Terminal Acetylenic Iminium Salts: Cycloaddition Reactions with Azides Leading to 1,2,3-Triazoles and Bicyclic 1,2,3-Triazolium Salts

Iminium-substituted 2,3-dihydroisoxazoles: synthesis from acetylenic iminium salts and nitrones, and some transformations

Iminium-functionalized 2,3-dihydroisoxazoles (4-isoxazolines) were prepared in high yields by [3+2] cycloaddition of N-methyl-C-phenylnitrone and acetylenic iminium salts. Conversion of the very hygroscopic cycloadducts into neutral compounds was achieved by hydrolysis or hydride reduction of the iminium functional group. By a thermal rearrangement, the cycloadducts were converted into 2,3-dihydro-1H-imidazolium salts. With C,N-diphenylnitrone as the reaction partner, the expected cycloadduct, a [(2,3-dihydroisoxazol-4-yl)-1-(phenyl)methylene]-N,N-dimethylammonium triflate, could be prepared at −75°C and was characterized by NMR. This product was found to be thermally unstable above −30°C, being converted into an inseparable product mixture. Basic hydrolysis of this mixture afforded a structurally interesting acyclic enaminone/half-aminal, which is likely derived from a 2,3-dihydro-1,3-oxazole.

Mechanochemical Synthesis of Tripodal Tris[4-(1,2,3-triazol-5-ylidene)methyl]amine Mesoionic Carbene Ligands and Their Complexation with Silver(I)

The conjugate acids of 1,2,3-triazolylidene mesoionic carbenes can be prepared in a straightforward fashion by alkylation of 1-substituted 1,2,3-triazoles. However, this becomes a much more challenging proposition when other nucleophilic centers are present, which has curtailed the development of ligands containing multiple 1,2,3-triazolylidene donors. Herein, methylation of a series of tris[(1-aryl-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methyl]amines possessing both electron-rich and electron-deficient aromatic substituents, using Me₃OBF₄, is shown to proceed with much higher chemoselectivity under mechanochemical conditions than when conducted in solution. This provides a means to reliably access a series of tricationic tris[4-(1,2,3-triazolium)methyl]amines in good yields. DFT calculations suggest that a potential reason for this change in regioselectivity is the difference between the background dielectric of the DCM solution versus the solid state, which is predicted to have a large effect on the relative thermodynamic driving force for alkylation of the tertiary amine center versus the triazole rings. Homoleptic silver complexes of the triazolylidene ligands derived therefrom, of formulas [Ag₃(1a-d)₂](X)₃ (X^- = BF₄^-, TfO^-), have been isolated and fully characterized. In the case of the ligand bearing the smallest aryl substituents, 1b, argentophilic interactions yield a triangular Ag₃ core. The [Ag₃(1a-d)₂](X)₃ silver salts are viable agents for transmetalation to other transition metals, demonstrated here for cobalt. In the case of 1a, the complex [Co^II(1a)(NCMe)](OTf)₂ was obtained. Therein, the bulky mesityl substituents enforce a tetrahedral geometry, in which only the triazolylidene donors of 1a coordinate (i.e., it acts as a tridentate ligand). Transmetalation of the less sterically encumbered ligand 1b yields six-coordinate cobalt(III) complexes, [Co^III(1b)(Cl)(NCMe)](OTf)₂ and [Co^III(1b)(NCMe)₂](OTf)₃, in which the ligand coordinates in a tetradentate fashion. These are the first examples of tris(1,2,3-triazolylidene) ligands containing an additional coordinating heteroatom and, more generally, of tetradentate 1,2,3-triazolylidene ligands. Crucially, we believe that the divergent chemoselectivity under mechanochemical conditions (vs conventional solution-based chemistry) demonstrated herein offers a pathway by which other challenging synthetic targets, including further multidentate carbene ligands, can be prepared in superior yields.

Iminium-functionalized 1,2,3-triazoles by [3+2] cycloaddition reactions of internal acetylenic iminium triflates with organoazides

Propyne iminium triflates 1–6 react as dipolarophiles in thermal [3 + 2]-cycloadditions with sufficiently electron rich organoazides to form 1,4,5-trisubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles with iminium functionalization. The reactions require rather strong thermal activation, but can be accelerated by microwave irradiation. The regioselectivity of the cycloaddition at the internal acetylenic bond of 3-cyclopropylpropyne and 3-arylpropyne iminium ions (1–3 and 4, respectively) is very high, but is lowered in the presence of sterically demanding substituents at the opposite end of the iminium-substituted C,C triple bond. The iminium-functionalized triazoles can easily be transformed into neutral compounds; herein reported is the formation of triazolyl ketones 10 by hydrolysis and of tertiary triazolyldimethyl amines 12 by LiAlH4 reduction. When the reduction is performed with sodium boranate or sodium cyanoboranate, amine–borane complexes 15 and 16 are obtained.