Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201404222
Organocatalysis
Organocatalytic Oxidative Annulation of Benzamide Derivatives
with Alkynes**
Srimanta Manna and Andrey P. Antonchick*
Abstract: Organocatalytic annulation by functionalization of
benzamide derivatives with alkynes has been developed. We
report a new approach of cycloaddition under mild reaction
conditions using simple catalysts, such as iodobenzene and
peracetic acid, as oxidant. Those novel, mild reaction con-
ditions provided a straightforward synthesis of isoquinolones
with fast reaction rate. Notable selectivity in annulation of
unsymmetrically disubstituted alkynes was demonstrated.
À
C
H bond functionalization has emerged over the last few
decades and represents an attractive strategy to enhance
À
molecular complexity. C H bond functionalization catalyzed
by transition metals is an intensively investigated area of great
significance.[1] Methods of direct coupling between non-
functionalized compounds represent an environmentally
benign and economically attractive synthetic strategy to the
desired products. However, these methods are limited. The
development of new efficient, direct oxidative cross-coupling
methods is highly demanded.[1]
Isoquinoline and isoquinolones represent important het-
erocyclic scaffolds with broad ranges of biological activities.[2]
Several attractive synthetic routes to isoquinolones were
developed using transition-metal-catalyzed processes in last
years.[3–8] Impressive annulation with alkynes was first devel-
Scheme 1. Annulation of benzamide and benzenesulfonamide deriva-
tives with alkynes
and organocatalytic synthesis of isoquinolones by annulation
of alkynes and benzamide is demanded. Herein we report the
discovery of the first metal-free annulation of alkynes by
oped by Fagnou and co-workers employing rhodium cata-
[3a]
À
À
À
lyzed directed C H activation. Interestingly, Rovis’ group
cascade C C and C N bond formation under organocatalytic
reaction conditions [Scheme 1, Eq. (4)].
independently demonstrated the annulation of benzamide
with alkynes and alkenes through rhodium-catalyzed C H
We began our studies[9] on annulation using N-methox-
ybenzamide (1a) and diphenylacetylene (2a) as starting
materials in presence of (diacetoxyiodo)benzene (PIDA) as
a oxidant in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) at
room temperature (Table 1).[10] To our delight, the product
of annulation 3a was isolated with 40% yield.[11] Furthermore,
the use of PhI(OCOCF3)2 did not provide the desire product
at all (Table 1, entries 1–2). Encouraged by the initial result,
we tested organocatalytic conditions using iodobenzene as
catalyst in presence of oxidants such as m-CPBA. The
application of substoichiometric amounts of iodobenzene
resulted in formation of product 3a with higher yield (Table 1
entry 3). In the screening of various oxidants, peracetic acid
was found as best oxidant to provide isoquinolone 3a in 68%
yield (Table 1 entries 3–6). HFIP was the best solvent giving
the desired product of annulation. The formation of product
3a was not observed using EtOAc, CHCl3, MeOH, and DCE
as solvents (Table 1, entries 7–11; see also the Supporting
Information). The application of CF3CH2OH as a solvent
resulted in reduced yield of the desired product 3a. We next
investigated different aryl iodides as potential catalysts
(Table 1, entries 12–15). Of the tested compounds, iodoben-
zene delivered the best result for the synthesis of annulated
À
functionalization [Scheme 1, Eq. (1)].[4a] Recently, the Acker-
mann and Wang groups reported an efficient ruthenium
catalyzed approach to annulation of benzamine and alkyne
[Scheme 1, Eq. (2)].[5] Very recently, palladium-catalyzed
synthesis of isoquinolones has been developed by Huang
and co-workers [Scheme 1, Eq. (3)].[6] Typically, transition-
metal-catalyzed annulations require high temperature, exter-
nal oxidant and long reaction time. It is notable that metal-
free approaches to annulation of benzamide derivatives with
alkynes have never been reported. Moreover, a mild, efficient
[*] S. Manna, Dr. A. P. Antonchick
Abteilung Chemische Biologie
Max-Planck-Institut fꢀr Molekulare Physiologie
Otto-Hahn-Strasse 11, 44227 Dortmund (Germany)
and
Fakultꢁt Chemie, Chemische Biologie
Technische Universitꢁt Dortmund
Otto-Hahn-Strasse 6, 44221 Dortmund (Germany)
E-mail: andrey.antonchick@mpi-dortmund.mpg.de
[**] We thank Prof. Dr. Herbert Waldmann for his generous support.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 1 – 5
ꢀ 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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