Nitrene features

The rearrangements that we have considered to date all have one feature in common the migration of an alkyl or aryl group, with its electron pair, to a carbon atom which, whether it be a carbocation or not, is electron-deficient. Another atom that can similarly become electron-deficient is nitrogen in, for example, R2N or RN (a nitrene, cf. carbenes above), and it might be expected that alkyl or aryl migration to such centres would take place, just as it did to R3C and R2C this is indeed found to be the case. 

Another attractive method for E ring formation featured an intramolecular [2+3]cycloaddition of an azide moiety, emanating from the indole 3-position via a two-carbon linker, to, now, an electron-rich version of the C15-C16 double bond.19 The cycloaddition precursor 10 was made via 9, in turn assembled by regioselective cocylization of protected methoxyacetylene (Scheme 5). In a puzzling turn of events, thermolysis of the azide product in toluene at moderate temperature (to minimize nitrene formation) and in low concentration (to suppress intermolecular reactions) produced the two oxidized pentacyclic products 11 and 12 in a 2 1 ratio. Performing the reaction in a more polar solvent (DMF, 80 °C, 7 d) altered the ratio to 5 1.20... 

The azabicyclononane system is a common structural feature in diterpene alkaloids, and the nitrene insertion route to the ring system has been studied in detail in model decalins as well as in steroids (Scheme 11). Thus irradiation of the rrans-acyl azide (21) gave, in addition to isocyanate (30-33%), a mixture of Ae 7- and 8-lactams (22) and (23). The y-lactam (22) predominated, dthough the overall yield was poor. > The corresponding c/s-azide (24), however, gave the 8-lactam (25) as Ae major product, again in low yield. One elegant application of this type of intramolecular nitrene insertion reaction... 

Miyake and co-workers (40) have published a synthesis of ellipticine that features a novel reductive phenylation of nitroarenes (41) (Scheme 4). Nitration of 5,8-dimethyl-l, 2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (22) gave an inseparable mixture of nitro compounds 23. Treatment of this mixture with iron pentacarbonyl and triflic acid in the presence of benzene gave a 2 1 mixture of amines 24 and 25. Separation of these isomers and diazotization of each with nitrous acid, conversion to the azide, and thermolysis yielded ellipticine (1) and isoellipticine (27) (5,11-dimethyl-10f/-pyrido[3,4- )]carbazole), respectively, following Pd/C dehydrogenation of the initially formed nitrene insertion product (e.g., 26). The overall yield of ellipticine is 9%. 

In aromatic azides the main absorption region (2100-2900 A) has been assigned to n, 7t transitions as the main vibronic features of the parent hydrocarbon are retained a less intense absorption (3000-3500 A) appears to originate from an n,n transitions. Because of the requirements of spin conservation, nitrenes... 

The photolysis of aryl azides in low-temperature matrices yields triplet (ground) state nitrenes which have been identified by and absorption spectroscopy. Dinitrenes and trinitrenes have also been reported in the solid-state photolysis of di- and triazides. Quantum yields of photolysis of some aromatic azides are listed in Table 21 and it appears that nitrenes are produced in solution, at room temperature, as well. The lifetimes of some aromatic nitrenes and the absolute rates of some of their reactions have been measured . Some interesting features of photolytic azide decompositions will now be briefly described. 

Reaction of Phenyl Nitrene with O2. The reaction of phenyl nitrene with oxygen warrants special consideration because it reveals an unusual feature of the triplet state. In general, triplet species react with oxygen rapidly [64],... 

The first example is of the nitrene produced from 2-azidobiphenyl. Figures 5-15a and 5-15b show the structures before and after irradiation, respectively, at 80 K [26]. Before irradiation the short contact of the N1 atom within the molecule is 3.091(1)A, which is nearly the same as the sum of van der Waals radii (3.07A). After exposure for 2 h, the features appearing in the difference electron-density map showed the nitrene and dinitrogen, which are shown with black bonds in Figure 5-15b. The stmcture of dinitrogen is clear and the occupancy is about 0.20. In contrast, the stmcture of the photo-induced nitrene is unclear because the nitrene is approximately superimposed upon the original 2-azidobiphenyl molecule it is impossible to estimate the nitrene bond distance, Cl—Nl. 

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