Isoxazolidines, cycloaddition reactions

The first, and so far only, metal-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrile oxides with alkenes was reported by Ukaji et al. [76, 77]. Upon treatment of allyl alcohol 45 with diethylzinc and (l ,J )-diisopropyltartrate, followed by the addition of diethylzinc and substituted hydroximoyl chlorides 46, the isoxazolidines 47 are formed with impressive enantioselectivities of up to 96% ee (Scheme 6.33) [76]. 

Nitronates derived from primary nitroalkanes can be regarded as a synthetic equivalent of nitrile oxides since the elimination of an alcohol molecule from nitronates adds one higher oxidation level leading to nitrile oxides. This direct / -elimination of nitronates is known to be facilitated in the presence of a Lewis acid or a base catalyst [66, 72, 73]. On the other hand, cycloaddition reactions of nitronates to alkene dipolarophiles produce N-alkoxy-substituted isoxazolidines as cycloadducts. Under acid-catalyzed conditions, these isoxazolidines can be transformed into 2-isoxazolines through a ready / -elimination, and 2-isoxazolines correspond to the cycloadducts of nitrile oxide cycloadditions to alkenes [74]. 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with alkenes gives isoxazolidines is a fundamental reaction in organic chemistry and the available literature on this topic of organic chemistry is vast. In this reaction until three contiguous asymmetric centers can be formed in the isoxazolidine 17 as outlined for the reaction between a nitrone and an 1,2-disubstituted alkene. The relative stereochemistry at C-4 and C-5 is always controlled by the geometric relationship of the substituents on the alkene (Scheme 8.6). 

Spiro-(indoline-isoxazolidines) 137, exhibiting interesting biological activities, were prepared in modest yields, by the cycloaddition reaction between ethyl (3-indolylidene)-acetate 135 and various substituted a,N-diphenylnitrones 136 under solvent-free conditions (Scheme 48). The reaction conducted under conventional heating in an oil bath did not proceed even after 20 h, especially when it was carried out without solvent [87]. 

Various kinds of chiral acyclic nitrones have been devised, and they have been used extensively in 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, which are documented in recent reviews.63 Typical chiral acyclic nitrones that have been used in asymmetric cycloadditions are illustrated in Scheme 8.15. Several recent applications of these chiral nitrones to organic synthesis are presented here. For example, the addition of the sodium enolate of methyl acetate to IV-benzyl nitrone derived from D-glyceraldehyde affords the 3-substituted isoxazolin-5-one with a high syn selectivity. Further elaboration leads to the preparation of the isoxazolidine nucleoside analog in enantiomerically pure form (Eq. 8.52).78... 

Related to the nitrile oxide cycloadditions presented in Scheme 6.206 are 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with alkenes leading to isoxazolidines. The group of Comes-Franchini has described cycloadditions of (Z)-a-phenyl-N-methylnitrone with allylic fluorides leading to enantiopure fluorine-containing isoxazolidines, and ultimately to amino polyols (Scheme 6.207) [374]. The reactions were carried out under solvent-free conditions in the presence of 5 mol% of either scandium(III) or indium(III) triflate. In the racemic series, an optimized 74% yield of an exo/endo mixture of cycloadducts was obtained within 15 min at 100 °C. In the case of the enantiopure allyl fluoride, a similar product distribution was achieved after 25 min at 100 °C. Reduction of the isoxazolidine cycloadducts with lithium aluminum hydride provided fluorinated enantiopure polyols of pharmaceutical interest possessing four stereocenters. 

The optically active isoxazolidines obtained in these cycloaddition reactions can be easily transformed into biologically active 3 -amino acids, into j3-lactams and into important chiral building blocks such as y-amino alcohols. The multitude of synthetic results in these reactions is of course expected by the wide variety... 

Dipolar cycloaddition reactions between three A-benzyl-C-glycosyl nitrones and methyl acrylate afforded key intermediates for the synthesis of glyco-syl pyrrolidines. It was found that furanosyl nitrones (574) and (575) reacted with methyl acrylate to give mixtures of all possible 3,5-disubstituted isoxazolidines (577) and (578). On the other hand, the reaction with pyranosyl nitrone (576) was much more selective and cycloaddition at ambient temperatures afforded only one of the possible Re-endo adducts (579a). The obtained isoxazolidines were transformed into the corresponding (V-benzyl-3-hydroxy-2-pyrrolidinones (580—582) on treatment with Zn in acetic acid (Scheme 2.264) (773). 

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrones to vinyl ethers is accelerated by Ti(IV) species. The efficiency of the catalyst depends on its complexation capacity. The use of Ti( PrO)2Cl2 favors the formation of trans cycloadducts, presumably, via an endo bidentate complex, in which the metal atom is simultaneously coordinated to the vinyl ether and to the cyclic nitrone or to the Z-isomer of the acyclic nitrones (800a). Highly diastereo- and enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones with alkenes, catalyzed by chiral polybi-naphtyl Lewis acids, have been developed. Isoxazolidines with up to 99% ee were obtained. The chiral polymer ligand influences the stereoselectivity to the same extent as its monomeric version, but has the advantage of easy recovery and reuse (800b). 

Cycloaddition of 3-methylenephthalide with ot./V-diphenylnitrone gave two diastereoisomers of 2,3-diphenyl-2,3-dihydrospiro 1,3-oxazole-5(47/ )l (3 H)-2-benzoluran]-3 -one (805). The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of /V-benzyl-C-(2-furyl)nitrones with electron-rich alkenes gave preferentially trans-3,5-disubstituted isoxazolidines (endo approach). These experimental results are in good qualitative agreement with those predicted from semiempirical (AMI and PM3) and ab initio (HF/3-21G) calculations (806). 

Both C-alkylation products and the corresponding O-alkyl nitronates were detected in the reaction mixture prepared by the reactions of above mentioned salt with primary alkyl halides (Scheme 3.9, Eq. 1). However, isoxazolidines (1) are the main identified products of the reactions with secondary or tertiary alkyl halides. The possible pathway of their formation is shown in Scheme 3.9. Here, the key event is generation of the corresponding olefins from alkyl halides. These olefins can be trapped with O-nitronates that are simultaneously formed in [3 + 2]-cycloaddition reactions. Presumably, these olefins are generated through deprotonation of stabilized cationic intermediates (see Scheme 3.9). 

If X = AcO, intermediate SENA can be trapped by methyl acrylate in the [3+ 2]-cycloaddition reaction (isoxazolidine (416)). If X=C1, attempts to trap silyl nitronate failed however, nitroethylene was detected in a Diels-Alder reaction. By contrast, SENAs, in which X=OSiMe3 or NHPh, are quite stable. Therefore, the substituents X can be arranged in the following series of increasing elimination rates of SiX Cl > AcO > > PhNH. 

While numerous nitrones react with olefins to form isoxazolidines (l-oxa-2-azacyclo-pentanes) by a formally simple [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, there have been few calorimetric investigations of this process. Among these is the reaction of some -substituted... 

Isoxazolidines from Intermolecular Nitrone Cycloaddition Reactions. 59... 

Cycloaddition to endocyclic unsaturation has been used by many researchers for the preparation of isoxazoUdinyl adducts with y-lactams derived from pyrogluta-minol and is discussed later in this chapter as a synthesis of unusual amino acids (Scheme 1.20, Section 1.6) (79,80). A related a,p-unsaturated lactam has been prepared by a nitrone cycloaddition route in the total synthesis of the fungal metabolite leptosphaerin (81). A report of lactam synthesis from acyclic starting materials is given in the work of Chiacchio et al. (82) who prepared isoxazolidine (47) via an intramolecular nitrone cycloaddition reaction (Scheme 1.11). 

Borrachero et al. (180) prepared a number of sugar isoxazolidines by the reaction of carbohydrate-functionalized nitrones with nitroalkenes (Scheme 1.33). They found a matched pair of chiral sugar cycloaddition reaction partners to be... 

Elsewhere, Heaney et al. (313-315) found that alkenyloximes (e.g., 285), may react in a number of ways including formation of cyclic nitrones by the 1,3-APT reaction (Scheme 1.60). The benzodiazepinone nitrones (286) formed by the intramolecular 1,3-APT will undergo an intermolecular dipolar cycloaddition reaction with an external dipolarophile to afford five,seven,six-membered tricyclic adducts (287). Alternatively, the oximes may equilibrate to the corresponding N—H nitrones (288) and undergo intramolecular cycloaddition with the alkenyl function to afford five,six,six-membered tricyclic isoxazolidine adducts (289, R = H see also Section 1.11.2). In the presence of an electron-deficient alkene such as methyl vinyl ketone, the nitrogen of oxime 285 may be alkylated via the acyclic version of the 1,3-APT reaction and thus afford the N-alkylated nitrone 290 and the corresponding adduct 291. In more recent work, they prepared the related pyrimidodiazepine N-oxides by oxime-alkene cyclization for subsequent cycloaddition reactions (316). Related nitrones have been prepared by a number of workers by the more familiar route of condensation with alkylhydroxylamines (Scheme 1.67, Section 1.11.3). 

Saito et al. (351a) reported the previously unprecedented formation of a 4,5-fused bicyclic isoxazolidine by an intramolecular cycloaddition reaction (Scheme 1.68). 

As part of an extensive study of the 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of cyclic nitrones, Ali et al. (392-397) found that the reaction of the 1,4-oxazine 349 with various dipolarophiles afforded the expected isoxazolidinyloxazine adducts (Scheme 1.78) (398). In line with earlier results (399,400), oxidation of styrene-derived adduct 350 with m-CPBA facilitated N—O cleavage and further oxidation as above to afford a mixture of three compounds, an inseparable mixture of ketonitrone 351 and bicyclic hydroxylamine 352, along with aldonitrone 353 with a solvent-dependent ratio (401). These workers have prepared the analogous nitrones based on the 1,3-oxazine ring by oxidative cleavage of isoxazolidines to afford the hydroxylamine followed by a second oxidation with benzoquinone or Hg(ll) oxide (402-404). These dipoles, along with a more recently reported pyrazine nitrone (405), were aU used in successful cycloaddition reactions with alkenes. Elsewhere, the synthesis and cycloaddition reactions of related pyrazine-3-one nitrone 354 (406,407) or a benzoxazine-3-one dipolarophile 355 (408) have been reported. These workers have also reported the use of isoxazoles with an exocychc alkene in the preparation of spiro[isoxazolidine-5,4 -isoxazolines] (409). 

This chapter deals mainly with the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of three 1,3-dipoles azomethine ylides, nitrile oxides, and nitrones. These three have been relatively well investigated, and examples of external reagent-mediated stereocontrolled cycloadditions of other 1,3-dipoles are quite limited. Both nitrile oxides and nitrones are 1,3-dipoles whose cycloaddition reactions with alkene dipolarophiles produce 2-isoxazolines and isoxazolidines, their dihydro derivatives. These two heterocycles have long been used as intermediates in a variety of synthetic applications because their rich functionality. When subjected to reductive cleavage of the N—O bonds of these heterocycles, for example, important building blocks such as p-hydroxy ketones (aldols), a,p-unsaturated ketones, y-amino alcohols, and so on are produced (7-12). Stereocontrolled and/or enantiocontrolled cycloadditions of nitrones are the most widely developed (6,13). Examples of enantioselective Lewis acid catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions are summarized by J0rgensen in Chapter 12 of this book, and will not be discussed further here. 

Carbonyl-substituted nitrones are formed as mixture of (E)- and (Z)-stereo-isomers. By coordination to a Lewis acid, the (Z)-isomers are expected to be more stabilized due to tight complexation. Thus, a 2.8 1 ( /Z)-mixture of A -(methoxy-carbonylmethylene)methylamine A -oxide isomerizes to the (Z)-isomer in the presence of MgBr2-Et20 and undergoes a regio- and exo-selective cycloaddition reaction to 2-propen-l-ol to give the isoxazolidine-5-methanol as a single product... 

Tamura et al. (170-172) discovered that, when reactions of ester-substituted nitrones with allylic alcohols are performed in the presence of an equimolar amount of titanium tetraisopropoxide under heating or at room temperature, transesterification takes place to form new nitrones bearing an inner alkene dipolarophile. The resulting nitrone substrates undergo regio- and stereoselective intramolecular cycloaddition reactions to give the ring-fused isoxazolidines (Scheme 11.52). This tandem transesterification/[3 + 2]-cycloaddition method leads to the selective... 

These cyclic nitrones 91 react with electron-rich olefins in 1,3-cycloaddition reactions to afford fused isoxazolidines 92-94 from which several unusual amino acids 95-97 have been obtained (Scheme 7.22). ... 

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