Cu(I)-catalyzed sequential diamination and dehydrogenation of terminal olefins: a facile approach to imidazolinones

Nitrogen-Centered Radicals in Functionalization of sp2 Systems: Generation, Reactivity, and Applications in Synthesis

The chemistry of nitrogen-centered radicals (NCRs) has plentiful applications in organic synthesis, and they continue to expand as our understanding of these reactive species increases. The utility of these reactive intermediates is demonstrated in the recent advances in C-H amination and the (di)amination of alkenes. Synthesis of previously challenging structures can be achieved by efficient functionalization of sp² moieties without prefunctionalization, allowing for faster and more streamlined synthesis. This Review addresses the generation, reactivity, and application of NCRs, including, but not limited to, iminyl, aminyl, amidyl, and aminium species. Contributions from early discovery up to the most recent examples have been highlighted, covering radical initiation, thermolysis, photolysis, and, more recently, photoredox catalysis. Radical-mediated intermolecular amination of (hetero)arenes can occur with a variety of complex amine precursors, generating aniline derivatives, an important class of structures for drug discovery and development. Functionalization of olefins is achievable in high anti-Markovnikov regioselectivity and allows access to difunctionalized structures when the intermediate carbon radicals are trapped. Additionally, the reactivity of NCRs can be harnessed for the rapid construction of N-heterocycles such as pyrrolidines, phenanthridines, quinoxalines, and quinazolinones.

Cross-Coupling of Heteroatomic Electrophiles

At the advent of cross-coupling chemistry, carbon electrophiles based on halides or pseudohalides were the only suitable electrophilic coupling partners. Almost two decades passed before the first cross-coupling reaction of heteroatom-based electrophiles was reported. Early work by Murai and Tanaka initiated investigations into silicon electrophiles. Narasaka and Johnson pioneered the way in the use of nitrogen electrophiles, while Suginome began the exploration of boron electrophiles. The chemistry reviewed within provides perspective on the use of heteroatomic electrophiles, specifically silicon-, nitrogen-, boron-, oxygen-, and phosphorus-based electrophiles in transition-metal catalyzed cross-coupling. For the purposes of this review, a loose definition of cross-coupling is utilized; all reactions minimally proceed via an oxidative addition event. Although not cross-coupling in a traditional sense, we have also included catalyzed reactions that join a heteroatomic electrophile with an in situ generated nucleophile. However, for brevity, those involving hydroamination or C-H activation as a key step are largely excluded. This work includes primary references published up to and including October 2018.

Synthesis of Imidazolidin-2-ones and Imidazol-2-ones via Base-Catalyzed Intramolecular Hydroamidation of Propargylic Ureas under Ambient Conditions

The first organo-catalyzed synthesis of imidazolidin-2-ones and imidazol-2-ones via intramolecular hydroamidation of propargylic ureas is reported. The phosphazene base BEMP turned out to be the most active organo-catalyst compared with guanidine and amidine bases. Excellent chemo- and regioselectivities to five-membered cyclic ureas have been achieved under ambient conditions, with a wide substrate scope and exceptionally short reaction times (down to 1 min). A base-mediated isomerization step to an allenamide intermediate is the most feasible reaction pathway to give imidazol-2-ones, as suggested by DFT studies.

Copper-Catalyzed Alkene Aminoazidation as a Rapid Entry to 1,2-Diamines and Installation of an Azide Reporter onto Azahetereocycles

A copper-catalyzed aminoazidation of unactivated alkenes is achieved for the synthesis of versatile unsymmetrical 1,2-diamine derivatives. This transformation offers an effective approach to installing an amide and an azide from two diffenent amino precursors onto both terminal and internal alkenes, with remarkable regio- and stereoselectivity. Mechanistic studies show that this diamination reaction proceeds via a nucleophilic amino cyclization followed by an intermolecular C-N bond formation using electrophilic azidoiodinane. This pathway differs from previous azidoiodinane-initiated alkene functionalization, suggesting new reactivity of azidoiodinane. Furthermore, this aminoazidation reaction provides an efficient strategy to introduce azide, one of the most useful chemical reporters, onto a broad range of bioactive azaheterocycles, offering new opportunities in bioorthogonal chemistry and biological studies. Rapid syntheses of 5-HT2C agonist, (-)-enduracididine and azido-cholesterol derivatives demonstrate broad applications of this method in organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology.

PCl3-mediated synthesis of green/cyan fluorescent protein chromophores using amino acids

An efficient synthesis of green and cyan fluorescent protein chromophores from l-tyrosine and l-tryptophan using PCl₃ has been successfully developed.

Catalytic diamination of olefins via N-N bond activation

Vicinal diamines are important structural motifs present in various biologically and chemically significant molecules. Direct diamination of olefins provides an effective approach to this class of compounds. Unlike well-established oxidation processes such as epoxidation, dihydroxylation, and aminohydroxylation, direct diamination of olefins had remained a long-standing challenge and had been less well developed.

In this Account, we summarize our recent studies on Pd(0)- and Cu(I)-catalyzed diaminations of olefins using di-tert-butyldiaziridinone and its related analogues as nitrogen sources via N–N bond activation. A wide variety of imidazolidinones, cyclic sulfamides, indolines, imidazolinones, and cyclic guanidines can be obtained from conjugated dienes and terminal olefins. For conjugated dienes, the diamination proceeds regioselectively at the internal double bond with the Pd(0) catalyst. Mechanistic studies show that the diamination likely involves a four-membered Pd(II) species resulting from the insertion of Pd(0) into the N–N bond of di-tert-butyldiaziridinone. Interestingly, the Cu(I)-catalyzed process occurs regioselectively at either the terminal or internal double bond depending on the reaction conditions via two mechanistically distinct pathways. The Cu(I) catalyst cleaves the N–N bond of di-tert-butyldiaziridinone to form a Cu(II) nitrogen radical and a four-membered Cu(III) species, which are likely in rapid equilibrium. The Cu(II) nitrogen radical and the four-membered Cu(III) species lead to the terminal and internal diamination, respectively.

Terminal olefins are effectively C–H diaminated at the allylic and homoallylic carbons with Pd(0) as catalyst and di-tert-butyldiaziridinone as nitrogen source, likely involving a diene intermediate generated in situ from the terminal olefin via formation of a π-allyl Pd complex and subsequent β-hydride elimination. When di-tert-butylthiadiaziridine 1,1-dioxide is used as nitrogen source, cyclic sulfamides are installed at the terminal carbons via a dehydrogenative diamination process. When α-methylstyrenes (lacking homoallylic hydrogens) react with Pd(0) and di-tert-butyldiaziridinone, spirocyclic indolines are formed with generation of four C–N bonds and one spiro quaternary carbon via allylic and aromatic C–H amination.

With Cu(I) catalysts, various terminal olefins can be effectively diaminated at the double bonds using di-tert-butyldiaziridinone, di-tert-butylthiadiaziridine 1,1-dioxide, and 1,2-di-tert-butyl-3-(cyanimino)-diaziridine as nitrogen sources, giving a variety of imidazolidinones, cyclic sulfamides, and cyclic guanidines in good yields, respectively. In the case of monosubstituted olefins using di-tert-butyldiaziridinone as nitrogen source, the resulting diamination products (imidazolidinones) are readily dehydrogenated under the reaction conditions, leading to the corresponding imidazolinones in good yields. Esters can also be diaminated to form the corresponding hydantoins with di-tert-butyldiaziridinone in the presence of a Cu(I) catalyst. A radical mechanism is likely to be operating in these Cu(I)-catalyzed reaction processes.

Asymmetric processes have also been developed for the Pd(0)- and Cu(I)-catalyzed diamination reactions. Biologically active compounds such as (+)-CP-99,994 and Sch 425078 have been synthesized via the diamination processes. The diamination reactions described herein provide efficient methods to access a wide variety of vicinal diamines from readily available olefins and show great potential for synthetic applications.