6596
V. S. Velezheva et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 51 (2010) 6594–6597
R2
bly, the presence of an N-aryl substituent, compared to an N-
methyl, facilitates cleavage of the relatively weak N–O bond in
the ISOX salt to form N-aryl stabilized zwitterions, such as 10
(Scheme 4). A similar N-substitutent effect on N–O bond cleavage
rates in isoxazolines was observed in the Brandi reaction.15 Hetero-
lytic N–O bond cleavage under mild conditions giving arylnitreni-
um ions with electron-withdrawing groups has been previously
reported.16
Scheme 4 outlines a probable reaction route for the formation of
decarboxylated (E)-N,N-diaryl-substituted enaminoester 7b from
nitrone 2b in polar methanol. It is likely that intermediate ISOX 9
undergoes a secondary reaction generating the open zwitterion
10. The loss of CO2 from 10 assists the aryl shift from the carbon
to the adjacent nitrogen to furnish 7b in a thermodynamically dri-
ven manner. The proton loss from ISOX 9 would lead to the forma-
OH
N
CO2Me
R2
MeO2C
R1
N+
Δ
1) 3a, PhH,
2) H+
O
30-62%
R1
2a,i-k
8a,i-k
2a, 8a (R1 = R2 = H), 2i, 8b (R1 = H, R2 = Me),
2j, 8c (R1 = Cl, R2 = H), 2k, 8d (R1 = F, R2 = H)
Scheme 3. The preparation of 2,5-dihydropyrroles from C,N-diarylnitrones 8a,i–k.
signals in the prepared compounds were in agreement with the as-
signed structures. Finally, dihydropyrrole 8a was oxidized into the
corresponding pyrrole and the structure of the latter was con-
firmed employing X-ray analysis.13
tion of
a non-decarboxylated product of type 4. A similar
isoxazolone rearrangement, under thermal conditions, was ob-
served by Wentrup et al.17 to involve cleavage of the N–O bond fol-
lowed by loss of CO2 and 1,2-migration of the phenyl group in the
putative vinylnitrene.
In conclusion, highly functionalised tertiary 3-aminoindoles/
anilines have been synthesized simply and stereoselectively from
readily available nitrones and sodium malonates in high yields.18,19
This stereoselective transformation is highly useful for further
elaboration of stereodefined 3-aminoindole derivatives and a di-
rect synthesis of functionalized d-carbolines. Although the yields
of the fully-substituted dihydropyrroles obtained are moder-
ate,20,21 it should be noted that the products can be used as novel
scaffolds in the search for pharmacologically interesting pyrroles.
These results revealed that the outcome of the reactions is
dependent mainly upon the nature of the C-nitrone substituent,
and to a certain extent, upon the nature of the solvent used. A
new carbon–nitrogen bond is formed during the preparation of
the corresponding tertiary amine derivatives as (E)-acrylates and
(Z)-methylidene malonates from C-aryl and C-(3-indolyl) nitrones.
The reactions occur in a stereoselective fashion but with different
chemoselectivity. Thus, migration is favored for C-aryl/3-indolyl
groups bearing electron-donating substituents, and this can be
used to enable migration to a nitrogen cationic center as it occurs,
for example, for the Stieglitz rearrangement of tritylamines.14 It is
evident that the formation of a new carbon–nitrogen bond in the
obtained amines occurs via a nucleophilic 1,2-(3-indolyl)/aryl shift
from C to the adjacent nitrogen.
References and notes
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The mechanism of these multistep reactions presumably in-
volves initial formation of 3,4-disubstituted 5-isoxazolidinones,
such as 9 (Scheme 4) and their salts similar to ISOX salt 6. The lat-
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O
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9
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+
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10
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Scheme 4. The proposed pathway for the formation of acrylate 7b.