A new method for regioselective synthesis of 2-substituted 1-(methoxycarbonyl)-1,2-dihydropyridines

Mechanistic Aspects of the Electrochemical Oxidation of Aliphatic Amines and Aniline Derivatives

The electrochemical oxidation of amines is an essential alternative to the conventional chemical transformation that provides critical routes for synthesising and modifying a wide range of chemically useful molecules, including pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. As a result, the anodic reactivity of these compounds has been extensively researched over the past seven decades. However, the different mechanistic aspects of the electrochemical oxidation of amines have never been discussed from a comprehensive and general point of view. This review examines the oxidation mechanism of aliphatic amines, amides, aniline and aniline derivatives, carbamates, and lactams, either directly oxidised at different electrode surfaces or indirectly oxidised by a reversible redox molecule, in which the reactive form was generated in situ. The mechanisms are compared and simplified to understand all possible pathways for the oxidation of amines using only a few general mechanisms. Examples of the application of these oxidation reactions are also provided.

Modular synthesis of chiral 1,2-dihydropyridines via Mannich/Wittig/cycloisomerization sequence that internally reuses waste

1,2-Dihydropyridines are valuable and reactive synthons, and particularly useful precursors to synthesize piperidines and pyridines that are among the most common structural components of pharmaceuticals. However, the catalytic enantioselective synthesis of structurally diverse 1,2-dihydropyridines is limited to enantioselective addition of nucleophiles to activated pyridines. Here, we report a modular organocatalytic Mannich/Wittig/cycloisomerization sequence as a flexible strategy to access chiral 1,2-dihydropyridines from N-Boc aldimines, aldehydes, and phosphoranes, using a chiral amine catalyst. The key step in this protocol, cycloisomerization of chiral N-Boc δ-amino α,β-unsaturated ketones recycles the waste to improve the yield. Specifically, recycling by-product water from imine formation to gradually release the true catalyst HCl via hydrolysis of SiCl₄, whilst maintaining a low concentration of HCl to suppress side reactions, and reusing waste Ph₃PO from the Wittig step to modulate the acidity of HCl. This approach allows facile access to enantioenriched 2-substituted, 2,3- or 2,6-cis-disubstituted, and 2,3,6-cis-trisubstituted piperidines.

Anodic Oxidation for the Stereoselective Synthesis of Heterocycles

Stereodefined aliphatic heterocycles are one of the fundamental structural motifs observed in natural products and biologically active compounds. Various strategies for the synthesis of these building blocks based on transition metal catalysis, organocatalysis, and noncatalytic conditions have been developed. Although electrosynthesis has also been utilized for the functionalization of aliphatic heterocycles, stereoselective transformations under electrochemical conditions are still a challenging field in electroorganic chemistry. This Account consists of four main topics related to our recent efforts on the diastereo- and/or enantioselective synthesis of aliphatic heterocycles, especially N-heterocycles, using anodic oxidations as key steps. The first topic is the development of stereoselective synthetic methods for multisubstituted piperidines and pyrrolidines from anodically prepared α-methoxy cyclic amines. Our strategies were based primarily on N-acyliminium ion chemistry, and the key electrochemical transformations were diastereoselective anodic methoxylation, diastereoselective arylation, and anodic deallylative methoxylation. Furthermore, we found a unique property of the N-cyano protecting group that enabled the electrochemical α-methoxylation of α-substituted cyclic amines. The second topic of investigation is memory of chirality in electrochemical decarboxylative methoxylation. We observed that the electrochemical decarboxylative methoxylation of oxazolidine and thiazolidine derivatives with the appropriate N-protecting group occurred in a stereospecific manner even though the reaction proceeded through an sp² planar carbon center. Our findings demonstrated the first example of memory of chirality in N-acyliminium ion chemistry. The third topic is the synthesis of chiral azabicyclo-N-oxyls and their application to chiral organocatalysis in the electrochemical oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols. The final topic is stereoselective transformations utilizing anodically generated halogen cations. We investigated the oxidative kinetic resolution of amino alcohol derivatives using anodically generated bromo cations. We also developed an intramolecular C-C bond formation of keto amides, a diastereoselective bromoiminolactonization of α-allyl malonamides, and an oxidative ring expansion reaction of allyl alcohols. It is noteworthy that most of the electrochemical reactions were performed in undivided cells under constant-current conditions, which avoided a complicated reaction setup and was beneficial for a large-scale reaction. In addition, we developed some enantioselective electrochemical transformations that are still challenges in electroorganic chemistry. We hope that our research will contribute to the further development of diastereo- and/or enantioselective transformations and the construction of valuable heterocyclic compounds using an electrochemical approach.

Anodic oxidation of bisamides from diaminoalkanes by constant current electrolysis

In general, bisamides derived from diamines and involving 3 and 4 methylene groups as spacers between the two amide functionalities behave similar to monoamides upon anodic oxidation in methanol/LiClO₄ because both types undergo majorly mono- and dimethoxylations at the α-position to the N atom. However, in cases where the spacer contains two methylene groups only the anodic process leads mostly to CH₂-CH₂ bond cleavage to afford products of type RCONHCH₂OCH₃. Moreover, upon replacing LiClO₄ with Et₄NBF₄ an additional fragmentation type of product was generated from the latter amides, namely RCONHCHO. Also, the anodic process was found to be more efficient with C felt as the anode, and in a mixture of 1:1 methanol/acetonitrile co-solvents.

Synthesis, utility and medicinal importance of 1,2- & 1,4-dihydropyridines

The present review aims to describe various methodologies that have been used for the synthesis of 1,2- & 1,4-dihydropyridines (DHPs) and also highlight their medicinal significance.

Nickel-catalyzed enantioselective arylation of pyridine

A Ni-catalyzed cross coupling of arylzinc reagents with pyridinium ions provides enantioenriched dihydropyridines, which are precursors to diverse piperidine derivatives.

We report an enantioselective Ni-catalyzed cross coupling of arylzinc reagents with pyridinium ions formed in situ from pyridine and a chloroformate. This reaction provides enantioenriched 2-aryl-1,2-dihydropyridine products that can be elaborated to numerous piperidine derivatives with little or no loss in ee. This method is notable for its use of pyridine, a feedstock chemical, to build a versatile, chiral heterocycle in a single synthetic step.

Highly enantioselective electrophilic α-bromination of enecarbamates: chiral phosphoric acid and calcium phosphate salt catalysts

Metal-free chiral phosphoric acids and chiral calcium phosphates both catalyze highly enantio- and diastereoselective electrophilic α-bromination of enecarbamates to provide an atom-economical synthesis of enantioenriched vicinal haloamines. Either enantiomer can be formed in good yield with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivity simply by switching the catalyst from a phosphoric acid to its calcium salt.

Diastereoselective Synthesis of (2S,5R)-5-Hydroxypipecolic Acid and 6-Substituted Derivatives

[reaction: see text] Herein, we report a diastereoselective synthesis of the natural product (2S,5R)-5-hydroxypipecolic acid and 6-substituted derivatives thereof. The key step in the synthetic sequence is a novel highly diastereoselective epoxidation reaction of an enantiomerically pure cyclic enamide intermediate.

Asymmetric carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction at the 2-position of a piperidine skeleton

An asymmetric carbon-carbon bond-forming reaction at the 2-position of a piperidine skeleton was exploited. This method consisted of a reaction between 1-(4-methoxybenzoyl)-3,4-didehydro-2-methoxypiperidines and dimethyl malonate catalyzed by Cu(II)-chiral 2,2'-isopropylidenebis(4-phenyl-2-oxazoline) to afford a 2-substituted piperidine skeleton with moderate enantioselectivity.

[Innovative molecular transformation using optically active alpha-amino acids]

Some methods for innovative molecular transformations using optically active alpha-amino acids have been exploited. 1) The non-Kolbe reaction of the N-benzoyloxazoline derivative 1 derived from L-serine gave the optically active N,O-acetal 2 when graphite was used an anode material. This reaction represents the first example of "memory of chirality" in the carbenium ion chemistry. 2) The optically active pipecolic acid derivative 13, prepared from L-lysine by using electrochemical oxidation, was cyclopropanated with high diastereoselectivity (96.6%de), and the product 14 was transformed into (2S,3R)-metanopipecolic acid (7). 3) An enantiomerically pure 1,2-dihydropyridine 23 was prepared from L-lysine using electrochemical oxidation as a key step and was utilized as a chiral diene synthon in the Diels-Alder reaction. That is, in the presence of AlCl3, the Diels-Alder reaction between 23 and N-acryloyloxazolidinone 24 gave a cycloadduct with high stereoselectivity, which was converted to an optically active isoquinuclidine derivative 26 (96.8% ee). 4) The Hofmann rearrangement of the L-glutamine derivative 27 to the enantiomerically pure 2-aminobutyric acid derivative 28 was successfully achieved with an electrochemical method using a trifluoroethanol-MeCN solvent system. 5) Some types of N-formyl cyclic amine derivatives were found to be effective activators of trichlorosilane to reduce ketones and imines. Namely, the reduction of ketones and imines by trichlorosilane with a catalytic amount of L-proline derivatives 30 and 32 gave enantiomerically enriched sec-alcohols and amines, respectively, to some extent of optical yields.