1. Procedure (Note 1)
B.
4-(Mesitylamino)-5-phenylcyclopent-2-en-1-one (2). An oven-dried 500 mL single-necked, round-bottomed flask equipped with an egg-shaped, Teflon-coated magnetic stir bar (3 cm x 1.5 cm) is capped with a rubber septum. While cooling to ambient temperature under an atmosphere of nitrogen, an oil bath is preheated to 80 °C. Once the flask is cooled,
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol (
1) (3.95 g, 22.7 mmol, 1.1 equiv) (
Note 9) and
acetonitrile (200 mL) (
MeCN) (Notes
10 and
11) are added along with
2,4,6-trimethylaniline (2.78 g, 20.5 mmol, 1.0 equiv) (
Note 12), resulting in a pale brown homogeneous mixture (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Homogenous mixture of furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol and 2,4,6-trimethylaniline
Dysprosium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (
Dy(OTf)3, 0.628 g, 1.03 mmol, 0.05 equiv) is added (Notes
13 and
14). Immediately following addition, the flask is fitted with a water reflux condenser, placed under an atmosphere of nitrogen, and submerged in the oil bath that is preheated to 80 °C and stirred for 4 h (
Note 15).
Figure 2. Reaction mixture 15 minutes into heating (left), 30 minutes into heating (center), and after 3 hours of heating (right)
The reaction mixture becomes dark brown in color upon heating (Figure 2). The reaction is followed by TLC analysis on silica gel with 85% hexanes in
ethyl acetate as eluent and visualized with under 254 nm UV light and stained with
p-anisaldehyde (
Note 16). Upon confirmation that no 1,3,5-trimethylaniline remains, the stirring is stopped and the reaction mixture is allowed to cool to ambient temperature under an atmosphere of nitrogen. The cooled reaction mixture is quenched with saturated aqueous
sodium bicarbonate (1 x 150 mL) and transferred to a 1 L separatory funnel and extracted with
ethyl acetate (3 x 150 mL) (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Reaction mixture being quenched with sodium bicarbonate (left) and the final extraction with ethyl acetate (right)
The combined organic layers are dried over
MgSO4, filtered and concentrated (25 °C, 10 mmHg) to produce a dark brown oil. The product of the crude reaction mixture is purified via column chromatography (
Note 17) to afford the cyclopentenone product (
2) as a brown oil (4.97 g, 83%) (Notes
18,
19,
20,
21, and
22) (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Column chromotagraphy on crude product (left) and the final dark brown oil cyclopentenone product (right)
2. Notes
1. Prior to performing each reaction, a thorough hazard analysis and risk assessment should be carried out with regard to each chemical substance and experimental operation on the scale planned and in the context of the laboratory where the procedures will be carried out. Guidelines for carrying out risk assessments and for analyzing the hazards associated with chemicals can be found in references such as Chapter 4 of "Prudent Practices in the Laboratory" (The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2011; the full text can be accessed free of charge at
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12654/prudent-practices-in-the-laboratory-handling-and-management-of-chemical). See also "Identifying and Evaluating Hazards in Research Laboratories" (American Chemical Society, 2015) which is available via the associated website "Hazard Assessment in Research Laboratories" at
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/hazard-assessment.html. In the case of this procedure, the risk assessment should include (but not necessarily be limited to) an evaluation of the potential hazards associated with
magnesium,
bromobenzene,
tetrahydrofuran,
phenylmagnesium bromide,
furfural,
ethyl acetate,
ammonium chloride,
hexane, silica gel,
acetonitrile,
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol,
dysprosium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate, and
2,4,6-trimethylaniline.
2. The reagent solution was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, although the same yield was obtained using
phenylmagnesium bromide made from
bromobenzene and
magnesium turnings.
3.
Furfural (99%) was purchased from Acros and distilled prior to use. The
furfural can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
4. When stained with
p-anisaldehyde,
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol stains a dark blue-brown color with a R
f of 0.46.
5. The product can be purified using column chromatography with a gradient of hexanes:ethyl acetate from 100%
hexane to a 3:2 eluent. To a column (2" in diameter) 165 g of silica (Geduran Si 60, Silicagel 60, 0.040-0.063 mm) was added and prepared with a 9:1 eluent solution. The unpurified product was dry loaded onto celite and loaded on the column. The product was eluted with 500 mL of 100%
hexane eluent followed by 750 mL of 4:1 eluent, and lastly 500 mL of 3:2 eluent. The fractions containing the product were identified by TLC (Note 4), and the fractions were combined. The solvent was removed by rotatory evaporation (25 °C, 10 mmHg).
6. The product (
1) has been characterized as follows:
1H NMR
pdf(500 MHz, CDCl
3) δ: 2.40 (s, 1H), 5.85 (s, 1H), 6.13 (d, 1H), 6.33 (m, 1H), 7.39 (m, 6H);
13C NMR
pdf(125 MHz, CDCl
3) δ: 70.2, 107.4, 110.2, 126.6, 128.1, 128.5, 140.8, 142.5, 155.9; IR (film)
pdf3364, 3054, 3022, 2874, 1595, 1492, 1451, 1224, 1196, 1140, 1140, 1073, 1007, 939, 926, 884, 812, 728, 697, 625 cm
-1. HRMS (ESI+): [M + H] calcd for C
11H
11O
2: 175.0759 Found: 175.0739
7. The purity was determined to be >97% wt. by quantitative
1H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl
3 using 174.2 mg of
1 and 168.6 mg of 1,3,5-trimethoxylbenzene as an internal standard (D1 = 10 s).
8. A second reaction on 0.85X scale provided 7.61 g (94%) of the product (
1).
9.
Furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol is freshly synthesized using a Grignard reaction between
bromobenzene and
furfural. If prepared freshly, the compound is a yellow oil after column purification and it becomes a dark black tar upon one week storage at room temperature. It is recommended that the freshly prepared
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol will be used for step 1B in less than one week upon fridge storage.
10.
Acetonitrile was dried using a solvent purification system from a JC Meyer solvent dispensing system (content of water: 20-50 ppm). Reagent grade
acetonitrile (Sigma Aldrich, anhydrous, 99.8%) can also be used.
11.
Acetonitrile (35 mL) is added first to ensure any
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol is washed down the sides of the flask before
4-iodoaniline addition. The final 5 mL is added after the addition of
dysprosium triflate.
12.
2,4,6-Trimethylaniline (97%) was purchased from Acros Organics and used as received.
13.
Dysprosium triflate (98%) was obtained from Strem Chemicals, stored in a desiccator and used as received.
14.
Dysprosium triflate is added by quickly removing the rubber septum and adding the powdered catalyst to the stirring reaction mixture.
15. Reaction time may slightly vary between 3-5 h and can be determined by TLC analysis.
16. The reaction is considered complete when there is no
2,4,6-trimethylaniline is detected by TLC analysis. The R
f of the
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol was 0.14, the R
f of the
2,4,6-trimethylaniline was 0.19, and the R
f of the product was 0.09. When stained with
p-anisaldehyde, the
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol starting material appears as a dark blue, the
2,4,6-trimethylaniline appears yellow, and the product appears as an olive brown color.
17. The product can be purified using column chromatography with a gradient of hexanes:ethyl acetate from 19:1 to 1:1. To a column (3" diameter column) 275 g of silica (Geduran Si 60, Silicagel 60, 0.040-0.063 mm) was added and prepared with a 19:1 eluent solution. The unpurified product was dry loaded onto celite and loaded on the column. The product was eluted with 1 L of 95:5 eluent followed by 1.5 L of 85:15 eluent, then 1 L of 70:30 eluent, and lastly 0.5 L of 1:1 eluent. The fractions containing the product by TLC were combined and solvent was removed by rotatory evaporation (25 °C, 10 mmHg).
18. The product (
2) has been characterized as follows:
1H NMR
pdf(500 MHz, CDCl
3) δ: 2.14 (s, 6H), 2.26 (s, 3H), 3.20 (br s, 1H), 3.43 (d, 1H), 4.46 (s, 1H), 6.36 (dd, 1H), 6.84 (s, 2H), 7.06 (m, 2H), 7.31 (m, 3H), 7.67 (dd, 1H);
13C NMR
pdf(125 MHz, CD
2Cl
2) δ: 18.6, 20.5, 60.4, 67.5, 127.0, 127.9, 128.7, 129.6, 132.3, 133.5, 137.9, 140.7, 162.8, 206.8; IR (film or solvent)
pdf: 3346, 2914, 1704, 1585, 1481, 1452, 1373, 1335, 1230, 1155, 1109, 1040, 914, 854, 735, 697 cm
-1; HRMS (ESI+): calcd for C
20H
20NO [M + H] [M + H] calcd for C
20H
22NO: 292.1701 Found: 292.1704
19. The purity was determined to be >98% wt. by quantitative
1H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl3 using 128.1 mg of the compound 6 and 102.0 mg of trimethoxylbenzene as an internal standard (D1 = 10 s).
20. A second reaction on 0.85X scale provided 4.03 g (84%) of the product.
21. Alternatively, product was isolated as (
s)-CSA salt via crystallization in
MeCN: After workup of the reaction (scale of reaction based on
furan-2-yl(phenyl)methanol: 10.0 g, 57.4 mmol, 1.1 equiv), the combined organic layers are dried over
MgSO4, filtered and concentrated to produce a dark brown oil. This dark oil was re-dissolved in 100 mL of dry
MeCN. The resulting dark solution was dried until KF < 150 ppm water via constant volume distillation with dry
MeCN (KF = 80 ppm). The dark mixture was then filtered to remove solid
MgSO4, and the resulting dark solution was heated to 50 °C. To the solution was charged (S)-CSA (10.8 g, 46.5 mmol, 0.9 equiv). The mixture was agitated at 50 °C until CSA dissolved.
MeCN (50 mL) was removed by vacuum distillation (50 mmHg). During this process, the product crystallized as white solid. The slurry was cooled to room temperature and agitated for 2 h at rt. The slurry was filtered and the wet cake was washed with
MeCN (2 x 10 mL). The cake was dried under vacuum (24.5 g, 80%, 98.5% purity).
22. Compound 6-CSA salt was characterized as follows:
1H NMR
pdf(500 MHz, CD
2Cl
2) δ: 0.82 (s, 3H), 1.04 (s, 3H), 1.38 (m, 1H), 1.63 (m, 1H), 1.87 (d, 1H), 1.99 (m, 1H), 2.06 (t, 1H), 2.30 (s, 3H), 2.34 (s, 6H), 2.51 (ddd, 1H), 2.76 (dd, 1H), 3.27 (d 1H), 4.00 (d, 1H), 4.85 (m, 1H), 6.54 (m, 1H), 6.90 (m, 4H), 7.27 (m, 3H), 7.98 (m, 1H), 9.78 (s, 2H);
13C NMR
pdf(125 MHz, CD
2Cl
2) δ: 18.8, 20.09, 20.11, 21.0, 25.3, 27.4, 43.2, 43.4, 48.3, 48.5, 53.6, 53.8, 54.0, 54.2, 54.4, 55.16, 55.24, 58.9, 69.1, 69.2, 128.1, 128.2, 128.5, 129.3, 129.4, 130.5, 131.4, 131.5, 132.7, 136.9, 137.7, 137.9, 139.8, 156.8, 156.9, 203.6, 203.7, 217.2; IR
pdf3558, 3416, 3267, 3055, 2960, 2724, 2463, 1740, 1725, 1714, 1604, 1454, 1182, 1169, 1157, 1038 cm
-1; HRMS (ESI+): calcd for C
20H
22NO [M + H] 292.1701, found 292.1704.
3. Discussion
Although the Piancatelli rearrangement offers one of the most direct routes to 4-hydroxycylopentenones, its use in synthesis was largely driven by the synthesis of prostaglandins.
6 However, over the years rapid access to substituted cyclopentenones has played a critical role in a wide array of natural product synthesis.
7,8 Despite tremendous progress, a literature survey in 2009 revealed a lack of methods available for the direct synthesis of 4-aminocyclopentenone derivatives, with most relying on multistep approaches.
9 Two notable exceptions were reported independently by Denisov
10 and Batey
11 (Scheme 2) in 1993 and 2007, respectively. Inspired by these reports and Piancatelli's work we envisioned that an efficient catalytic aza-Piancatelli rearrangement could serve as a powerful general method to biologically active molecules bearing nitrogen functionality. Because
furfural, the precursor to furylcarbinols, is produced from agricultural waste products like bagasse, oat hulls, and corncobs, it also provides chemists with a route to this key building block without relying on petrochemical feedstock.
Scheme 2. Research performed by various groups on acid-catalyzed rearrangements of furfural
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