ACS Catalysis
Research Article
esters.17 The substrate with a formyl or acetyl group could be
transformed in good yield into 8 or 9. In the case of 9, the
reaction was performed at 25 °C to suppress the formation of
an α-arylated byproduct. Cyano and nitro groups could poison
a palladium catalyst. While a substrate with a cyano group was
converted into arylsilane 10 in good yield, arylsilane 11 with a
nitro group was obtained only in moderate yield. Fluoro and
vinyl substituents were also confirmed to be compatible (12,
13). Substrates with electron-rich substituents, such as
methoxy (p-, m-, and o-OMe)-, silyloxy-, amino-, and amido-
substituted aryls, were generally transformed into arylsilanes
(14−19). A wide range of heteroaryl trimethylsilanes could
also be synthesized under our silylation reaction (Table 2B).
Electron-rich heteroarenes, such as benzofuran 20, benzothio-
phene 21, N-(p-toluenesulfonyl)indole 22, and N-methylpyr-
rolopyridine 23, were obtained in excellent yields. A sterically
hindered pyrazole was converted to the silylated product 24,
albeit in moderate yield (53%). Electron-deficient heteroarenes
were also compatible. The conditions were amenable to the
syntheses of quinoline 25, as well as pyridine 26 and
pyrimidines 27 and 28. As an entry to alkenes, β-bromostyrene
could be transformed into the trimethylsilylated derivative 29
(Table 2C). The reaction was also applicable to the synthesis
of known biologically relevant compounds (Table 2D).
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor zifrosilone18 (30) was synthe-
sized from the commercially available 3′-bromo-2,2,2-trifluor-
omethylacetophenone in good yield. A potent inhibitor of the
drug-resistant S31N mutant of the M2 ion channel of influenza
A virus 3119 was synthesized from the corresponding aryl
bromide even in the presence of a free hydroxy and a
secondary amino group.
a b
,
Table 1. Optimization of the Reaction Conditions
In an attempt to demonstrate the applicability of our
method to the late-stage silylation, we tested several drugs and
drug-like molecules containing aryl bromides (Table 2E).
Trimethylsilylated analogs of sulfadimethoxine 32 and ataluren
33 were synthesized in 77% and 53% respective yields from the
corresponding aryl bromides. The bromide moiety of SC-558
was similarly converted to a trimethylsilyl group to give a
celecoxib analog 34 in 76% yield. Nicergoline was also
trimethylsilylated to give an ergot alkaloid analog 35 in 64%
yield. An increased amount of the catalyst and silylsilanolate
was required for ataluren and celecoxib analogs, whose
oxadiazole and sulfonamide moieties might work inhibitively
to the catalyst. Thus, in the case of the ataluren analog, the
slower rate of the coupling reaction seemed to result in partial
hydrolysis of the ester moiety in 33. The sila-analog of
fenazaquin 36,20 in which a tert-butyl group is replaced with a
trimethylsilyl group, was analogously synthesized from the
corresponding aryl bromide in excellent yield. Just to compare
the functional group tolerance, the known palladium-catalyzed
silylation conditions8h using hexamethyldisilane were applied
for the syntheses of relatively functionalized 28 and 32, which
resulted in 31 and 34% respective yields. The reaction
proceeded in concomitant with the formation of the reduced
products both in ca. 30% yields with about 30% recovery of the
starting material (see the Supporting Information (SI)). These
results indicate that the new silylation strategy using sodium
silylsilanolate is suitable for the highly versatile syntheses of
sila-analogs of bioactive molecules.
a
1
Yields were determined by H NMR using 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene
b
as an internal standard. Isolated yield (0.50 mmol scale).
the reaction was examined first. Monodentate ligands, PCy3,
CyJohnPhos, and JohnPhos afforded 6 in competitive yet
lower yields (51−81%) (entries 3−5).
An acceptable result was also obtained with N-heterocyclic
carbene complex (IPr)Pd(allyl)Cl as a catalyst (73%) (entry
6). A bidentate phosphine ligand, dppe, was ineffective (7%) in
the current reaction system (entry 7). Use of lithium
silylsilanolate Li+1− or potassium silylsilanolate K+1− showed
lower efficiency (entries 8 and 9), which underscored the
importance of the choice of the countercation for efficient
silylation. The reaction in toluene was similarly efficient (74%),
while low yields were observed in THF and CH3CN with the
recovery of most of the substrates (entries 10−12) in
concomitant with the formation of the reduced product
(<20%). No conversion of 5 was observed in the absence of a
palladium catalyst (entry 13).
Next, we explored the reaction scope with respect to aryl
bromides (Table 2A). Silylation of 5 could be run even on a
5.0 mmol scale to afford 6 in excellent yield (92%). The
reaction could tolerate various electronic and steric properties
of substituents (6−11). Esters in 6 and 7 survived the
silylation conditions. This outcome is intriguing given that
trimethylsilanolates are generally used for the hydrolysis of
We applied the optimized silylation conditions to other aryl
halides and pseudohalides (Table 3). For electron-deficient
arenes, iodide, triflate, and chloride were silylated to provide 6
in high yields. Iodide could be transformed even at 25 °C. For
10097
ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 10095−10103