Angewandte
Communications
Chemie
[
12]
acyloxy nitroso compounds onto electron-deficient alkenes
steered by the PRE (Scheme 1C).
X-ray diffraction analysis (see Table 2). Solvent screening
revealed that acetone performs best in this cascade providing
3a in 49% yield (Table 1, entries 2–7). When the reaction was
conducted with a 15 W household CFL or 10 W yellow LED,
slightly lower yields were obtained (30–40%, Table 1,
entries 8 and 9). Irradiation with a 10 W red LED gave
a similar yield (47%, Table 1, entry 10). Target 3a was not
observed upon irradiation with a 10 W green LED (Table 1,
entry 11) or in the dark (Table 1, entry 12), indicating the
importance of a suitable light source for mediating this radical
cascade. These results are in accordance with the UV/Vis
absorption spectrum of 1-nitrosocyclohexyl acetate 1a that
C-Nitroso compounds have received continuous attention
from chemists and biologists due to their interesting reac-
[
9]
tivities and important bioactivities. Acyloxy nitroso com-
pounds can be easily prepared by the reaction of oximes with
[
10]
PhI(OAc) or Pb(OAc) . The oximes in turn are readily
2
4
accessed by condensing a ketone with hydroxylamine. Nota-
bly, C-nitroso compounds have been widely used as C radical
acceptors; however, their potential as C radical precursors is
[11]
not explored.
We decided to use acyloxy nitroso com-
pounds as C radical precursors to react with electron-defi-
cient alkenes. Visible-light-induced CꢀNO bond homolysis
[
13]
shows the maximum at 667 nm in methanol. A higher yield
(56%) was obtained when the amount of a,b-unsaturated
ketone 2a was increased to 3.0 equivalents (Table 1,
entry 13). We found that the yield could be further increased
to 77% by adding 1a in three portions. By using syringe pump
technique, the amount of 2a could be reduced to 2 equiv-
alents without decreasing the yield to a large extent (Table 1,
entries 14 and 15).
should lead to an electron-rich transient C radical and the
persistent NO radical in a reversible process. In the presence
of an electrophilic alkene, the nucleophilic a-oxy-C radical
should add to the alkene and the adduct radical will be
trapped by NO in a selective radical/radical cross-coupling
steered by the PRE to give the corresponding nitrosoalkene.
Tautomerization will eventually afford the final oxime
product. Importantly, this isomerization step irreversibly
terminates the radical cascade and prevents the adduct
nitroso compound from undergoing telomerization.
With the optimized reaction conditions, we examined the
scope with respect to the acceptor component keeping 1a as
the C radical precursor. A wide range of electron-deficient
alkenes were found to be eligible acceptors in this process, as
shown in Table 2. Aryl vinyl and alkyl vinyl ketones both
performed well and the desired a-oximinoketones 3a–3e
were obtained in good yields (75–83%). Acrylates can also be
used as coupling partners, as documented by the successful
preparation of the a-oximinoesters 3 f–3k that were isolated
in moderate to good yields. As expected, with the most
electrophilic trifluoroethyl acrylate, the highest yield was
achieved (3i, 71%). The corresponding hydroxyethyl ester
provided a significantly lower yield (3j, 35%). The free
primary alcohol moiety seems to interfere with the cascade.
Transformations with other electron-deficient alkenes such as
acrylamides, vinyl sulfones, and acrylonitrile proceeded
smoothly to afford the desired products 3l–3n in 38–83%
yields. Furthermore, styrenes bearing an electron-withdraw-
ing para-substituent such as trifluoromethyl (3o), cyano, (3p)
or methoxycarbonyl (3q) on the aromatic ring reacted with
We commenced the investigations by studying the reac-
tion of 1-nitrosocyclohexyl acetate 1a with the a,b-unsatu-
rated ketone 2a (2 equivalents). For the preparation of all
nitroso compounds used in this study, see the Supporting
Information (SI). Pleasingly, in dichloromethane (DCM)
under irradiation with a 10 W white LED at room temper-
ature for 1 h, the targeted a-oximinoketone 3a was obtained
in 43% yield of isolated product as single E-isomer (Table 1,
entry 1). The structure of 3a was confirmed by single-crystal
[
a]
Table 1: Reaction optimization.
[
b]
Entry
Solvent
Lamp
Yield [%]
1
a in moderate to good yields. Notably, for the less electro-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
DCM
EtOAc
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
15 W CFL
10 W yellow LED
10 W red LED
10 W green LED
–
43
46
43
40
49
32
44
31
40
47
n.d.
n.d.
56
77
72
69
philic parent styrene, only traces of the targeted product 3r
were observed, indicating the importance of electronic effects
in the acceptor component. If the reaction of the 1a-derived
nucleophilic C radical with the acceptor is too slow, direct
trapping with NO regenerating starting 1a will be the
exclusive reaction path. Along these lines, only traces of
product 3u were observed in the reaction of 1a with the
sterically more hindered (E)-1-phenylbut-2-en-1-one. 4-
Vinylpyridine and acrolein were found to be eligible accept-
ors (3s, 67%; 3t, 86%). A natural-product-derived acrylate
prepared from dehydroepiandrosterone was successfully
applied to this reaction, delivering 3v in 39% yield.
Various acyloxy nitroso compounds were studied next in
the cascade using 1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one 2a as the radical
acceptor (Table 3). 1-Nitrosocyclohexyl pivalate and 1-nitro-
socyclohexyl 2,2,2-trifluoroacetate reacted well with 2a to
provide the desired a-oximinoketones 3w and 3x in 83% and
85% yields, showing that the acetyl protecting group can be
CH CN
3
1,4-Dioxane
Acetone
Methanol
DMF
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
Acetone
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
[
[
[
[
c]
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
10 W white LED
c,d]
c,e]
a,e]
[a] Reaction conditions: 1a (0.2 mmol), 2a (0.4 mmol, 2.0 equiv),
solvent (2.0 mL), 10 W white LED, r.t., Ar, 1 h. [b] Yield of isolated
product based on 1a. [c] 3.0 equivalents of 2a were used. [d] 1a was
added in three portions. [e] 2a was added via a syringe pump over 2 h.
8548
ꢀ 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 8547 –8551