Amide, sodium borohydride

AletalHydrides. Metal hydrides can sometimes be used to prepare amines by reduction of various functional groups, but they are seldom the preferred method. Most metal hydrides do not reduce nitro compounds at all (64), although aUphatic nitro compounds can be reduced to amines with lithium aluminum hydride. When aromatic amines are reduced with this reagent, a2o compounds are produced. Nitriles, on the other hand, can be reduced to amines with lithium aluminum hydride or sodium borohydride under certain conditions. Other functional groups which can be reduced to amines using metal hydrides include amides, oximes, isocyanates, isothiocyanates, and a2ides (64). 

Industrial Synthetic Improvements. One significant modification of the Stembach process is the result of work by Sumitomo chemists in 1975, in which the optical resolution—reduction sequence is replaced with a more efficient asymmetric conversion of the meso-cyc. 02Lcid (13) to the optically pure i7-lactone (17) (Fig. 3) (25). The cycloacid is reacted with the optically active dihydroxyamine [2964-48-9] (23) to quantitatively yield the chiral imide [85317-83-5] (24). Diastereoselective reduction of the pro-R-carbonyl using sodium borohydride affords the optically pure hydroxyamide [85317-84-6] (25) after recrystaUization. Acid hydrolysis of the amide then yields the desired i7-lactone (17). A similar approach uses chiral alcohols to form diastereomic half-esters stereoselectivity. These are reduced and direedy converted to i7-lactone (26). In both approaches, the desired diastereomeric half-amide or half-ester is formed in excess, thus avoiding the cosdy resolution step required in the Stembach synthesis. 

Alkylation of enamines with epoxides or acetoxybromoalkanes provided intermediates for cyclic enol ethers (668) and branched chain sugars were obtained by enamine alkylation (669). Sodium enolates of vinylogous amides underwent carbon and nitrogen methylation (570), while vicinal endiamines formed bis-quaternary amonium salts (647). Reactions of enamines with a cyclopropenyl cation gave alkylated imonium products (57/), and 2-benzylidene-3-methylbenzothiazoline was shown to undergo enamine alkylation and acylation (572). A cyclic enamine was alkylated with methylbromoacetate and the product reduced with sodium borohydride to the key intermediate in a synthesis of the quebrachamine skeleton (57i). 

All that remains before the final destination is reached is the introduction of the C-l3 oxygen and attachment of the side chain. A simple oxidation of compound 4 with pyridinium chlorochro-mate (PCC) provides the desired A-ring enone in 75 % yield via a regioselective allylic oxidation. Sodium borohydride reduction of the latter compound then leads to the desired 13a-hydroxy compound 2 (83% yield). Sequential treatment of 2 with sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide and /(-lactam 3 according to the Ojima-Holton method36 provides taxol bis(triethylsilyl ether) (86 % yield, based on 89% conversion) from which taxol (1) can be liberated, in 80 % yield, by exposure to HF pyridine in THF at room temperature. Thus the total synthesis of (-)-taxol (1) was accomplished. 

Amides can also be deacylated by partial reduction. If the reduction proceeds only to the carbinolamine stage, hydrolysis can liberate the deprotected amine. Trichloroac-etamides are readily cleaved by sodium borohydride in alcohols by this mechanism.237 Benzamides, and probably other simple amides, can be removed by careful partial reduction with diisobutylaluminum hydride (see Section 5.3.1.1).238... 

A series of N-substituted narceine amides (Section III,D,1) was prepared from 101 under the action of primary amines (100). Acid-catalyzed dehydration transformed these amides to corresponding imides (ene lactams) of the ( )-narceine imide (117) type (100). Similar transformations were performed in the hydrastine series (101). JV-Methylhydrastine (98) when treated with dilute ammonium hydroxide gave hydroxy lactam 127, which was dehydrated to (Z)-fumaridine (113) (5). Sodium borohydride was able to reduce the stilbene double bond in 98 to produce saturated lactone 132 (5). 

An interesting example of asymmetric induction has been used for the synthesis of (—)-l from L-tryptophan. Pictet-Spengler cyclization of the corresponding amide (127) with 5-chloropentanal afforded (—)-128 as the sole product. Removal of the unwanted carboxamide function was achieved in good yield by sodium borohydride reduction of die corresponding a-amino nitrile (—)-129, resulting in (—)-l (98). 

Similarly to 8-lactone 260, y-lactone 263, prepared also from ( )-norcamphor (228), proved to be another useful intermediate for the synthesis of all four corynantheidol stereoisomers as well as of the corresponding 18,19-didehydro derivatives. Cleavage of the a-diketone monothioketal moiety in 263 and the formation of amide 265 by its reaction with tryptamine, followed by Bischler-Napieralski cyclization and sodium borohydride reduction, resulted in a mixture... 

Unlike with sodium borohydride (see Section 11.01.5.2), pyrrolizin-3-one 2 reacts with lithium aluminohydride mainly as an amide. No conjugate addition occurs, and only the reductive lactam cleavage takes place to give stereoselectively the (Z)-allylie alcohol 77. Similarly, benzo-annulated pyrrolizin-3-one 17 gives the corresponding benzylic alcohol 78. The same reactivity was observed with organometallics such as methyllithium which gives exclusively the tertiary (Z)-allylic alcohol 79 (Scheme 7). 

Sodium, with l-bromo-3-chloro-cyclobutane to give bicyclo [l.l.O]butane, 51, 55 Sodium amalgam, 50, 50, 51 Sodium amide, with 2,4-pentane-dione and diphenyliodonium chloride to give l-phenyl-2, 4-pentanedione, 51, 128 Sodium azide, 50, 107 with mixed carboxylic-carbonic anhydrides, 51, 49 Sodium borohydride, reduction of erythro-3-methanesulfony-loxy-2-butyl cyclobutanecar-boxylate, 51, 12 reduction of 2-(1-phenylcyclo-pentyl)-4,4,6-trimethyl-5,6-dihydro-1,3(4H)-oxazine to 2-(1-phenylcyclopentyl)-4,4, 6-trimethyltetrahydro-l,3-oxazine, 51, 25 Sodium cyanoborohydride, used... 

Phosphorus pentachloride (101) chlorinates amides, and the products (115) can be reductively dehalogenated with sodium borohydride, thus providing a two-step... 

High yields of amines have also been obtained by reduction of amides with an excess of magnesium aluminum hydride (yield 100%) [577], with lithium trimethoxyaluminohydride at 25° (yield 83%) [94] with sodium bis(2-methoxy-ethoxy)aluminum hydride at 80° (yield 84.5%) [544], with alane in tetra-hydrofuran at 0-25° (isolated yields 46-93%) [994, 1117], with sodium boro-hydride and triethoxyoxonium fluoroborates at room temperature (yields 81-94%) [1121], with sodium borohydride in the presence of acetic or trifluoroacetic acid on refluxing (yields 20-92.5%) [1118], with borane in tetrahydrofuran on refluxing (isolated yields 79-84%) [1119], with borane-dimethyl sulflde complex (5 mol) in tetrahydrofuran on refluxing (isolated yields 37-89%) [1064], and by electrolysis in dilute sulfuric acid at 5° using a lead cathode (yields 63-76%) [1120]. 

Two years later, the same group reported a formal synthesis of ellipticine (228) using 6-benzyl-6H-pyrido[4,3-f>]carbazole-5,ll-quinone (6-benzylellipticine quinone) (1241) as intermediate (716). The optimized conditions, reaction of 1.2 equivalents of 3-bromo-4-lithiopyridine (1238) with M-benzylindole-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride (852) at —96°C, led regioselectively to the 2-acylindole-3-carboxylic acid 1233 in 42% yield. Compound 1233 was converted to the corresponding amide 1239 by treatment with oxalyl chloride, followed by diethylamine. The ketone 1239 was reduced to the corresponding alcohol 1240 by reaction with sodium borohydride. Reaction of the alcohol 1240 with f-butyllithium led to the desired 6-benzylellipticine quinone (1241), along with a debrominated alcohol 1242, in 40% and 19% yield, respectively. 6-Benzylellipticine quinone (1241) was transformed to 6-benzylellipticine (1243) in 38% yield by treatment with methyllithium, then hydroiodic acid, followed... 

Alkylations by oxonium salts have added several new weapons to the synthetic chemist s armamentarium. For example, the O-alkylated products from amides [R1C(OR)=NR2R3]+ (R == CH3 or C2H5) may be hydrolyzed under mild conditions to amines and esters,14-34 reduced to the amines RjCH-jNRaRa by sodium borohydride,13 converted to amide acetals RiC(OR)2NR2R3 by alkoxides,4-16 and (for R3 = H) deproton-ated to the imino esters R1C(OR)=NR2.16-18 Amide acetals and imino esters are themselves in turn useful synthetic intermediates. Indeed, oxonium salts transform the rather intractable amide group into a highly reactive and versatile functionality, a fact elegantly exploited in recent work on the synthesis of corrins.34... 

The technique of methoxymercuration-demercuration was utilized to determine the position of double bonds in the side chains. Since this method is not successful with the free alkaloids (272), the secondary amino groups must be protected as the A -heptafluorobutyramide. These amides are treated with mercuric acetate and methanol followed by reduction with sodium borohydride to yield the methoxylated compounds (273). The mass spectra of these compounds show a fragment ion (274) at m/z 59 indicating terminal double bonds in every case (Scheme 22) 16,25,410,411). 

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