Iridium-Catalyzed Acid-Assisted Hydrogenation of Oximes to Hydroxylamines

The diacetyliminoxyl radical in oxidative functionalization of alkenes

The intermolecular oxime radical addition to CC bonds was observed and studied for the first time. The diacetyliminoxyl radical was proposed as a model radical reagent for the study of oxime radical reactivity towards unsaturated substrates, which is important in the light of the active development of synthetic applications of oxime radicals. In the present work it was found that the diacetyliminoxyl radical reacts with vinylarenes and conjugated dienes to give radical addition products, whereas unconjugated alkenes can undergo radical addition or allylic hydrogen substitution by diacetyliminoxyl depending on the substrate structure. Remarkably, substituted alkenes give high yields of C-O coupling products despite the significant steric hindrance, whereas unsubstituted alkenes give lower yields of the C-O coupling products. The observed atypical C-O coupling yield dependence on the alkene structure was explained by the discovered ability of the diacetyliminoxyl radical to attack alkenes with the formation of a C-N bond instead of a C-O bond giving side products. This side process is not expected for sterically hindered alkenes due to lower steric availability of the N-atom in diacetyliminoxyl than that of the O-atom.

Nitrogen Trifluoride Complexes of Group 10 Transition Metals M(NF3) (M = Pd, Pt)

The group 10 transition metal atoms Pd and Pt react with nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) forming N-coordination M(NF3) complexes in solid neon and argon matrices. The M(NF3) complexes isomerize to more stable fluoronitrenoid FNMF2 isomers via fluorine migration upon blue LED (λ = 470 nm) light irradiation. These products are characterized on the basis of infrared absorption spectroscopy with isotopic substitutions and theoretical frequency calculations. The analysis of the electronic structure of nitrogen trifluoride complexes indicates that the bonding between metal and nitrogen trifluoride can be described as σ donation from the HOMO of nitrogen trifluoride to the empty metal dz2 orbital and π back-donation from the metal dxz/yz orbitals to the LUMO of nitrogen trifluoride, the latter of which stabilized the metal ligand bond and destabilized the ligand N-F bond. In FNMF2, the FN ligand doubly bonded to the metal and bear imido character.

Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Di- and Trisubstituted Hydroxylamines

As an underrepresented functional group in bioorganic and medicinal chemistry, the hydroxylamine unit has historically received little attention from the synthetic community. Recent developments, however, suggest that hydroxylamines may have broader applications such that a review covering recent developments in the synthesis of this functional group is timely. With this in mind, this review primarily covers developments in the past 15 years in the preparation of di- and trisubstituted hydroxylamines. The mechanism of the reactions and key features and shortcomings are discussed throughout the review.

Heterogeneous Catalysis as an Efficient Tool for Selective Hydrogenation of Oximes to Amines and Hydroxylamines

The synthesis of many biologically active compounds is not complete without transforming the carbonyl group into an amino group, carried out by the reaction of nucleophilic substitution with hydroxylamine at the carbonyl carbon atom and further reduction of the C–N and N–O bonds. This method eliminates nitrating agents that exhibit oxidizing properties and may cause undesirable effects on other structural fragments of complex molecules. Selective hydrogenation of oximes over heterogeneous catalysts is still one of the most useful and challenging reactions in synthetic organic chemistry to obtain amines and hydroxylamines since the 1920s when the Adam’s catalyst was first used for this reaction. In this review, we focused on the application of heterogeneous catalysts for the hydrogenation of oximes in relation to the methods applied for pharmaceutical synthesis.

Synthesis of N-alkoxy amines and hydroxylamines via the iridium-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of oximes

Cationic iridium (Ir) complexes were found to catalyze the transfer hydrogenation of oximes to access N-alkoxy amines and hydroxylamines, and the reaction was accelerated by trifluoroacetic acid. The practical application of this protocol was demonstrated by a gram-scale transformation and two-step synthesis of the fungicide furmecyclox (BAS 389F) in overall yields of 92 and 85%, respectively. An asymmetric protocol using chiral Ir complexes to afford chiral N-alkoxy amines was demonstrated, but the low yields/ee obtained indicated that further development was required.

Asymmetric hydrogenation of TIPS-protected oximes with chiral boranes

An enantioselective metal-free hydrogenation of TIPS-protected oximes has been successfully realized for the first time by using chiral borane catalysts derived from chiral dienes and Piers' borane. A variety of hydroxylamine derivatives were afforded in 84-99% yields with 33-68% ees.

A multifaceted approach towards understanding the peculiar behavior of (α)-hydroxyiminophosphonates

A unique multifaceted approach involving the interplay of NMR, XRD, LC, DFT and MS/IM-MS techniques toward the understanding of the peculiar isomer-selective reduction of (α)-hydroxyiminophosphonates into (α)-hydroxyaminophosphonate derivatives.

Catalytic Reduction of Oximes to Hydroxylamines: Current Methods, Challenges and Opportunities

Catalytic reduction of oximes represents a direct efficient approach to synthesize valuable hydroxylamine derivatives. However this transformation presents significant challenges: oximes are hard to reduce and, if reactive, reductive cleavage of the weak N−O bond often leads to primary amine side products. The first suitable systems involved the use of platinum‐based heterogeneous catalysts with hydrogen as reductant and stoichiometric amounts of a strong Brønsted acid. More recently metal‐free and transition‐metal‐based homogeneous catalysts have been developed, which display the highest turnovers (up to 4000). In the asymmetric variants, the E/Z‐geometry of the oxime double bond affects significantly the stereoselectivity, sometimes requiring extra synthetic efforts in substrate preparation. This minireview provides an overview of the advances and limitations in catalytic oxime to hydroxylamine reduction. Emphasis is put on highlighting and comparing the practical aspects of the existing methods, such as their reaction conditions and substrate scope. Additionally, future directions for improving this young research area are suggested.

Direct reductive amination of ketones with ammonium salt catalysed by Cp*Ir(III) complexes bearing an amidato ligand

A series of half-sandwich Ir(III) complexes 1-6 bearing an amidato bidentate ligand were conveniently synthesized and applied to the catalytic Leuckart-Wallach reaction to produce racemic α-chiral primary amines. With 0.1 mol% of complex 1, a broad range of ketones, including aryl ketones, dialkyl ketones, cyclic ketones, α-keto acids, α-keto esters and diketones, could be transformed to their corresponding primary amines with moderate to excellent yields (40%-95%). Asymmetric transformation was also attempted with chiral Ir complexes 3-6, and 16% ee of the desired primary amine was obtained. Despite the unsatisfactory enantio-control achieved so far, the current exploration might stimulate more efforts towards the discovery of better chiral catalysts for this challenging but important transformation.

Atropo-Enantioselective Oxidation-Enabled Iridium(III)-Catalyzed C-H Arylations with Aryl Boronic Esters

Atropo-enantioselective biaryl coupling through C-H bond functionalization is an emerging technology allowing direct construction of axially chiral molecules. This approach is largely limited to electrophilic coupling partners. We report a highly atropo-enantioselective C-H arylation of tetralone derivatives paired with aryl boronic esters as nucleophilic components. The transformation is catalyzed by chiral cyclopentadienyl (Cpx ) iridium(III) complexes and enabled by oxidatively enhanced reductive elimination from high-valent cyclometalated Ir-species.