Nitro-Mannich reactions

The condensation of nitro compounds and imines, the so-called aza-Henry or nitro-Mannich reaction, has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-diamines through the intermediate /3-amino nitro compounds. The method is based on the addition of a nitronate ion (a-nitro carbanion), generated from nitroalkanes, to an imine. The addition of a nitronate ion to an imine is thermodynamically disfavored, so that the presence of a protic species or a Lewis acid is required, to activate the imine and/or to quench the adduct. The acidic medium is compatible with the existence of the nitronate anion, as acetic acid and nitromethane have comparable acidities. Moreover, the products are often unstable, either for the reversibility of the addition or for the possible /3-elimination of the nitro group, and the crude products are generally reduced, avoiding purification to give the desired 1,2-diamines. Hence, the nitronate ion is an equivalent of an a-amino carbanion. 

Bifunctional thiourea-catalysed enantioselective Michael reaction has been achieved. The thiourea moiety and an amino group of the catalyst activated a nitroolefin and a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound, respectively afford the Michael adduct with high enantioselectivity.177,178 Thioureas work as one of the most effective and general enantioselective nitro-Mannich reaction and carbonyl cyanation catalyst.179,180... 

Takemoto et al. discovered N-phosphinoyl-protected aldimines as suitable electrophilic substrates for the enantioselective aza-Henry [224] (nitro-Mannich) reaction [72] with nitromethane, when utilizing thiourea 12 (10mol%) as the catalyst in dichloromethane at room temperature [225]. The (S)-favored 1,2-addition of nitromethane to the electron-deficient C=N double bond allowed access to various P-aryl substituted N-phosphinoyl-protected adducts 1-5 in consistently moderate to good yields (72-87%) and moderate enantioselectivities (63-76%) as depicted in Scheme 6.73. Employing nitroethane under unchanged reaction conditions gave adduct 6 as a mixture of diastereomers (dr 73 27) at an ee value of 67% (83% yield) of the major isomer (Scheme 6.73). 

Scheme 6.73 Typical products of the enantioselective aza-Henry (nitro-Mannich) reaction between nitroalkanes and N-phosphinoylimines proceeding in the presence of catalyst 12.

Figure 6.29 Acetamide (thio)urea derivatives evaluated for catalytic efficiency in the nitro-Mannich reaction between N-Boc-protected benzaldimine and nitroethane.

The N-sulfinyl (thio)ureas are modular and easily accessible in one step by condensing tert-butanesulfinamide with the appropriate isocyanate or isothiocyanate. Figure 6.64 shows a representative selection of the prepared N-sulfinyl (thio)ureas evaluated for their catalytic activity in the aza-Henry (nitro-Mannich) reaction of N-Boc-protected benzaldimine and nitroethane producing adduct 1. 

A direct catalytic asymmetric Mannich reaction using unmodified ketones was reported using cooperative catalysis of a AlLibis((i )-binaphthoxide) complex ((.R)-ALB) and La(0Tf)3-nH20 [27,28]. It was also reported that enantiose-lective and diastereoselective catalytic nitro-Mannich reactions of N-phosphi-noylimines proceeded smoothly using the complex of ALB and ferf-BuOK [29, 30] [(Eq. (5)]. 

An enantioselective nitro-Mannich reaction of alkyl- and aryl-benzylimines gives /3-nitroamines in high ee, using a chiral copper(II)-bisoxazoline catalyst, with the products affording 1,2-diamines by reduction.30... 

As described above, N-protected aromatic imines can be successfully employed as substrates for Mannich reactions. However, although N-protected alkyl imines constitute another important class of imine substrates, their instability hampers their use. N-protected alkyl imines are spontaneously tautomerized into the corresponding enamines even at low temperature. In aza-Henry (nitro-Mannich) reactions, this problem was overcome independently by Palomo [33a] and the group of Herrera, Bernardi, and Ricci [33b] by using the stable a-amidosulfones 73 from... 

In addition to chiral PTCs, cinchona-based thioureas have also been proved to serve as catalysts for nitro-Mannich reactions. In 2006, Ricci and coworkers first reported that the quinine-based thiourea 40 (20mol%) can catalyze the aza-Henry reaction between nitromethane and the N-protected imines 93 derived from aromatic aldehydes [40]. N-Boc-, N-Cbz-, and N-Fmoc protected imines gave the best results in terms of the chemical yields and enantioselectivities (up to 94% ee at —40°C) (Scheme 8.30). 

The aza-Henry (nitro-Mannich) reaction of A-diphenylphosphinoylimines with nitroalk-anes under solvent-free conditions was efficiently catalysed with TMG (1) to give a series of p-nitroamines in excellent yields and high diastereoselectivity [31] (Table 4.1). 

TMG (1), TBD (3a) and MTBD (3b) act as effective catalysts for the aza-Henry (nitro-Mannich) reaction of A -diphenylphosphinoyl ketimines and nitromethane. The addition product is given in good to high yields [32]. A phophazene ( Bu -P1) can be also workable as a superior base. 

Yoon, T.P. and Jacobsen, E.N. (2005) Highly enantioselective thiourea-catalysed nitro-Mannich reactions. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 44, 466-468. 

Scheme 5.28 Bifunctional catalyst 56 facilitates the nitro-Mannich reaction in an enantioselective manner...

Li, Chen and coworkers synthesised a new secondary amine-thiourea, thiourea 63, for the enantioselective nitro-Mannich reaction of nitroacetates to Boc-imines (Scheme 19.73). ... 

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