Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201309855
Click Chemistry
Iridium-Catalyzed Intermolecular Azide–Alkyne Cycloaddition of
Internal Thioalkynes under Mild Conditions**
Shengtao Ding, Guochen Jia,* and Jianwei Sun*
Abstract: An iridium-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition
reaction (IrAAC) of electron-rich internal alkynes is described.
It is the first efficient intermolecular AAC of internal thio-
alkynes. The reaction exhibits remarkable features, such as
high efficiency and regioselectivity, mild reaction conditions,
easy operation, and excellent compatibility with air and
a broad spectrum of organic and aqueous solvents. It comple-
ments the well-known CuAAC and RuAAC click reactions.
a mild intermolecular AAC of internal thioalkynes has been
realized for the first time.[14]
Fully substituted 1,2,3-triazoles decorated with a 5-sulfur
substituent represent a family of useful molecules. For
example, triazoles I are potential herbicides with antifungal
activity,[15a] and triazole II can serve as an excellent chiral
ligand in organic synthesis (Figure 1).[15b] However, despite
H
uisgen 1,3-dipolar azide–alkyne cycloaddition (AAC) is
the most straightforward and atom-economical synthesis of
1,2,3-triazoles.[1] However, the traditional thermal conditions
typically require high temperatures and proceed with limited
regioselectivity. In 2002, the groups of Sharpless and Meldal
independently reported their pioneering studies on copper-
catalyzed AAC, thus providing a mild and efficient synthesis
of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles.[2] Owing to its excellent
fidelity and compatibility in a broad context, CuAAC has
evolved into a powerful tool with wide applications in organic
synthesis, molecular biology, and materials science.[3–6]
Figure 1. Selected useful 1,2,3-triazoles with a 5-sulfur substituent.
the utility of this core structure, the current strategies for its
synthesis are indirect and require multiple steps.[15,16] To date,
no mild and direct synthesis by intermolecular AAC between
thioalkynes and azides is known.
In contrast to the widely successful use of terminal alkynes
(including metal acetylides) in catalyzed AACs,[3] the corre-
sponding reactions of internal alkynes for the synthesis of
fully substituted 1,2,3-triazoles remain a challenge[7] owing to
the increased energy barrier and difficulty in regiocontrol,
particularly for intermolecular reactions. As a result, most
intermolecular AACs of internal alkynes require high tem-
peratures[8] and/or activated substrates, such as electron-
deficient alkynes (e.g., haloalkynes)[9,10] or strained alkynes
(e.g., cyclooctynes).[11] Mild and regioselective AACs of
electron-rich internal alkynes are scarce. While the advent
of ruthenium-based catalytic systems (RuAAC) has
addressed the challenge to some extent,[12] additional robust
catalytic systems complementary to CuAAC and RuAAC
remain in high demand. In a continuation of our studies of
electron-rich alkynes,[13] we report herein the first iridium-
catalyzed AACs of electron-rich internal alkynes. Specifically,
We started our investigation with thioalkyne 1a and
benzyl azide (2a) by using dichloromethane as the solvent. In
contrast to the established CuAACs of terminal alkynes,
internal alkyne 1a did not undergo the expected [3+2]
cycloaddition in the presence of either CuI or CuSO4 (Table 1,
entries 1 and 2). The previous catalysts of choice in RuAAC,
[Cp*Ru(PPh3)2Cl] and [Cp*Ru(cod)Cl],[12] catalyzed the
desired reaction with excellent conversion but with mediocre
regioselectivity (Table 1, entries 3 and 4). Cationic ruthenium
complexes were not effective (Table 1, entries 5 and 6).
Further extensive screening of a wide range of metal
complexes led us to identify [{Ir(cod)Cl}2] as a superb catalyst
for the desired transformation, furnishing adduct 3a not only
in essentially quantitative yield but also with absolute
regioselectivity (Table 1, entry 7). Other iridium and rhodium
complexes gave inferior results (Table 1, entries 8–16). The
reaction catalyzed by [{Ir(cod)Cl}2] works equally well in
various polar and nonpolar solvents, including THF, MeCN,
MeNO2, toluene, DMF, iPr2O, and EtOH (Table 1, entry 18).
The mild reaction conditions (room temperature) combined
with the observed compatibility with a broad spectrum of
solvents may lead to the widespread application of this
process.
[*] S. Ding, Prof. G. Jia, Prof. J. Sun
Department of Chemistry
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR (China)
E-mail: chjiag@ust.hk
With the standard conditions established, we evaluated
the generality of our IrAAC reaction. A wide range of
thioalkynes with aryl and alkyl substituents on both termini
can participate in the cycloaddition to give the fully sub-
stituted 5-thio-1,2,3-triazoles in good to excellent yields
[**] We thank Prof. Zhenyang Lin for insightful discussion. We also
thank Dr. Herman Sung, Prof. Ian Williams, and Dr. Weimin Hu for
assistance with structure elucidation.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 1877 –1880
ꢀ 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
1877