An asymmetric organocatalytic one-pot strategy to octahydroacridines

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201006608

An elegant sequence: An efficient method for the formation of octahydroacridines provides high yields and a high level of stereogenic control, and displays great tolerance towards different aldehydes, anilines, and nucleophiles (see scheme; TMS=trimethyls

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201006608

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201006608
Asymmetric Synthesis
An Asymmetric Organocatalytic One-Pot Strategy to
Octahydroacridines**
Gustav Dickmeiss, Kim L. Jensen, Dennis Worgull, Patrick T. Franke, and
Karl Anker Jørgensen*
A major focus of organocatalysis[1] has been the development
of domino, cascade, and one-pot reactions.[2] These classes of
reactions enable the construction of molecules with great
structural complexity with a minimum of manual operations,
thereby saving time, effort, and production cost. Moreover,
given the current focus on the development of more environ-
mental-friendly procedures, these reactions, with their fewer
purification steps, are useful alternatives to the classical
stepwise approaches.
Recently, the aza-Diels–Alder reaction between an N-aryl
imine and an olefin moiety (the Povarov reaction)[3] has
attracted considerable attention,[4,5] as this reaction provides a
simple route to a variety of nitrogen-containing polycyclic
structures. In general, N heterocycles are of broad interest
due to their vast abundance in natural and pharmaceutical
compounds, and for instance tetrahydroquinolines have
shown biological activity in numerous examples.[6] However,
though they possess a tetrahydroquinoline core structure,
suggesting potentially interesting biological properties, the
class of octahydroacridines remains virtually unexplored due
to their limited availability. This type of compounds may be
accessed through an intramolecular Povarov reaction, in
which an e,z-unsaturated aldehyde upon condensation with
an aryl amine, subsequently undergoes a formal cycloaddition
and re-aromatization, affording the final product. However,
access to optically active octahydroacridines has so far
exclusively been based on a chiral pool approach and,
furthermore, limited diastereomeric control is often
observed.[7] To the best of our knowledge, no catalytic
asymmetric approaches to these interesting N-heterocyclic
structures have been described to date.
Scheme 1. Synthetic outline for the formation of octahydroacridines.
TMS=trimethylsilyl.
subsequent cycloaddition, hereby controlling the formation of
the optically active octahydroacridines with high diastereo-
selectivity.
Herein, we describe a protocol for the preparation of a
series of octahydroacridines having four stereocenters with
excellent enantio- and diastereomeric control. A rationale for
the stereochemical outcome of the reaction is proposed, and
further derivatizations of the products are demonstrated, such
as the selective hydrolysis of one of the nitrile functionalities,
leading to octahydroacridines with five stereocenters.
In order to reach an efficient one-pot protocol, the initial
organocatalytic addition step was first investigated. At the
outset, slightly modified conditions to those previously
reported[2e] were applied. Accordingly, with malononitrile
2a, 2 equiv of hex-2-enal (1a), and 10 mol% of (S)-2-[bis(3,5-
bistrifluoromethylphenyl)trimethylsilyloxymethyl]pyrroli-
dine (3) as the catalyst in CH2Cl2, full and clean conversion to
the desired Michael addition intermediate was observed.
Consequently, the anticipated condensation/Povarov cascade
was attempted, and, gratifyingly, the addition of 1.5 equiv of
4-nitroaniline (4a) and 2 equiv of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)
to the diluted reaction mixture at À308C gave clean
conversion to the proposed product with excellent diastereo-
meric control. With these conditions in hand, the scope of the
reaction was examined by varying the a,b-unsaturated
aldehyde 1, malononitrile 2, and aniline 4 (Table 1).
We imagined a route (Scheme 1), in which the addition of
malononitrile derivatives to an a,b-unsaturated aldehyde
employing aminocatalysis would furnish a suitable intermedi-
ate, which could be trapped in a following condensation/
cyclization cascade by an aniline derivative. Optimally, the
stereocenter of the initial addition step would direct the
[*] G. Dickmeiss, K. L. Jensen, Dr. D. Worgull, Dr. P. T. Franke,
Prof. Dr. K. A. Jørgensen
The developed reaction concept showed great tolerance
towards a variety of aliphatic a,b-unsaturated aldehydes 1.
Saturated and unsaturated side chains of different length were
successfully applied (Table 1, entries 1–5, 18) and, further-
more, benzyl ether and homobenzyl functionalities were
tolerated (entries 6 and 7). Generally, high yields (59 to 93%),
taking into account the multiple reaction steps being
involved, were observed with excellent stereocontrol (89 to
99% ee and > 20:1 d.r. in all examples). Interestingly, no
Center for Catalysis, Department of Chemistry
Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C (Denmark)
Fax: (+45)8919-6199
E-mail: kaj@chem.au.dk
[**] This work was supported by OChemSchool, the Carlsberg Founda-
tion, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (D.W.). We thank
Dr. Jacob Overgaard for performing X-ray analysis.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201006608.
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 1580 –1583

Table 1: Scope of the formation of octahydroacridines 5.[a]
Scheme 2. Formation of hydroxy- and amino-functionalized octahy-
droacridines. TFAA=trifluoroacetic anhydride.
Entry
R1
R2
R3
Yield
[%][b]
ee
d.r.[d]
[%][c]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Pr
Et
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
Br
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
Br
H
NO2
NO2
NO2
NO2
NO2
NO2
NO2
NO2
H
5a, 93
5b, 91
5c, 75
5d, 59
5e, 83
5 f, 63
5g, 85
5h, 77
5i, 68
5j, 70
5k, 73
5l, 71
5m, 71
5n, 84
5o, 75
5p, 78
5q, 73
5r, 71
92[e]
93
93
92
92
92
99
92
94
89
93
94
92
92
89
92
89
89
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
12:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
>20:1
hexyl
(Z)-hex-3-enyl
(E)-hex-3-enyl
CH2OBn
To further test the methodology, different substitution
patterns of the anilines were explored. Initially, ortho-
substituted bromoaniline was applied with a variety of a,b-
unsaturated aldehydes with excellent results for the aliphatic
a,b-unsaturated aldehydes (5s,t, Scheme 3). X-Ray crystal-
CH2CH2Ph
Pr
Pr
Pr
Pr
Pr
Pr
Pr
Pr
Me
OMe
OBn
CF3
Br
F
CO2Et
Br
Br
Pr
Pr
(Z)-hept-4-enyl
[a] For reaction conditions, see the Supporting Information. [b] Yield
after flash chromatography. [c] Determined by HPLC on a chiral sta-
tionary phase. [d] Determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy of the crude
reaction mixture. [e] Determined after N-Boc protection.
Scheme 3. Examples of ortho- and meta-substituted anilines and X-ray
structure of product 5s (most hydrogen atoms are omitted for clarity).
competing cyclization with the double bond of the a,b-
unsaturated aldehyde side chain took place in the synthesis of
5d, 5e, and 5r.
lography[8] of 5s provided the absolute configuration of the
formed compounds. Furthermore, an electron-poor aromatic
aldehyde, (E)-3-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)acrylaldehyde,
could successfully be implemented giving compound 5u,
although slightly lower enantioselectivity was observed.[9]
Finally, 1-aminonaphthalene and two disubstituted anilines
were utilized, accessing the optically active octahydroacri-
dines 5v,w,x with tetrasubstituted aromatic moieties.
In order to demonstrate the synthetic value of the formed
octahydroacridines, a series of transformations was per-
formed. The aryl bromide 5n was applied in a palladium-
catalyzed Suzuki coupling to introduce a phenyl group in the
7-position affording 9 in near quantitative yield (94%,
Scheme 4).
A potential drawback of the developed methodology is
that the products have a geminal dinitrile functionality.
Accordingly, a procedure to differentiate the two groups
would be highly useful. To our delight, when subjecting 5n to
basic, aqueous conditions, we were able to selectively hydro-
lyze the equatorial nitrile to the corresponding primary amide
10 (Scheme 4), hereby creating an all-carbon quaternary, fifth
The scope of the 4-substituted aniline moiety was then
examined, and significant variation of the aniline substituent
could be performed. Both electron-rich (Table 1, entries 10–
12), neutral (entry 9), and electron-poor anilines (entries 1–8,
13–18) were applied, resulting in high yields (59 to 93%) and
excellent enantioselectivities (89 to 99% ee). In all cases
except for product 5l, only one diastereoisomer was observed.
Finally, variation of the nucleophile was possible, applying
(E)-2-(3-(4-bromophenyl)allyl)malononitrile (2b) in the ini-
tial addition step (Table 1, entries 8 and 17). The resulting
products 5h and 5q were isolated in comparable yields (77
and 73%) and enantiomeric excesses (92 and 89% ee).
Of the investigated anilines, only those containing 4-
amino and 4-hydroxy substituents posed a problem. However,
these functionalities could easily be introduced by subsequent
reduction of the installed nitro- or benzyloxy groups in good
yields as demonstrated for 5b,e,l (Scheme 2). For 5l prelimi-
nary protection of the aniline nitrogen atom was necessary.
Notably, no competing reduction of the double bond in 5e or
the nitriles was observed.
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Communications
Scheme 4. Suzuki coupling and hydrolysis of 5n.
stereocenter. The configuration of 10 was unambiguously
assigned by X-ray crystallography.[8]
Next, it was possible to introduce a silicon group in the
3-position (Scheme 5) by employing a dimethylphenylsilyl
(DMPS)-substituted enal. Due to the sterically demanding
aldehyde, longer reaction time and higher catalyst loading
Scheme 6. Endo transition state and resulting selectivity applying 2a.
intermediate iminium ion product adopts a chairlike con-
formation with the substituent of the original aldehyde, the
protonated imine and the olefin moiety in pseudo-equatorial
positions. Simultaneously, p–p overlap of the aromatic
moieties aligns the molecule for the ensuing formal cyclo-
addition in an endo transition state affording the product with
the observed diastereoselectivity.
The importance of the endo approach was confirmed by
an additional experiment, in which a nucleophile with Z
geometry at the double bond, 2c, was applied (Scheme 7). In
order to achieve the secondary p–p overlap, the iminium ion
would have to rotate 1808 into a pseudo-axial position in the
transition state compared to when 2a was employed (com-
pare Scheme 6 and 7). This should lead to a product with
inverted configuration at C4a and C9 compared to the
Scheme 5. Tamao–Fleming oxidation of DMPS group in 11. m-CPBA=
meta-chloroperbenzoic acid, TES=triethylsilyl.
were necessary in the addition step. However, the ensuing
Povarov reaction proceeded smoothly to yield 5y with a
diastereomeric ratio of 10:1. The crude product was then
directly protected with trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA)
enabling the isolation of the major diastereoisomer 11 in 66%
yield and 91% ee. The DMPS group constitutes a masked
hydroxy group, as it can be oxidized employing the Tamao–
Fleming reaction.[10] Accordingly, we were able to perform the
oxidation with retention of configuration at C3 by a two-step
procedure, affording the hydroxylated product, which was
isolated after conversion into its corresponding triethylsily-
loxy ether 12. The hydroxy group may serve as a chemical
handle for further functionalization of the molecule.
By the developed protocol, four stereocenters are formed
selectively. The initial Michael addition affords the first
stereocenter (R), corresponding to the usually observed
selectivity, when applying 3 as catalyst.[11] The stereochemical
outcome of the following Povarov reaction can be rational-
ized by an endo transition state as depicted in Scheme 6. The
Scheme 7. Endo transition state and resulting selectivity applying 2c.
The ee of 14 was determined after N-trifluoroacetylation.
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originally formed products 5. Satisfyingly, inversion at these
two centers was indeed observed, affording the product 14 in
68% yield. The absolute configuration of 14 was unambigu-
ously verified by X-ray crystallography.[8]
Furthermore, when conducting the experiment with
nucleophiles without the aromatic substituent on the double
bond and thereby lacking the ability to be involved in p–p
interactions, no cyclization was observed (see Supporting
Information). However, this may also simply indicate the
necessity of a cation-stabilizing substituent on the double
bond due to build up of positive charge at the C9 center in the
transition state.
In conclusion, we have designed a method for the
formation of octahydroacridines with high levels of yield
and stereogenic control. The system displays great tolerance
towards different aldehydes, anilines, and nucleophiles. The
synthetic usefulness of the products was demonstrated
through a number of transformations, and finally, the use of
different nucleophiles verifies an endo transition state in
which p–p overlap of the aromatic moieties plays an
important role in the reactivity and selectivity of the system.
[3] For a review, see: V. V. Kouznetsov, Tetrahedron 2009, 65, 2721.
[4] For recent organocatalytic applications of the Povarov reaction,
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Received: October 21, 2010
Published online: January 5, 2011
[6] A. R. Katritzky, S. Rachwal, B. Rachwal, Tetrahedron 1996, 52,
15031, and references therein.
Keywords: asymmetric synthesis · octahydroacridines ·
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[8] See supporting information for crystal structures. CCDC 795017
(5s), 797340 (10), and 795018 (14) contain the supplementary
crystallographic data for this paper. These data can be obtained
free of charge from The Cambridge Crystallographic Data
Centre via www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif.
[9] Generally, electron-rich aromatic aldehydes were problematic
due to competing retro-Michael addition in the cyclization step.
[10] I. Fleming, R. Henning, D. C. Parker, H. E. Plaut, P. E. J.
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one-pot reactions · organocatalysis · Povarov reaction
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