Biaryl phosphane ligands in palladium-catalyzed amination

Palladium-catalyzed amination reactions of aryl halides have undergone rapid development in the last 12 years, largely driven by the implementation of new classes of ligands. Biaryl phosphanes have proven to provide especially active catalysts in this context. This Review discusses the application of these catalysts in C-N cross-coupling reactions in the synthesis of heterocycles and pharmaceuticals, in materials science, and in natural product synthesis.

Evolution of a fourth generation catalyst for the amination and thioetherification of aryl halides

Many active pharmaceuticals, herbicides, conducting polymers, and components of organic light-emitting diodes contain arylamines. For many years, this class of compound was prepared via classical methods, such as nitration, reduction and reductive alkylation, copper-mediated chemistry at high temperatures, addition to benzyne intermediates, or direct nucleophilic substitution on particularly electron-poor aromatic or heteroaromatic halides. However, during the past decade, palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions of amines with aryl halides have largely supplanted these earlier methods. Successive generations of catalysts have gradually improved the scope and efficiency of the palladium-catalyzed reaction. This Account describes the conceptual basis and utility of our latest, "fourth-generation" palladium catalyst for the coupling of amines and related reagents with aryl halides. In the past five years, we have developed these catalysts using the lessons learned from previous generations of catalysts developed in our group and in other laboratories. The ligands on the fourth-generation catalyst combine the chelating properties of the aromatic bisphosphines of the second-generation systems with the steric properties and strong electron donation of the hindered alkylphosphines of the third-generation systems. The currently most reactive catalyst in this class is generated from palladium and a sterically hindered version of the Josiphos family of ligands that possesses a ferrocenyl-1-ethyl backbone, a hindered di-tert-butylphosphino group, and a hindered dicyclohexylphosphino group. This system catalyzes the coupling of aryl chlorides, bromides, and iodides with primary amines, N-H imines, and hydrazones in high yield. The reaction has broad scope, high functional group tolerance, and nearly perfect selectivity for monoarylation. It also requires the lowest levels of palladium that have been used for C-N coupling. In addition, this latest catalyst has dramatically improved the coupling of thiols with haloarenes to form C-S bonds. Using ligands that lacked one or more of the structural elements of the most active catalyst, we examined the effects of individual structural elements of the Josiphos ligand on catalyst activity. This set of studies showed that each one of these elements contributes to the high reactivity and selectivity of the catalyst containing the hindered, bidentate Josiphos ligand. Finally, we examined the effect of electronic properties on the rates of reductive elimination to distinguish between the effect of the properties of the M-N sigma-bond and the nitrogen electron pair. We have found that the effects of electronic properties on C-C and C-N bond-forming reductive elimination are similar. Because the amido ligands contain an electron pair, while the alkyl ligands do not, we have concluded that the major electronic effect is transmitted through the sigma-bond.

Discovery of an α-amino C-H arylation reaction using the strategy of accelerated serendipity

Serendipity has long been a welcome yet elusive phenomenon in the advancement of chemistry. We sought to exploit serendipity as a means of rapidly identifying unanticipated chemical transformations. By using a high-throughput, automated workflow and evaluating a large number of random reactions, we have discovered a photoredox-catalyzed C-H arylation reaction for the construction of benzylic amines, an important structural motif within pharmaceutical compounds that is not readily accessed via simple substrates. The mechanism directly couples tertiary amines with cyanoaromatics by using mild and operationally trivial conditions.

A Powerful Chiral Counterion Strategy for Asymmetric Transition Metal Catalysis

Traditionally, transition metal-catalyzed enantioselective transformations rely on chiral ligands tightly bound to the metal to induce asymmetric product distributions. Here we report high enantioselectivities conferred by a chiral counterion in a metal-catalyzed reaction. Two different transformations catalyzed by cationic gold(I) complexes generated products in 90 to 99% enantiomeric excess with the use of chiral binaphthol-derived phosphate anions. Furthermore, we show that the chiral counterion can be combined additively with chiral ligands to enable an asymmetric transformation that cannot be achieved by either method alone. This concept of relaying chiral information via an ion pair should be applicable to a vast number of metal-mediated processes.

AID mutates E. coli suggesting a DNA deamination mechanism for antibody diversification

After gene rearrangement, immunoglobulin variable genes are diversified by somatic hypermutation or gene conversion, whereas the constant region is altered by class-switch recombination. All three processes depend on activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), a B-cell-specific protein that has been proposed (because of sequence homology) to function by RNA editing. But indications that the three gene diversification processes might be initiated by a common type of DNA lesion, together with the proposal that there is a first phase of hypermutation that targets dC/dG, suggested to us that AID may function directly at dC/dG pairs. Here we show that expression of AID in Escherichia coli gives a mutator phenotype that yields nucleotide transitions at dC/dG in a context-dependent manner. Mutation triggered by AID is enhanced by a deficiency of uracil-DNA glycosylase, which indicates that AID functions by deaminating dC residues in DNA. We propose that diversification of functional immunoglobulin genes is triggered by AID-mediated deamination of dC residues in the immunoglobulin locus with the outcome--that is, hypermutation phases 1 and 2, gene conversion or switch recombination--dependent on the way in which the initiating dU/dG lesion is resolved.

Expanding Pd-catalyzed C-N bond-forming processes: the first amidation of aryl sulfonates, aqueous amination, and complementarity with Cu-catalyzed reactions

The first general method for the Pd-catalyzed amination of aryl tosylates and benzenesulfonates was developed utilizing ligand 1, which belongs to a new generation of biaryl monophosphine ligands. In addition, the new catalyst system for the first time enables amidation of aryl arenesulfonates and aqueous amination protocols that do not necessitate the use of cosolvents. The substrate scope has been significantly expanded to include aryl halides containing primary amides and free carboxylic acid groups. In the case of multifunctional substrates, the Pd-catalyzed amination can provide selectivity that is complementary to the Cu-catalyzed C-N bond-forming processes.

Enantioselective Organocatalytic Reductive Amination

The first enantioselective organocatalytic reductive amination reaction has been accomplished. The development of a new chiral phosphoric acid catalyst has provided a convenient strategy for the enantioselective construction of protected primary amines and provided a highly stereoselective method for the reductive amination of heterocyclic amines. A diverse spectrum of ketone and amine substrates can be accommodated in high yield and excellent enantioselectivity. This new protocol realizes a key benefit of reductive amination versus imine reduction, in that ketimines derived from alkyl-alkyl ketones are unstable to isolation, a fundamental limitation that is comprehensively bypassed using this direct organocatalytic reductive amination.

Transcription-targeted DNA deamination by the AID antibody diversification enzyme

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), which is specific to B lymphocytes, is required for class switch recombination (CSR)--a process mediating isotype switching of immunoglobulin--and somatic hypermutation--the introduction of many point mutations into the immunoglobulin variable region genes. It has been suggested that AID may function as an RNA-editing enzyme or as a cytidine deaminase on DNA. However, the precise enzymatic activity of AID has not been assessed in previous studies. Similarly, although transcription of the target immunoglobulin locus sequences is required for both CSR and somatic hypermutation, the precise role of transcription has remained speculative. Here we use two different assays to demonstrate that AID can deaminate specifically cytidines on single-stranded (ss)DNA but not double-stranded (ds)DNA substrates in vitro. However, dsDNA can be deaminated by AID in vitro when the reaction is coupled to transcription. Moreover, a synthetic dsDNA sequence, which targets CSR in vivo in a manner dependent on transcriptional orientation, was deaminated by AID in vitro with the same transcriptional-orientation-dependence as observed for endogenous CSR. We conclude that transcription targets the DNA deamination activity of AID to dsDNA by generating secondary structures that provide ssDNA substrates.

Stable-isotope dimethyl labeling for quantitative proteomics

In this paper, we report a novel, stable-isotope labeling strategy for quantitative proteomics that uses a simple reagent, formaldehyde, to globally label the N-terminus and epsilon-amino group of Lys through reductive amination. This labeling strategy produces peaks differing by 28 mass units for each derivatized site relative to its nonderivatized counterpart and 4 mass units for each derivatized isotopic pair. This labeling reaction is fast (less than 5 min) and complete without any detectable byproducts based on the analysis of MALDI and LC/ESI-MS/MS spectra of both derivatized and nonderivatized peptide standards and tryptic peptides of hemoglobin molecules. The intensity of the a(1) and y(n-1) ions produced, which were not detectable from most of the nonderivatized fragments, was substantially enhanced upon labeling. We further tested the method based on the analysis of an isotopic pair of peptide standards and a pair of defined protein mixtures with known H/D ratios. Using LC/MS for quantification and LC/MS/MS for peptide sequencing, the results show a negligible isotopic effect, a good mass resolution between the isotopic pair, and a good correlation between the experimental and theoretical data (errors 0-4%). The relative standard deviation of H/D values calculated from peptides deduced from the same protein are less than 13%. The applicability of the method for quantitative protein profiling was also explored by analyzing changes in nuclear protein abundance in an immortalized E7 cell with and without arsenic treatment.

Bisulfite genomic sequencing: systematic investigation of critical experimental parameters

Bisulfite genomic sequencing is the method of choice for the generation of methylation maps with single-base resolution. The method is based on the selective deamination of cytosine to uracil by treatment with bisulfite and the sequencing of subsequently generated PCR products. In contrast to cytosine, 5-methylcytosine does not react with bisulfite and can therefore be distinguished. In order to investigate the potential for optimization of the method and to determine the critical experimental parameters, we determined the influence of incubation time and incubation temperature on the deamination efficiency and measured the degree of DNA degradation during the bisulfite treatment. We found that maximum conversion rates of cytosine occurred at 55 degrees C (4-18 h) and 95 degrees C (1 h). Under these conditions at least 84-96% of the DNA is degraded. To study the impact of primer selection, homologous DNA templates were constructed possessing cytosine-containing and cytosine-free primer binding sites, respectively. The recognition rates for cytosine (>/=97%) and 5-methylcytosine (>/=94%) were found to be identical for both templates.

Processive AID-catalysed cytosine deamination on single-stranded DNA simulates somatic hypermutation

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is a protein required for B cells to undergo class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation (SHM)--two processes essential for producing high-affinity antibodies. Purified AID catalyses the deamination of C to U on single-stranded (ss)DNA. Here, we show in vitro that AID-catalysed C deaminations occur preferentially on 5' WRC sequences in accord with SHM spectra observed in vivo. Although about 98% of DNA clones suffer no mutations, most of the remaining mutated clones have 10-70 C to T transitions per clone. Therefore, AID carries out multiple C deaminations on individual DNA strands, rather than jumping from one strand to another. The avid binding of AID to ssDNA could result from its large net positive charge (+11) at pH 7.0, owing to a basic amino-terminal domain enriched in arginine and lysine. Furthermore, AID exhibits a 15-fold preference for C deamination on the non-transcribed DNA strand exposed by RNA polymerase than the transcribed strand protected as a RNA-DNA hybrid. These deamination results on ssDNA bear relevance to three characteristic features of SHM: preferential mutation at C sites within WRC hotspot sequences, the broad clonal mutagenic heterogeneity of antibody variable regions targeted for mutation, and the requirement for active transcription to obtain mutagenesis.

A highly active catalyst for Pd-catalyzed amination reactions: cross-coupling reactions using aryl mesylates and the highly selective monoarylation of primary amines using aryl chlorides

A catalyst system based on a new biarylmonophosphine ligand (BrettPhos) that shows excellent reactivity for C-N cross-coupling reactions is reported. This catalyst system enables the use of aryl mesylates as a coupling partner in C-N bond-forming reactions. Additionally, the use of BrettPhos permits the highly selective monoarylation of an array of primary aliphatic amines and anilines at low catalyst loadings and with fast reaction times, including the first monoarylation of methylamine. Lastly, oxidative addition complexes of BrettPhos are included, which provide insight into the origin of reactivity for this system.

Copper Hydride Catalyzed Hydroamination of Alkenes and Alkynes

Over the past few years, CuH-catalyzed hydroamination has been discovered and developed as a robust and conceptually novel approach for the synthesis of enantioenriched secondary and tertiary amines. The success in this area of research was made possible through the large body of precedent in copper(I) hydride catalysis and the well-explored use of hydroxylamine esters as electrophilic amine sources in related copper-catalyzed processes. This Minireview details the background, advances, and mechanistic investigations in CuH-catalyzed hydroamination.

The direct and enantioselective organocatalytic alpha-oxidation of aldehydes

The first direct enantioselective catalytic alpha-oxidation of carbonyls has been accomplished. The use of enamine catalysis has provided a new organocatalytic strategy for the enantioselective oxyamination of aldehydes, to generate alpha-oxyaldehydes, important chiral synthons for natural product and medicinal agent synthesis. The use of l-proline as the asymmetric catalyst has been found to mediate the oxidation of a large variety of aldehyde substrates with nitrosobenzene serving as the electrophilic oxidant. A diverse spectrum of aldehyde substrates can also be accommodated in this new organocatalytic transformation. While catalyst quantities of 2 mol % were generally employed in this study, successful oxidations conducted using catalyst loadings as low as 0.5 mol % are described.

Copper-catalyzed coupling of alkylamines and aryl iodides: an efficient system even in an air atmosphere

[reaction: see text] A mild method for the copper-catalyzed amination of aryl iodides is reported. This operationally simple C-N bond-forming protocol uses CuI as the catalyst and ethylene glycol as ligand in 2-propanol. A variety of functionalized aryl iodides as well as several amines were efficiently coupled using this method. This catalytic amination procedure is relatively insensitive to moisture and can be performed under an air atmosphere with comparable yield. Preliminary results on the amination of aryl bromides are also described.

Direct catalytic asymmetric alpha-amination of aldehydes

The first direct catalytic asymmetric alpha-amination of aldehydes is described herein. alpha-Unbranched aldehydes react in this novel proline-catalyzed reaction with dialkyl azodicarboxylates to give alpha-amino aldehydes in excellent yields and enantioselectivities.

FBXW7/hCDC4 is a general tumor suppressor in human cancer

The ubiquitin-proteasome system is a major regulatory pathway of protein degradation and plays an important role in cellular division. Fbxw7 (or hCdc4), a member of the F-box family of proteins, which are substrate recognition components of the multisubunit ubiquitin ligase SCF (Skp1-Cdc53/Cullin-F-box-protein), has been shown to mediate the ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of several oncoproteins including cyclin E1, c-Myc, c-Jun, and Notch. The oncogenic potential of Fbxw7 substrates, frequent allelic loss in human cancers, and demonstration that mutation of FBXW7 cooperates with p53 in mouse tumorigenesis have suggested that Fbxw7 could function as a tumor suppressor in human cancer. Here, we carry out an extensive genetic screen of primary tumors to evaluate the role of FBXW7 as a tumor suppressor in human tumorigenesis. Our results indicate that FBXW7 is inactivated by mutation in diverse human cancer types with an overall mutation frequency of approximately 6%. The highest mutation frequencies were found in tumors of the bile duct (cholangiocarcinomas, 35%), blood (T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, 31%), endometrium (9%), colon (9%), and stomach (6%). Approximately 43% of all mutations occur at two mutational "hotspots," which alter Arg residues (Arg465 and Arg479) that are critical for substrate recognition. Furthermore, we show that Fbxw7Arg465 hotspot mutant can abrogate wild-type Fbxw7 function through a dominant negative mechanism. Our study is the first comprehensive screen of FBXW7 mutations in various human malignancies and shows that FBXW7 is a general tumor suppressor in human cancer.

Palladium(II)-Catalyzed Intramolecular Diamination of Unfunctionalized Alkenes

Intramolecular diamination reactions are described which yield cyclic ureas as direct products of an oxidative alkene transformation in the presence of palladium acetate and iodosobenzene diacetate as terminal oxidant. The reaction is truly catalytic in metal catalyst and represents the proof of principle for this elusive type of alkene oxidation.

Palladium-Catalyzed Ring-Forming Aminoacetoxylation of Alkenes

A mild, palladium(II)-catalyzed ring-forming aminoacetoxylation of alkenes is described. Treatment of a range of nitrogen nucleophiles with catalytic palladium(II) in the presence of PhI(OAc)2 as oxidant resulted in alkene aminoacetoxylation, affording a variety of nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Our studies indicate the possibility for high levels of reaction regio- and stereocontrol. It appears that this is a stereoselective trans alkene difunctionalization and thus a useful alternative to related cis-selective, metal-catalyzed alkene aminohydroxylation processes.

Highly Regioselective Pd-Catalyzed Intermolecular Aminoacetoxylation of Alkenes and Evidence for cis-Aminopalladation and SN2 C−O Bond Formation

Synthetic methods that achieve oxidative 1,2-difunctionalization of alkenes are very powerful in organic chemistry. Here we report the first examples of intermolecular Pd-catalyzed aminoacetoxylation of alkenes with phthalimide as the nitrogen source and PhI(OAc)2 as the stoichiometric oxidant and source of acetate. These reactions are highly regio- and diastereoselective, and mechanistic studies reveal that the reaction proceeds via cis-aminopalladation of the alkene followed by oxidative cleavage of the intermediate Pd-C bond with inversion of stereochemistry.

Highly Selective Room-Temperature Copper-Catalyzed C−N Coupling Reactions

Through the use of cyclic beta-diketones as supporting ligands, the copper-catalyzed coupling of aryl iodides with aliphatic amines occurs at room temperature in as little as 1 h. These high reaction rates allow for the coupling of a wide range of aryl and heteroaryl iodides at room temperature. This method is highly tolerant of a number of reactive functional groups, including -Br and aromatic -NH2 as well as phenolic and aliphatic -OH. The high selectivity of the CuI-beta-diketone catalyst for aliphatic amines represents a useful complement to the palladium-based methods.