Structure, Synthesis, and Properties of Some Persubstituted 1,2-Dintroethanes. In Quest of Nitrocyclopropyl-Anion Derivatives

Spirocyclic Nitroxides as Versatile Tools in Modern Natural Sciences: From Synthesis to Applications. Part I. Old and New Synthetic Approaches to Spirocyclic Nitroxyl Radicals

Spirocyclic nitroxyl radicals (SNRs) are stable paramagnetics bearing spiro-junction at a-, b-, or g-carbon atom of the nitroxide fragment, which is part of the heterocyclic system. Despite the fact that the first representatives of SNRs were obtained about 50 years ago, the methodology of their synthesis and their usage in chemistry and biochemical applications have begun to develop rapidly only in the last two decades. Due to the presence of spiro-function in the SNRs molecules, the latter have increased stability to various reducing agents (including biogenic ones), while the structures of the biradicals (SNBRs) comprises a rigid spiro-fused core that fixes mutual position and orientation of nitroxide moieties that favors their use in dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) experiments. This first review on SNRs will give a glance at various strategies for the synthesis of spiro-substituted, mono-, and bis-nitroxides on the base of six-membered (piperidine, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline, 9,9'(10H,10H')-spirobiacridine, piperazine, and morpholine) or five-membered (2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrole, pyrrolidine, 2,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole, 4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole, imidazolidine, and oxazolidine) heterocyclic cores.

Stereoselective Preparation of Six Diastereomeric Quatercyclopropanes from Bicyclopropylidene and Some Derivatives

Diastereomeric meso- and d,l-bis(bicyclopropylidenyl) (5) were obtained upon oxidation with oxygen of a higher-order cuprate generated from lithiobicyclopropylidene (4) in 50 and 31 % yield, respectively. Their perdeuterated analogues meso-[D(14)]- and d,l-[D(14)]-5 were obtained along the same route from perdeuterated bicyclopropylidene [D(8)]-3 (synthesized in six steps in 7.4 % overall yield from [D(8)]-THF) in 20.5 % yield each. Dehalogenative coupling of 1,1-dibromo-2-cyclopropylcyclopropane (6) gave a mixture of all possible stereoisomers of 1,5-dicyclopropylbicyclopropylidene 16 in 69 % yield, from which (Z)-cis-16 was separated by preparative gas chromatography (26 % yield). The crystal structure of meso-5 looks like a superposition of the crystal structures of two outer bicyclopropylidene units (3) and one inner s-trans-bicyclopropyl unit, whereas the two outer cyclopropyl moieties adopt a gauche orientation with respect to the cyclopropane rings at the inner bicyclopropylidene units in (Z)-cis-16. Birch reduction with lithium in liquid ammonia of meso-5 and d,l-5 gave two pairs of diastereomeric quatercyclopropanes trans,trans-(R*,S*,R*, S*)-17/cis,trans-(R*,S*,R*,R*)-18 and trans,trans-(R*,S*,S*,R*)-19/cis,trans-(R*,S*,S*,S*)-20 in 97 and 76 % yield, respectively, in a ratio 9:1 for every pair. The latter diastereomer was also obtained as the sole product by Birch reduction of (Z)-cis-16 in 96 % yield. Under the same conditions, tetradecadeuterio analogues trans,trans-[D(14)]-(R*,S*,R*,S*)-17/cis,trans-[D(14)]-(R*, S*,R*,R*)-18 (8:1) and trans,trans-[D(14)]-(R*,S*,S*,R*)-19/cis,trans-[D(14)]-(R*,S*,S*,S*)-20 (12:1) were prepared from meso-[D(14)]-5 and d,l-[D(14)]-5 in 37 and 63 % yield, respectively. Reduction of meso-5 with diimine gave the cis,cis-quatercyclopropane (S*,S*,R*,R*)-21 as the main product (58 % yield) along with the cis,trans-diastereomer (S*,S*,R*,S*)-18 (29 % yield). Thus, five of the six possible diastereomeric quatercyclopropanes were obtained from meso-5, d,l-5, and (Z)-cis-16. The X-ray crystal structure analyses of trans,trans-(R*,S*,R*,S*)-17 and cis,cis-(S*,S*,R*,R*)-21 revealed for the both an unusual conformation in which the central bicyclopropyl unit adopts an s-trans-(antiperiplanar) orientation with phi=180.0 degrees , and the two terminal bicyclopropyl moieties adopt a synclinal conformation with phi=49.8 and 72.0 degrees , respectively. In solution the vicinal coupling constants (3)J(H,H) in trans,trans-(R*,S*,R*,S*)-[D(14)]-17, trans,trans-(R*,S*,S*,R*)-[D(14)]-19, trans,cis-(R*,S*,R*,R*)-[D(14)]-18 and trans,cis-(R*,S*,S*,S*)-[D(14)]-20 were found to be 4.1, 4.7, 5.9 and 5.9 Hz, respectively. This indicates a predominance of the all-gauche conformer in (R*,S*,R*,S*)-17 and a decreasing fraction of it in this sequence of the other diastereomers.

An Expedient and Practical Method for the Synthesis of a Diverse Series of Cyclopropane α-Amino Acids and Amines

A practical synthesis for the preparation of a diverse series of cyclopropane alpha-amino acids is described. Nitrocyclopropane carboxylates can be readily prepared through treatment of alpha-nitroesters and iodobenzene diacetate or alpha-nitro-alpha-diazoesters with a Rh(II) catalyst and an olefin. Reduction of the nitro group using zinc/HCl in i-PrOH affords substituted cyclopropane alpha-amino esters in modest to high yields (54-99%). A "one-pot" procedure involving sequential cyclopropanation and reduction is described. The method can also be applied to the preparation of arylcyclopropyl amines (three examples).

Gas-phase ion-molecule reactions of small nitroalkanes and their deprotonated anions

Gas-phase reactions of nitromethane (1), nitroethane (2), 2-nitropropane (3), 2-methyl-2-nitropropane (4) and nitrocyclopropane (5) were studied at 300 K using the flowing afterglow technique. These nitroalkanes react with gas-phase bases HO(-), CH(3)O(-) and HOO(-) very rapidly with rate coefficients of (2.5-4.3) x 10(-9) cm(3) s(-1) and reaction efficiencies of 60-100%, for example, k = 3.2 x 10(-9) cm(3) s(-1) (86%) for 5 reacting with hydroperoxide anion. Proton transfer (PT) is the only reaction observed for 1 while elimination (E2) is the exclusive pathway for 4 yielding isobutene and NO(2)(-). Both PT and E2 reactions are observed for 2, 3 and 5, the former being the major pathway. Deprotonated anions of 1, 2, 3 and 5 were subjected to reactivity studies with CH(3)I, CO(2), CS(2) and SO(2). Nucleophilic substitution (S(N)2) reaction occurs with CH(3)I while characteristic products CS(2)O(-) and SO(3)(-) are formed from CS(2) and SO(2), respectively, along with competing adduct formation. The SN(2) rate is greater, whereas the reactivities with the triatomic reagents are smaller for deprotonated nitrocyclopropane than for the other acyclic anions. These observations strongly suggest that the reactions of nitroalkane [M - H](-) anions occur through initial attack from the terminal oxygen; the nitrocyclopropane carbanion is more strained and, thus, less stabilized by resonance [R(2)C(-) - NO2 <--> R(2)=NO(2)(-)] resulting in the greater basicity/nucleophilicy and the less negative charge on the oxygen site.

Nucleophilic ring-opening in a carbohydrate nitrocyclopropane: a stereospecific approach to chiral isoalkyl structures

Chemical reactions to open the cyclopropane ring in (1R)-1,2-dideoxy-3,4:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-1,2-C-methylene-1-nitro-D-m annitol (1) were investigated. Catalytic hydrogenation over Pd-C produced the corresponding 1-amino compound, isolated as its N-acetyl derivative, but failed to cleave the ring. However, ring opening succeeded by nucleophilic addition of sodium thiophenoxide to 1, giving 1,2-dideoxy-3,4:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-1-nitro-2-C- (phenylthio)methyl-D-mannitol. The latter reacted further with thiophenoxide to furnish phenyl 2-deoxy-3,4:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-2-C-(phenylthio)methyl-D- mannothiohydroximate. Raney nickel converted both of these thio sugar derivatives into the same product, namely, 1-acetamido-1,2-dideoxy-3,4:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-2-C-methyl-D-mannito l. The use of these transformations for the design of stereospecific syntheses of chiral isoalkyl structures is proposed.