Sodium cyanamide, alkylation with

Cyanamide and substituted cyanamides react with alcohols to give pseudoureas. Cyanamide reacts with alcohols in the presence of anhydrous hydrogen chloride, whereas disubstituted cyanamides require slightly more than an equivalent of sodium alkoxide for reaction with the alcohol. (See Tables III and IV.) Catalytic amounts of sodium alkoxides are sufficient to induce the reaction of a cyanamide with primary, secondary, or tertiary alcohols [21] (Eq. 17). When both R groups are secondary alkyl groups, alkaline catalysts... 

The preparation of pure symmetrical secondary amines (e.g. dibutylamine, Expt 5.199) is conveniently achieved by the hydrolysis of dialkylcyanamides with dilute sulphuric acid. The appropriate dialkyl cyanamide is prepared by treating sodium cyanamide (itself obtained from calcium cyanamide and aqueous sodium hydroxide solution) with an alkyl halide. In this case the reagent [ —C=N]20 may be regarded as a masked NH group. 

Substitutions. The cyanamide anion is strongly nucleophilic and reacts with most alkylating or acylating reagents (4) addition to a variety of unsaturated systems occurs readily (4). In some cases, a cyanamide salt is used in others, base catalysis suffices. Ethyl iodide reacts with sodium hydrogen cyanamide [17292-62-5] to form a trisubstituted isomelamine. 

A convenient way of obtaining secondary amines without contamination by primary or tertiary amines involves treatment of alkyl halides with the sodium or calcium salt of cyanamide NH2—CN to give disubstituted cyanamides, which are then hydrolyzed and decarboxylated to secondary amines. Good yields are obtained when the reaction is carried out under phase-transfer conditions. The R group may be primary, secondary, allylic, or benzylic. 1, co-Dihalides give cyclic secondary amines. 

Another important click reaction is the cycloaddition of azides. The addition of sodium azide to nitriles to give l//-tetrazoles is shown to proceed readily in water with zinc salts as catalysts (Eq. 11.71).122 The scope of the reaction is quite broad a variety of aromatic nitriles, activated and nonactivated alkyl nitriles, substituted vinyl nitriles, thiocyanates, and cyanamides have all been shown to be viable substrates for this reaction. The reaction of an arylacetylene with an azide in hot water gave 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles in high yields,123 while a similar reaction between a terminal aliphatic alkyne and an azide (except 111 - nitroazidobenzcnc) afforded a mixture of regioisomers with... 

The addition of sodium azide to nitriles to give IH-tetrazoles is shown to proceed readily in water with zinc salts as catalysts. The scope of the reaction is quite broad a variety of aromatic nitriles, activated and unactivated alkyl nitriles, substituted vinyl nitriles, thiocyanates, and cyanamides have all been shown to be viable substrates for this reaction. 

The earliest method of this type was the old Marckwald synthesis (1] in which a suitable a-aminocarbonyl compound is cyclized with cyanate, thiocyanate or isothiocyanatc. More recent modifications have employed the acetals of the a-amino aldehyde or ketone or an a-amino acid ester. The two-carbon fragment can also be provided by cyanamide, a thioxamate, a carbodiimidc or an imidic ester. When cyanates, thiocyanates or isothiocyanates are used, the imidazolin-2-ones or -2-thiones (1) are formed initially, but they can be converted into 2-unsubstituted imidazoles quite readily by oxidative or dehydrogenative means (Scheme 4.1.1). The chief limitations of the method arc the difficulty of making some a-aminocarbonyls and the very limited range of 2 substituents which are possible in the eventual imidazole products. The method is nonetheless valuable and widely used, and typically condenses the hydrochloride of an a-amino aldehyde or ketone (or the acetals or ketals), or an a-amino-)6-ketoester with the salt of a cyanic or thiocyanic acid. Usually the aminocarbonyl hydrochloride is warmed in aqueous solution with one equivalent of sodium or potassium cyanate or thiocyanate. An alkyl or aryl isocyanate or isothiocyanate will give an A-substituted imidazole product (2), as will a substituted aminocarbonyl compound (Scheme 4.1.1) [2-4]. 

The reaction of alkyl. /V-cyanoimidates 16 with cyanamide and sodium methoxide in methanol gives 4-methoxy-l,3,5-triazin-2-amines 17 in 33 to 54% yield.403... 

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