Lactone azlactones

In contrast to the saturated azlactones, the Friedel-Crafts reaction of 2-substituted-4-arylidene-5-oxazolones is quite complex and may follow several different courses, often concurrently, depending on both reaction conditions and structural variations in the arylidene ring. This behavior is readily interpreted in terms of the a,)S-unsaturated carbonyl moiety and the cross-conjugated system containing nitrogen, both of which provide potential reaction sites in addition to the lactone carbonyl group. The reaction has been investigated " ... 

The ring opening reactions of unsaturated azlactones and other lactones - by methanol in the presence of diazomethane are analogous in principle. (The ring closure of pseudouric acid which occurs under the influence of diazomethane can also be understood as an example of base catalysis.)... 

The method described above may be used for the preparation of a wide variety of butenolides substituted in the arylidene ring with either electron-withdrawing or electron-releasing substituents. y-Lactones such as a-benzylidene-7-phenyl-A 1 -bu-tenolide are isoelectronic with azlactones, but have received much less attention. Like the azlactone ring, the butenolide ring may be opened readily by water, alcohols, or amines to form keto acids, keto esters, or keto amides.7 a,-Benzylidene-7-phenyl-A3,1 -butenolide is smoothly isomerized by aluminum chloride to 4-phenyl-2-naphthoic acid in 65-75% yield via intramolecular alkylation. 

Oxazolones (azlactones) are a form of activated lactones, so they are included in this section. CAL-B is an effective catalyst for the DKR of various racemic four-substituted-5 (4H)-oxazolones, in the presence of an alcohol, yielding optically active N-benzoyl amino acid esters as illustrated in Figure 6.24 [40]. Enantioselective biotransformations of lactides [72,73] and thiolactones ]74] have also been reported. 

The a-arylation of carbonyl compounds (sometimes in enantioselective version) such as ketones,107-115 amides,114 115 lactones,116 azlactones,117 malonates,118 piperidinones,119,120 cyanoesters,121,122 nitriles,125,124 sul-fones, trimethylsilyl enolates, nitroalkanes, esters, amino acids, or acids has been reported using palladium catalysis. The asymmetric vinylation of ketone enolates has been developed with palladium complexes bearing electron-rich chiral monodentate ligands.155... 

This reaction has been extended to the translocation of the acyl group for indole derivatives. In addition, a chiral planar DMAP derivative has been developed and applied for the enantioselective rearrangement of 0-acylated azlactone and the same catalyst recently has been used for an intermolecular reaction to form 1,3-diketones. Moreover, 3-(2,2,2-triphenyl-1 -acetoxyethyl)-4-(dimethylamino) pyridine (TADMAP) has been applied as a chiral nucleophilic catalyst to catalyze the carboxyl migration of oxazolyl, furanyl, and benzofuranyl enol carbonates with good to excellent levels of enantioselec-tivity. The rearrangement for oxazole derivatives are particularly efficient for giving chiral lactams and lactones. ... 

It seems likely that this method would be most satisfactory, except where other reducible or catalyst-poisoning groups may be present. Catalytic hydrogenation could not be used in the preparation of thyroxine or for the reduction of pyrrole azlactones, Benzoylaminocrotonic azlactone is reduced smoothly over platinum catalyst in glacial acetic acid containing 1 mole of water the saturated lactone first formed hydrolyzes immediately since it is much more reactive than the original compound. ... 

Nomenclature. The names by which the compounds are listed in the table are those which emphasize the parent acid, in order to facilitate ready location. Thus benzoic ester is used instead of ethyl benzoate. Ethyl esters are referred to simply as ester all other esters are specifically designated. Cyclic anhydrides, lactones, and azlactones are listed under the parent acid rather than under heterocyclic compounds. 

On the other hand, 22a bearing sterically demanding aromatic substituents on the binaphthyl unit and the small methyl group on the guanidine nitrogen turned out to be a catalyst of choice for the [4-e2] cycloaddition of azlactone to P.y-unsaturated a-ketoesters, which proceeded through three consecutive transformations to afford a-amino-8-lactone derivatives with high diastereo- and enanti-oselectivities (Scheme 7.40) [64]. 

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