Shaheen
Fatma
,
Feroz
Ahmad
,
Yogesh A.
Pankhade
,
Pavit K.
Ranga
and
Ramasamy
Vijaya Anand
*
Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, Sector 81, Knowledge City, S. A. S. Nagar, Manauli (PO), Punjab – 140306, India. E-mail: rvijayan@iisermohali.ac.in
First published on 1st July 2024
Herein, we report a transition-metal and base-free protocol to access a wide range of functionalized indenone derivatives through a HMPA–H2O-mediated oxygenative annulation of 2-alkynylphenyl-substituted p-quinone methides. This method worked effectively for most of the p-QMs investigated and the corresponding indenone derivatives were obtained in moderate to good yields. This methodology was further extended to the formal synthesis of one of the resveratrol based natural products, (±)-isopaucifloral F.
The traditional method for indenone synthesis relies on intramolecular Friedel–Crafts type cyclization that often suffers from the need for harsh reaction conditions and a limited substrate scope.6 Besides, some radical and other synthetic approaches have also been developed to produce indenone derivatives.7 In recent years, transition metal catalysis has gained much attention in organic transformations and, to this end, many transition metal based protocols have also been documented in the literature for the synthesis of indenones,8 which include catalytic annulations of alkynes with ortho-functionalized aromatic aldehydes, esters or nitriles (a & b, Scheme 1).8b,c However, the use of expensive transition metal catalysts such as Pd and Rh limits their synthetic utility. Recently, Yao and co-workers reported a transition metal free tandem annulation of 2-alkynylbenzaldehydes with phenols for the synthesis of 2,3-diarylindenones (c, Scheme 1).9 However, their protocol is effective only for electron-poor aryl-substituted 2-alkynyl benzaldehydes. Moreover, both the regioisomers were formed in their method; of course, one would be the major product depending on the reaction conditions (c, Scheme 1). Considering the importance of indenone scaffolds in various fields, the development of more efficient and practical metal-free protocols to access these indenone derivatives are highly desirable.
In recent years, the synthetic utilities of p-quinone methides (p-QMs) have been widely explored.10 Our group was also involved in the synthesis of various triarylmethanes,11 carbocycles12 and heterocycles13 using p-QMs as synthons. Herein, we report a transition-metal and base-free HMPA-mediated oxygenative carbocyclization of 2-alkynylated p-QMs14 to access substituted indenones (d, Scheme 1). In this context, it should be noted that although HMPA has been utilized as an additive in many organic transformations15 including in SmI2 chemistry,16 only a handful of reports are available in the literature on HMPA-mediated organic transformations, which include regioselective additions of organolithium reagents to enones and enals, conjugate additions of (phenylthio/phenylseleno)allylithium reagents to cyclopentenones, retro-aldol reactions, arylations of indenes, etc.17
:
1 mixture of dry HMPA and water was used as a solvent, 2a was obtained in 30% yield (entry 13). Another experiment was also conducted using the commercially available N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP); however, the desired product 2a was formed only in 10% yield (entry 14). To exclude the effect of atmospheric oxygen on the outcome of the reaction, a reaction was conducted under inert conditions (entry 15) and in that case also, the product was obtained in 75% yield, clearly indicating that atmospheric oxygen is not playing any role in this transformation.
| Entry | Catalyst (10 mol%) | Solvent | Temp. [°C] | Time [h] | Yield of 2a b [%] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a Reaction conditions: reactions were carried out with 0.10 mmol of 1a. b Yields reported are isolated yields. c Non-anhydrous and commercially available HMPA with 98.5% purity (remaining 1.5% was water) was used as solvent. d Dry HMPA was used as solvent. e Reaction was carried out under a N2 atmosphere. (HMPA = hexamethylphosphoramide; NMP = N-methylpyrrolidone). | |||||
| 1 | AuCl | DMSO | RT | 24 | 0 |
| 2 | AuCl | DMSO | 100 | 24 | 60 |
| 3 | AuCl3 | DMSO | 100 | 12 | 40 |
| 4 | (PPh3)AuCl | DMSO | 100 | 24 | Trace |
| 5 | PPh3AuNTf2 | DMSO | 100 | 24 | Trace |
| 6 | AuCl (5 mol%) AgOTf (5 mol%) | DMSO | 100 | 24 | Trace |
| 7c | AuCl | HMPA | 100 | 8 | 53 |
| 8c | — | HMPA | 100 | 24 | 60 |
| 9c | — | HMPA | 140 | 8 | 78 |
| 10 | — | DMSO | 130 | 48 | 0 |
| 11d | — | HMPA | 140 | 24 | 0 |
| 12 | — | H2O | 150 | 24 | 0 |
| 13 | — | HMPA : H2O (3 : 1) |
140 | 24 | 30 |
| 14 | — | NMP | 130 | 24 | 10 |
| 15c,e | — | HMPA | 140 | 8 | 75 |
Next, the optimal reaction conditions (entry 9, Table 1) were employed to investigate the scope and limitations of this transformation (Table 2). The para-quinone methides (p-QMs) 1b–h, where the alkyne was substituted with electron-rich arenes, produced the desired products 2b–h in 40–86% yields. The halo-aryl alkyne-substituted p-QMs, 1i–m, also reacted smoothly and afforded the desired products 2i–m in 63–74% yields. In addition, the p-QMs 1n–q, substituted with electron-withdrawing groups, also underwent cyclization under the optimal conditions and provided the corresponding products 2n–q in the range of 50–87% yields. The 3-thienyl alkyne-substituted precursor 1r afforded the desired product 2r in 60% yield. The reaction also worked well with p-QMs 1s–u, having cycloalkyl substituents (such as cyclopropyl, cyclopentyl, and cyclohexyl) on the alkyne, and in these cases, the desired products 2s–u were isolated in 39–52% yields.
| a Reactions were carried out at the 50 mg scale with 1b–u in 1.0 mL of HMPA. Yields reported are isolated yields. |
|---|
|
Later, the substrate scope investigation was extended to various substituted p-QMs 1v–1aa and the results are summarized in Table 3. The p-QMs 1v–x, having electron-rich substituents (–Me, –OMe, and 3,5-dimethoxy) on the aryl ring, afforded the corresponding products 3a–c in yields ranging from 53–61%. The halo-arene-substituted p-QMs 1y and 1z also reacted under the standard reaction conditions and produced the desired indenones 3d and 3e in 35 and 60% yields, respectively. The indenone 3f was isolated in 54% yield when the corresponding synthon 1aa was subjected to oxygenative cyclization under standard conditions. The isopropyl containing 2-alkynylphenyl-substituted p-QM 1ab also worked well under the optimized conditions and afforded product 3g in 80% yield.
| a Reactions were carried out at the 50 mg scale with 1v–1aa in 1.0 mL of HMPA. Yields reported are isolated yields. |
|---|
|
To show the feasibility of this methodology, a relatively large-scale reaction of 1a was carried out under the standard reaction conditions, and in this case, 2a was obtained in 62% yield (Scheme 2).
To demonstrate the practical applicability of this transformation, we targeted the formal synthesis of one of the resveratrol-derived natural products, isopaucifloral F (8),18 starting from p-QM 4.12a Upon treatment with the terminal alkyne 5, p-QM 4 afforded the 2-alkynylphenyl-substituted p-QM 6 under Sonogashira conditions (Scheme 3). p-QM 6 was then subjected to oxygenative cyclization under the optimized reaction conditions to produce the indenone derivative 7 in 53% yield. Compound 7 can easily be converted to isopaucifloral F 8 in 3 steps through a known procedure involving reduction followed by demethylation/de-tert-butylation.12a
Next, we shifted our attention to find out the exact role of HMPA/water in this transformation. As discussed in the optimization table, the oxygenative cyclization of 1a did not work either in anhydrous HMPA or in pure water (entries 11 & 12, Table 1). However, when the reaction was conducted in a mixture of dry HMPA and water in a 3
:
1 ratio, 2a was obtained in 30% yield (entry 13, Table 1). These experiments clearly indicate that both HMPA and water are crucial to drive this transformation. The best result was obtained when the commercially available HMPA with 1.5% water content was used (entry 9, Table 1). To find out the optimal quantity of water required for this transformation, a few control experiments were performed in anhydrous HMPA by adding calculated amounts of water [0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, etc.] at 140 °C (a, Scheme 4). The reaction using 1.5% water gave product 2a in 74% yield, which is very similar when compared to the optimal reaction conditions using commercially available HMPA (entry 9, Table 1). However, interestingly, product 2a was obtained in much less yields when the water content in the reaction is less than or more than 1.5% (v/v) [Scheme 4]. These experiments clearly indicate that the optimal water quantity required for this transformation is approximately 1.5% (v/v). It is clear from these control experiments that the yields of 2a were decreasing gradually when the water content in the reaction was increased and, notably, no product formation was observed when the reaction was conducted in a 1
:
1 mixture of dry HMPA and water (a, Scheme 4). To further prove the involvement of water in the reaction, another control experiment was performed using a mixture of dry HMPA and 18O labelled water (H2O18) and, in this case, 2a′ was obtained in 30% yield with 60% of 18O incorporation (M − H, m/z = 411.2215) along with an unlabelled product (M − H, m/z = 409.2125) [b, Scheme 4]. We believe that the oxygen atom of the unlabelled product could have come from the HMPA, which explains the incorporation of the remaining 40% of 16O in the product.
Based on the above-mentioned control experiments, a plausible mechanism for this transformation was proposed (Scheme 5). We presume that, initially, the oxygen-atom of HMPA reacts with 1a in a 1,6-fashion to generate intermediate I. Now, there are two possibilities: (i) the attack of water on the alkyne moiety of I followed by cyclization with the expulsion of HMPA would lead to another intermediate II, which subsequently undergoes tautomerization (viaIII) followed by aerobic oxidation to generate product 2a (Path A) or (ii) the attack of another molecule of HMPA on the alkyne of I followed by intramolecular cyclization would lead to intermediate IV, which then reacts with water to generate another intermediate V. The expulsion of HMPA from intermediate V would lead to III, which upon aerobic oxidation produces product 2a (Path B). The HRMS analysis of the crude reaction mixture indicated the presence of either I or IV or both during the reaction as a peak was found at m/z (M + H)+ = 574.3555, which corresponds to I and/or IV. So, based on this observation and the control experiment (Scheme 5), we assume that both the pathways (Paths A & B) are simultaneously operating during the reaction.
Footnote |
| † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CCDC 2307508. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ob00966e |
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2024 |