Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201304921
Organocatalysis
À
Arylation of Diazoesters by a Transient N H Insertion
Organocascade**
Tyler J. Auvil, Sonia S. So, and Anita E. Mattson*
Cascade catalysis is a powerful tool demonstrated both by
nature and chemists alike to generate complex products
The geminal diaryl functionality is frequently found in
bioactive target molecules, and several drugs already com-
mercially available to treat a variety of diseases contain this
[
1]
through sequential catalytic processes. These processes
benefit from the efficiency of catalyzing multiple steps in
a single flask for the rapid construction of molecular complex-
ity without the necessity of intermediate isolation. Autotan-
dem catalytic methods are cascade processes employed to
promote two or more distinct reactions with a single cata-
[
5]
structural motif. Specific examples include the antidepres-
sant Zoloft, and anticancer agents Femara and Etoposide.
Aware of the therapeutic significance and synthetic chal-
lenges associated with preparing unsymmetrical geminal
[
6]
diaryl frameworks, we focused the development of transient
insertion organocascade catalysis on arylation reactions of
diazo compounds. The working hypothesis was that an
appropriate amine could trigger urea-catalyzed arylation
[2]
lyst. Inspired by the demonstrated power of autotandem
[
3]
organocascade catalysis, we sought to invoke a fundamen-
tally novel sequence taking advantage of catalytic transient
carbene activation. More specifically, we envisioned activat-
[7]
reactions of diazo compounds (1) through transient NÀH
[4]
[8,9]
ing a species having carbene character by a urea-catalyzed
insertion intermediates
(4; Scheme 2). To the best of our
insertion reaction with an appropriate carbene activator to
generate a transient intermediate which would then enter
into a second distinct cycle for further functionalization
(
Scheme 1). Successful development of this process would
Scheme 2. Double arylation of nitrodiazoesters through transient NÀH
insertion organocascade catalysis.
Scheme 1. Transient carbene activation cascade catalysis.
knowledge, cascade reactions proceeding through transient
carbene insertion intermediates had not been reported at the
onset of our investigations. The testing of the feasibility of our
hypothesis began with investigating anilines as carbene
afford a straightforward organocatalytic route to synthetically
challenging structural motifs from simple starting materials,
and also expose the potential of transient carbene insertion
reactions as innovative tools in organocatalytic method
development. Herein, we detail our breakthrough discoveries
in urea-catalyzed transient NÀH insertion reactions for the
[
10]
activators of nitrodiazoesters.
Our studies began with the preparation of 2a by the
double arylation of ethyl nitrodiazoacetate (1a) with 5-
methoxyindole and 5-bromoindole in the presence of
[
11,12]
controlled functionalization of nitrodiazoesters.
20 mol% of the boronate urea 3a
and an aniline activator
(Table 1). Our first attempt afforded a disappointing 12% of
the desired adduct 2a when aniline was employed as the
carbene activator (entry 1). Further examination of the
reaction led us to identify participation of the aniline activator
in the diarylation reaction. Next, we turned to p-substituted
anilines, activators less likely to be involved in undesired
arylation pathways. Indeed, the strategic choice of activators
proved fruitful and we were delighted to find that activation
of 1a with p-anisidine gave rise to 73% of 2a (entry 2).
Additional tuning of the aniline led us to 4-fluoroaniline as an
even better carbene activator (entry 3), potentially because of
its better leaving ability. The necessity of an aniline activator
able to undergo NÀH insertion with the diazoester 1a is clear:
[
*] T. J. Auvil, S. S. So, Prof. Dr. A. E. Mattson
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
The Ohio State University
100 W. 18th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 (USA)
E-mail: mattson@chemistry.ohio-state.edu
Homepage: http://mattson.group.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/
[
**] The Ohio State University Department of Chemistry and Biochem-
istry and Donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum
Research Fund are gratefully acknowledged for supporting this
research. Prof. J. Fox (University of Delaware) is thanked for
insightful discussions.
a 0% yield of 2a was observed when 2,6-dimethylaniline, an
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 1 – 6
ꢀ 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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