Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201204339
Synthetic Methods
Copper-Catalyzed Aerobic Dehydrogenative Cyclization of N-Methyl-
N-phenylhydrazones: Synthesis of Cinnolines**
Guangwu Zhang, Jinmin Miao, Yan Zhao, and Haibo Ge*
À
Selective carbon–carbon (C C) bond formation is one of the
most important processes in organic chemistry since it enables
key steps in the synthesis of complex organic molecules from
bacterial, anticancer, antifungal, antihypertensive, antiinflam-
matory, and antiulcer activities.[14]
Our investigation began with the oxidative cyclization of
À
simple precursors. Traditionally, the construction of C C
1-methyl-1-phenyl-2-(1-phenylethylidene)hydrazine
(1a)
bonds relies primarily on prefunctionalized substrates, which
usually requires additional synthetic steps, and thus reduces
the overall efficiency of this transformation.[1] For this reason,
À
with catalytic CuSO4 in the presence of O2 (1 atm). To our
delight, the cyclization reaction was successful with DMF,
DMA, or DCE as the solvent, albeit in low yields (Table 1,
entries 1–3). An extensive catalyst screening showed that
although other CuII and CuI sources could catalyze the
C C bond formation reactions through transition-metal-
catalyzed direct functionalization of relatively unreactive
À
C H bonds have emerged as a major topic of research in
organic chemistry.[2] Among them, copper-catalyzed aerobic
dehydrogenative coupling reactions from two carbon–hydro-
Table 1: Optimization of reaction conditions.[a]
À
gen (C H) bonds have received renewed interest in recent
years with the following inherent advantages: maximizing
atom economy by avoiding prefunctionalization of the
coupling partners, and avoidance of toxic by-products with
molecular oxygen as the sole oxidant.[3]
Entry Cu source
(mol%)
Additives
(equiv)
Solvent Yield
[%][b]
Since the discovery of the Glaser reaction or the oxidative
dimerization of terminal alkynes[4] over 140 years ago, many
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
DMF
DMA
DCE
37
32
30
À
efforts have been devoted to this field to construct new C C
bonds. A number of copper-catalyzed aerobic dehydrogen-
CH3CN <5
DMSO trace
À
À
ative coupling reactions through a Csp H or Csp2 H bond
functionalization process have been developed, including
oxidative dimerization of phenols,[5] naphthols,[6] and elec-
tron-deficient arenes,[7] cross-coupling of terminal alkynes
with electron-deficient arenes,[8] and intramolecular dehydro-
genative cylization of anilides.[9] In comparison, the develop-
ment of copper-catalyzed aerobic dehydrogenative coupling
at sp3-carbon atoms is still in its infancy and the current
advances suffer severely from restricted substrate scope,
namely substrates with the sp3-carbon atom adjacent to
a heteroatom[10] or malonic amide derivative.[11] In our
continued efforts toward the development of transition-
metal-catalyzed coupling reactions on novel substrates,[12]
herein we report N-methyl-N-phenylhydrazones as unprece-
dented substrates for copper-catalyzed aerobic intramolecu-
lar dehydrogenative cyclization for the formation of cinno-
lines,[13] a privileged structure in many medicinal compounds
with a broad range of biological activities including anti-
NMP
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
DMF
trace
0
8
9
Cu(OAc)2 (20)
CuBr2 (20)
CuCl2 (20)
CuF2 (20)
Cu(OH)2CO3 (20)
Cu(TFA)2 (20)
Cu(OTf)2 (20)
CuI (20)
CuBr·DMS (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (20)
CuSO4 (10)/
CuI (10)
22
20
19
17
16
15
12
25
22
73
55
47
43
42
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Py (3.5)/CF3SO3H (1) DMF
Py (3.5)/TsOH (1) DMF
Py (3.5)/CF3CO2H (1) DMF
Py (3.5)/AcOH (1)
Py (3.5)/PhCO2H (1)
DMF
DMF
22
CuSO4 (1.5)/
CuI (7.5)
Py (3.5)/CF3SO3H (1) DMF
Py (3.5)/CF3SO3H (1) DMF
Py (3.5)/CF3SO3H (1) DMF
83(80)[c]
70
23
CuSO4 (1.5)/
CuI (5)
CuSO4 (1.5)/
CuI (7.5)
24[d]
20
[*] Dr. G.-W. Zhang, J.-M. Miao, Y. Zhao, Prof. Dr. H.-B. Ge
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indiana University
Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202 (USA)
E-mail: geh@iupui.edu
[a] Reaction conditions: 1a (0.3 mmol), Cu source, additive, O2 (1 atm),
3 mL of solvent, 1108C, 14 h unless otherwise noted. [b] Yields and
conversions are based on 1a, and determined by 1H NMR analysis of the
crude reaction mixture using dibromomethane as the internal standard.
[c] Yield of isolated product. [d] Under air. DCE=1,2-dichloroethane,
DMF=N,N’-dimethylformamide, DMA=dimethylacetamide,
DMS=dimethylsulfide, DMSO=dimethylsulfoxide, Py=pyridine,
Tf =trifluoromethanesulfonyl, TFA=trifluoroacetic acid.
[**] We gratefully acknowledge Indiana University Purdue University
Indianapolis for financial support. The Bruker 500 MHz NMR was
purchased using funds from an NSF-MRI award (CHE-0619254).
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 1 – 5
ꢀ 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
1
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