ARTICLE IN PRESS
JID: CCLET
[m5G;May 17, 2021;1:33]
N. Li, S. Xu, X. Wang et al.
Chinese Chemical Letters xxx (xxxx) xxx
Table 1
Optimization of reaction conditions.a
Catalyst
(mol%)
Temp.
Entry
Solvent
(°C)
Time
Yield (%)b
1
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(3)
Ag2CO3(2)
Ag2O(3)
Toluene
80
12 h
72
67
70
50
52
84
93
98
97
83
65
43
57
53
58
62
2
H2O
80
12 h
3
CHCl3
80
12 h
4
THF
80
12 h
5
CH3CN
80
12 h
6
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
Solvent-free
80
2 h
7
100
110
120
110
110
110
110
110
110
30 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
10 min
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
AgBF4(3)
AgNO3(3)
Ag2SO4(3)
AgOTf(3)
AgI(3)
110
a
All reactions were performed with benzaldehyde (1a, 1.0 mmol), piperidine
(2a, 1.2 mmol), phenylacetylene (3a, 1.5 mmol) in above conditions.
b
Isolated yields.
ꢀ
5-bromothiophene-2-carbaldehyde, [1,1 -biphenyl]−4-carbaldehyde
and N-(4-formylphenyl)acetamide were subjected to this process,
the desired products 4i, 4j and 4k were obtained in 87%, 90% and
88% yield, respectively, showing good tolerance. Moreover, the cy-
clohexanecarbaldehyde was also effective to generate the target
product with 91% yield (4l).
Scheme 1. Synthesis of propargylamines and chalcones.
This study was commenced by optimizing the reaction condi-
tions using benzaldehyde 1a, piperidine 2a and phenylacetylene
3a as model substrates (Table 1). A mixture of 1a (1 mmol), 2a
(1.2 mmol), 3a (1.5 mmol) and Ag2CO3 (0.03 mmol) in toluene
(3.0 mL) was stirred at 80 °C for 12 h. The reaction took place
and gave 72% isolated a yield of 4a (entry 1). When we employed
H2O, CHCl3, THF and CH3CN as the solvents, lower yields were ob-
served (entries 2–5). Interestingly, the solvent-free reaction pro-
ceeded rapidly in good yields (entry 6). As the temperature con-
tinued to increase at 100 °C, the yield of 4a increased to 93%. The
highest yield was achieved during the temperature at 110 °C and
the reaction time was only 10 min (entries 7–9). When the loading
amount of Ag2CO3 was reduced, yield of 4a decreased to 83% (en-
try 10). We also examined other silver salts such as Ag2O, AgBF4,
AgNO3, Ag2SO4, AgOTf and AgI, but moderate yields were ob-
served (entries 11–16). Therefore, the optimal reaction conditions
were as follows: aldehydes (1.0 mmol), amines (1.2 mmol), alkynes
(1.5 mmol), and Ag2CO3 (0.03 mmol) at 110 °C under solvent-free
condition.
Next, a variety of terminal alkynes and secondary amines were
screened under optimal condition. As for electron-deficient and
electron-rich phenylacetylenes with different substituents (F, Cl,
OMe, Me, Et and n-C5H11 ), regardless of the location at the ortho-,
meta-, or para-position, the products were obtained in good to ex-
cellent yields (4m-4t). 3,3-Diethoxyprop-1–yne with acetal group
could also be tolerated to afford the desired product 4u in 85%
yield. However, It is important to point out that trimethyl(prop–2-
yn-1-yloxy)silane did not produce the corresponding product, in-
stead desilylation of the TMS group (4v). Furthermore, the reaction
using heterocyclic secondary amines such as pyrrolidine, azepane,
morpholine, and thiomorpholine proceeded smoothly resulting in
the desired products in high yields (4w-4z).
Guided by removing the silyl group of the product 4t, we in-
vestigated another A3-coupling reaction of benzaldehyde, piperi-
dine and trimethyl(phenylethynyl)silane utilizing Ag2CO3-catalyzed
activation of the C–Si bond (optimal conditions in Table S1, Sup-
porting information). Gratifyingly, above Ag2CO3 catalytic system
can promote the reaction to proceed smoothly producing the cor-
responding propargylamines. As illustrated in Scheme 3, both aro-
matic aldehydes with electron-withdrawing (F, NO2) and electron-
donating (OMe) groups can react smoothly with piperidine and
trimethyl(phenylethynyl)silane to obtain propargylamines (4a’–4c’).
Meanwhile, alkynylsilanes possessing chlorine and alkyl groups
at para- position underwent the reaction smoothly delivering the
target products in excellent yields (4d’–4f’). Alkyl pivalaldehyde
and hex–1-yn-1-yltrimethylsilane can be transformed to the cor-
responding products with 80% and 87% yield (4g’, 4h’). In addi-
tion, noncyclic secondary amines were also effective to generate
the target products in good yields (4i’, 4j’). Thus, the above results
prove that Ag2CO3 can be used as an effective catalyst to synthe-
With the optimal reaction conditions in hand, the substrate
scope of the A3 coupling reaction was investigated with respect
to aldehydes, amines and terminal alkynes (Scheme 2). First,
several aldehydes bearing electron-rich (Me, OMe and OH) and
electron-deficient (F, Cl) substituents on the aromatic ring were
successfully converted into the corresponding propargylamines in
up to 99% yield (4b-4h). Among them, slight decreases in reac-
tivity were observed for 4c and 4h, probably because the rel-
atively strong electron-donating effect and steric hindrance im-
peded the nucleophilic addition of phenylacetylene to an imine.
The reactivity of the ortho position is lower than that of para
and meta for chlorine-substituted benzaldehyde (4e-4g). When
2