Studies on difficult intramolecular hydroaminations in the context of four syntheses of alkaloid natural products.

Examples of intramolecular alkene hydroaminations forming six-membered ring systems are rare, especially for systems in which the double bond is disubstituted. Such cyclizations have important synthetic relevance. Herein we report a systematic study of these cyclizations using recently developed Cope-type hydroamination methodologies.

Synthesis of azomethine imines using an intramolecular alkyne hydrohydrazination approach.

Azomethine imines can be accessed upon heating appropriate alkynylhydrazide precursors. This simple thermal hydroamination approach allows the formation of five- and six-membered dipoles in modest to excellent yields. The structure of the acyl group is important to minimize side reactions and allow the isolation of the azomethine imines by column chromatography.

Optimization of a 1,5-dihydrobenzo[b][1,4]diazepine-2,4-dione series of HIV capsid assembly inhibitors 2: structure-activity relationships (SAR) of the C3-phenyl moiety.

Detailed structure-activity relationships of the C3-phenyl moiety that allow for the optimization of antiviral potency of a series of 1,5-dihydrobenzo[b][1,4]diazepine-2,4-dione inhibitors of HIV capsid (CA) assembly are described. Combination of favorable substitutions gave additive SAR and allowed for the identification of the most potent compound in the series, analog 27. Productive SAR also transferred to the benzotriazepine and spirobenzodiazepine scaffolds, providing a solution to the labile stereocenter at the C3 position.

The tandem Cope-type hydroamination/[2,3]-rearrangement sequence: a strategy to favor the formation of intermolecular hydroamination products and enable difficult cyclizations.

The tandem hydroamination/Meisenheimer rearrangement sequence was developed to address the issue of unfavorable reaction thermodynamics for intermolecular reactions of alkenes and to improve the scope of Cope-type hydroaminations. This tandem sequence allows intermolecular reactions of N-alkyl-N-methallylhydroxyl-amines to be energetically more favorable: the N-oxide intermediate formed via Cope-type hydroamination, which can revert to the starting materials via a Cope elimination, can form a more stable neutral product via a [2,3]-Meisenheimer rearrangement. This tandem sequence also leads to increased efficiency in intramolecular systems as illustrated by syntheses of two alkaloids (coniine and norreticuline) featuring difficult hydroamination key steps.