InnovatIve tools In organIc / organometallIc chemIstry
CHIMIA 2020, 74, No. 11 881
primary alcohol 3, whereas the reaction of 2 with the Grignard
reactant, phenyl magnesium bromide, leads to tertiary alcohol 5.
Selectively protecting the hydroxyl on 3 and 5 with silyl chloride
and silyl triflate lead to the formation of the corresponding silyl
ethers 4 and 6 (Scheme 2).
O
O
SOCl2 (1.5 eq.)
MeOH, 0 °C to r.t, 3 h
NaBH4 (2 eq.)
EtOH, 0-20 °C, 24 h
NH
OMe
O
NH
O
Fig. 5. Computed physical parameters exemplified upon N-2,4,6-
tribromo NHC. (A) Sterimol steric parameters. (B) Shared coordinate
system with origin at N11. (C) Highlighted atoms for which the torsion
angle was calculated.
OH
90%
84%
1
2
Imidazole (2.5 eq.)
RCl (1.2 eq.)
O
O
NH
NH
4a) R= TIPS, 97%
4b) R= TBS, 99%
DMF, 20 °C, 24 h
OR
OH
3
4a-b
Table 1. Computed physical parameters
2,6-Lutidine (3 eq.)
O
O
O
Ph MgBr (3.2 eq.)
ROTf (2.5 eq.)
NH
NH
NH
Ph
Ph
O
Ph
Ph
THF, 0 °C to r.t, 24 h
DCM, 0 °C to r.t, 20 h
OR
OMe
OH
76%
2
5
6a-b
Mesityl
2.81
2,4,6-tribromo pentafluoro
6a) R=TMS, 95%
6b) R=TBS, 96%
B1 [Å]
B5 [Å]
L [Å]
2.88
4.79
6.98
2.32
3.70
Scheme 2. Synthesis of functionalized pyrrolidinones 4a,b and 6a,b.
4.37
To prepare a brominated NHC triazolium salt we were required
to first synthesize 2,4,6-tribromophenyl hydrazine from 2,4,6-tri-
bromoaniline. We optimized a known procedure and achieved a
6.15
5.83
Torsion
72.48o
91.77o
53.42o
50% boost in reaction yield (Scheme 3).[4]
y axis dipole
[eÅ]
Using compounds 4a,b, and 6a,b and 2-pyrrolidinone (4c)
as starting materials and hydrazine 8 as the brominated phenyl
source, we applied our previously optimized procedure for the
–0.921
–1.06
–1.78
Total dipole
preparation of the NHC pre-catalyst.[4] Unfortunately, this effort
resulted in only one of the corresponding products in low yield
(Scheme 4A).
1.14
1.27
1.90
[eÅ]
C2 NPA [e]a
N11 NPA [e]a
0.267
0.287
0.284
With the goal of identifying the key to improving these results,
we closely examined the reaction that provided catalyst 9a by
following its progress in H NMR. By analyzing the conversion
over time, we realized that the timing of each step was crucial and
longer reaction times led to the formation of byproducts that in-
terfered with the following steps while shorter reaction times did
not lead to full conversion and hampered the isolation of products.
Once we identified the optimal timing for each reaction step, the
–0.119
–0.131
–0.128
1
ae represents the elementary charge unit
tack of 2-pyrrolidinone by trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate
(Me3OBF ) to form an iminium salt, which then reacts with a
hydrazine4to form a hydrazone. The latter step introduces the aro-
reaction yields for 9a substantially improved. We then applied
matic motif into the resultant NHC catalyst and the hydrazine then
undergoes cyclization to afford an NHC pre-catalyst (Scheme 1).
the new found timing to the rest of the tested starting materials,
but once again did not manage to identify general conditions for
To obtain the chiral version of these catalysts where the 2-pyrro-
the full set of catalysts. The only additional product we were able
to prepare was 9b in 24% yield. Nonetheless, we were able to
de-protect the TIPS group on 9b, affording another hydroxyl pre-
catalyst (9f, Scheme 4B).
Following the reaction progress by NMR provided important
insights regarding the phenyl hydrazine addition. We managed to
isolate intermediate 1 and thus could follow its disappearance and
the formation of an additional intermediate, which we were unable
lidinone contains a silyl protected hydroxyl group, the cyclization
is followed by a de-protection step (step 4).
In our search for an appropriate procedure that will enable the
incorporation of brominated aromatic motifs, we first applied our
previously optimized protocol for the preparation of NHC triazo-
lium catalysts.[9] Our aim was to provide a synthetic protocol for
two types of chiral catalysts with different steric profiles, thus,
we prepared a precursor with a benzylic pendant hydroxyl group
(3) and another with two phenyl rings at the benzylic position (5).
In the presence of thionyl chloride, the commercially available
starting material (S)-pyroglutamic acid (1) is converted into an
to isolate. Based on the crude NMR and the proposed mechanism,
we assume this intermediate has the structure of putative interme-
diate 2 (Scheme 4B). We speculated that the reaction was impeded
by the stability of putative intermediate 2. To face this issue, we
ester (2). The reduction of ester 2 with sodium borohydride forms
decided to focus again on optimizing the reaction conditions of
1. Me3OBF4, DCM, 20 °C
2. ArNHNH2, DCM, 20 °C
1- t-butyl nitrite
Boron trifluoride etherate
DCM, -20 °C
2- SnCl2, HCl 37%, 8-10 °C
3- NaOH 1N, DCM, 0 °C
NHNH2
Br
NH2
O
Br
Br
Br
N
N
R
N
NH
3. (EtO)3CH, PhCl, 130 °C
4. TMSBr, CH3OH
Or
R
BF4
Ar
Br
Br
R= CH2OTIPS, CH2OTBS
R= CPh2OTMS, CPh2OTBS
R= CH2OH
R= CPh2OH
HBF4 OEt2, PhCl
7
8
Scheme 1. General procedure for the synthesis of NHC triazolium cata-
lysts.
Scheme 3. Optimized conditions for the synthesis of 2,4,6-tribromophe-
nyl hydrazine.