Lewis acid complexation with pyridines

Sulfur trioxide (SO3) is an industrially important compound key to the production of sulfuric acid. It tends to polymeric forms both in the solid and liquid states. As a gas, the molecules have a planar triangular structure in which the sulfur atom has a high affinity for electrons. This explains its action as a strong Lewis acid towards bases that it does not oxidize. It can thus crystallize complexes with pyridine or trimethy-lamine. It has a very strong affinity for water and hence rapidly associates with water in the environment. 

In view of this affinity of S in S03 for electrons, it is not surprising that S03 functions as a fairly strong Lewis acid toward those bases that it does not preferentially oxidize. Thus the trioxide gives crystalline complexes with pyridine, trimethylamine or dioxane, which can be used, like S03 itself, as sulfonating agents for organic compounds.583... 

At 200 °C surface-boimd water is released, and Al -bound OH groups remain on the surface. These form hydrogen bonds with pyridine (1540 cm ). Partial dehydration of the OH groups gives 0 and free Al, which forms a Lewis acid-base complex with pyridine (1465 cm ). 

Complex Formation. B-Ttichlorobora2iQe was reported to readily form crystalline adducts of uncertain stmcture with pyridine (131). The Lewis acids aluminum tribromide or gallium trichloride form 1 1 adducts with hexamethylbota2iQe (eq. 36) ia which the metal atom coordinates with a nitrogen with loss of planarity of the ring (132,133). 

There is another important factor in the low reactivity of pyridine derivatives toward electrophilic substitution. The —N=CH— unit is basic because the electron pair on nitrogen is not part of the aromatic n system. The nitrogen is protonated or complexed with a Lewis acid under many of the conditions typical of electrophilic substitution reactions. The formal positive charge present at nitrogen in such species further reduces the reactivity toward electrophiles. 

A unique method to generate the pyridine ring employed a transition metal-mediated 6-endo-dig cyclization of A-propargylamine derivative 120. The reaction proceeds in 5-12 h with yields of 22-74%. Gold (HI) salts are required to catalyze the reaction, but copper salts are sufficient with reactive ketones. A proposed reaction mechanism involves activation of the alkyne by transition metal complexation. This lowers the activation energy for the enamine addition to the alkyne that generates 121. The transition metal also behaves as a Lewis acid and facilitates formation of 120 from 118 and 119. Subsequent aromatization of 121 affords pyridine 122. 

Associated to copper(II) pre-catalysts, bis(oxazolines) also allowed the asymmetric Diels-Alder and hetero Diels-Alder transformations to be achieved in nearly quantitative yield and high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. Optically active sulfoximines, with their nitrogen-coordinating site located at close proximity to the stereogenic sulfur atom, have also proven their efficiency as copper ligands for these asymmetric cycloadditions. Other precursors for this Lewis acid-catalyzed transformation have been described (e.g., zinc salts, ruthenium derivatives, or rare earth complexes) which, when associated to bis(oxazolines), pyridine-oxazolines or pyridine-bis(oxazolines), led to efficient catalysts. 

Ghosh et al. [70] reviewed a few years ago the utihty of C2-symmetric chiral bis(oxazoline)-metal complexes for catalytic asymmetric synthesis, and they reserved an important place for Diels-Alder and related transformations. Bis(oxazoline) copper(II)triflate derivatives have been indeed described by Evans et al. as effective catalysts for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction [71]. The bis(oxazoline) Ugand 54 allowed the Diels-Alder transformation of two-point binding N-acylimide dienophiles with good yields, good diastereos-electivities (in favor of the endo diastereoisomer) and excellent ee values (up to 99%) [72]. These substrates represent the standard test for new catalysts development. To widen the use of Lewis acidic chiral Cu(ll) complexes, Evans et al. prepared and tested bis(oxazoHnyl)pyridine (PyBOx, structure 55, Scheme 26) as ligand [73]. 

Thermodynamics of complex formation of silver with several ligands such amines,368 hindered pyridine bases,369 nitrogen donor solvents,370 and azoles371 have been carried out. Other studies include the secondary-ion mass spectra of nonvolatile silver complexes,372 the relationship between Lewis acid-base behavior in the gas phase and the aqueous solution,373 or the rates of hydride abstraction from amines via reactions with ground-state Ag+.374... 

R = H, X = S, A = Et3N and Py). In solution the former is mainly in an ionic form the latter exists as a complex. The basicity of the amine is assumed to be important. Triethylamine is a stronger base than pyridine and the ionic form is stabilized. When the proton affinity is weak, the basicity in relation to the B(III) atom, a Lewis acid, plays an important role. This involves an equilibrium shift toward the complex. This assumption is confirmed by an easy displacement of pyridine by triethylamine. The reverse process demands more severe conditions. In the NMR spectra of the triethylamine complex the signal is shifted from 22 to 42 ppm as pyridine is added. The absence of signals of two separate forms is evidence in favor of their fast interconversion. The chemical shift of the signal in 3IP spectra is 22 ppm (EtOH), 26 ppm (Py, DMFA), and 42 ppm (EtOH, Py) for complexes with triethylamine and pyridine. 

---