5 2// -Oxazolones kinetics

The main application of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the amide bond is the en-antioselective synthesis of amino acids [4,97]. Acylases (EC 3.5.1.n) catalyze the hydrolysis of the N-acyl groups of a broad range of amino acid derivatives. They accept several acyl groups (acetyl, chloroacetyl, formyl, and carbamoyl) but they require a free a-carboxyl group. In general, acylases are selective for i-amino acids, but d-selective acylase have been reported. The kinetic resolution of amino acids by acylase-catalyzed hydrolysis is a well-established process [4]. The in situ racemization of the substrate in the presence of a racemase converts the process into a DKR. Alternatively, the remaining enantiomer of the N-acyl amino acid can be isolated and racemized via the formation of an oxazolone, as shown in Figure 6.34. 

The anions of CDs may also function as simple basic catalysts towards acidic substrates included in their cavities. Such was observed by Daffe and Fastrez (1983) who studied the deprotonation and hydrolysis of oxazolones in basic media containing CDs. Also, in a paper dealing mainly with catalysis by amylose, it was noted that CDs catalyse the deprotonation of long chain /3-keto esters in basic aqueous DMSO (Cheng et al., 1985) no saturation kinetics were found for CDs, indicating weak substrate binding under the conditions used. 

The enzymatic hydration of lactones is also documented, a variety of hydrolases having demonstrated activity. Very detailed kinetic studies have, for example, been published on the hydrolysis of oxazolones (7.78, R = H or Me, R = Me or aryl, R" = Me or Ph) catalyzed by a-chymotrypsin [163], These compounds are interesting from a chemical point of view, being enolic lac-... 

Cyclization of A-acyl-oc-amino acids under acidic reaction conditions is sometimes problematic due to the difficulty in separation of the desired oxazolone from by-products while avoiding decomposition of the reactive oxazolone. This finding is particularly true in the case of 2-phenyl-5(47i)-oxazolone, an interesting compound that is a very useful intermediate to prepare a variety of novel products. The use of carbodiimides as dehydrating agents has been described as a means to improve the results. In particular, treatment of an A-acyl-a-amino acid with A-cyclohexyl-A -2-(A-methylmorpholinio)ethylcarbodiimide p-toluensulfo-nate (Scheme 7.25) is especially useful as a general synthesis of the desired saturated 5(47i)-oxazolones 101 in excellent yields.This same carbodiimide was used to study the kinetics of the formation of saturated 5(47i)-oxazolones from N-protected dipeptides... 

A number of points should be considered to determine the most appropriate experimental conditions for the desired reaction and, to that end, the kinetics of hydrolysis and ionization of 4-methyl-2-phenyl-, 4-benzyl-2-phenyl-, and 4-benzyl-2-methyl-5(4//)-oxazolones have been investigated. Deprotonation of 5(477)-oxazolones in aqueous media, which leads to racemization of optically active 5(477)-oxazolones, is a fast process that competes with the ring opening. The difference between the rate constant for racemization and the ring opening is greater in solvents with dielectric constants less than water and thus, oxazolones racemize faster than they hydrolyze. 

A kinetic study of the base-catalyzed dimerization of 5(477)-oxazolones has shown that 5(477)-oxazolones with sterically demanding or electron-donating substituents at C-2 are less prone to dimerization. ... 

A number of systematic structural analyses have been described for families of saturated oxazolones. First, as mentioned previously, detailed smdies of NMR long-range coupling in 2,4-disubstimted-5(47/)-oxazolones and in 5(27/)-oxazo-lones have been reported." Similarly, detailed NMR studies of the kinetics of racemization of 2,4-disubstimted-5(47/)-oxazolones have been performed. A theoretical study of the spectral-luminescence properties of some 4-alkyl-2-phenyl-5(47/)-oxazolones has been reported and an investigation of the infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of 5(4//)-oxazolones, particularly of the carbonyl group vibration, has been reported. Electron impact mass spectra of saturated 5(47/)-oxazolones have been published. More recently this technique has been used to distinguish between the stereoisomers of some spirocyclopropane oxazolones 352 (Fig. 7.36). Finally, several studies of the HPLC behavior of 5(47/)-oxazolones complete a general view for this family of compounds. " " ... 

The mechanism of the aminolysis and the electronic effects of substituents at C-2 or C-4 on the kinetics of amide bond formation have been studied. In some cases, ring opening with amines occurs with partial isomerization of the exocyclic double bond. However, with more hindered compounds, such as unsaturated oxazolones derived from ketones, ring opening is stereospecific.Ring opening using diamines has also been described. Selected examples of dehydroamino acid amides prepared by aminolysis of unsaturated 5(4//)-oxazolones are shown in Table 7.40 (Fig. 7.51). 

In this section, dynamic kinetic resolution of substrates having a proton with low pKa is discussed. Racemization occurs by performing the DKR in the presence of a weak base. Enzyme- and base-catalyzed DKRs are categorized, according to the nature of the substrates, as being thioesters, -activated esters, oxazolones, hydan-toins or acyloins. 

Huisgen and co-workers486,490 have described a useful synthesis of N-substituted pyrroles (41) from mesoionic oxazolones (39) via the intermediates 40, which were not isolated. A variety of acetylenic esters (phenylpropiolic, propiolic, tetrolic, and DMAD) were used. The kinetics of these reactions have been studied.491 The addition of carbon... 

An important dGuo oxidation product is imidazolone (Iz), which decomposes into oxazolone (Z) and/or its ring-open guanodino acid form (Ravanat et al. 1991 Raoul et al. 1996 Gasparutto et al. 1999 for kinetic data see Table 10.5). At high pH, these compounds release guanidine for which an assay is available (Kobayashi et al. 1987) (Chap 13.3). 

Nucleophilic ring opening of racemic 5(4//)-oxazolones by alcohols catalyzed by chiral DMAP complex 118 occurs under a dynamic kinetic process to give enantiomerically enriched a-amino esters 119. The enantioselectivity is critically affected by the solvent and the alcohol nucleophile (Equation 6) <1998JOC3154>. 

Cycloadditions were found to be first-order reactions with respect to both 1,3-dipole and dipolarophile, in all cases so far investigated. There are some limits to kinetic studies of these reactions, as many 1,3-dipoles are very reactive substances. While aryl azides, diazoalkanes, some classes of azomethine imines (for instance sydnones), and some classes of azomethine oxides (nitrones) are stable and isolable, azomethine ylides are usually unstable, an exception being represented by a mesoionic oxazolone that has been used for kinetic investigations benzonitrile oxide has a very limited stability, although some substituted derivatives are stable for long periods nitrile imines are not commonly isolable because of their strong tendency to dimerise. 1,3-Dipoles of... 

A special type of enzymatic peptide synthesis employs activated heterocyclic amino acid/peptide derivatives as acyl donors (Scheme 3.28) [327]. In a kinetically controlled approach, 5(4//)-oxazolones (which may be regarded as cyclic activated esters ) are cleaved by a-chymotrypsin thereby generating an acyl enzyme intermediate. Then the amino acid/peptide segment is coupled onto the W-terminus of the acyl acceptor by forming a new peptide bond. 

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