Pictet-Spengler tetrahydroisoquinoline

Mannich and Mannich-like reactions are widely used for the chemical synthesis of heterocycles, and in alkaloid biosynthesis in plants. One such reaction important in nature is a biological equivalent of the Pictet-Spengler tetrahydroisoquinoline synthesis (see Section 11.10.4), and offers a slight twist, in that the enol nucleophile is actually a phenol. 

Pictet-Spengler tetrahydroisoquinoline synthesis Condensation of a P-arylethylamine with carbonyl compounds to form tetrahydroisoquinolines. 348... 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction is one of the key methods for construction of the isoquinoline skeleton, an important heterocyclic motif found in numerous bioactive natural products. This reaction involves the condensation of a P-arylethyl amine 1 with an aldehyde, ketone, or 1,2-dicarbonyl compound 2 to give the corresponding tetrahydroisoquinoline 3. These reactions are generally catalyzed by protic or Lewis acids, although numerous thermally-mediated examples are found in the literature. Aromatic compounds containing electron-donating substituents are the most reactive substrates for this reaction. 

In 1911, Ame Pictet and Theodor Spengler reported that P-arylethyl amines condensed with aldehydes in the presence of acid to give tetrahydroisoquinolines. Phenethylamine 6 was combined with dimethoxymethane 7 and HCl at elevated temperatures to give tetrahydroisoquinoline 8. Soon after, the Pictet-Spengler reaction became the standard method for the formation of tetrahydroisoquinolines. 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction is an acid-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of an intermediate imine of 2-arylethylamine, formed by condensation with a carbonyl compound, to give 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives. This condensation reaction has been studied under acid-catalyzed and superacid-catalyzed conditions, and a linear correlation had been found between the rate of the reaction and the acidity of the reaction medium. Substrates with electron-donating substituents on the aromatic ring cyclize faster than the corresponding unsubstituted compounds, supporting the idea that the cyclization process is involved in the rate-determining step of the reaction. 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction has been carried out on various solid support materials " and with microwave irradiation activation.Diverse structural analogues of (-)-Saframycin A have been prepared by carrying out the Pictet-Spengler isoquinoline synthesis on substrates attached to a polystyrene support. Amine 20 was condensed with aldehyde 21 followed by cyclization to give predominantly the cis isomer tetrahydroisoquinoline 22 which was further elaborated to (-)-Saframycin A analogues. 

Model studies directed toward the synthesis of Ecteinascidin 743 employed an elegant Pictet-Spengler cyclization of phenethylamine 54 and the 1,2-dicarbonyl compound 55 to assemble the spiro tetrahydroisoquinoline 56 in a stereospecific fashion. " The silica-catalyzed condensation reaction provided 56 in excellent yield. 

The Bischler-Napieralski and Pictet-Spengler reactions continue to produce new dihydro- and tetrahydroisoquinolines <96TL(37)5453,957(51)12159,96H(43)1605>. 

This strategy normally involves the generation of an iminium species from a tetrahydroisoquinoline and formaldehyde, followed by its Pictet-Spengler cyclization. It can be exemplified by the preparation of the berberine derivative 330 from tetrahydroisoquinoline 329 (Scheme 72) <2001JOC3495>. 

Peroxidase and laccase enzymes were used to catalyze the decarboxylation of various tetrahydroisoquinoline-1-carboxylic acids to give high yields of the corresponding 3,4-dihydroisoquinolines (204). Compounds such as 125 (Scheme 29) are derived from Pictet-Spengler ring closure via a-keto acid and aryl amine condensation and are of biogenetic importance. The possible relevance of iso-... 

In 2004, Taylor and Jacobsen suggested a procedure for the enantioselective acetyl-Pictet-Spengler reaction, that is the cyclization of electron-rich aryl or heteroaryl groups onto N-acyliminium ion enabling access to substituted tetrahydro-P-carbolines and tetrahydroisoquinolines that are core structure elements in natural and synthetic organic compounds [202, 203]. Screening various thiourea catalyst candidates such as 47 in the formation of model product Np-acetyl-... 

The mechanistically similar Pictet-Spengler synthesis is also much used for the preparation of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines, starting from a... 

In the case of electron-rich aromatic rings, for example, 472 it is possible to take advantage of the activating substituents to effect a Pictet-Spengler reaction to prepare the tetrahydroisoquinoline derivative 473 as shown in Scheme 7.153. ... 

Pictet-Spengler synthesis is another method of preparing isoquinolines. (3-phenylethylamine reacts with an aldehyde to produce an imine, which undergoes acid-catalysed cyclization, resulting in the synthesis of the tetrahydroisoquinoline system. Again, tetrahydroisoquinoline can he aromatized hy palladium dehydrogenation to produce an isoquinoline system. 

Figure 15.13. Pictet-Spengler and Bischler-Napieralski syntheses of tetrahydroisoquinolines and quinolines from 2-arylethylamines.

In relation to their biosynthesis, it was proposed that A-B units of Et s are most likely formed by condensation of two Dopa-derived building blocks and that the tetrahydroisoquinoline ring in unit B is closed by condensation (Pictet-Spengler) with a serine(or glycine)-derived aldehyde, as in the case of the related saframycins. S-Adenosylmethinonine is the likely source of the methyl groups. A plausible route for the formation of unit C was proposed later [75]. This was partially demonstrated by incorporation of radiolabeled tyrosine and cysteine by Kerr and Miranda [80] and by incorporation of labeled methionine, glycine and tryptophan by Morales and Rinehart [81]. 

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