4748
J. I. Gavrilyuk et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 49 (2008) 4746–4749
Table 4
Hg in the crude solid sample after aqueous work-up, while the
Synthesis of proline derived 1,3,4-oxadiazoles 5 and 6a
Hg level of the same sample after flash chromatography was not
detectable by ICP AES. The use of Mukaiyama’s reagent is of course
advantageous due to its lower toxicity; however, the products
obtained using this method must also be purified by column
chromatography to remove the organic by-products. The use of
the polymer-supported CMPI equivalent 8 avoids the toxicity/envi-
ronmental problems associated with the use of mercury salts,
while requiring only a simple filtration upon completion of the
reaction. Thus, in the case of the compound 4Ce prepared using so-
lid supported reagent 8, NMR analysis of the crude sample showed
excellent purity, and column chromatographic purification was not
required. Another operational simplification permitted by the use
of the polymer-supported reagent 8 is that all of the reagents can
be added at the same time (i.e., without the pre-treatment of the
hydrazide with the arylisothiocyanate). Thus, stirring of 1a,
2-bromophenyl isothiocyanate (1 equiv), 7 (5 equiv) and triethyl-
amine (5 equiv) for 16 h gave 4Ce in 94% yield, compared to a
95% yield (Table 5) obtained for the two-stage addition. Finally, a
R
H
N
H
N
(a)—(c)
O
NH
N
Boc
N
H
2
N
N
O
1d
6
(a), (c)
(d)
R
H
N
O
N
Boc
N
N
5
Entry
R
Products
Yield of 6b,c (%)
Yield of 5b,d (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
H
5/6a
5/6b
5/6c
5/6d
5/6e
5/6f
5/6g
5/6h
78
75
75
77
84
86
73
82
87
88
84
84
96
95
86
98
2-Me
3-Me
4-Me
2-Br
3-Br
4-NO2
3,4,5-(MeO)3
possible concern for a-amino acid derived compounds is whether
a
Reagents: (a) ArNCS (1.0 equiv), CH2Cl2, rt, 20 min, (b) 20% TFA/CH2Cl2, rt, 1.5 h,
(c) HgCl2 (1.1 equiv), Et3N (1.1 equiv), MeCN, rt, 12 h, (d) 50% TFA/CH2Cl2, rt, 30 min.
stereochemical integrity is retained in the products. Chiral HPLC
determination (Chiralcel OD column) of independently synthesized
(R)-4Ce and (S)-4Ce verified that epimerization was not observed
(60.01%) under the reaction conditions.
In conclusion, a convenient method for the synthesis of 2-aryl-
amino 5-substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles from Boc-protected amino
acid derived hydrazides has been developed. Further studies on
the synthesis and applications of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles as peptidomi-
metic building blocks will be reported in due course.
b
Isolated yields obtained after column chromatographic purification based on
the starting Boc-protected hydrazide 1d.
c
Isolated yields of 6 produced using (a)–(c).
d
Isolated yields of 6 prepared by deprotection of 5 were quantitative.
to give 6a–h. The initial Boc-protected products 5 were isolated in
good yields. Again, column chromatographic purification following
the cyclization step was required, since the crude products 5 had
85–93% purity.16 Deprotection of 5a–h occurred in quantitative
yields to give 6a–h as the TFA salts in excellent purities (P98%,
as confirmed by 1H NMR analysis) without the need for chromato-
graphic purification. Overall, although both approaches required a
single chromatographic purification, purification of 5 was more
straightforward than for 6, and the overall yields of 6 were higher
via 5. In addition, the Boc-protected compounds 5 were suitable for
long-term storage.
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Ghotas Evindar for preliminary experiments, Dr.
Alex Young for MS analyses, and Dan Mathers for ICP AES analyses.
The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada
(NSERC) and the Ontario Research and Development Fund (ORDCF)
supported this work. J.I.G. is grateful to the University of Toronto
for fellowship support.
We were also interested in developing conditions using alterna-
tive dehydrothiolating agents for the reaction, to avoid the use of
HgCl2. As a first step, the formation of 1,3,4-oxadiazole 4Ce from
1a was compared using three different dehydrothiolating agents:
HgCl2, Mukaiyama’s reagent (2-chloro-N-methylpyridinium iodide,
References and notes
1. (a) Amir, M.; Shikha, K. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2004, 39, 535–545; (b) Adelstein, G.
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Stevenson, G.; Beer, M.; Stanton, J.; Watling, K. J. Med. Chem. 1991, 34, 140–151.
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17377–17384 and references cited therein.
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7
17), and its polymer-supported equivalent 817,18 (Table 5). Each
experiment was conducted at ambient temperature for 16 h,
affording 4Ce in excellent yields (92–95%) with excellent purities
(98–99%). For compound 4Ce, synthesized using either HgCl2 or
Mukaiyama’s reagent, purification by column chromatography
was required. For compound 4Ce synthesized by the HgCl2 proto-
col, NMR analysis of the crude sample showed excellent purity.
However, ICP AES analysis revealed the presence of ꢀ200 ppm of
5. For a review, see: Warrener, R. N. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2000, 3363–3398.
6. For example, see: (a) Ishikawa, H.; Elliott, G. I.; Velcicky, J.; Choi, Y.; Boger, D. L.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 10596–10612; (b) Elliott, G. I.; Fuchs, J. R.; Blagg, B.
S. J.; Ishikawa, H.; Tao, H.; Yuan, Z.-Q.; Boger, D. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128,
10589–10595; (c) Wilkie, G. D.; Elliott, G. I.; Blagg, B. S. J.; Wolkenberg, S. E.;
Soenen, D. R.; Miller, M. M.; Pollack, S.; Boger, D. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124,
11292–11294; (d) Wolkenberg, S. E.; Boger, D. L. J. Org. Chem. 2002, 67, 7361–
7364.
7. (a) Gavrilyuk, J. I.; Evindar, G.; Batey, R. A. J. Comb. Chem. 2006, 8, 237–246; (b)
Gavrilyuk, J. I.; Evindar, G.; Batey, R. A. J. Comb. Chem. 2007, 9, 644–651.
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(a) Behr, L. C. In The Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds; Weissberger, A., Ed.;
Wiley: New York, 1962; Vol. 17, pp 263–282; (b) Nesynov, E. P.; Grekov, A. P.
Russ. Chem. Rev. (Engl. Transl.) 1964, 33, 508–514; (c) Hetzheim, A.; Möckel, K.
Adv. Heterocycl. Chem. 1966, 7, 183–224; (d) Hill, J. In Comprehensive
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Table 5
Comparative study of dehydrothiolating agents used for the formation of 4Ce
(a) 2-BrC H NCS (1.0 eq),
6
4
Ph
Ph
Br
CH Cl , rt, 20 min
2
2
H
N
H
N
O
Boc
BocHN
N
H
NH
2
(b) Dehydrothiolation
Agent, Et N, rt, 16 h
3
N
N
O
1a
4Ce
Entry
Reaction conditions
Yield (%)
1
2
3
HgCl2 (1.1 equiv), Et3N (3.0 equiv), MeCN, 16 h
CMPI 7 (5.0 equiv), Et3N (5.0 equiv), MeCN, 16 h
Polymer-supported CMPI 8 (5.0 equiv), Et3N (5.0 equiv),
MeCN:CH2Cl2 (1:1), 16 h
92a
94a
95
a
Isolated yield after column chromatography.