity associated with either the benzene or the pyridine rings. 

Indole is the fusion of a benzene ring with a pyrrole. Like quinoline and isoquinoline, indole behaves as an aromatic compound. However, unlike quinoline and isoquinoline, where the reactivity was effectively part benzene and part pyridine, the reactivity in indole is modified by each component of the fusion. The closest similarity is between the chemistry of pyrroles and indoles. 

The most frequently used method for the preparation of isoquinoline Reissert compounds is treatment of an isoquinoline with acyl chloride and potassium cyanide in water or in a dichloromethane-water solvent system. Though this method could be successfully applied in a great number of syntheses, it has also some disadvantages. First, the starting isoquinoline and the Reissert compound formed in the reaction are usually insoluble in water. Second, in the case of reactive acyl halides the hydrolysis of this reaction partner may became dominant. Third, the hydroxide ion present could compete with the cyanide ion as a nucleophile to produce a pseudobase instead of Reissert compound. To decrease the pseudobase formation phase-transfer catalysts have been used successfully in the case of the dichloromethane-water solvent system, resulting in considerably increased yields of the Reissert compound. To avoid the hydrolysis of reactive acid halides in some cases nonaqueous media have been applied, e.g., acetonitrile, acetone, dioxane, benzene, while utilizing hydrogen cyanide or trimethylsilyl cyanide as reactants instead of potassium cyanide. 

Radical cyclization is an effective approach to the synthesis of isoquinolines (Scheme 8). In some cases these offer an alternative to the palladium-catalyzed reactions with aryl halide intermediates <99EJOC1925, 99TL1125>. For example, the radical cyclization of the iodide 37 onto the vinylsulfide moiety was followed by a cascade cyclization to form the benzo[n]quinolizidine system <99TL1149>. In some cases the radical cyclization can take place without the need for a halo intermediate. The reactive intermediate of 38 was formed on the nitrogen as an amidyl radical, which underwent tandem cyclizations to the lycorane system <99TL2125, 99SL441>. 

Nucleophilic reagents attack pyridine at the a-position to form an adduct that rearomatizes by dissociation (Scheme 1). Only very strong nucleophiles, e.g. NH2-, RLi, LAH, Na-NH3, react, and for the second step to afford a substitution product (5), conditions that favour hydride loss are required. Adducts formed with hydride ions (from LAH) or carbanions (from lithium alkyls) are relatively more stable than the others at low temperature, and dihydropyridines (6) can be obtained by careful neutralization. Fusion of a benzene ring to pyridine increases reactivity towards nucleophiles, and attack is now found at both a- and y-positions in quinoline (7) and at C-l in isoquinoline (8). This may be attributed to a smaller loss of aromaticity in forming the initial adduct than in pyridine, and thus a correspondingly decreased tendency to rearomatize is also observed. Acridine reacts even more easily, but nucleophilic attack is now limited to the y -position (9), as attachment of nucleophiles at ring junctions is very rare. 

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