Tertiary amides directed lithiation

The labile tertiary amide groups described in Section I.B.l.a are also applicable to lateral lithiations the piperazine-based amide 511 has been used to direct lateral lithiation before being methylated and cleaved to the acid 512 (Scheme 198). ... 

Tertiary amides can direct vinylic lithiations in the manner of ortholithiations as shown by the example of 605 and 606. Even methyl groups can be lithiated given an appropriate director and base 607 forms the cyclopropane 609 on treatment with 608 in refluxing heptane (Scheme 238). ... 

Snieckus and coworkers used the combination of a tertiary amide with a methylenedioxy groiq) to direct lithiation to the ortho position, and then converted the lithiated inteimediate to the 2-hydroxybenz-amide (25), which was used as a starting material for the synthesis of acridones (Scheme 10). 

Secondary amides may direct ortho lithiation, but they must first be deprotonated. This makes them somewhat weaker ortho directors than tertiary amides, but they may still serve the purpose quite well. For example, the lithiation and addition of benzamide (12) to aldehyde (13) was us in a synthesis of 11-deoxycaiminomycinone (Scheme 8). More recently, it has been shown that the amide monoanion may be obtained by addition of a phenylsodium to an isocyanate. ... 

The directed metalation of aromatic systems that was discussed in Section 2.1.3.3 has one ramification that was not mentioned there the directed lithiation of an o-methyl group. Although the resultant species is formally a resonance-stabilized anion, and therefore covered in Volume 2 of this series, we mention it here for consistency with the other topics covered. In particular, the examples that have appeared in recent years involve substrates having a methyl ortho to a tertiary amide. Intentional use of such a directed lithiation has been used in the synthesis of the isocoumarin natural products hydrangenol and pyllodul-cin.137,138 Interestingly, the directed metalation of 5-methyl-oxazoles and -thiazoles occurs in preference to deprotonation at a 2-methyl group (azaenolate) (Scheme 33). ... 

The pATa data listed in Table 1 note that tertiary amides are mote acidic than several other functional groups, suggesting thermodynamic acidity as an important component of the mechanistic rationale for their lithiation. Indeed tertiary amides are the strongest ortho directing group, taking preference over all other functional groups tested in both intra- and inter-molecular competition experiments. - N.. A -Tetramethylphosphonic diamides also promote efficient ortho metalation. The use of tertiary amides as ortho directors was reviewed in 1982, so this discussion will focus only on developments since then. 

Furans and thiophenes normally undergo a-lithiation, but when substituted at the 2-position by an activating group, a competition arises between metalation at the 3-position (ortho lithiation) and the S-posi-tion (a-lithiation). 2-Oxazolinylthiophenes may be lithiated selectively at either the 3- or 5-position by adjusting the reaction conditions tertiary amides give little or no ortho selectivity, but secondary amides direct ortho lithiation reasonably well, as seen in Scheme 23. Both thiophenes and furans that are substituted with an oxazoline or tertiary amide at the 2-position may be dilithiated at the 3- and S-po-sitions. 76 Although secondary amides are less successful at directing ortho lithiation of furans than thiophenes, A, Af,M,lV -tetramethyldiamido phosphates work quite well. Subsequent hydrolysis affords access to butenolides. A typical example is shown in Scheme 24. 

Beak, P., Snieckus, V. Directed lithiation of aromatic tertiary amides an evolving synthetic methodology for polysubstituted aromatics. Acc. Chem. Res. 1982,15, 306-312. 

Heteroatom-facilitated lithiations , Gschwend, H. W. and Rodriguez, H. R., Org. React., 1979, 26, 1 Directed metallation of 7r-deficient azaaromatics strategies of functionalisation of pyridines, quinolines, and diazines , Queguiner, G., Marsais, F., Snieckus, V., and Epsztajn, J., Adv. Heterocycl. Chem., 1991, 52, 187 Metallation and metal-assisted bond formation in 7r-electron deficient heterocycles , Undheim, K. and Benneche, T., Heterocycles, 1990, 30, 1155 Directed ortho metallation. Tertiary amide and O-carbamate directors in synthetic strategies for polysubstituted aromatics , Snieckus, V., Chem. Rev., 1990, 90, 879. 

P. Beak and V. Snieckus, Directed Lithiation of Aromatic Tertiary Amides An Evolving Synthetic Methodology for Polysubstituted Aromatics , Acc. Chem. Res., 1982, 15, 306. 

---