Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200800194
Synthetic Methods
Germanium(II)-Mediated Reductive Mannich-Type Reaction of
a-Bromoketones to N-Alkylimines**
Shin-ya Tanaka, Nobuo Tagashira, Kouji Chiba, Makoto Yasuda, and Akio Baba*
The b-aminoketone is an important structural intermediate in
the synthesis of many biologically active compounds.[1,2]
Mannich-type reactions provide one of the most efficient
approaches to the synthesis of the b-aminoketone skeleton
and considerable efforts have been devoted to the improve-
ment of this methodology.[3,4] In particular, Lewis acid
catalyzed addition of silicon enolates to imines has been
Scheme 1. Mannich-type reactions of the lithium enolate (energy
values are calculated values).
extensively studied and the method is well-established.[5] In
addition, direct organocatalyst-promoted Mannich-type reac-
tions have recently received increasing attention.[6] Generally,
imines bearing aryl groups or electron-withdrawing groups,
such as sulfonyl, carbonyl (Boc, Cbz, etc.), or phosphine oxide
groups, on the nitrogen atom have been employed. However,
no general method that uses an N-alkylimine in a Mannich-
type reaction with a ketone-derived enolate has been
reported because of the poor electrophilicity of N-alkyli-
mines.[7] In addition, Mannich-type reactions between metal
enolates and N-alkylimines would be less thermodynamically
favorable because of the increased basicity of the product
(metal amide). In fact, theoretical calculations for the
Mannich-type reaction involving ketone-derived lithium
enolate 2a show that the addition to N-benzylidenemethyl-
amine (1b, DE = 14kcalmol À1) is less favorable than addition
These results strongly suggest that addition of the ketone-
derived enolate to N-alkylimines remains a challenge to
researchers in the field. Herein, we report the first general
and practical reaction system for Mannich-type reactions that
employ germanium-enolate species.
First, we tested several low-valent metals in the reductive
Mannich-type reaction between a-bromoketone 4a and
N-benzylidenemethylamine (1b; Table 1). Zn and SnCl2
were ineffective (Table 1, entries 1 and 2), and SmI2, which
is known to be an effective reductant,[10] resulted in poor
yields (Table 1, entries 3 and 4). In contrast, GeCl2/dioxane
markedly raised the yield of b-aminoketone 5ba to 32%
(Table 1, entry 5).[11] To increase the yield, we screened
various Lewis acids for their catalytic activity in the germa-
nium-mediated system. Addition of TiCl4 lowered the yield to
6% (Table 1, entry 6), and BF3·OEt2, Zn(OTf)2, and
of 2a to N-benzylideneaniline (1a, DE = 0 kcalmolÀ1
;
Scheme 1).[8] Similar results were calculated for Mannich-
type reactions by using ester-derived lithium enolate 2b. Use
of the ester-derived enolate in the Mannich-type reaction,
however, is more favorable than use of the corresponding
ketone-derived enolate because of the higher reactivity of the
ester-derived enolate.[9] Formation of N-methyl adduct 3d is
unfavorable (DE = 7 kcalmolÀ1) compared with the exother-
mic formation of N-phenyl adduct 3c (DE = À7 kcalmolÀ1).
Table 1: Optimizingthe reaction with N-methylimine 1b.[a]
Entry Reductant
1[c] Zn
X (equiv) Conditions
Catalyst Yield[b]
[%]
[*] S.-y. Tanaka, N. Tagashira, K. Chiba, Dr. M. Yasuda, Prof. Dr. A. Baba
Department of Applied Chemistry
1.5
1.5
3.0
3.0
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
688C, 2 h
RT, 2 h
none
none
none
<1
<1
14
<1
32
6
Center for Atomic and Molecular Technologies (CAMT)
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
2-1, Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)
Fax: (+81)6-6879-7387
2
SnCl2
3[c] SmI2
À788C, 2 h
4[c] SmI2
À788C to RT, 2 h none
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
GeCl2/dioxane
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
RT, 2 h
none
TiCl4
E-mail: baba@chem.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
GeCl2/dioxane
BF3·OEt2
Zn(OTf)2
33
34
K. Chiba
Science and Technology System Division
Ryoka Systems Inc., 1-28-38 Shinkawa
Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0033 (Japan)
Me3SiOTf 34
Bi(OTf)3
In(OTf)3
Y(OTf)3
Sc(OTf)3
Yb(OTf)3
45
52
71
84
93
[**] This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research
from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology of the Japanese Government. S.T. expresses his special
thanks for Research Fellowships of the Japan Society for JSPS
Research Fellowships for YoungScientists.
[a] Reaction conditions: 1a (0.6 mmol), reductant (X equiv), 4a
(0.9 mmol), catalyst (0.06 mmol), and CH2Cl2 (2 mL). [b] Yield deter-
mined from 1HNMR spectrum. [c] Run in THF.
Supportinginformation for this article is available on the WWW
6620
ꢀ 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 6620 –6623