Pyrrolidine enamines from

The present preparation illustrates a general and convenient irethod for ring contraction of cyclic ketones. The first step is the usual procedure for the preparation of enamines. The second step involves 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of diphenyl phosphorazidate to an enamine followed by ring contraction with evolution of nitrogen. Ethyl acetate and tetrahydrofuran can be used as a solvent in place of toluene. Pyrrolidine enamines from various cyclic ketones smoothly undergo the reaction under similar reaction conditions. Diphenyl (cycloalkyl-1-pyrrolidinylmethylene)phosphoramidates with 5,6,7, and 15 members in the ring have been prepared in yields of 68-76%. 

We met enamines as specific enol equivalents in the last chapter and they are particularly good at conjugate addition. The pyrrolidine enamine from cyclohexanone 41 adds to acrylic esters 42 in conjugate fashion and the first-formed product 43 gives the enamine 44 by proton exchange.4 Acid hydrolysis via the imine salt 45 gives the 1,5-dicarbonyl compound 46. 

Nelson and Pelter493 prepared a pyrrolidine enamine from tris(pyrrolidinyl)borane, pyrrolidine and a ketone and a catalytic amount of p-toluenesulphonic acid. 

The formation of pyrrolidine enamines from 2-alkylcycloalkenones is highly regiospecific [14] and alfords the less substituted enamines. Thus, 2-methylcy-clohexanone yields a mixture of 6-methyl-1 -pyrrolidinocyclohexene (90%) and 2-methyl-1-pyrrolidinocyclohexene (10%), which is then converted to 3-meth-ylcyclohexene (Eq. 24.7) [13]. 

In 1954 Stork et al. (i) reported that the alkylation of the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone (5) with methyl iodide followed by acid hydro-I ysis led to the monoalkylated ketone. It was thus obvious that the enamine (7) derived by the loss of proton from the intermediate methylated iminium cation (6) failed to undergo any further alkylation. 

Johnson and Whitehead have further shown that the reductive elimination of the pyrrolidine group from the pyrrolidine enamine of 2,4-dimethyl-cyclohexanone (16), which involved treating it with a mixture of lithium aluminum hydride and aluminum chloride (9), gave the trans isomer of 3,5-dimethyl-/l -cyclohexene (17) which on subsequent hydrogenation on a platinum catalyst led to the // onr-3,5-dimethylcyclohexane (18). 

It was, however, found 22) that when the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone was allowed to react with an excess of -nitrostyrene, a bis adduct (46), made up of one molecule of the enamine and two molecules of olefin, was obtained in addition to the monoadduct. That the bis adduct is not derived from the monoadduct was shown by the latter s failure to react with (9-nitrostyrene. Therefore, this adduct must be formed by the addition of the olefin to the dipolar intermediate (47), as shown in the following scheme. 

In their original communication on the alkylation and acylation of enamines, Stork et al. (3) had reported that the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone underwent monoacylation with acid chlorides. For example, the acylation with benzoyl chloride led to monobenzoylcyclohexanone. However, Hunig and Lendle (33) found that treatment of the morpholine enamine of cyclopentanone with 2 moles of propionyl chloride followed by acid hydrolysis gave the enol ester (56), which was proposed to have arisen from the intermediate (55). 

Lochte and Pitman (44) have reported the cyanoethylation of the pyrrolidine enamine of 3-methylcycIopentanone (84), the product being a mixture of C-2 and C-5 cyanoethylated ketones (85 and 86). Hunig and Salzwedel 20) have obtained a mixture of C2- and C5-acylated products from the reaction of morpholine enamine of 3-methylcyclopentanone with propionyl chloride. 

Another interesting fact to be noted is that the bicyclic enamine (87) and its pyrrolidine analogue failed to undergo reduction with 98% formic acid, whereas the pyrrolidine enamine of 2-bicyclo[2.2.1]hepten-5-carboxalde-hyde (94), which exists largely in the transoid form (49), was readily reduced to (95). However, the saturated amine-substituted norbornane can be obtained directly from norbornanone under the more vigorous conditions of the Leuckart reaction (49a). 

Recently Stamhuis et al. (33) have determined the base strengths of morpholine, piperidine, and pyrrolidine enamines of isobutyraldehyde in aqueous solutions by kinetic, potentiometric, and spectroscopic methods at 25° and found that these enamines are 200-1000 times weaker bases than the secondary amines from which they are formed and 30-200 times less basic than the corresponding saturated tertiary enamines. The baseweakening effect has been attributed to the electron-withdrawing inductive effect of the double bond and the overlap of the electron pair on the nitrogen atom with the tt electrons of the double bond. It was pointed out that the kinetic protonation in the hydrolysis of these enamines occurs at the nitrogen atom, whereas the protonation under thermodynamic control takes place at the -carbon atom, which is, however, dependent upon the pH of the solution (84,85). The measurement of base strengths of enamines in chloroform solution show that they are 10-30 times weaker bases than the secondary amines from which they are derived (4,86). 

The magnitude of the preference for the formation of the less substituted enamine from unsymmetrical ketones as expressed by the general rule given above is not entirely clear. House and Schellenbaum 48) have reported that 2-methylcyclohexanone and pyrrolidine produce a product mixture of tetra- and trisubstituted enamines in a ratio of 15 85. The estimate of this ratio was made from NMR data. In contrast Stork and co-workers (9) report the formation of 100% trisubstituted enamine as determined by NMR spectroscopy. 

The basicity of the enamine has an overriding influence on the yield of product. Good yields are obtained from the pyrrolidine enamines, poor yields from the piperidine enamines, and the morpholine enamines fail to... 

The reaction of ketene with the enamine (113) is reported (88) to give l-morpholino-2-acetyl-l-cyclohexene i.e., the enamino ketone expected from acylation of (113). The pyrrolidine enamine (28), however, has been shown to react (73) with excess ketene to give the a-pyrone (124). On the... 

Enamines formed in this way may be distilled or used in situ. The ease of formation of the enamine depends on the structure of the secondary amine as well as the structure of the ketone. Thus pyrrolidine reacts faster than morpholine or piperidine, as expected from a rate-controlling transition state with imonium character. Six-membered ring ketones without a substituents form pyrrolidine enamines even at room temperature in methanol (20), and morpholine enamines are generated in cold acetic acid (21), but a-alkylcyclohexanones, cycloheptanone, and linear ketones react less readily. In such examples acid catalysis with p-toluenesulfonic acid or... 

The illumination of enamines as general activa ting derivatives of ketones in alkylation reactions also threw light on their special usefulness for controlling alkylations (3), particularly in the formation of monosubstituted cyclohexanones. Thus 2-methylcyclohexanone could be obtained in 80% yield from the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone, and further alkylation, which required more drastic conditions, gave only 2,6-dimethylcyclo-hexanone (1,237). 

Dicarbomethoxyacetylene has also been added to the pyrrolidine enamine derivative of acetylacetone, demonstrating a new synthesis of phthalic esters (345). A 3-acylpyridine synthesis was achieved by the addition of an acetylenic aldehyde to the vinylogous amide derived from ammonia and dihydroresorcinol (346). 

The enamines derived from cyclohexanones are of particular interest. The pyrrolidine enamine is most frequently used for synthetic applications. The enamine mixture formed from pyrrolidine and 2-methylcyclohexanone is predominantly isomer 17.106 A steric effect is responsible for this preference. Conjugation between the nitrogen atom and the tt orbitals of the double bond favors coplanarity of the bonds that are darkened in the structures. In isomer 17 the methyl group adopts a quasi-axial conformation to avoid steric interaction with the amine substituents.107 A serious nonbonded repulsion (A1,3 strain) in 18 destabilizes this isomer. 

Treated with ZnBr2 followed by enamines, phenyl thioethers 829 derived from aryl aldehydes are converted to (l-(phenylthio)alkyl ketones or aldehydes 830 in moderate to good yields (Equation 19). Enamines used in these syntheses are (1) morpholine enamine derived from diethyl ketone, (2) diethylamine enamine of propiophenone, (3) piperidine enamine derived from isovaleraldehyde, and (4) pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone <2000H(53)331>. 

An efficient synthesis of ( )-yohimbine has been published by Stork and Guthikonda (222). Reaction of the pyrrolidine enamine of A-methylpiperidone with methyl 3-oxo-4-pentenoate gave 411 in good yield. Reduction of 411 with lithium in liquid ammonia furnished trans-TV-methyldecahydroisoquinolone 412. This building block was transformed in simple reaction steps to secoyohimbane 413 from which ( )-yohimbine could be obtained by oxidative cyclization with... 

Table I details representative examples of the [4 + 2] cycloaddition of triethyl 1,2, 4-triazine-3,5,6-tricarboxylate with pyrrolidine enamines and related electron-rich olefins. Cycloaddition occurs across carbon-3 and carbon-6 of the 1,2,4-triazine nucleus, and the nucleophilic carbon of the dienophile attaches to carbon-3 (eq 1). Loss of nitrogen from the initial adduct and aromatization with loss of pyrrolidine affords pyridine products.

Chiral (5)-2-(methoxymethyl)-l -[( )-3-phenyl-2-propenyl]pyrrolidine obtained from (S)-2-(meth-oxymethyl)pyrrolidine26,30 and ( )-3-bromo-1-phenyl-1-propene, is deprotonated by potassium rert-butoxide/ferf-butyllithium27-28 generating the chiral allyl carbanion, the alkylation of which affords the enamines, which can be hydrolyzed to give 3-alkylated 3-phenylpropanals. 

When (2S)-1-(1-cyclohexene-l-yl)-2-(methoxymethyl)pyrrolidine (206), enamine from cyclohexanone, and (S)-proline-derived (2S)-(methoxymethyl)pyrrolidine is added to the Knoevenagel condensation products (207), mainly one of the possible four diastereomers is formed. The diastereomeric purity was found to be excellent (d.s. > 90%) 203). The stereochemical course of this highly effective asymmetric synthesis allowed the synthesis of the optically active target molecules (208). A possible mechanism discussed by Blarer and Seebach 203). 

N-Methyl-2-hydroxypyrroIidine (246) is derived biosynthetically from ornithine (245). It functions as a source of the N- methylpyrrolinium ion (247), which in turn functions as a precursor of alkaloids such as tropine (248). The pyrrolidine enamine of cyclopentanone undergoes an interesting ring closure reaction with DMAD, resulting in the formation of a pyrrolizine (Scheme 92) (78TL1351). 

Condensation of the pyrrolidine enamine of cyclohexanone with l,l-dicyano-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane proceeds smoothly in refluxing dry xylene and gives the expected adduct in 76% yield. Recrystallisation of the adduct from 95% ethanol, however, gave a 91% yield of a product which no longer contained the pyrrolidine group but whose spectral data clearly showed the presence of a ketone group and an enaminonitrile function. Hydrolysis of this latter product with phosphoric acid/acetic acid gave 5-(2-oxo-4,4-dimethylcyclopentyl)pentanoic acid in 83% yield. 

Dehydrorotenone 1 can be readily transformed into rotenone 2 by reduction of the chromone to the chromanol followed by Oppenauer oxidation. Two elegant syntheses of dehydrorotenone 1 used DCC as a key reagent as follows (i) treatment of derrisic acid 3 with DCC/EtjN followed by reaction of the intermediate thus obtained with sodium propanoate in ethanol gave 1. (ii) Condensation of tubaic acid 4 with the pyrrolidine enamine derived from 5 in the presence of DCC also gave 1. 

Of the several studies made of enolates derived from such a-aminoke-tones,37 the most interesting one from the point of view of this work came from Holladay and co-workers who studied alkylation reactions of pyrrolidine enamine 40 derived from protected 4-keto-L-proline 41 with allyl bromide (Scheme 10).38 A 44% yield of two diastereoisomers of allylated material 42 was obtained with a quoted isomer ratio of trans cis of 2 1. 

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