Nitriles synthesis with addition

Sodium cyanide/hydro gen chloride Prim, amines from alcohols via nitriles Synthesis with addition of 1 C-atom... 

The imidazole nucleus is often found in biologically active molecules,3 and a large variety of methods have been employed for their synthesis.4 We recently needed to develop a more viable process for the preparation of kilogram quantities of 2,4-disubstituted imidazoles. The condensation of amidines, which are readily accessible from nitriles,5 with a-halo ketones has become a widely used method for the synthesis of 2,4-disubstituted imidazoles. A literature survey indicated that chloroform was the most commonly used solvent for this reaction.6 In addition to the use of a toxic solvent, yields of the reaction varied from poor to moderate, and column chromatography was often required for product isolation. Use of other solvents such as alcohols,7 DMF,8 and acetonitrile9 have also been utilized in this reaction, but yields are also frequently been reported as poor. 

The addition of Grignard reagents to aldehydes, ketones, and esters is the basis for the synthesis of a wide variety of alcohols, and several examples are given in Scheme 7.3. Primary alcohols can be made from formaldehyde (Entry 1) or, with addition of two carbons, from ethylene oxide (Entry 2). Secondary alcohols are obtained from aldehydes (Entries 3 to 6) or formate esters (Entry 7). Tertiary alcohols can be made from esters (Entries 8 and 9) or ketones (Entry 10). Lactones give diols (Entry 11). Aldehydes can be prepared from trialkyl orthoformate esters (Entries 12 and 13). Ketones can be made from nitriles (Entries 14 and 15), pyridine-2-thiol esters (Entry 16), N-methoxy-A-methyl carboxamides (Entries 17 and 18), or anhydrides (Entry 19). Carboxylic acids are available by reaction with C02 (Entries 20 to 22). Amines can be prepared from imines (Entry 23). Two-step procedures that involve formation and dehydration of alcohols provide routes to certain alkenes (Entries 24 and 25). 

This aldol condensation is assumed to proceed via nucleophilic addition of a ruthenium enolate intermediate to the corresponding carbonyl compound, followed by protonation of the resultant alkoxide with the G-H acidic starting nitrile, hence regenerating the catalyst and releasing the aldol adduct, which can easily dehydrate to afford the desired a,/3-unsaturated nitriles 157 in almost quantitative yields. Another example of this reaction type was reported by Lin and co-workers,352 whereas an application to solid-phase synthesis with polymer-supported nitriles has been published only recently.353... 

Catalytic asymmetric cyanide addition to imines constitutes an important C—C bondforming reaction, as the product amino nitriles may be converted to non-proteogenic a-amino acids. Kobayashi and co-workers have developed two different versions of the Zr-catalyzed amino nitrile synthesis [73]. The first variant is summarized in Scheme 6.22. The bimetallic complex 65, formed from two molecules of 6-Br-binol and one molecule of 2-Br-binol in the presence of two molecules of Zr(OtBu)4 and N-methylimidazole, was proposed as the active catalytic species. This hypothesis was based on various NMR studies more rigorous kinetic data are not as yet available. Nonetheless, as depicted in Scheme 6.22, reaction of o-hydroxyl imine 66 with 5 mol% 65 and 1—1.5 equiv. Bu3SnCN (CH2C12, —45 °C) leads to the formation of amino nitrile 67 with 91 % ee and in 92 % isolated yield. As is also shown in Scheme 6.22, electron-withdrawing (— 68) and electron-rich (—> 69), as well as more sterically hindered aryl substituents (— 70) readily undergo asymmetric cyanide addition. 

Somewhat different type 2-amino-4H-chromene synthesis is represented by the interaction of CH-acidic nitriles 27 with salicylic aldehyde 157 where the phenolic OH and aldehyde groups are present in the same molecule. A conventional mechanistic scheme is represented (Scheme 58), where in the presence of a base nitrile 27 condenses with the aldehyde to give Knoevenagel intermediate 158. Then nucleophilic addition of the OH group leads to iminochromene 159, which then adds a nucleophile (as a rule, the second equivalent of nitrile 27) at position 4 to form 2-amino-4H-chromene 160. 

In addition, minor variation of the catalyst in combination with immobilization on a resin support gave an analogous recyclable solid-supported organocatalyst. Varying the derivatization method by trapping the a-amino nitrile intermediate with formic acid and acetic anhydride gives the crystalline formamides 19 in excellent yield and with high enantioselectivity. These features of this catalytic process have been demonstrated by results from the synthesis of r-tert-leucine (Scheme 14.8) [49]. 

Interestingly, the reaction of active methylene compounds having a nitrile group with a,/l-unsaturated carbonyl compounds give Michael adducts without contamination by the corresponding aldol products (Eq. 61) [89-92]. Murahashi and coworkers [89-91] proposed that the addition of the C-H bond to a low-valent ruthenium constitutes the initial step. Recently, Takaya and Murahashi [94] applied their aldol and Michael addition reactions to solid-phase synthesis using polymer-supported nitriles. 

The replacement of an aryl halogen atom by the cyano group can be accomplished by the action of anhydrous cuprous cyanide at 150-250° with or without an organic base (usually pyridine) as a promoter or solvent (Rosenmund-von Braun nitrile synthesis). The reaction is autocatalytic and may be accelerated by the addition of small amounts of a nitrile and Copper sulfate. Typical laboratory procedures are found in the syntheses of a-naphthonitrile (90%) and 9-cyanophenanthrene (87%). The adaptation of the process to commercial practice has been discussed. ... 

Fschenmoser et at. have described two useful reactions of these addition products for synthesis. Thus (2) can be converted efficiently into a y-lactone. Treatment of the mixture of epimeric nitriles (2) with I.I molar eq. of potassium r-butoxide in /-butanol at 80° under nitrogen gives the imino lactone (4) in 85 % yield. This on acid hydrolysis is converted into the y-lactonc (5) in 82% yield. The two isomers (Sa, SP) are separable by gas chromatography. 

This reaction has been developed by Stevens for a refined access to various alkaloid families. Equation 29 shows the short synthesis of mesembrine, where methyl vinyl ketone is annulated to the endocyclic enamine. The precursors for the imines are usually cyclopropyl aldehydes and the corresponding amines or cyclopropyl nitriles combined with suitable organometallics as demonstrated in a simple myosmine synthesis (equation 30). Additional examples will not be discussed here since excellent review articles exist on this topic ... 

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