Experimental Section
addition, the mixture was heated to 90 °C, and Ti(O-i-Pr)4 (140
g, 1 mol%) was added slowly. After 1.5 h at the same
temperature, the reaction mixture was heated to 115 °C for 4 h
with azeotropic distillation using a Dean-Stark separator (∼2.5
L of distilled water was collected). After cooling to 56 °C, the
reaction mixture was filtered through a pad of Celite, and the
filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure to give a waxy
solid. Trituration of the residue with n-hexane (5 L) and filtration
afforded 2,2-dimethylpropanohydrazide (4.32 kg, 75%) as a
N-Boc-trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline Methyl Ester (3). To a
stirred slurry of trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline (2, 2.3 kg, 17.5 mol)
in methanol (9.4 kg) was added portionwise thionyl chloride
(2 kg, 0.96 equiv) using a feeding pump over 1 h at 5 °C. During
the addition, the reaction temperature was slowly warmed to
34 °C. After the completion of the addition, the resulting slurry
was heated to 60 °C and stirred for 24 h to give a clear light-
brown solution. The mixture was evaporated under reduced
pressure to give methyl ester as a light-brown solid containing
a small amount of methanol, which was used in the next step
without further purification. Boc2O (4.3 kg, 1.12 equiv) was
added portionwise to a stirred suspension of crude methyl ester
in dichloromethane (25 kg). To the mixture was added slowly
a solution of triethylamine (5.0 L, 2.04 equiv) in CH2Cl2 (10
kg). When most of staring material was consumed by TLC
analysis (approximately 3.5 h), the reaction mixture was
quenched with 1 N HCl solution (11 kg). The organic layer
was separated and evaporated under reduced pressure to give a
brown viscous liquid. n-Hexane (6.0 L) was added to the
concentrate, and the resulting slurry was vigorously stirred at
ambient temperature. Filtration of the formed solid and drying
with N2 purge gave alcohol 3 as an off-white solid (3.5 kg,
14.3 mol, 81.5%). 1H NMR (a mixture of rotamers, 400 MHz,
CDCl3) δ 1.38 (s, 3.6 H), 1.44 (s, 5.4H), 1.75 (br s, 1H,), 2.08
(m, 1H), 2.30 (m, 1H), 3.46 (br d, J ) 11.8 Hz, 0.4 H), 3.56
(br d, J ) 11.8 Hz, 0.6 H), 3.65 (dd, J ) 4.4, 11.8 Hz, 1H),
3.74 (s, 3H), 4.40 (t, J ) 8.0 Hz, 0.6 H), 4.44 (t, J ) 8.0 Hz,
0.4 H), 4.50 (br s, 1H). 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) δ 28.5,
28.7, 38.6, 39.3, 52.4, 52.5, 54.9, 55.0, 57.9, 58.3, 69.3, 70.0,
80.6, 80.7, 154.4, 155.0, 173.9, 174.1.
1
white solid. H NMR of (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 1.21 (s, 9H),
3.92 (br s, 2H), 7.29 (br s, 1H).
Catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (140
g, 2 mol%) was added to a stirred mixture of 2,2-dimethylpro-
panohydrazide (4.30 kg, 37 mol) and trimethyl orthoformate
(5.0 L, 1.23 equiv) at ambient temperature (16 °C). The reaction
mixture was heated to 70 °C. After 2 h, the temperature was
raised to 106 °C to remove methanol via a Dean-Stark
separator. The resulting brown solution was distilled under
reduced pressure (55-60 mmHg) to give a tert-butyl-1,3,4-
oxadiazole12 (6, 3.70 kg, 28.5 mol, 75%) as a colorless liquid.1H
NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3) δ 1.45 (s, 9H), 8.32 (s, 1H). 13C NMR
(125 MHz, CDCl3) δ 28.2, 32.4, 152.9, 173.3.
tert-Butyl-(2S,4S)-2-[(5-tert-butyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)car-
bonyl]-4-fluoropyrrolidine-1-carboxylate (7). To a stirred
solution of oxadiazole (6, 1.9 kg, 15 mol) in THF (20 L) was
added slowly 6.0 L of n-BuLi (2.5 M in hexane) under positive
N2 pressure over 4 h, maintaining the reaction temperature
below -60 °C (After ∼2.0 h, the reaction mixture changed to
an off-white slurry due to the formation of lithiated oxadiazole).
After completion of the addition, the reaction mixture was stirred
for 40 min and cooled to -70 °C. A solution of methyl ester
4 (1.75 kg, 7.0 mol) in THF (2.0 L) was added over 1.5 h to a
stirred slurry of lithiated oxadiazole, maintaining the reaction
temperature below -60 °C. After the completion of the addition,
the reaction temperature was warmed slowly to -30 °C over
2 h. After completion of the reaction was confirmed by 1H NMR
analysis, the reaction mixture was quenched by an aqueous
NH4Cl solution (3 kg of NH4Cl and 15 kg of H2O). The organic
layer was separated and concentrated under reduced pressure
to give a brown-colored oil, which was vigorously triturated
with n-hexane (3.0 L) to give ketone 7 (1.6 kg, 4.68 mol, 67%)
as a white solid, including less than 5% of tertiary alcohol 13
on the basis of NMR analysis. 1H NMR (500 MHz, CDCl3) δ
1.36 (s, 4.5H), 1.47 (s, 4.5H), 1.49 (s, 9H), 2.57-2.74 (m, 2
H), 3.74 (m, 1H), 3.93 (m, 1H), 5.32-5.42 (m, 1H). 13C NMR
(125 MHz, CDCl3) δ 28.0, 28.3, 29.6, 32.7, 32.8, 36.4 (d, 2JCF
(4S)-N-Boc-cis-4-fluoro-L-proline Methyl Ester (4). Di-
ethylaminosulfur trifluoride (DAST) (4.5 kg, 1.9 equiv) was
added dropwise using a feeding pump to a stirred solution of 3
(3.5 kg, 14.2 mol) in dichloromethane (50 kg) at -2 °C. During
the addition, a slight exotherm was observed that resulted in a
temperature increase to 7.8 °C. After completion of the addition,
the mixture was slowly warmed to ambient temperature and
stirred for 14 h. To the mixture was added over 5 h saturated
aqueous NaHCO3 solution at 0 °C. The organic layer was
separated and the aqueous layer was extracted again with 8.0
kg of dichloromethane. The combined organic layer was
concentrated under reduced pressure to give the crude brown
oil 4 (3.29 kg), which was directly used for the next step without
further purification. 1H NMR (a mixture of rotamers, 400 MHz,
CDCl3) δ 1.44 (s, 5H), 1.49 (s, 4H), 2.25-2.55 (m, 2H),
3.56-3.93 (m, 2H), 3.75 (s, 3H), 4.43 (d, J ) 9.2 Hz, 0.5H),
2
2
) 21.5 Hz), 37.3 (d, JCF ) 21.5 Hz), 53.1 (d, JCF ) 23.9
Hz), 53.4 (d, 2JCF ) 23.9 Hz), 61.9, 62.0, 80.7, 91.9 (d, 1JCF
)
4.55 (d, J ) 9.2 Hz, 0.5H), 5.20 (br d, J ) 52.8 Hz, 1H). 13
C
176.5 Hz), 92.2 (d, 1JCF ) 176.5 Hz), 153.2, 153.9, 169.7, 175.4,
2
NMR (125 MHz, CDCl3) δ 27.7, 27.9, 36.1 (d, JCF ) 21.5
Hz), 36.9 (d, 2JCF ) 21.5 Hz), 51.6, 51.7, 52.4 (d, 2JCF ) 23.9
Hz), 52.6 (d, 2JCF ) 23.9 Hz), 56.8, 57.2, 79.6, 79.7, 90.8 (d,
1
175.6, 183.6, 184.0. Spectroscopic data of 13: H NMR (500
MHz, CDCl3) δ 1.41 (s, 9H), 1.43 (s, 9H), 1.51 (s, 9H),
2.61-2.79 (m, 2H), 3.53 (dd, J ) 13.2, 23.6 Hz, 1H), 3.73
(ddd, J ) 4.9, 13.2, 30.6 Hz, 1H), 5.01 (dm, J ) 54.4 Hz, 1H),
5.16 (dd, J ) 3.2, 9.6 Hz, 1H), 7.81 (br s, 1H); 13C NMR (125
1JCF ) 176.5 Hz), 91.9 (d, JCF ) 176.5 Hz), 153.2, 153.5,
1
171.4, 171.8.
2-tert-Butyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole (6). To a stirred solution of
5.02 kg of pivalic acid (49.13 mol) in 5.0 L of toluene and 8.0
L of n-butanol was added NH2NH2 monohydrate (80% purity,
51% of hydrazine, 1.15 equiv). During the addition, the reaction
temperature rose from 18 to 32 °C. After completion of the
2
MHz, CDCl3) δ 28.0, 28.2, 32.3, 32.4, 35.3 (d, JCF ) 22.9
2
Hz), 54.6 (d, JCF ) 25.0 Hz), 62.7, 74.3, 82.8, 90.5 (1JCF
)
177.7 Hz), 158.4, 162.9, 164.4, 173.9, 174.4.
(12) Please refer to ref 7.
630
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Vol. 12, No. 4, 2008 / Organic Process Research & Development