FULL PAPER
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201300019
Catalytic Three-Component Domino Reaction for the Preparation of
Trisubstituted Oxazoles
Henrik v. Wachenfeldt, Philipp Rçse, Filip Paulsen, Nagarajan Loganathan, and
[
a]
Daniel Strand*
Abstract: Multicomponent reactions are attractive for assembling functionalized
heterocyclic compounds. To this end, an efficient gold-catalyzed three-component
domino reaction to form oxazoles directly from imines, alkynes, and acid chlorides
Keywords: gold
homogeneous catalysis · multicom-
ponent reactions · oxazoles
· heterocycles ·
is presented. The reaction proceeds in a single synthetic step by using a gold
A
H
U
G
R
N
U
G
ACHTUNGTRENNUNG
N,N’-ethylenebis(salicylimine) (salen) catalyst to give trisubstituted oxazoles in up
to 96% yield. The substrate scope, a mechanistic study exploring the role of the
gold catalyst, and the synthetic applications of the oxazole products are discussed.
Introduction
procedures rely on telescoping, in which the consecutive ad-
dition of reactants and/or reagents gives the oxazole product
[15]
Oxazoles constitute key structures in functional molecules
with diverse applications ranging from synthetic intermedi-
in one pot.
A convenient MCR to generate propargyl
amines with potential use as oxazole precursors is the cata-
[
1]
[2]
[3]
3
ates to fluorescent probes, peptidomimetics, and new
lytic addition of alkynes to imines formed in situ ( A cou-
[
4]
materials. They are represented in natural products with
pling). The reaction proceeds with a range of catalytic sys-
[
5,6]
[16a]
[16b]
[16c]
cytotoxic and antimicrobial properties,
as exemplified by
tems including the use of copper,
silver,
zinc,
An exten-
[7]
[16d]
[16e]
[16f]
[16g]
the nanomolar-active ajudazol. In medicinal chemistry, ox-
azoles are found in anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and analge-
iron,
indium,
iridium,
and gold salts.
sion of this methodology for the direct formation of prop-
argyl amides from alkynes and nonenolizable imines in the
presence of acyl chlorides was reported by Black and Arndt-
[8]
sic agents. Classical methods for oxazole synthesis include
dehydration of a-keto amides under forcing conditions.
Recent examples of oxazole synthesis by intermolecular re-
[
6,9]
[17]
sen. Conceptually, the bridging of complexity-generating
processes, such as catalytic acetylide addition to imines and
catalytic cycloisomerizations, in a single multicomponent
domino reaction is an attractive approach for the assembly
[
10a,b]
actions include the addition of a-isocyanates to imines,
[
10c]
cycloadditions of acyl azides to alkynes,
and transition-
Methods based on
[
10d,e]
metal-catalyzed [3+2] cycloadditions.
[18]
the cyclization/isomerization of propargyl amides have been
widely studied. Variations are plentiful and include the use
of multifunctionalized structures. The present art is, how-
ever, limited to processes that incorporate the substituents
on the imine nitrogen atom into the final product. This
limits the scope of the hetereocycles accessible through this
strategy, and consequently, it has not been used for oxazole
synthesis. Herein, we present a catalytic reaction that produ-
ces oxazoles directly from readily available N-benzylimines
and commercially available alkynes and acyl chlorides
(Scheme 1). Under optimized conditions, the reaction pro-
duces trisubstituted oxazoles displaying diverse functional
groups in up to 96% yield by using as little as 1 mol% of a
[11a]
[11b–d]
[11e–h]
of alkynyl alanes,
palladium salts,
gold salts,
Lewis acids,
[11i]
[11j]
[11k]
cerium salts,
Brçnsted acids.
oxazoles include the reaction of a-amino ketones and alde-
hypervalent iodine,
and
[
11l]
Additional cyclization reactions to form
[
12a]
hydes,
situ oxidation,
lyzed
the reaction of alkynes and amines followed by in
and oxidative gold- or copper-cata-
reactions between alkynes and nitriles.
[12b]
[
12c,d]
[13]
A
C
H
T
U
N
G
T
R
E
N
N
U
N
G
A powerful tool for the rapid generation of molecular
complexity is the multicomponent reaction (MCR). Domino
MCRs to form oxazoles are rare and are often based on the
Van Leusen oxazole synthesis or Ugi-like reactions with iso-
gold
15 min.
The essence of the title reaction is captured in Scheme 1.
ACHTUNGTRENNU(GN III)–salen catalyst and with a reaction time of only
[
14]
cyanates followed by in situ cyclization.
More common
At the outset, we envisioned that a single metal complex
would serve as a catalyst (or a precatalyst) to mediate three
consecutive processes: 1) an acyl iminium–alkyne coupling
to form a propargyl amide, 2) activation of the alkyne for
cyclization to form the penultimate five-membered ring, and
[
a] H. v. . Wachenfeldt, P. Rçse, F. Paulsen, Dr. N. Loganathan,
Dr. D. Strand
Centre for Analysis and Synthesis, Department of Chemistry
Lund University, PO Box 124, 22100 Lund (Sweden)
Fax : (+46)46-222-8209
3
) isomerization of the exo-alkene formed in the cyclization
E-mail: daniel.strand@chem.lu.se
step to give the desired oxazole. The overall process would
be enabled by the loss of the sacrificial imine benzyl group
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201300019.
Chem. Eur. J. 2013, 00, 0 – 0
ꢀ 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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