Oxidative Cross-Dehydrogenative-Coupling
FULL PAPER
troamine 5 and starting amine 4 was confirmed by ether ex-
traction of the final solution and NMR analysis of the crude
product.
clearly that the cation 6 has been preformed in [BMIm]-
AHCTUNGTNERNU[G BF ] (cation pool) by complete oxidation of 4. Then, the
4
addition of two equivalents of nitromethane and triethyl-
amine to the ionic liquid cation pool produced the b-nitro-
amine 5 in an 80% NMR yield with high current efficiency
(Scheme 3).
According to the electrolysis and voltammetric results,
[3]
and literature precedent, a reaction mechanism can be
postulated as shown in Scheme 2. It involves the generation
+
of the radical cation 4 C by a one-electron oxidation of
amine 4 which would be deprotonated to the radical inter-
mediate (4C) by the amine 4. Thus, one equivalent each of
+
radical 4C and protonated amine 4H would be formed. The
neutral radical 4C would be further oxidized to the iminium
cation 6. In the absence of Et N, there is no nucleophile
3
present in the solution to react with the iminium cation 6
+
and the charged species 4H and 6 are much more soluble
in the ionic liquid than in diethyl ether. The protonated
+
amine 4H is not oxidized in the potential region studied as
evidenced by the absence of an oxidation peak in the CV of
+
À
4
H
BF4 in [BMIm] AHCTUNGERTNNUGN[ BF ] (voltammogram not shown). In
4
+
the presence of two equivalents of Et N, 4H and nitrome-
3
thane would be deprotonated to regenerate the starting
amine 4 and form the nucleophilic nitronate anion. The
latter then would react with the iminium cation 6 to gener-
ate the desired b-nitroamine 5. Hence a total of one elec-
tron per molecule of amine 4 is consumed to produce an
equimolar amount of b-nitroamine 5 and starting amine 4.
Scheme 3. Results of the cation pool method in an ionic liquid.
+
A similar mechanism involving the radical cation 4 C and
To evaluate further the potential of this new cation-pool
the radical 4C might also take place in the copper-catalyzed
method, we investigated the formation of a CÀP bond using
aerobic chemical cross-dehydrogenative-coupling reaction.
In fact, the addition of radical scavengers such as 2,2,6,6-tet-
ramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) and 4-methyl-2,6-di-
tert-butylphenol (BHT) to the standard conditions of
copper-catalyzed nitro-Mannich reaction decreased signifi-
cantly the yield of the coupling product in both ionic liquid
and water. There would be a competition between oxidation
of the radical 4C to the iminium cation 6 and its reaction
with the scavengers (coupling with TEMPO and H-abstrac-
tion from BHT).
Taking the proposed mechanism in consideration, we
postulated the possibility of generating and accumulating
diethylphosphite as nucleophile in place of the conjugate
base of nitromethane using the same conditions and proce-
[14]
dure described above. The biologically important a-ami-
nophosphonate 7 was synthesized in 85% yield with high
current efficiency (Scheme 3). This result demonstrates the
efficiency of the cation-pool method in ionic liquid. In fact,
when Geniꢃs et al. reported the electrochemical oxidative
phosphonation of ring-substituted N,N-dimethyl anilines in
[3h,i]
acetonitriles,
the desired a-aminophosphonates were ob-
tained only in moderate yields (<30%) with moderate cur-
rent efficiencies. It is important to note that the addition of
nitromethane or diethylphosphite with the chemically pre-
formed iminum salt 6 generated also the desired coupling
products with high efficiency (see Supporting Information).
carbocations electrochemically in [BMIm] ACHTUNGTERNNUN[G BF ] in the ab-
4
[4]
sence of nucleophiles (ꢂꢂcation pool’’). Since the conditions
described above were producing 50% of unreactive proton-
+
ated amine 4H , we envisaged the addition of triethylamine
in the electrolysis solution. The addition of such a base to
Conclusion
the iminium cation 6 would be reversible and the base
+
would then deprotonate 4H to regenerate the starting
To conclude, we have demonstrated that ionic liquids and in
amine 4 which would allow the complete anodic oxidation
of amine 4 to the iminium cation 6. Cyclic voltammetric
studies demonstrated that triethylamine was not oxidized at
the selected potential. Consequently, triethylamine was
particular [BMIm] ACHTUNGERTNNUNG[ BF ] are highly effective solvents for
4
copper-catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC)
with oxygen as terminal oxidant. By using ionic liquids as
such, both the solvent and the copper catalyst can be recy-
cled nine times without significant lost of activity. Further-
more, we have also demonstrated the possibility of using an
electrochemical method rather than a metal catalyst to carry
out CDC in ionic liquids as solvent and electrolyte. Finally,
a detailed mechanism of the anodic nitro-Mannich carbonÀ
added to the [BMIm]
ACHTUNGTNERUNNG[ BF ] ionic liquid containing the amine
4
4
and the reaction mixture was subjected to potentiostatic
anodic oxidation. The coulometric measurements corre-
sponded to the expected consumption of two electrons per
molecule of 4. The starting amine 4 and the protonated
+
amine 4H were not detected and only the iminium cation
carbon bond formation process was described. Further stud-
ies for the detection and the characterization of proposed
6
reduction peak could be observed in the CV, thus showing
Chem. Eur. J. 2010, 16, 8162 – 8166
ꢁ 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
8165