Von Braun reaction

Treatment of quinoline with cyanogen bromide, the von Braun reaction (17), in methanol with sodium bicarbonate produces a high yield of l-cyano-2-methoxy-l,2-dihydroquinoline [880-95-5] (5) (18). Compound (5) is quantitatively converted to 3-bromoquinoline [5332-24-1], through the intermediate (6) [66438-70-8]. These conversions are accompHshed by sequential treatment with bromine in methanol, sodium carbonate, or concentrated hydrochloric acid in methanol. Similar conditions provide high yields of 3-bromomethylquinoHnes. 

Benzyl groups, as well as other alkyl groups, can be converted to various carbamates as a variation of the von Braun reaction.The carbamates can then be cleaved by conditions that are outlined in the section on carbamates. 

A common method for the preparation of alkyl cyanide 2 is the treatment of corresponding alkyl halides 1 with cyanide. The corresponding reaction with aromatic substrates is called the Rosenmund-von-Braun reaction. 

Thus, reduction of the Mannich reaction product (65) from acetophenone leads to alcohol 66. Replacement of the hydroxyl group by chlorine (67) followed by displacement of halogen with the anion from o-cresol affords the ether 68. Removal of one of the methyl groups on nitrogen by means of the von Braun reaction or its modem equivalent (reaction with alkyl chloroformate followed by saponification) leads to racemic 69 which is then resolved with L-(+)-mandelic acid to give the levorotary antidepressant tomoxetine (69) [16]. 

A second reaction which is very often used for the preparation of phthalonitriles, although the yields are usually not reproducible, is the Rosenmund-von Braun reaction (see Houben-Weyl, Vol. E5, p 1460).106 107 Herein, a benzene derivative with a 1,2-dibromidc or 1,2-dich-loride unit is treated with copper(I) cyanide in dimethylformamidc or pyridine. During this reaction the formation of the respective copper phthalocyanine often occurs. This can be used as an easy procedure for the exclusive synthesis of copper phthalocyanines (see Section 2.1.1.7.),1 os-109 but can also lead to problems if the phthalonitrile is required as the product. For example, if l,2-dibromo-4-trifluoromethyl-benzene is subjected to a Rosenmund-von Braun reaction no 4-trifluoromethylphthalonitrile but only copper tetra(tri-fluoromethyljphthalocyanine is isolated.110... 

Both 4,5- and 3,6-disubstituted phthalonitriles are commonly used to prepare phthalocyanines with liquid crystalline properties. An example of the Rosenmund-von Braun reaction is shown below.107... 

Due to its commercial importance, the synthesis of copper phthalocyanine (PcCu) is the best investigated of all the phthalocyanines. Copper phthalocyanine is prepared from phthalonitrile and copper(I) chloride without solvent137 and also in a melt of urea.229,277 Additionally, the insertion of copper into metal-free phthalocyanine in butan-l-ol and pentan-l-ol is possible. The copper salts used in this case are copper(I) chloride112 and copper(II) acetate.290 Starting from copper(II) acetate, copper phthalocyanine can also be prepared in ethylene glycol.127 As mentioned above, copper phthalocyanine often occurs as a byproduct of the Rosenmund-von Braun reaction. To increase the yield of the phthalocyanine the solvent dimethylformamide can be substituted by quinoline. Due to the higher boiling point of quinoline, the copper phthalocyanine is the main product of the reaction of copper(I) cyanide and 1,2-dibromoben-zene.130... 

Bromocyclopropane has been prepared by the Hunsdiecker reaction by adding silver cyclopropanecarboxylate to bromine in dichlorodifluoromethane at —29° (53% yield) or in tetrachloro-ethane at —20° to —25° (15-20% yield).3 Decomposition of the peroxide of cyclopropanecarboxylic acid in the presence of carbon tetrabromide gave bromocyclopropane in 43% yield.4 An attempt to prepare the bromide via the von Braun reaction was unsuccessful.3... 

A microwave-assisted variant of the Rosenmund von Braun reaction has also been developed (Scheme 73) [83]. DMF at 200 °C proved not very useful for the cyanodehalogenation of methyl (3R)-6-bromo-5-oxo-2,3-dihydro-5ff-[l,3]thiazolo[3,2-a]pyridine-3-carboxylates since only low yields of the corresponding nitrile were obtained, and there were substantial amoimts of unconverted starting material. Extending the reaction time from 10 to 20 min gave more desired reaction product but also significant amoimts of... 

These modified Rosenmund von Braun reaction conditions were also used by Gopalsamy et al. for the rapid cyanation of the 1,3,4,9-tetrahydropyrano-[3,4-fc]indole skeleton while searching for potent and selective Hepatitis C virus polymerase inhibitors (Scheme 74) [84]. 

There has been a plethora of recent hterature regarding the synthetic manipulations of the 2(lH)-pyrazinone skeleton. Even though the addition-elimination reactions at the C-3 position to decorate the pyrazinone scaffold are well documented [24], the versatihty of such approaches can be found somewhat limited. Selective attack of nucleophiles on the chloroimine group of the pyrazinone system can generate 3-alkoxy- and 3-amino-pyrazinones (Scheme 9) [27,28]. The 3-CN group was introduced via a Rosemund-von Braun reaction with copper(I)cyanide under harsh conditions (heating in NMP at 150 °C) [27] (Scheme 9). 

Conversion of Tertiary Amines to Cyanamides The von Braun Reaction... 

N-Alkyl-substituted amides can be converted to nitriles and alkyl chlorides by treatment with PCI5. This is called the von Braun reaction (not to be confused with the other von Braun reaction, 10-76). 

The von Braun reaction (Scheme 6) is another basic reaction for C—N bond cleavage 32). Tetrahydroberberine (26) was heated under reflux with cyanogen bromide in benzene to afford the bromocyanide (28) and the unsaturated cyanide (29) through C-6—N and C-14—N bond cleavage, respectively. The C-8—N bond cleavage product was not obtained because of the steric hindrance of the methoxyl group at C-9 in SN2-type reactions 33). The... 

Scheme 6. The von Braun reaction. Reagents a, BrCN, benzene b, BrCN, EtOH or aq THF (MgO).

The small group of 3-arylisoquinoline alkaloids are biogenetically related to benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids (113). Corydamine (266) was synthesized from (+ )-tetrahydrocoptisine (82) through C-6—N bond cleavage using the von Braun reaction followed by aminolysis and dehydrogenation (Scheme 46) (142). 

Labeled muramine (395) was synthesized for biosynthetic studies from tetrahydropalmatine (27) in 35% overall yield via the von Braun reaction product 30c (Section II,A,2) and the alcohol 403 (Scheme 76) (42). Labeled 13-oxygenated muramines 405a and 405b were obtained by oxidation of dihydropalmatine metho salt (404) with osmium tetroxide (42). 

Three syntheses of 6,7-secoberbines have been carried out. Two of them involved degradation of the protoberberine alkaloids (63,65), and the third was a total synthesis (69). Takao and Iwasa (63) applied the von Braun reaction to tetrahydrocoptisine (39) to obtain the 6,7-seco bromide 63, which on treatment with dimethylamine, followed by hydrolysis, gave tetrahydro-corydamine (64). This tetrahydrobase 64, which was also produced from 56 by zinc in hydrochloric acid (63), was dehydrogenated to corydamine (56) (Scheme 15). 

For more than a century, stoichiometric methods were presumed in the preparation of benzonitriles in laboratory and industry. These particularly include the Rosenmund-von Braun reaction of aryl halides, the diazotization of anilines and subsequent Sandmeyer reaction, and the ammoxidation. Because of (over)stoichiometric amounts of metal waste, lack of functional group tolerance, and harsh reaction conditions, these methods do not meet the criteria of modern sustainable synthesis. 

Following the reports of sulfur appended porphyrazines, Fitzgerald et al. (28) reported a facile synthesis of alkyl appended porphyrazines in 1991, preparing the dialkyl dinitrile precursors from alkynes via a Rosenmund von Braun reaction. Later, these types of dinitriles were used in mixed cyclizations to prepare porphyrazines with three dipropyl substituents (6,29). An intriguing extension was the... 

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