X. Shi et al.
COMMUNICATION
Table 2. Reaction substrate scope with various triazoles.[a,b]
with the 4-phenyl-triazole (5b) and derivatives
(5d and 5 f). Notably, only trace amount of the
N2/N2 bis-triazoles were observed from the reac-
tion of 4-phenyl-triazole (PTA) with dichloro/di-
bromo alkanes, owing to the unfavored statistic
discussed above.
Encouraged by the good reactivity of the NH-
triazole under Mitsunobu conditions, we investi-
gated the stereoselectivity of this transformation.
The trans-2-methylcyclohexanol 2b and trans-2-
methylcyclopentanol 2c were used to react with
benzotriazole (BTA) 1a and phenyl-triazole
(PTA) 1b. As expected, excellent stereoselectiv-
ity were achieved, only the corresponding cis-
products were obtained with complete stereo-
chemistry inversion (Scheme 4).[14]
4a
N2: 62%;
N1: 36%
4b
N2: 64%;
N1: 30%
4c
4d
N2: 68%;
N1: 16%
N2: 61%;
N1: 32%
4e
N2: 64%;
N1: 16%
4 f
4g
N2: 67%;
N1: 16%
N2: 72%; N1: 18%
These results were exciting because they pro-
vided a practical approach for the preparation of
enantiomeric pure 1,2,3-triazole derivatives
through the coupling of triazoles and chiral alco-
hols. The enantiomeric pure alcohol 2d and qui-
nine 2e were used for the asymmetric synthesis
of chiral triazole derivatives. As shown in
Scheme 5, the chiral triazoles 7a and 7b were
prepared with excellent stereochemistry control.
Under the Mitsunobu conditions, the enantio-
meric pure alcohol 2d gave near-complete chirali-
ty transfer, forming the chiral triazole 7a in 96%
ee (determine by HPLC analysis).[15] As men-
tioned above, the N1 and N2 isomers were readi-
ly separated by column chromatography owing to
their large difference in polarity, which made this
method very attractive for the preparation of
enantiomerically pure triazoles. As observed
above, the secondary alcohols improved the
4h
N2: 62%;
N1: 21%
4i
4j
N2: 72%; N1: 20%
N2: 80%;
N1: 10%
4k
N2: 77%;
N1: 9%
4l
4m
N2: 80%;
N1: <5%
N2: 72%; N1: <5%
[a] Standard reaction conditions: alcohol (1 equiv), triazoles (1.2 equiv), of triphenylphos-
phine (PPh3; 1.2 equiv) and of diisopropyl azodicarboxylate (DIAD; 1.2 equiv) were
mixed in distilled tetrahydrofuran (THF). [b] Yields determined by NMR spectroscopy
with 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene as an internal standard; ratios determined by NMR analysis
of the crude reaction mixtures.
ternative approach for NH-triazole functionalization, but
also, more importantly, allowed N2 functionalization
through altering different reaction parameters instead of ad-
justing the substitution groups on 1,2,3-triazoles (currently
the dominant approach in the literature for the synthesis of
N2 isomers). The significance of this strategy in altering the
N1/N2 selectivity was further highlighted in the synthesis of
bis-N2-triazole derivatives (Scheme 3).
In general, N1/N1-bis-triazoles can be readily prepared
using double-click-chemistry reactions from diynes. On the
other hand, the N2/N2-bis-triazoles are extremely challeng-
ing to prepare based on the statistic analysis. For example,
assuming that mono-substitution gave a N1/N2 ratio of 5:1,
the ratio of the bis-functionalization of the same reaction
yields of the N2 isomers, even for the usually N1-dominant
benzotriazoles. The synthesis of 7b (structure confirmed by
X-ray crystallography) highlighted the strength of this
method in the preparation of highly functional triazole ana-
logues. It is expected that these compounds can be applied
as potential building blocks in asymmetric catalysis, especial-
ly considering the interesting reactivity of the 1,2,3-triazoles.
In conclusion, the Mitsunobu reactions between NH-tria-
zoles and alcohols is a practical approach for 1,2,3-triazole
functionalization. Unlike the previously reported strategies,
where different triazoles were required to achieve good
yields of N2 isomers, the Mitsunobu conditions favored the
formation of the kinetic products (N2 isomers), even for
1,2,3-triazoles with high N1-preference (such as benzotria-
zoles). Therefore, this method provides an alternative ap-
proach to N2 substitution without changing the reactivity of
the triazoles. Moreover, with the excellent stereochemical
control, this method allows the asymmetric synthesis of
enantiomerically pure triazole derivatives, which can cer-
tainly help the further development of 1,2,3-triazoles as new
building blocks in chemistry and related research.
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would be N1 N1/N1 N2/N2 N2=25:10:1. Therefore, the
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theoretical yields for N2 N2 product would be only 2.7%.
The Mitsunobu conditions, by altering the N1/N2 selectivity,
afforded the opportunity to synthesize the N2/N2 isomer for
the first time through simple post-triazole derivatization. As
indicated in Scheme 3, bis-triazole 5a was successfully pre-
pared, even with usually N1 dominant benzotriazole. The
yields of the N2/N2 isomers were significantly improved
2722
ꢀ 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Chem. Asian J. 2011, 6, 2720 – 2724