N-Mesityl-Substituted Triazolium Salts

Introduction

Metal-free organocatalysis employing N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) has attracted great interest because of its use in the construction of intricate molecular architectures from simple starting materials under mild reaction conditions.[1] The catalytic pathway of NHCs mimics that of thiamine-dependent enzymatic processes and passes through discrete reactive species, such as acyl anions and enolate or homoenolate equivalents.[2] This enables the selective generation of a set of versatile electrophilic (acyl azoliums) and nucleophilic (enolates, homoenolates) intermediates and makes NHCs efficient catalysts in such various reactions as acylation, cycloaddition, β-borylation, and elimination.

N-Mesityl substituted imidazolium (cat. A) and triazolium (cat. B) salts were introduced by Bode and co-workers as stable NHC precursors.[3] The imidazolium derivative favors the homoenolate pathway, whereas the triazolium precursor promotes almost all NHC-catalyzed transformations, except for benzoin and Stetter reactions. Chiral pre-catalysts like C and its enantiomer are also commercially available.[4]

It should be noted that the N-substituent is of crucial importance; for example, an N-phenyl substituents might not provide any product, while the Bode (N-mesityl) or Rovis (N-pentafluorophenyl)[5] catalysts are highly catalytically active.

Figure 1 N-Mesityl-substituted imidazolium (cat. A) and triazolium (cat. B and C) carbene precursors. Chiral pre-catalyst C is commercially available (Mes = 1,3,5-trimethylphenyl).

• References


For recent reviews see:
• 1a Chiang P.-C, Bode JW. TCI MAIL 2011; 149: 2
• 1b Grossmann A, Enders D. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012; 51: 314

Book chapters:
• 1c Mahatthananchai J, Bode JW In Contemporary Carbene Chemistry. Moss RA, Doyle MP. Wiley; Hoboken: 2013: 237
• 1d Mahatthananchai J, Bode JW In Asymmetric Synthesis: The Essentials II. Christmann M, Bräse S. Wiley; Weinheim: 2012: 67
• 1e Gondo CA, Bode JW In Science of Synthesis: Houben Weyl Methods of Molecular Transformations Vol. 13.33. List B. Georg Thieme Verlag; Stuttgart, New York: 2012: 199
• 1f Chiang P.-C, Bode JW In Science of Synthesis: Asymmetric Organocatalysis Vol. 1. List B. Georg Thieme Verlag; Stuttgart, New York: 2012: 639
• 2 For a review on the mechanism of NHC-catalyzed reactions, see: Mahatthananchai J, Bode JW. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014; 47: 696
• 3 Sohn SS, Bode JW. Org. Lett. 2005; 7: 3873
• 4 He M, Struble JR, Bode JW. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006; 128: 8418
• 5 Kerr MS, Rovis TJ. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004; 126: 8876
• 6 Li G.-Q, Dai L.-X, You S.-L. Org. Lett. 2009; 11: 1623
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• 7b Hsieh S.-Y, Binanzer M, Kreituss I, Bode JW. Chem. Commun. 2012; 48: 8892
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• 7d Gondo CA, Bode JW. Synlett 2013; 24: 1205
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• 9 For the recent review on the homoenolates see: Nair V, Menon RS, Biju AT, Sinu CR, Paul RR, Jose A, Sreekumar V. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011; 40: 5336
• 10 Fu Z, Sun H, Chen S, Tiwari B, Li G, Chi YR. Chem. Commun. 2013; 49: 261
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