Murugesan Thangamani,
Subaramaniam Thangamalar and
Kannupal Srinivasan*
School of Chemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-620024, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: srinivasank@bdu.ac.in; Fax: +91-431-2407043; Tel: +91-431-2407053
First published on 21st April 2021
A tin(IV) chloride promoted (3 + 2) annulation of trans-2-aroyl-3-styrylcyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxylates with nitriles is reported. The transformation involves the Lewis acid assisted formation of 1,5-dipolar intermediates from the cyclopropane dicarboxylates and nitriles followed by cyclization. The reactions proceed in a highly diastereoselective manner and afford 5-vinyl-1-pyrroline derivatives in 60–88% yields.
1-Pyrrolines are an important class of heterocyclic compounds as the core is present in a notable number of natural products and biologically relevant compounds.3 They also serve as versatile synthetic intermediates for the access of pharmaceutically important compounds.4 So numerous approaches have been developed for the synthesis of 1-pyrrolines.5 The (3 + 2) annulation of D–A cyclopropanes with nitriles is a versatile strategy for the stereoselective synthesis of 1-pyrrolines.6
Few years back, we reported that aroyl substituted D–A cyclopropanes 1 undergo SnCl4-promoted (3 + 2) annulation with nitriles 2 to give 1-pyrrolines 3 diastereoselectively (Scheme 1, eqn (1)).7 Recently, we reported a similar approach for the access of γ-butyrolactone-fused 1-pyrrolines 5 from γ-butyrolactone-fused D–A cyclopropanes 4 (Scheme 1, eqn (2)).8 Meanwhile, we have also synthesized and explored the synthetic potential of a similar class of aroyl substituted D–A cyclopropanes having aryl vinyl donor group, namely, trans-2-aroyl-3-styrylcyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxylates 6.9 Naturally, we became interested in exploring the (3 + 2) annulation of 6 with various nitriles with a view to obtain vinyl-substituted 1-pyrroline derivatives 7 (Scheme 1, eqn (3)). It is interesting to note that the vinyl pyrroline core is present in alkaloids isolated from the venom of the myrmicine ant Megalomyrmex foreli of Costa Rica.10
Entry | Reagents (equiv.) and conditionsa | Yield of 7ab (%) |
---|---|---|
a The reaction was conducted with 1a (1 equiv.), 2a (2.5 equiv.), Lewis acid (n equiv.) and solvent (3 mL).b Isolated yield.c No reaction.d Complicated mixture of products.e 6a underwent fragmentation to give cinnamaldehyde and phenacyl malonate.9a | ||
1 | SnCl4 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h [using 2a (5 equiv.)] | 86 |
2 | SnCl4 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | 86 |
3 | SnCl4 (0.2), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | 10 |
4 | SnCl4 (0.5), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | 58 |
5 | SnCl4 (1.5), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | 65 |
6 | SnCl4 (2.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | 62 |
7 | SnCl4 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, 0 °C, 12 h | 55 |
8 | SnCl4 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, 60 °C, 12 h | 46 |
9 | SnCl4 (1.0), CH2Cl2, rt, 12 h | 30 |
10 | SnCl4 (1.0), MeNO2, rt, 12 h | 10 |
11 | SnCl4 (1.0), PhMe, rt, 12 h | 30 |
12 | SnCl4 (1.0), THF, rt, 24 h | NRc |
13 | SnCl4·5H2O (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | c.m.d |
14 | SnCl2 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
15 | AlCl3 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | 70 |
16 | TiCl4 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | Trace |
17 | BF3·Et2O (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 12 h | —e |
18 | InCl3 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
19 | In(OTf)3 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
20 | Cu(OTf)2 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
21 | Sc(OTf)3 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
22 | Yb(OTf)3 (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
23 | p-TsOH (1.0), 1,2-DCE, rt, 24 h | NRc |
Next, we examined the scope of the transformation for various vinyl D–A cyclopropanes and ntriles and the results are summarized in Table 2. Initially, we tested the reactions of cyclopropane 6a with aromatic nitriles 2a–d having electron donating and electron withdrawing substituents on the aryl ring (entries 1–4). Except for the reaction in entry 4, in which the expected product was not detected, all other reactions afforded the corresponding 5-vinyl-1-pyrroline derivatives 7a–c in 66–75% yields. When 6a was reacted with nitriles 2e and 2f having bulky 1-naphthyl and heteroaromatic 2-thienyl rings, vinyl 1-pyrrolines 7d and 7e were formed in 76 and 80% yields, respectively (entries 5 and 6). We also reacted cyclopropane 6a with an aliphatic nitrile, viz., acetonitrile (2g) and obtained the corresponding 1-pyrroline derivative 7f in 88% yield (entry 7). Next, we reacted cyclopropanes 6b–g having different aromatic rings as Ar1 or Ar2 with benzonitrile (2a) and obtained the respective 1-pyrrolines 7g–l in 63–78% yields (entries 8–13). Finally, we reacted various substrates having different Ar1, Ar2 or R groups and obtained the corresponding 1-pyrrolines 7m–q in 60–86% yields (entries 14–18).
Entry | Ar1, Ar2 | R | Yield of 7a (%) |
---|---|---|---|
a Isolated yield.b Not detected. | |||
1 | Ph, Ph (6a) | Ph (2a) | 86 (7a) |
2 | Ph, Ph (6a) | 4-MeC6H4 (2b) | 75 (7b) |
3 | Ph, Ph (6a) | 4-MeOC6H4 (2c) | 66 (7c) |
4 | Ph, Ph (6a) | 4-O2NC6H4 (2d) | n.d.b |
5 | Ph, Ph (6a) | 1-Naphthyl (2e) | 76 (7d) |
6 | Ph, Ph (6a) | 2-Thienyl (2f) | 80 (7e) |
7 | Ph, Ph (6a) | Me (2g) | 88 (7f) |
8 | 4-MeOC6H4, Ph (6b) | Ph (2a) | 78 (7g) |
9 | 2-Naphthyl, Ph (6c) | Ph (2a) | 76 (7h) |
10 | 2-Thienyl, Ph (6d) | Ph (2a) | 72 (7i) |
11 | Ph, 4-MeC6H4 (6e) | Ph (2a) | 69 (7j) |
12 | Ph, 4-MeOC6H4 (6f) | Ph (2a) | 63 (7k) |
13 | Ph, 4-O2NC6H4 (6g) | Ph (2a) | 68 (7l) |
14 | 4-MeC6H4, Ph (6h) | 4-MeC6H4 (2b) | 78 (7m) |
15 | 4-MeC6H4, Ph (6h) | 4-BrC6H4 (2h) | 60 (7n) |
16 | 4-MeC6H4, Ph (6h) | Me (2g) | 80 (7o) |
17 | 4-O2NC6H4, Ph (6i) | 2-Thienyl (2f) | 65 (7p) |
18 | 4-MeC6H4, 4-MeC6H4 (6j) | Me (2g) | 86 (7q) |
We propose a mechanism depicted in Scheme 2 for the formation of vinyl 1-pyrrolines 7 from D–A cyclopropanes 6 and nitriles 2 based on earlier reports.7,8,11 Accordingly, the Lewis acid (SnCl4) complexes with malonate unit of 6, which facilitates the nucleophilic attack of 2 on 6 at the carbon (C-3) attached to vinyl unit. In the resulting 1,5-dipolar intermediate, the groups attached to C-3 undergo 120° rotation which brings the nitrile carbon and the malonate carbanion in close proximity for cyclization. It may be noted that the rotation also brings Ar1 and Ar2 groups to a cis-position. So the product 1-pyrroline 7 is formed in a diastereoselective manner.
The vinyl 1-pyrroline products synthesized in the present study could serve as potential synthetic precursors for other compounds. To prove the point, we treated vinyl 1-pyrroline 7b with water in the presence of 1 equiv. of SnCl4 in 1,2-DCE for 8 h. It underwent nucleophilic addition of water followed by ring-opening to furnish the multifunctional malonate 8 in 76% yield (Scheme 3; the structure of 8 was confirmed by X-ray analysis12).
Footnote |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Copies of 1H and 13C NMR spectra of all products and X-ray structural information of 8. CCDC 2048692. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/d1ra01194d |
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