Olga A. Mukhina

Rapid Photoassisted Access to N,O,S‐Polyheterocycles with Benzoazocine and Hydroquinoline Cores: Intramolecular Cycloadditions of Photogenerated Azaxylylenes

o-Azaxylylenes have been known for half a century,[1] but remained in relative synthetic obscurity until a decade ago, when in this journal Corey reported their first preparation under simple mild conditions via base-induced elimination of hydrogen chloride from derivatives of o-chloromethylaniline,[2] noting that “Surprisingly, simplest method possible for o-azaxylylene production [...] has never been reported.”

Minimalist Relativistic Force Field: Prediction of Proton–Proton Coupling Constants in 1H NMR Spectra Is Perfected with NBO Hybridization Parameters

We previously developed a reliable method for multiparametric scaling of Fermi contacts to achieve fast and accurate prediction of proton-proton spin-spin coupling constants (SSCC) in (1)H NMR. We now report that utilization of NBO hybridization coefficients for carbon atoms in the involved C-H bonds allows for a significant simplification of this parametric scheme, requiring only four general types of SSCCs: geminal, vicinal, 1,3-, and long-range constants. The method is optimized for inexpensive B3LYP/6-31G(d) molecular geometries. A new DU8 basis set, based on a training set of 475 experimental spin-spin coupling constants, is developed for hydrogen and common non-hydrogen atoms (Li, B, C, N, O, F, Si, P, S, Cl, Se, Br, I) to calculate Fermi contacts. On a test set of 919 SSCCs from a diverse collection of natural products and complex synthetic molecules the method gave excellent accuracy of 0.29 Hz (rmsd) with the maximum unsigned error not exceeding 1 Hz.

Relativistic Force Field: Parametric Computations of Proton–Proton Coupling Constants in 1H NMR Spectra

Spin-spin coupling constants in (1)H NMR carry a wealth of structural information and offer a powerful tool for deciphering molecular structures. However, accurate ab initio or DFT calculations of spin-spin coupling constants have been very challenging and expensive. Scaling of (easy) Fermi contacts, fc, especially in the context of recent findings by Bally and Rablen (Bally, T.; Rablen, P. R. J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 4818), offers a framework for achieving practical evaluation of spin-spin coupling constants. We report a faster and more precise parametrization approach utilizing a new basis set for hydrogen atoms optimized in conjunction with (i) inexpensive B3LYP/6-31G(d) molecular geometries, (ii) inexpensive 4-31G basis set for carbon atoms in fc calculations, and (iii) individual parametrization for different atom types/hybridizations, not unlike a force field in molecular mechanics, but designed for the fcs. With the training set of 608 experimental constants we achieved rmsd <0.19 Hz. The methodology performs very well as we illustrate with a set of complex organic natural products, including strychnine (rmsd 0.19 Hz), morphine (rmsd 0.24 Hz), etc. This precision is achieved with much shorter computational times: accurate spin-spin coupling constants for the two conformers of strychnine were computed in parallel on two 16-core nodes of a Linux cluster within 10 min.

Photoassisted Access to Enantiopure Conformationally Locked Ribofuranosylamines Spiro-Linked to Oxazolidino-Diketopiperazines.

N-Furoylated L-threonine-, serine-, or cysteine-based aminoacetals are coupled with o-aminoketones or aldehydes to offer rapid access to diverse enantiopure polyheterocycles possessing conformationally locked aminoglycoside-containing molecular scaffolds. The key step involves photogeneration of azaxylylenes which undergo [4 + 4] or [4 + 2] cycloadditions to the tethered furoyl pendants.

Intramolecular photoassisted cycloadditions of azaxylylenes and postphotochemical capstone modifications via Suzuki coupling provide access to complex polyheterocyclic biaryls.

Modular preassembly of azaxylylene photoprecursors, halogen-substituted in the aromatic ring, their intramolecular [4 + 4] or [4 + 2] cycloadditions to tethered unsaturated pendants, and subsequent postphotochemical capstone modification of the primary photoproducts via Suzuki coupling provides rapid access to diverse biaryls of unprecedented topology. This synthetic sequence allows for rapid growth of molecular complexity and is well aligned with methodology of Diversity-Oriented Synthesis.

Amino Azaxylylenes Photogenerated from o‐Amido Imines: Photoassisted Access to Complex Spiro‐Poly‐Heterocycles

Upon irradiation, cyclic imines containing o-amido groups are shown to produce reactive intermediates, amino azaxylylenes, which undergo intramolecular cycloadditions to tethered unsaturated pendants to yield complex N,O-heterocycles having an additional spiro-connected nitrogen heterocyclic moiety. Modular assembly of the photoprecursors allows expeditious increase of the complexity of the target poly-heterocyclic scaffolds with a minimal number of experimentally simple reaction steps. The photocyclization and subsequent postphotochemical transformations are accompanied by an increase of Loverings fsp3 factor, thus producing unprecedented three-dimensional molecular architectures, and offering extended sampling of chemical space.

Oxazolines as Dual-Function Traceless Chromophores and Chiral Auxiliaries: Enantioselective Photoassisted Synthesis of Polyheterocyclic Ketones.

2-(o-Amidophenyl)oxa- and -thiazolines undergo excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), generating aza-o-xylylenes capable of intramolecular [4+2] and [4+4] cycloadditions with tethered unsaturated pendants. Facile hydrolysis of the primary photoproducts, spiro-oxazolidines and thiazolidines, under mild conditions unmasks a phenone functionality. Variations in linkers allow for access to diverse core scaffolds in the primary photoproducts, rendering the approach compatible with the philosophy of diversity-oriented synthesis. Chiral oxazolines, readily available from the corresponding amino alcohols, yield enantioenriched keto-polyheterocycles of complex topologies with enantiomeric excess values up to 90%.

Intramolecular cycloadditions of photogenerated azaxylylenes: an experimental and theoretical study.

The mechanism of intramolecular cycloadditions of azaxylylenes photogenerated via excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) in aromatic o-amido ketones and aldehydes bearing unsaturated functionalities was studied experimentally and computationally. In time-correlated single-photon counting experiments, no relation was found between lifetimes of singlet species and the nature of the amide pendant, either unsaturated furanpropanamide, capable of photocyclization, or the acetamide control. Steady-state emission for amido-tetralone derivatives showed comparable dual emission bands, but bromo substitution decreased the intensity of the ESIPT band. The most reactive derivatives of amidobenzaldehydes were virtually lacking the ESIPT band. The quantum yield of cycloaddition is decreased in the presence of triplet quenchers, O2 or trans-piperylene, and improved with heavy atom substitution in the aromatic ring, providing further evidence for the initial mechanistic hypothesis in which the fast singlet-state ESIPT is accompanied by the ISC in the tautomer (azaxylylene), which undergoes stepwise addition to the tethered unsaturated pendants.

Photoassisted Diversity-Oriented Synthesis: Accessing 2,6-Epoxyazocane (Oxamorphan) Cores

The modular synthesis of photoprecursors and their photoinduced cyclization into substituted 1-benzazocanes of two distinct topologies is described. The key step producing an extended polyheterocyclic system involves the photogeneration of azaxylylenes and their subsequent intramolecular cycloaddition with furan-containing pendants tethered either via the aniline nitrogen or through the carbonyl group containing arm. The primary photoproducts—secondary or tertiary anilines which are not acylated at the nitrogen atom—undergo facile acid-catalyzed or spontaneous ring-opening–ring-closing rearrangement to yield fused polyheterocyclic structures possessing a 2,6-epoxyazocane (or oxamorphan) core.

Photoassisted Synthesis of Complex Molecular Architectures: Dearomatization of Benzenoid Arenes with Aza-o-xylylenes via an Unprecedented [2+4] Reaction Topology

A new method was developed for the photoinduced dearomatization of arenes through an intramolecular cycloaddition with aza-o-xylylenes generated by excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) in the readily available photoprecursors. The [2+4] topology of this cycloaddition is unprecedented for photo-dearomatizations of benzenoid aromatic carbocycles. It provides rapid access to novel heterocycles, cyclohexadieno-oxazolidino-quinolinols, as valuable synthons for a broad range of post-photochemical transformations.