Isoxazolines from nitrile oxides

Several 4-(3-alkyl-2-isoxazolin-5-yl)phenol derivatives that possess liquid crystal properties have also been obtained (533-535). In particular, target compounds such as 463 (R = pentyl, nonyl) have been prepared by the reaction of 4-acetoxystyrene with the nitrile oxide derived from hexanal oxime, followed by alkaline hydrolysis of the acetate and esterification (535). A homologous series of 3-[4-alkyloxyphenyl]-5-[3,4-methylenedioxybenzyl]-2-isoxazolines, having chiral properties has been synthesized by the reaction of nitrile oxides, from the dehydrogenation of 4-alkyloxybenzaldoximes. These compounds exhibit cholesteric phase or chiral nematic phase (N ), smectic A (S4), and chiral smectic phases (Sc ), some at or just above room temperature (536). 

Some polyfunctional isoxazolines of generic structure 44 were obtained in 78-91% yields by treatment of aryl aldoximes 42 with Baylis-Hillman adducts 43 in the presence of diacetoxy iodobenzene (DIB). The reaction is completely diastereoselective and involves the formation of nitrile oxides from aldoximes followed by 1,3-DC with the activated alkenes. Under the same conditions, ketoximes afforded only deoximation products <04TL7347>. 

Giacomelli et al. have generated nitrile oxides from nitroalkanes 13 using DMTMM (4-(4,6-dimethoxy[ l,3,5]triazin-2-yl)-4-methylmorpholinium chloride) 70 as the dehydrating agent in the presence of DMAP in acetonitrile and reacted them with alkenes 68 to afford isoxazolines 69 (Scheme 21) [88]. The authors found microwave irradiation conditions to be superior to the conventional room temperature method. 

A reaction that is set to gain momentum within the field of macromolecular science over the next few years is the cycloaddition of nitrile oxides with alkynes and norbornenes to form isoxazoles and isoxazolines respectively (Scheme 2.6). Whilst strictly a catalyst-free reaction, the in situ generation of the requisite nitrile oxide from the respective oxime precursor typically makes use of a mixture of a dipole generating agent (such as Chloramine-T) and a weak base (such as aqueous NaHC03). 

Curran identified Oppolzer s camphor sultam (cf. 81) [77] as a superb chiral auxiliary for the asymmetric [l,3]-dipolar cycloadditions of nitrile oxides (Scheme 18.17) [78-80]. The resulting cycloadducts were generally obtained with high diastereofacial selectivity (dr 90 10). It was proposed that the observed facial differentiation was the result of attack by the nitrile oxide from the top face of conformer 84. This was suggested to be favored on the basis of electronic and steric effects, a proposition that finds support in an X-ray structural analysis of 81 [78, 80]. Cycloaddition of 81 with the nitrile oxide generated in situ from 80 led to isoxazoline 82 in 89 % yield (dr= 92 8). This product constituted a key intermediate in Curran s total synthesis of 83, a bicyclic ketal isolated from ambrosia beetles [80]. 

Pyrroles from 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds and ammonia isoxazolines from olefins and nitrile oxides. 

A -Isoxazolines are readily available from the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile -oxides with alkenes and from the condensation reaction of ehones with hydroxylamine. Therefore, methods of conversion of -isoxazolines into isoxazoles are of particular interest and of synthetic importance. 

The two major methods of preparation are the cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to alkenes and the reaction of a,/3-unsaturated ketones with hydroxylamines. Additional methods include reaction of /3-haloketones and hydroxylamine, the reaction of ylides with nitrile oxides by activation of alkyl nitro compounds from isoxazoline AT-oxides (methoxides, etc.) and miscellaneous syntheses (62HC(i7)i). 

The first synthesis of a 3,5-diarylisoxazole from aryl hydroxamic acid chlorides and sodium phenyl acetylides was that effected by Weygand and Bauer in 1927. Beginning in 1946, when Quilico and Speroni showed that acid chlorides of hydroxamic acids on treatment with alkalies readily yielded nitrile oxides,numerous isoxazole and especially A -isoxazoline derivatives have been prepared. 

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 photochemical cyclisation of p.y-unsaturated ketoximes to 2-isoxazolines, e.g., 16—>17, has been reported <95RTC514>. 2-Isoxazolines are obtained from alkenes and primary nitroalkanes in the presence of ammonium cerium nitrate and formic acid <95MI399>. Treatment of certain 1,3-diketones with a nitrating mixture generates acyl nitrile oxides, which can be trapped in situ as dipolar cycloadducts (see Scheme 3) <96SC3401>. 

The versatility of the INOC reaction is evident from the synthesis of tetrahy-drofurans fused to an isoxazoline 22a-f (Eq. 3) [181. a-Allyloxyaldoximes 21, formed by the reduction of jS-nitrostyrenes 19 with SnCl2 2H2O in the presence of an unsaturated alcohol 20, are transformed to isoxazolines 22 in high yield on treatment with NaOCl via stereoselective ring closure of a nitrile oxide intermediate (Table 2). 

Chiral tricyclic fused pyrrolidines 29a-c and piperidines 29d-g have been synthesized starting from L-serine, L-threonine, and L-cysteine taking advantage of the INOC strategy (Scheme 4) [19]. L-Serine (23 a) and L-threonine (23 b) were protected as stable oxazolidin-2-ones 24a and 24b, respectively. Analogously, L-cysteine 23 c was converted to thiazolidin-2-one 24 c. Subsequent N-allylation or homoallylation, DIBALH reduction, and oximation afforded the ene-oximes, 27a-g. Conversion of ene-oximes 27a-g to the desired key intermediates, nitrile oxides 28 a-g, provided the isoxazolines 29 a-g. While fused pyrrolidines 29a-c were formed in poor yield (due to dimerization of nitrile oxides) and with moderate stereoselectivity (as a mixture of cis (major) and trans (minor) isomers), corresponding piperidines 29d-g were formed in good yield and excellent stereoselectivity (as exclusively trans isomers, see Table 3). 

A nitrile oxide generated from a sugar derived aldoxime 30 underwent INOC reaction to the chiral pyranoisoxazoline 31 (Eq. 4) [20]. Reductive cleavage of isoxazoline 31 followed by acetylation provided the tetrasubstituted pyran 32. 

In the seven-step stereoselective total synthesis of ptilocaulin 44 [21 ], a potent antileukemic and antimicrobial agent isolated [22] from marine sponges, the oxime 36 was treated with NaOCl providing the tricyclic isoxazoline 38 in 89% yield without isolation of the nitrile oxide intermediate 37 (Scheme 5) [23]. Isoxazoline 38 was obtained as a mixture of four diastereomers and their ratio was... 

A regio- and stereospecific INOC reaction of unsymmetrical silaketals 114, synthesized in one pot from unsaturated alcohols, nitro ethanol, and dichloro-silanes, via the nitrile oxide 115 to isoxazolines 116 has been described (Scheme 14) [37a]. The intermolecular version of the cycloaddition, under similar conditions, proceeds with poor regio and stereoselectivity. 

As discussed in Section 6.2, nitro compounds are good precursors of nitrile oxides, which are important dipoles in cycloadditions. The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides with alkenes or alkynes provides a straightforward access to 2-isoxazolines or isoxazoles, respectively. A number of ring-cleaving procedures are applicable, such that various types of compounds may be obtained from the primary adducts (Scheme 8.18). There are many reports on synthetic applications of this reaction. The methods for generation of nitrile oxides and their reactions are discussed in Section 6.2. Recent synthetic applications and asymmetric synthesis using 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides are summarized in this section. 

Alkyl and silyl nitronates are, in principle, /V-alkoxy and /V-silyloxynitrones, and they can react with alkenes in 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions to form /V-alkoxy- or /V-silyloxyisoxaz.olidine (see Scheme 8.25). The alkoxy and silyloxy groups can be eliminated from the adduct on heating or by acid treatment to form 2-isoxazolines. It should be noticed that isoxazolines are also obtained by the reaction of nitrile oxides with alkenes thus, nitronates can be considered as synthetic equivalents of nitrile oxides. Since the pioneering work by Torssell et al. on the development of silyl nitronates, this type of reaction has become a useful synthetic tool. Recent development for generation of cyclic nitronates by hetero Diels-Alder reactions of nitroalkenes is discussed in Section 8.3. 

Isoxazole (as well as isoxazoline, and isoxazolidine) analogues of C-nucleosides related to pseudouridines 25 and 27 have been regioselectively synthesized by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (1,3-DC) of nitrile oxides (and nitrones) derived from uracyl-5-carbaldehyde 24 and 2,4-dimethoxypyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde 26 respectively <06T1494>. 

The nitrile oxide 310, generated from isoxazoline iV-oxide in the presence of acetic anhydride and triethyl amine, gives acetylated dimer 311 in 30% yield (Scheme 77) <1998TL8869>. 

Highly efficient modifications of Mukaiyama s procedure, convenient for combinatorial syntheses, were reported recently, namely the polymer-supported synthesis of isoxazolines via nitrile oxides, starting from primary nitroalkanes, in a one-pot process (75) and by microwave activation of the process (73). 

Dioxolanes 39 derived from a, 3-unsaturated aldehydes react with nitrile oxides R2CNO to give the corresponding isoxazolines 40 with the 1,3-dioxolan-2-yl substituent in position 4 as main products, and their 5-isomers as minor products with good regioselectivity and synthetically useful yields. The corresponding... 

An interesting antibody-catalyzed intermolecular asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between 4-acetamidobenzonitrile N-oxide and N,N-dimethylacrylamide generating the corresponding 5-acylisoxazoline was observed (216). Reversed regioselectivity of nitrile oxide cycloaddition to a terminal alkene was reported in the reaction of 4-A rt-butylbenzonitrile oxide with 6A-acrylamido-6A-deoxy-p-cyclodextrin in aqueous solution, leading to the formation of the 4-substituted isoxazoline, in contrast to the predominance of the 5-substituted regioisomer from reactions of monosubstituted alkenes (217). 

Isoxazolines 79, obtained from aromatic nitrile oxide cycloadditions to cyclohex-2-enone, reacted with nickel peroxide to give 3-aryl-6,7-dihydro[l] benzoisoxazol-4(5// )-ones 80. In contrast, the corresponding 2-bromocyclohex-2-enone underwent nitrile oxide cycloaddition, followed by dehydrobromination, to afford the regioisomeric 3-aryl-4,5-dihydro[l]benzoisoxazol-7(6//)-ones 81 (Scheme 1.23) (242). 

Fullerenes Cycloaddition reactions are very popular for functionalization of fullerenes. Such reactions of fullerenes are compiled and discussed in detail in Reference 253. During the last 10 to 15 years, several communications appeared concerning [3 + 2] cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to fullerene C60- Nitrile oxides, generated in the presence of C60, form products of 1,3-cycloaddition, fullerene isoxazolines, for example, 89. The products were isolated by gel permeation chromatography and appear by and 13 C NMR spectroscopy to be single isomers. Yields of purified products are ca 30%. On the basis of 13C NMR, structures with Cs symmetry are proposed. These products result from addition of the nitrile oxide across a 6,6 ring fusion (254). 

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