presence of tri-n-butylphosphine and N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-
azodicarboxamide (TMAD)6 resulted in complete conversion
to 6. The stereochemistry of 6 resulted from retention of
configuration at the center bearing the benzylic hydroxyl,
presumably due to the involvement of an aziridinium ion
intermediate7 formed by anchimeric assistance from the
tertiary amine â to the reacting center. Cyclization to the
medium ring 7 was achieved by (i) magnesium-bromine
exchange using i-PrBu2MgLi,8 (ii) magnesium to copper
transmetalation using a solution of CuCN‚2LiBr, and (iii)
oxidation of the resulting cuprate with a solution of 1,3-
dinitrobenzene. The greater rigidity of the nine-membered
ring framework relative to a 10-membered ring results in 7
exhibiting configurational stability about the biaryl axis even
though one of the ortho substituents on the biaryl nucleus is
a pyridine nitrogen.9 The relative stereochemistry of 7 was
confirmed by NOE analysis and characteristic coupling
constants10 observed for protons on the amino alcohol
backbone.
Scheme 1. Synthesis of Nine-Membered Biaryl Rings on
Solid Phase
With the aim of deriving the diversity of the biaryl medium
rings from readily available amino alcohols, aldehydes and
2-bromophenols, we selected building blocks individually
on the basis of the success of their incorporation (>80%
purity by NMR and LC-MS) with a chosen substrate under
generalized reaction conditions. Figure 2 illustrates all the
building blocks selected for use in a parallel library
synthesis.11 Amino alcohols with primary as well as second-
ary amines12 (building blocks B1-13) could be used but were
restricted to those that could undergo regioselective displace-
ment with bromophenols in the subsequent Mitsunobu
reaction. Several aliphatic aldehydes were suitable building
blocks for the reductive alkylation of polymer-supported
secondary amines (C1-6). Aromatic aldehydes were not
used at this stage due to the reduced rate of the subsequent
Mitsunobu reaction, a feature observed even in substrates
in solution phase. This is presumably due to the increased
steric hindrance around the carbinol carbon. While we tested
a number of bromophenols for the Mitsunobu reaction, we
chose building blocks D1 and D2 for incorporation in a
library synthesis.
a NOEs indicated by arrows.
decided to use parallel solid-phase synthesis with the aim
of generating 1-5 mg of each library member.
Our synthetic plan is depicted in Scheme 1. Polystyrene
macrobeads functionalized with a silyl linker5 were loaded
with 2-bromo-5-hydroxybenzaldehyde via an intermediate
silyl triflate. The polymer-supported aldehyde 3 was soaked
in a solution of excess amino alcohol in trimethylorthofor-
mate to form a Schiff base that was reduced using NaBH3-
CN in acidic solution to form the amino alcohol 4 (>90%
purity by NMR and HPLC). The reductive alkylation of 4
was achieved by initial formation of an oxazolidine with a
solution of excess hydrocinnamaldehyde in trimethylortho-
formate; the resulting oxazolidine was reduced with NaBH3-
CN in acidic solution to form the amino alcohol 5 (>90%
purity by NMR and HPLC). Amino alcohol 5 was trans-
formed to the cyclization precursor 6 under Mitsunobu
conditions. Reaction of 5 with 2-bromo-3-pyridinol in the
In the reductive alkylation of secondary amines, it was
found that building block B6 was not compatible with C3,
C4, and C5.13 The tertiary amine derived from building block
B9 underwent Mitsunobu displacement with phenols D1 and
(6) Tsunoda, T.; Otsuka, J.; Yamamiya, Y.; Ito, S. Chem. Lett. 1994, 3,
539-542.
(7) For Mitsunobu reactions proceeding via aziridinium ion intermediates,
see: (a) Freedman, J.; Vaal, M. J.; Huber, E. W. J. Org. Chem. 1991, 56,
670-672. (b) Okuda, M.; Tomioka, K. Tetrahedron Lett. 1994, 35, 4585-
4586. (c) Poelert, M. A.; Hulshof, L. A.; Kellogg, R. M. Recl. TraV. Chim.
Pays-Bas 1994, 113, 355-364.
(8) Kitagawa. K.; Inoue, A.; Shinokubo, H.; Oshima, K. Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed. 2000, 39, 2481-2483. (b) Inoue, A.; Kitagawa, K.; Shinokubo,
H.; Oshima, K. J. Org. Chem. 2001, 66, 4333-4339.
(9) 10-Membered rings with nitrogen and sulfur as ortho substituents
show no evidence of restricted rotation around the biaryl bond.
(10) See Supporting Information.
(11) A complete list of building blocks tested for each step is included
in the Supporting Information.
(12) Reductive aminations of secondary amines could be carried out with
a modification of the procedure for primary amines, by initial formation of
an oxazolidine, followed by reduction.
(4) (a) (i) Lipshutz, B. H.; Kayser, F.; Liu, Z.-P. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed.
1994, 33, 1842-1844. (ii) Lipshutz, B. H.; Kayser, F.; Maullin, N.
Tetrahedron Lett. 1994, 35, 815-818. (iii) Lipshutz, B. H.; Liu, Z.-P.;
Kayser, F. Tetrahedron Lett. 1994, 35, 5567-5570. (b) Spring, D. R.;
Krishnan, S.; Schreiber S. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 5656-5657.
(c) Spring, D. R.; Krishnan, S.; Blackwell, H. E.; Schreiber S. L. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 1354-1363.
(5) Tallarico, J. A.; Depew, K. M.; Pelish, H. E.; Westwood, N. J.;
Lindsley, C. W.; Shair, M. D.; Schreiber, S. L.; Foley, M. A. J. Comb.
Chem. 2001, 3, 312-318.
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Org. Lett., Vol. 6, No. 22, 2004