Organic Process Research & Development
Communication
place of the heavier and more expensive iodide 1. However, the
desired Mg−Br exchange was not observed in the presence of
iPrMgCl·LiCl within 1 h at 0 °C or room temperature. When
the reaction mixture was warmed to 60 °C, a small quantity
(20% yield) of the desired exchange product was formed in 1
h, rendering this process too slow for use in flow processing
even at elevated temperature (Scheme 2c).
Scheme 2. Attempted Modifications of the C-Glycosylation
Process
a
Finally, a combination of Grignard reagent (for N
protection) and organolithium (for Li−Br exchange) was
examined in order to identify a suitable alternative to the
current conditions (Scheme 2d). In the case of nBuLi,
complete exchange was achieved only at −80 °C. Reactions
at −40 and 0 °C showed only 46% and 18% Mg−Br exchange,
respectively. This was attributed to reaction with the N-TMS
groups at higher temperatures. Furthermore, these results
appeared to be irreproducible and likely were strongly
dependent on the addition period, as reported elsewhere.6b
Alternative organolithium reagents (MeLi and MeLi·LiBr)
showed no Li−Br exchange. Since the attempted modifications
showed no clear advantage over the originally reported
conditions,3 the original choice of reagents (TMSCl, PhMgCl,
and iPrMgCl) were maintained for the transition to flow. It
should be noted that because of safety concerns surrounding
benzene formation, an alternative Grignard reagent (e.g.,
tolylmagnesium chloride) would be preferable for larger-scale
development work.
Nucleophilic Addition: Impurities and Analysis. After
the formation of the heteroaryl Grignard reagent, its addition
to 2,3,5-tri-O-benzyl-D-ribonolactone 2 furnishes the desired
glycosylated compound 3. As mentioned in previous reports,
this step has several key challenges for reaction with an
organometallic reagent (Scheme 3). Primarily, the α-proton of
this lactone is relatively acidic, favoring deprotonation by the
Grignard reagent rather than nucleophilic attack. The products
of this pathway are simply the starting pyrrolotriazinamine 7
and the enolate form of lactone 2a, which returns the starting
material 2 upon acidic quench.
Additional complications arising from the proposed ketone
intermediate 3a were also observed. Since this intermediate is
more electrophilic than the starting material 2, it is prone to
undergo reaction with the heteroaryl Grignard or any
remaining Grignard from the previous step. This results in
the two major impurities 8 and 9, respectively. To control
these impurities, it may be advantageous to maintain an excess
of lactone 2.
a
(a) N-Benzyl protection resulted in two isomers, 5a and 5b.
Glycosylation of 5a provided potentially promising results (see the
heteroaryl iodide resulted in a mixture of deprotonation and Mg−I
exchange. (c) Unsuccessful Mg−Br exchange provided only minor
arylmagnesium formation even at elevated temperatures and
lengthened reaction times. (d) Combination of Grignard and
organolithium reagents provided irreproducible results or no
exchange.
It is noteworthy that this ketone intermediate 3a has not
been previously proposed but is likely to be present under
nonacidic conditions. In the 13C NMR spectrum of product 3
in DMSO-d6, a signal at 189.0 ppm was observed, clearly
indicating the presence of a ketone. In contrast, the NMR
spectrum in CDCl3 showed no peaks above 160 ppm, implying
the presence of the furanose form 3 (see the Supporting
Flow Process Optimization. During the initial reaction
analysis, a key focus was placed upon the prevention of solid
formation, which would render this process incompatible with
straightforward flow processing.15 Thus, it was identified that
the HCl salt (proposed structure 1a, which arises from mixing
the heterocycle 1 with TMSCl) could be avoided by premixing
TMSCl with PhMgCl prior to addition of heterocycle 1. It is
assumed that this instantly quenches any formed HCl, so the
basic pyrrolotriazinamine nitrogen atoms remain free. The
reaction appeared to be unaffected by the time allowed for
represent a useful method for future work, yet optimization of
the N-benzyl protection step would be required for it to be
synthetically useful.
In the published procedure,3 PhMgCl is used as a base to
facilitate the initial deprotonation/N-TMS protection. In view
of the relatively high molecular weight of this Grignard reagent
and its toxic byproduct (benzene), alternatives were examined.
Ideally, it would be possible to simply use 3 equiv of the same
Grignard reagent to perform the deprotonation and Mg−I
exchange, simplifying the process (Scheme 2b). However, in
our hands, the Mg−I exchange appeared to be rapid when an
alkyl Grignard (e.g., EtMgCl) was used, even in the presence of
two acidic NH groups. The formed heteroaryl Grignard 1c was
observed to quench itself, presumably through deprotonation
of an NH in another substrate molecule.
Considering the rapid Mg−I exchange, it was envisaged that
this reaction could be performed using heteroaryl bromide 6 in
C
Org. Process Res. Dev. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX