Formation of Enamines via Catalytic Dehydrogenation by Pincer-Iridium Complexes

Unified Strategy Enables the Collective Syntheses of Structurally Diverse Indole Alkaloids

Natural products and their analogues are significant sources of therapeutic lead compounds. However, synthetic strategies for generating large collections of these molecules remain a significant challenge. The most difficult step in their synthesis is the design of a common intermediate that can be easily transformed into natural products belonging to different families. This study demonstrates the evolution of synthetic tactics designed to assemble the functionalized piperidines present in indole alkaloids from a common intermediate. More importantly, we also report a previously unknown Ir- and Er-catalyzed dehydrogenative spirocyclization reaction that enables direct access to spirocyclic oxindole alkaloids. As a practical application, the asymmetric total syntheses of 29 natural alkaloids belonging to different families were accomplished by following a uniform synthetic route. The proposed methodology extends the capability of the iridium-catalyzed dehydrogenative coupling reaction to the realm of indole-alkaloid synthesis and provides new opportunities for the efficient preparation of natural product-like molecules.

Biomass-Derived Single Zn Atom Catalysts: The Multiple Roles of Single Zn Atoms in the Oxidative Cleavage of C-N Bonds

The C-N bond cleavage represents one kind of important organic and biochemical transformation, which has attracted great interest in recent years. The oxidative cleavage of C-N bonds in N,N-dialkylamines into N-alkylamines has been well documented, but it is challenging in the further oxidative cleavage of C-N bonds in N-alkylamines into primary amines due to the thermally unfavorable release of α-position H from N-C_α-H and the paralleling side reactions. Herein, a biomass-derived single Zn atom catalyst (ZnN₄-SAC) was discovered to be a robust heterogeneous non-noble catalyst for the oxidative cleavage of C-N bonds in N-alkylamines with O₂ molecules. Experimental results and DFT calculation revealed that ZnN₄-SAC not only activates O₂ to generate superoxide radicals (·O₂ ^-) for the oxidation of N-alkylamines to generate imine intermediates (C=N), but the single Zn atoms also served as the Lewis acid sites to promote the cleavage of C=N bonds in imine intermediates, including the first addition of H₂O to generate α-hydroxylamine intermediates and the following C-N bond cleavage via a H atom transfer process.

Group-Transfer Reactions of a Cationic Iridium Alkoxycarbene Generated by Ether Dehydrogenation

Despite broad interest in metal carbene complexes, there remain few examples of catalytic transformations of ethers that proceed via alkoxycarbene intermediates generated by α,α-dehydrogenation. We demonstrate that both neutral and cationic alkoxycarbene derivatives are accessible via ether dehydrogenation at a PNP(ⁱPr)₄ pincer-supported iridium complex (PNP(ⁱPr)₄ = 2,6-bis((diisopropylphosphino)methyl)pyridine). Both cationic and neutral alkoxycarbene complexes undergo group transfer imination with azides, with the cationic derivative serving as a more efficient catalyst for cyclopentyl ether imination. Mechanistic studies support an iridium(I)dinitrogen complex as the resting state in the dark and a role for light-promoted N₂ dissociation. Isoamyl nitrite and phenyl ethyl ketene are also found to engage with the cationic alkoxycarbene complex in formal alkoxide and O atom transfer reactions, respectively. In the former case an isolable dialkoxyalkyliridium complex is obtained, representing only the second example of a structurally characterized dialkoxyalkyl complex of a transition metal.

Formation of Enamines via Catalytic Dehydrogenation by Pincer-Iridium Complexes

Di-isopropylphosphino-substituted pincer-ligated iridium catalysts are found to be significantly more effective for the dehydrogenation of simple tertiary amines to give enamines than the previously reported di-t-butylphosphino-substituted species. It is also found that the di-isopropylphosphino-substituted complexes catalyze dehydrogenation of several β-functionalized tertiary amines to give the corresponding 1,2-difunctionalized olefins. The di-t-butylphosphino-substituted species are ineffective for such substrates; presumably, the marked difference is attributable to the lesser crowding of the di-isopropylphosphino-substituted catalysts. Experimentally determined kinetic isotope effects in conjunction with DFT-based analysis support a dehydrogenation mechanism involving initial pre-equilibrium oxidative addition of the amine α-C-H bond followed by rate-determining elimination of the β-C-H bond.