Reductive alkylation treatment

Pyrrolethiols, readily obtained from the corresponding thiocyanates by reduction or treatment with alkali, rapidly oxidize to the corresponding disulfides. They are converted into thioethers by reaction with alkyl halides in the presence of base. Both furan- and thiophene-thiols exist predominantly as such rather than in tautomeric thione forms. 

The Fcm derivative is prepared from amino acids on treatment with formylferro-cene and Pd-phthalocyanine by reductive alkylation (60-89% yield). It is cleaved with 2-thionaphthol/CF3COOH. Its primary advantage is its color, making it easily detected. ... 

Amino acids were protected by reductive alkylation with salicylaldehyde (NaBH4, KOH, aq. EtOH). The amine is released by treatment with CF3SO3H (TFA, EDT, PhSMe, 2 h, >75% yield). ... 

Prenyl amine (66) was long used in the treatment of angina pectoris, in which condition it was believed to act by inhibiting the uptake and storage of catecholamines in heart tissue. Droprenilamine (69), an analogue in which the phenyl ring is reduced, acts as a coronary vasodilator. One of several syntheses involves simple reductive alkylation of 1,1-diphenyl-propylamine (67) with cyclohexyl acetone (68)... 

Spirapril (37) is a clinically active antihypertensive agent closely related structurally and mechanistically to enalapril. Various syntheses are reported with the synthesis of the substituted proline portion being the key to the methods. This is prepared fkim l-carbobenzyloxy-4-oxopro-line methyl ester (33) by reaction with ethanedithiol and catalytic tosic acid. The product (34) is deprotected with 20% HBr to methyl l,4-dithia-7-azospiro[4.4 nonane-8-carboxylate (35), Condensation of this with N-carbobenzyloxy-L-alanyl-N-hydroxysuccinate leads to the dipeptide ester which is deblocked to 36 by hydrolysis with NaOH and then treatment with 20% HBr. The conclusion of the synthesis of spirapril (37) follows with the standard reductive alkylation [11]. 

Metalated epoxides can react with organometallics to give olefins after elimination of dimetal oxide, a process often referred to as reductive alkylation (Path B, Scheme 5.2). Crandall and Lin first described this reaction in their seminal paper in 1967 treatment of tert-butyloxirane 106 with 3 equiv. of tert-butyllithium, for example, gave trans-di-tert-butylethylene 110 in 64% yield (Scheme 5.23), Stating that this reaction should have some synthetic potential , [36] they proposed a reaction pathway in which tert-butyllithium reacted with a-lithiooxycarbene 108 to generate dianion 109 and thence olefin 110 upon elimination of dilithium oxide. The epoxide has, in effect, acted as a vinyl cation equivalent. 

O Brien et al. provided the first examples of olefin formation by reductive alkylation of aziridines [97]. Treatment of aziridine 267 with s-BuLi gave olefin 270 in 76% yield (Scheme 5.68). For the formation of olefin 270 they suggest a reaction pathway that proceeds in a manner analogous to that proposed for epoxides [36] namely, nucleophilic attack of s-BuLi on lithiated aziridine 268 to form dilithiated species 269, which eliminates Li2NTs (TsNH2 was observed as a product of this reaction) to yield olefin 270. 

Amides are very weak nucleophiles, far too weak to attack alkyl halides, so they must first be converted to their conjugate bases. By this method, unsubstituted amides can be converted to N-substituted, or N-substituted to N,N-disubstituted, amides. Esters of sulfuric or sulfonic acids can also be substrates. Tertiary substrates give elimination. O-Alkylation is at times a side reaction. Both amides and sulfonamides have been alkylated under phase-transfer conditions. Lactams can be alkylated using similar procedures. Ethyl pyroglutamate (5-carboethoxy 2-pyrrolidinone) and related lactams were converted to N-alkyl derivatives via treatment with NaH (short contact time) followed by addition of the halide. 2-Pyrrolidinone derivatives can be alkylated using a similar procedure. Lactams can be reductively alkylated using aldehydes under catalytic hydrogenation... 

Aldehydes and ketones have been converted to sulfides by treatment with thiols and pyridine-borane, RCOR -I- R"SH —+ RR CHSR", in a reductive alkylation reaction, analogous to 16-6. 

Dobutamine (76), on the other hand, is a dopamine derivative which does not act centrally, but is of interest because of its coronary vasodilator properties. Such drugs are potentially of value in treatment of angina pectoralis. Further, it is now undergoing extensive clinical trials as an inotropic agent for use in heart failure. Its synthesis is effected by Raney nickel catalyzed reduction of methyl p-methoxyvinylphenylketone (75) to its dihydro analog followed by reductive alkylation with p-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)ethylamine. The ether groups are cleaved with HBr to complete the synthesis of... 

We were interested in applications of the high level of stereocontrol associated with the asymmetric Birch reduction-alkylation to problems in acyclic and heterocyclic synthesis. The pivotal disconnection of the six-membered ring is accomplished by utilization of the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation (Scheme 7). Treatment of cyclohexanones 25a and 25b with MCPBA gave caprolactone amides 26a and 26b with complete regiocon-trol. Acid-catalyzed transacylation gave the butyrolactone carboxylic acid 27 from 26a and the bis-lactone 28 from 26b cyclohexanones 31a and 31b afforded the diastereomeric lactones 29 and 30. ... 

Another type of N-alkylation was achieved by the [IrCl(cod)]2-catalyzed reductive alkylation of secondary amine with aldehyde and silane (Equation 10.29) [53], For example, the treatment of dibutylamine 117 with butyraldehyde 118 and EtsSiH 119 (a 1 1 1 molar ratio amine, aldehyde and silane) or polymethyUiydrosiloxane (PMHS) in 1,4-dioxane at 75 °C under the influence of a catalytic amount of [lrCl(cod)]2, gave tributylamine 120. 

Mono- and bis-tellurenyl ferrocenes are achieved respectively by treatment of lithiated fer-rocenes with butyltellurenyl bromide (route a) or with dibutyl ditelluride (route b). Mono tellurenyl ferrocene is also obtained in a two-step procedure by treating lithiated ferrocene with Te to give the ditelluride followed by reductive alkylation (route c). - ... 

Treatment of aldehydes or ketones with ammonia, primary or secondary amines in reducing media is called reductive alkylation (of ammonia or amines) or reductive amination (of aldehydes or ketones). Reducing agents are most frequently hydrogen in the presence of catalysts such as platinum, nickel or Raney nickel [955], complex borohydrides [705, 954, 955], formaldehyde or formic acid [522]. 

Finally, a reaction that clearly shows the electrophihc carbenoid-type character of a-lithiated epoxides is the reductive alkylation discovered by CrandaU and Apparu. The transformation is illustrated by the treatment of f-butyl ethylene oxide with t-butyllithium to yield ii-di-f-butylethene (equation 55). The overall reaction results in a conversion of an oxirane into an aUcene under simultaneous substitution of an a-hydrogen atom by the alkyllithium reagent ... 

Isoniazide, the hydrazide of pyridine-4-carboxylic acid, is still, well over half a century after its discovery, one of the mainstays for the treatment of tuberculosis. Widespread use led to the serendipitous discovery of its antidepressant activity. This latter activity is retained when pyridine is replaced by isoxazole. The requisite ester (45-4) is obtained in a single step by condensation of the diketo ester (45-1), obtained by aldol condensation of acetone with diethyl oxalate, with hydroxylamine. One explanation of the outcome of the reaction assumes the hrst step to consist of conjugate addition-elimination of hydroxylamine to the enolized diketone to afford (45-2) an intermediate probably in equilibrium with the enol form (45-3). An ester-amide interchange of the product with hydrazine then affords the corresponding hydrazide (45-5) reductive alkylation with benzaldehyde completes the synthesis of isocarboxazid (45-6) [47]. 

The synthesis of a triptan with a chiral side chain begins by reduction of the carboxylic acid in chiral 4-nitrophenylalanine (15-1). The two-step procedure involves conversion of the acid to its ester by the acid chloride by successive reaction with thionyl chloride and then methanol. Treatment of the ester with sodium borohy-dride then afford the alanilol (15-2). Reaction of this last intermediate with phosgene closes the ring to afford the oxazolidone (15-3) the nitro group is then reduced to the aniline (15-4). The newly obtained amine is then converted to the hydrazine (15-5). Reaction of this product with the acetal from 3-chloropropionaldehyde followed by treatment of the hydrazone with acid affords the indole (15-6). The terminal halogen on the side chain is then replaced by an amine by successive displacement by means of sodium azide followed by catalytic reduction of the azide. The newly formed amine is then methylated by reductive alkylation with formaldehyde in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride to afford zolmitriptan (15-7) [15]. 

A rather more complex tertracyclic indole based compound lowers blood pressure by selective blockade of a 1-adrenergic receptors. Reaction of the anion from indole (72-1) with butyrolactone (72-2) leads to the scission of the carbon-oxygen bond in the reagent and the formation of the alkylated product (72-3). The acid is then cyclized onto the adjacent 2 position to give the ketone (72-4) by treatment with a Lewis acid such as polyphosphoric acid. Reaction with bromine then leads to the brominated ketone (72-5). This is subjected to reductive alkylation with ethylene... 

Reductive amination of benzaldehyde with (R)-81 provided the corresponding benzyl amine, which was reductively alkylated with formaldehyde to give 82 (Scheme H) " Compound 82 was debenzylated by hydrogenation in the presence of Pearlman s catalyst to afford frovatriptan ((/J)-6). Alternatively, monomethylation of amine (/ )-81 was affected by treatment with carbon disulfide and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in pyridine to provide isothiocyanate 83, which was reduced with sodium borohydride to give (l )-6. 

Ring opening is common in the alkali metal and liquid ammonia reduction of furans unless an anion stabilizing group is present, so most work has been done with derivatives of furancarboxylic acids. Treatment of furan-2-carboxylic acid with lithium and ammonia at -78 °C followed by rapid addition of ammonium chloride affords 2,5-dihydrofuran-2-carboxylic acid (80%). Reductive alkylation similarly gives 2-alkyl-2,5-dihydrofuran-2-carboxylic acids. This method has been used in a synthesis of rosefuran, the intermediate dihydrofuran (66) being converted into the product (67) by oxidative decarboxylation with... 

Benzhydrylamines are better suited than benzylamines as acid-labile linkers for amines. The MBHA linker ( methylbenzhydrylamine ), which is usually used to prepare peptide amides (see Section 3.3), can also be used as a linker for amines (Entry 1, Table 3.21). Hydrogen fluoride is, however, required as the cleavage reagent. Easier to cleave are alkoxy-substituted benzhydrylamines (Entries 2-5, Table 3.21), which can be prepared from the corresponding benzhydryl chlorides [263] or by reductive alkylation [410] or solvolysis [411] of the Rink amide linker. In the case of benzhydrylamines linked to polystyrene as benzyl ethers, treatment with TFA can lead to the release of the linker into solution (acidolysis of the benzylic C-O bond, see Figure 3.18). 

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