Of imine salts

This complex route to tropinone was imitated as long ago as 1917 in one of the most celebrated reactions of all time, Robinson s tropinone synthesis. Robinson argued on purely chemical grounds that the sequence of imine salts and enols, which later (1970) turned out to be Nature s route, could be produced under natural conditions (aqueous solution at pH 7) from a C4 dialdehyde, MeNH2 and acetone dicarboxylic acid. It worked and the intermediates must be very similar to those in the biosynthesis. 

There are several methods to prepare oxazolidinones from a-amino acids, for the use as templates in alkylation reactions. [3] Our early investigations focused on the protocol by Seebach based on acylation of imine salts of amino acids, [5] but we encountered problems associated with the heterogeneous formation of imine salts on larger scale. A method was then developed by which commercially available (i)-W-Cbz-alanine (24) is reacted with benzaldehyde dimethylacetal(25) in the presence of SOCI2 and ZnCl2 to provide the oxazolidinone 26 with a predominant cw-relationship cis trans ca. 5-15 1) between the phenyl group and the a-methyl group, as shown in Scheme 7.[2i]... 

The most generally useful method for acylation or formyl a ti on of pyrroles is the Vil smeier-Ha ack reaction (32,33). The pyrrole is treated with the phosphoryl complex of A/ A -dialkjlamide and the intermediate imine salt is hydroly2ed. 

The most useful general method for the C-acylation of pyrroles is the Vilsmeier-Haack procedure in which pyrrole is treated with the phosphoryl chloride complex (55a, b) of an AiA-dialkylamide (54). The intermediate imine salt (56) is hydrolyzed subsequently under mildly alkaline conditions to give the acylated pyrrole (57). On treatment of the imminium salt (56 R =H) with hydroxylamine hydrochloride and one equivalent of pyridine and heating in DMF, 2-cyanopyrrole (58) is formed (80CJC409). 

The alkylation of imines by an alkyl halide to give an iminium salt will be illustrated by selected reactions over a period of years. A more complete survey is available (88). Decker and Becker (89) prepared a number of iminium salts (91, for example) by mixing methyl iodide and aromatic imines in benzene. 2,5-Dimethyl-2-pyrroline (92) has been alkylated and the... 

With imines, salts formation is accompanied by characteristic spectral changes (153) (a) a bathochromic shift in the ultraviolet region by as much as 50 m/i, according to compound type and to properties of any auxochrome present, and (b) a high frequency shift of the... 

It is well known that aziridination with allylic ylides is difficult, due to the low reactivity of imines - relative to carbonyl compounds - towards ylide attack, although imines do react with highly reactive sulfur ylides such as Me2S+-CH2-. Dai and coworkers found aziridination with allylic ylides to be possible when the activated imines 22 were treated with allylic sulfonium salts 23 under phase-transfer conditions (Scheme 2.8) [15]. Although the stereoselectivities of the reaction were low, this was the first example of efficient preparation of vinylaziridines by an ylide route. Similar results were obtained with use of arsonium or telluronium salts [16]. The stereoselectivity of aziridination was improved by use of imines activated by a phosphinoyl group [17]. The same group also reported a catalytic sulfonium ylide-mediated aziridination to produce (2-phenylvinyl)aziridines, by treatment of arylsulfonylimines with cinnamyl bromide in the presence of solid K2C03 and catalytic dimethyl sulfide in MeCN [18]. Recently, the synthesis of 3-alkyl-2-vinyl-aziridines by extension of Dai s work was reported [19]. 

The reaction mechanism is complex and not completely settled. The first stage consists of an attack on the substrate by a species containing the nitrile and HCl (and the Lewis acid, if present) to give an imine salt (39). Among the possible attacking. species are 37 and 38. In the seeond stage, the salts are hydrolyzed to the products ... 

When enamines are treated with alkyl halides, an alkylation occurs that is analogous to the first step of 12-14. Hydrolysis of the imine salt gives a ketone. Since the enamine is normally formed from a ketone (16-12), the net result is alkylation of the ketone at the a position. The method, known as the Stork enamine reaction is an alternative to the ketone alkylation considered at 10-105. The Stork method has the advantage that it generally leads almost exclusively to monoalkylation of the ketone, while 10-105, when applied to ketones, is difficult to stop with the introduction of just one alkyl group. Alkylation usually takes place on the less substituted side of the original ketone. The most commonly used amines are the cyclic amines piperidine, morpholine, and pyrrolidine. 

Primary and secondary halides do not perform well, mostly because N-alkylation becomes important, particularly with enamines derived from aldehydes. An alternative method, which gives good yields of alkylation with primary and secondary halides, is alkylation of enamine salts, which are prepared by treating an imine with ethylmagnesium bromide in THF ... 

The reductive couphng of imines can follow different pathways, depending on the nature of the one-electron reducing agent (cathode, metal, low-valent metal salt), the presence of a protic or electrophihc reagent, and the experimental conditions (Scheme 2). Starting from the imine 7, the one-electron reduction is facihtated by the preliminary formation of the iminiiim ion 8 by protonation or reaction with an electrophile, e.g., trimethylsilyl (TMS) chloride. Alternatively, the radical anion 9 is first formed by direct reduction of the imine 7, followed by protonation or reaction with the electrophile, so giving the same intermediate a-amino radical 10. The 1,2-diamine 11 can be formed from the radical 10 by dimerization (and subsequent removal of the electrophile) or addition to the iminium ion 8, followed by one-electron reduction of the so formed aminyl radical. In certain cases/conditions the radical 9 can be further reduced to the carbanion 12, which then attacks the... 

The practical route for oxidizing leuco diphenylmethanes 15 demands inital conversion to an imine salt 16. The imine salt is obtained by heating a mixture of diphenylmethane, sulfur, ammonium chloride, and sodium chloride at 175°C in a current of ammonia or by heating a mixture of diphenylmethane, urea, sulfamic acid, sulfur, and ammonia at 175°C (Scheme 3). Dyes 16 can be represented as the quinonoid resonance structure 17. Dyes of this class, known as auramines, are all yellow, with the only commercial representative being auramine O 16a. Due to its poor lightfastness and instability to hot acids and bases, its use has been restricted to dyeing and printing cotton, paper, silk, leather, and jute. 

Y(03SCF3)3 to afford a monoaminoalkylation product in good yield in aqueous media.40 Zinc tetrafluoroborate is also highly effective for such couplings in aqueous THF.41 Kobayashi also reported a Mannich-type reaction of imines with silyl enolates catalyzed by neutral salts such as sodium triflate in water as a suspension medium. Unusual kinetic behavior indicates that the presence of the Mannich adduct facilitates the rate of its formation.42... 

More recently, catalytic asymmetric allylations of imines and imine derivatives in aqueous media have been studied. An /V-spiro C2-symmetrical chiral quaternary ammonium salt (5,5)-I-Br (,S, .S )-()-Np-NAS-Br] has been evaluated in the allylation of glycine tert-Bu ester benzophenone Schiff base [Ph2C=NCH2COOCMe3] for synthesis of both natural and unnatural a-amino acids (Eq. 11,45).76... 

The imine salt can be converted into the free base by the method of Hantzsch and Kraft, which involves treating a solution of the salt in chloroform with dry ammonia. 

The reactivity of these tricyclic compounds has been investigated in detail. Reaction of these with sodium cyanoborohydride in acetic acid reduces the imine double bonds to give the tetrahydro-derivatives, for example, 37 gives 39. Reaction of 37 with sodium methoxide results in the ring-opened sulfonate salt 40 re-acidification of this salt gives the corresponding sulfonic acid which cyclizes back to the tricycle 37. Further heating of the sulfonic acid... 

Substituted pyridinium salts of this nature were difficult to obtain by other methods. This sequence is initiated with condensation of the anions of imine 50 with malonaldehyde monoacetals 51 to access glutaconaldehyde monoacetals 52. The monoacetal-aldehyde was then reacted with primary amines ( -BuNH2) to give 3-substituted pyridinium salts 49. When the silylimino derivative (R1=Si(CH3)3) was used, substantially higher yields of intermediate glutaconaldehydes were obtained. 

Nucleophilic addition of methyl- or phenylphosphite n -butyl- esters to oxo-imine salts, generated by nitrone alkylation of triethyloxoniumtetrafluoro borate (Meerwein salt), leads to a-aminophosphinic acid esters (Scheme 2.201) (691). 

The TEAF system can be used to reduce ketones, certain alkenes and imines. With regard to the latter substrate, during our studies it was realized that 5 2 TEAF in some solvents was sufficiently acidic to protonate the imine (p K, ca. 6 in water). Iminium salts are much more reactive than imines due to inductive effects (cf. the Stacker reaction), and it was thus considered likely that an iminium salt was being reduced to an ammonium salt [54]. This explains why imines are not reduced in the IPA system which is neutral, and not acidic. When an iminium salt was pre-prepared by mixing equal amounts of an imine and acid, and used in the IPA system, the iminium was reduced, albeit with lower rate and moderate enantioselectivity. Quaternary iminium salts were also reduced to tertiary amines. Nevertheless, as other kinetic studies have indicated a pre-equilibrium with imine, it is possible that the proton formally sits on the catalyst and the iminium is formed during the catalytic cycle. It is, of course, possible that the mechanism of imine transfer hydrogenation is different to that of ketone reduction, and a metal-coordinated imine may be involved [55]. 

The reduction of imines and iminium salts present a particular difficulty in that those which are N-substituted can exist in different geometrical isomers that are reduced at different rates and with different selectivities. One way to overcome this problem is to use cyclic imines that can exist only as cis isomers. Although these are good substrates, this is not a general solution. The cyclic amines produced by transfer hydrogenation, together with best reported enantiomeric excesses, are listed in Table 35.6. Primary amines are difficult to pre-... 

J. J. Eddine, M. Cherqaoui, Chiral Quaternary Benzo-phenone Hydrazonium Salt Derivatives Efficient Chiral Catalysts for the Enantioselective Phase-Transfer Alkylation of Imines. Application to Synthesis of Chiral Primary Amines , Tetrahedron Asymmetry 1995, 6, 1225-1228. 

Some 4,5-dihydro[l,2,4]triazolo[3,4-r-]benzo[l,2,4]triazines 57 easily reacted with aromatic aldehydes to result in the formation of synthetically valuable azomethine imines 58 <2005EJO3553>. The transformation took place at room temperature in the presence of tetrafluoroboric acid in 10 min in high yields. The product 58 was conveniently prepared and stored in the form of tetrafluoroborate salt, and was subjected to further reactions (e.g., 1,3-dipolar cycoadditions see Section 11.19.5.4.) by in situ liberation of the free base prior to transformation. 

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