Electrophilic amination
Encyclopedia
Electrophilic amination is a chemical process involving the formation of a carbon–nitrogen bond through the reaction of a nucleophilic carbanion with an electrophilic source of nitrogen.
s, hydroxylamine
s, hydrazine
s, and oxaziridine
s, for instance. Addition reactions have employed imine
s, oxime
s, azide
s, azo
compounds, and others.
). Nitrenes lack a full octet of electrons are thus highly electrophilic; nitrenoids exhibit analogous behavior and are often good substrates for electrophilic amination reactions. Nitrenoids can be generated from O-alkylhydroxylamines containing an N-H bond via deprotonation or from O-alkyloximes via nucleophilic addition. These intermediates react with carbanions to give substituted amines. Other electron-deficient, sp3 amination reagents react by similar mechanisms to give substitution products.
In aminations involving oxaziridines, nucleophilic attack takes place on the nitrogen atom of the three-membered ring. For some substrates (α-cyano ketones, for example), the resulting alkoxide reacts further to afford unexpected products. Straightforward β elimination of the alkoxide leads to the formation of an amine.
Additions across pi bonds appear to proceed by typical nucleophilic addition
pathways in most cases. Alkyl-, aryl-, and heteroaryllithium reagents add to azides to afford triazene salts. Reduction of these salts leads to amines, although they also may be converted to azides upon acidic workup with overall elimination of sulfinic acid.
Azo compounds afford hydrazines after addition to the N=N bond. These additions have been rendered enantioselective through the use of chiral auxiliaries (see above) and chiral catalysts. Although the enantioselectivity of the proline-catalyzed process is good, yields are low and reaction times are long.
Upon treatment with sulfonyl azides, a variety of Grignard reagents or enolates may be converted into azides or amines. A significant side reaction that occurs under these conditions is the diazo transfer reaction: instead of fragmenting into an azide and sulfinic acid, the intermediate triazene salt may break down to a diazo compound and sulfonamide. Changing workup conditions may favor one product over another. In general, for reactions of enolates substituted with Evans oxazolidinones, trifluoroacetic acid
promotes diazo transfer while acetic acid
encourages azidation (the reasons why are unclear). Solvent and the enolate counterion also influence the observed ratio of diazo to azide products.
Other electrophilic aminating reagents include oxaziridines, diazo
compounds, and in rare cases, imines.
The primary application of alkylmetal reagents in electrophilic amination reactions is the synthesis of hindered amines, many of which are difficult to prepare through nucleophilic displacement with an alkyl halide (nucleophilic amination). For instance, in the presence of a copper(II) catalyst, bulky organozinc reagents react with O-acylhydroxylamines to afford hindered amines.
Allylic metal species can be used to prepare allylic amines through electrophilic amination. Although allylic amines are usually prepared through nucleophilic amination of allylic halides, a few examples of electrophlic amination of allylic substrates are known. In the example below, an allylic zirconium reagent (obtained by hydrozirconation) is trapped with an O-alkylhydroxylamine.
The electrophilic amination of enolates yields α-amino carbonyl compounds. When chiral oxazolidinones are used in conjunction with azo compounds, enantioselectivity is observed (see above). BINAP can also be used for this purpose in the amination of silyl enol ether
s.
Aryl and heteroaryl organometallic reagents undergo many of the same transformations as their aliphatic counterparts. Formation of amines, hydrazines, and azides is possible through the use of various electrophilic aminating reagents. An example employing a nitrenoid reagent is shown below.
Intramolecular amination is possible, and has been used to prepare small and medium rings. In the example below, deprotonation of an activated methylene compound containing an O-phosphinoylhydroxylamine led to the cyclic amine shown.
offers an alternative to electrophilic amination through the intermediacy of an azirine.
Conversion to other nitrogen-containing functionality, including enamine
s, imine
s, and amide
s, is also possible.
Introduction
Electrophilic amination reactions can be classified as either additions or substitutions. Although the resulting product is not always an amine, these reactions are unified by the formation of a carbon–nitrogen bond and the use of an electrophilic aminating agent. A wide variety of electrophiles have been used; for substitutions, these are most commonly amines substituted with electron-withdrawing groups: chloramineChloramine
Chloramines are derivatives of ammonia by substitution of one, two or three hydrogen atoms with chlorine atoms. Monochloramine is an inorganic compound with the formula NH2Cl. It is an unstable colourless liquid at its melting point of -66° temperature, but it is usually handled as a dilute...
s, hydroxylamine
Hydroxylamine
Hydroxylamine is an inorganic compound with the formula NH2OH. The pure material is a white, unstable crystalline, hygroscopic compound. However, hydroxylamine is almost always provided and used as an aqueous solution. It is used to prepare oximes, an important functional group. It is also an...
s, hydrazine
Hydrazine
Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the formula N2H4. It is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odor. Hydrazine is highly toxic and dangerously unstable unless handled in solution. Approximately 260,000 tons are manufactured annually...
s, and oxaziridine
Oxaziridine
An oxaziridine is an organic molecule that features a three-membered heterocycle containing oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon.-History:Oxaziridine derivatives were first synthesized in the mid 1950s by Emmons and subsequently by Krimm and Horner and Jürgens...
s, for instance. Addition reactions have employed imine
Imine
An imine is a functional group or chemical compound containing a carbon–nitrogen double bond, with the nitrogen attached to a hydrogen atom or an organic group. If this group is not a hydrogen atom, then the compound is known as a Schiff base...
s, oxime
Oxime
An oxime is a chemical compound belonging to the imines, with the general formula R1R2C=NOH, where R1 is an organic side chain and R2 may be hydrogen, forming an aldoxime, or another organic group, forming a ketoxime. O-substituted oximes form a closely related family of compounds...
s, azide
Azide
Azide is the anion with the formula N3−. It is the conjugate base of hydrazoic acid. N3− is a linear anion that is isoelectronic with CO2 and N2O. Per valence bond theory, azide can be described by several resonance structures, an important one being N−=N+=N−...
s, azo
Azo
Azo may refer to:* Azo compound, chemistry functional group and class of compounds, also used for CDs and DVDs* A urinary tract analgesic also known as phenazopyridine* the medieval Italian jurist, see Azo of Bologna...
compounds, and others.
Prevailing mechanisms
A nitrogen bound to both a good electrofuge and a good nucleofuge is known as a nitrenoid (for its resemblance to a nitreneNitrene
In chemistry, a nitrene is the nitrogen analogue of a carbene. The nitrogen atom has only 6 valence electrons and is therefore considered an electrophile...
). Nitrenes lack a full octet of electrons are thus highly electrophilic; nitrenoids exhibit analogous behavior and are often good substrates for electrophilic amination reactions. Nitrenoids can be generated from O-alkylhydroxylamines containing an N-H bond via deprotonation or from O-alkyloximes via nucleophilic addition. These intermediates react with carbanions to give substituted amines. Other electron-deficient, sp3 amination reagents react by similar mechanisms to give substitution products.
In aminations involving oxaziridines, nucleophilic attack takes place on the nitrogen atom of the three-membered ring. For some substrates (α-cyano ketones, for example), the resulting alkoxide reacts further to afford unexpected products. Straightforward β elimination of the alkoxide leads to the formation of an amine.
Additions across pi bonds appear to proceed by typical nucleophilic addition
Nucleophilic addition
In organic chemistry, a nucleophilic addition reaction is an addition reaction where in a chemical compound a π bond is removed by the creation of two new covalent bonds by the addition of a nucleophile....
pathways in most cases. Alkyl-, aryl-, and heteroaryllithium reagents add to azides to afford triazene salts. Reduction of these salts leads to amines, although they also may be converted to azides upon acidic workup with overall elimination of sulfinic acid.
Enantioselective variants
The most synthetically useful aminations of enolate anions employ N-acyloxazolidinone substrates. The chiral auxiliaries on these compounds are easily removed after hydrazine formation (with azo compounds) or azidation (with trisyl azide). Azidation using the latter reagent is more efficient than bromination followed by nucleophilic substitution by the azide anion Palladium on carbon and hydrogen gas reduce both azide and hydrazide products (the latter only after conversion to the hydrazine).Aminating reagents
Electrophilic aminating reagents rely on the presence of an electron-withdrawing functional group attached to nitrogen. A variety of hydroxylamine derivatives have been used for this purpose. Sulfonylhydroxylamines are able to aminate a wide array of carbanions.Azo compounds afford hydrazines after addition to the N=N bond. These additions have been rendered enantioselective through the use of chiral auxiliaries (see above) and chiral catalysts. Although the enantioselectivity of the proline-catalyzed process is good, yields are low and reaction times are long.
Upon treatment with sulfonyl azides, a variety of Grignard reagents or enolates may be converted into azides or amines. A significant side reaction that occurs under these conditions is the diazo transfer reaction: instead of fragmenting into an azide and sulfinic acid, the intermediate triazene salt may break down to a diazo compound and sulfonamide. Changing workup conditions may favor one product over another. In general, for reactions of enolates substituted with Evans oxazolidinones, trifluoroacetic acid
Trifluoroacetic acid
Trifluoroacetic acid is the simplest stable perfluorinated carboxylic acid chemical compound, with the formula CF3CO2H. It is a strong carboxylic acid due to the influence of the electronegative trifluoromethyl group. TFA is almost 100,000-fold more acidic than acetic acid...
promotes diazo transfer while acetic acid
Acetic acid
Acetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH3CO2H . It is a colourless liquid that when undiluted is also called glacial acetic acid. Acetic acid is the main component of vinegar , and has a distinctive sour taste and pungent smell...
encourages azidation (the reasons why are unclear). Solvent and the enolate counterion also influence the observed ratio of diazo to azide products.
Other electrophilic aminating reagents include oxaziridines, diazo
Diazo
Diazo refers to a type of organic compound called diazo compound that has two linked nitrogen atoms as a terminal functional group. The general formula is R2C=N2. The simplest example of a diazo compound is diazomethane...
compounds, and in rare cases, imines.
Organometallic substrates
The scope of organometallic reagents that may be aminated by electrophilic methods is large. Alkyl Grignard reagents, alkylithium compounds, alkylzinc compounds, and alkylcuprates have been aminated with electrophilic reagents successfully. Among sp2-centered carbanions, vinyllithium compounds, vinylcuprates, and vinyl Grignard reagents react with electrophilic aminating reagents to afford enamines. The scope of sp-centered carbanions is limited to alkynylcuprates. Enolates and silyl enol ethers, the most widely used class of carbon nucleophiles in electrophilic amination reactions, participate in amination, adization and hydrazination reactions.The primary application of alkylmetal reagents in electrophilic amination reactions is the synthesis of hindered amines, many of which are difficult to prepare through nucleophilic displacement with an alkyl halide (nucleophilic amination). For instance, in the presence of a copper(II) catalyst, bulky organozinc reagents react with O-acylhydroxylamines to afford hindered amines.
Allylic metal species can be used to prepare allylic amines through electrophilic amination. Although allylic amines are usually prepared through nucleophilic amination of allylic halides, a few examples of electrophlic amination of allylic substrates are known. In the example below, an allylic zirconium reagent (obtained by hydrozirconation) is trapped with an O-alkylhydroxylamine.
The electrophilic amination of enolates yields α-amino carbonyl compounds. When chiral oxazolidinones are used in conjunction with azo compounds, enantioselectivity is observed (see above). BINAP can also be used for this purpose in the amination of silyl enol ether
Enol ether
An enol ether is an alkene with an alkoxy substituent. The general structure is R_1R_2C=CR_3-O-R_4 with R an alkyl or an aryl group. Enol ethers and enamines are so-called activated alkenes or electron rich alkenes because the oxygen atom donates electrons to the double bond by forming a resonance...
s.
Aryl and heteroaryl organometallic reagents undergo many of the same transformations as their aliphatic counterparts. Formation of amines, hydrazines, and azides is possible through the use of various electrophilic aminating reagents. An example employing a nitrenoid reagent is shown below.
Intramolecular amination is possible, and has been used to prepare small and medium rings. In the example below, deprotonation of an activated methylene compound containing an O-phosphinoylhydroxylamine led to the cyclic amine shown.
Comparison with other methods
Several other methods for the electrophilic formation of C-N bonds are available. Nitrites and nitrates can be used to form oximes and nitro compounds, respectively. Additionally, organoboranes can serve the role of the nucleophile and often provide higher yields with fewer complications than analogous carbanions. The Neber rearrangementNeber rearrangement
The Neber rearrangement is an organic reaction in which an oxime is converted into an alpha-aminoketone in a rearrangement reaction.The oxime is first converted to a ketoxime tosylate by reaction with tosyl chloride...
offers an alternative to electrophilic amination through the intermediacy of an azirine.
Typical conditions
The wide variety of electrophilic aminating reagents precludes generalization of reaction conditions. Electrophilic nitrogen sources are, however, either toxic or explosive in general. Great care should be taken while handling these reagents. Many electrophilic nitrogen sources do not provide amines immediately, but a number of methods exist to generate the corresponding amines.- Tosylamines: tributyltin hydride
- Azo compounds: H2/Pd
- Triazenes: sodium borohydride
- Azides: H2/Pd, H2/Pt, lithium aluminum hydride, triphenylphosphine
Conversion to other nitrogen-containing functionality, including enamine
Enamine
An enamine is an unsaturated compound derived by the reaction of an aldehyde or ketone with a secondary amine followed by loss of H2O.The word "enamine" is derived from the affix en-, used as the suffix of alkene, and the root amine. This can be compared with enol, which is a functional group...
s, imine
Imine
An imine is a functional group or chemical compound containing a carbon–nitrogen double bond, with the nitrogen attached to a hydrogen atom or an organic group. If this group is not a hydrogen atom, then the compound is known as a Schiff base...
s, and amide
Amide
In chemistry, an amide is an organic compound that contains the functional group consisting of a carbonyl group linked to a nitrogen atom . The term refers both to a class of compounds and a functional group within those compounds. The term amide also refers to deprotonated form of ammonia or an...
s, is also possible.