A Novel Hydantoin Synthesis and Exploration of Related Reactions
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A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions PhD thesis By Matthew Leonard Chemistry building, RMIT, Melbourne January 2015 Primary Supervisor: Julie Niere Second Supervisor: Peter McKay Postdoctoral Consultant: Anthony Lingham A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Matthew Johnathan Leonard B.Sc., La Trobe Honours, RMIT School of Applied Sciences College of Science Engineering and Health RMIT University October 2015 Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis/project is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Matthew Johnathan Leonard 04-OCT-2015 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions Abstract Chapter one gives a short history of the discovery of hydantoins, followed by their chemical properties and reactivity and concluding with the many ways to date that they have been synthesized. In chapter two, a hydantoin compound RU58841, which is a popular anti-baldness agent is synthesized by an alternative pathway to those previously presented. The new synthesis gives 33% overall yield and avoids the hazardous reagent phosgene. Chapter three explores the novel bromo–nitro substitution reaction. The reaction rate has been characterized by using a library of compounds and possible mechanisms for this reaction have been presented after consideration of the results of a Hammett plot. In chapter four, another novel step from the alternative synthesis of RU58841 is explored. This reaction involves 2-nitropropane as a leaving group to create an isocyanate intermediate which gives a hydantoin upon ring closure. Attempts and progress towards preparing isocyanate compounds using this method are discussed. Chapter five summarizes the key findings and describes the future directions that can be taken with the new chemistry presented in this thesis. ii © Matthew Leonard 2014 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions To my many good friends and colleagues We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, Upon whom the pale moon gleams; Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world forever, it seems. With wonderful deathless ditties We build up the world’s great cities, And out of a fabulous story We fashion an empire’s glory: One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown; And three with a new song’s measure Can trample an empire down. We, in the ages lying In the buried past of the earth, Built Nineveh with our sighing, And Babel itself with our mirth; And o’erthrew them with prophesying To the old of the new world’s worth; For each age is a dream that is dying, Or one that is coming to birth. Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy iii © Matthew Leonard 2014 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions Acknowledgments Despite many stressful and challenging changes in circumstance, I have managed to carry out the high quality work that you are about to read. I changed primary supervisor two times and second supervisor one time during my candidature. I was married two times during my PhD, for the first time in the second month of my PhD candidature which lasted for 18 months and ended in September 2012. In November 2012 I began a new relationship and two years later I was married for a second time, only two months before the submission of this thesis. I would like to thank both of my wives, Jennifer and Yvonne for their support throughout my candidature. My Postdoctoral consultant Anthony Lingham shares many good ideas with me and I look forward to us going into business together. iv © Matthew Leonard 2014 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions Table of contents 1. A general introduction to hydantoins, their properties & preparations 1.1 The hydantoin moiety 1.1.1 Chemical properties 1.1.2 Reactivity of the hydantoin ring 1.1.3 Discovery of hydantoins 1.2 Natural products containing the hydantoin moiety 1.3 Commercial compounds containing the hydantoin moiety 1.3.1 Anti-microbial hydantoins 1.3.2 Neuroactive hydantoins 1.3.3 Androgen inhibitors 1.4 Preparations of hydantoins 1.4.1 Synthesis by Biltz et. al. via benzylic rearrangement 1.4.2 Preparation via the Read hydantoin synthesis 1.4.3 Development of the Bucherer-Bergs reaction 1.4.4 Solid phase hydantoin preparations 1.4.5 Other synthetic routes to hydantoin derivatives 1.4.6 Summary of hydantoin preparations 1.4.7 Installment of substituents to the hydantoin ring 1.5 Preparation of N-aryl hydantoins 1.5.1 Formation via N-aryl isocyanates 1.5.2 Aryl hydantoins by catalytic organometallic coupling and by halo nucleophilic aromatic substitution 1.5.3 Carbamate cyclization 1.5.4 A new pathway for the synthesis of N-aryl hydantoins 2. A new synthesis of the N-aryl hydantoin RU58841 2.1 The target compound RU58841 2.1.1 Existing syntheses of RU58841 2.2 Retrosynthetic analysis of RU58841 2.3 New synthetic route to RU58841 2.4 Novel ring closure 2.5 Experimental procedures and compound characterization v © Matthew Leonard 2014 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions 3. Investigation into the mechanism of Br–NO2 substitution on tertiary α-carbons 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Halo−nitro substitutions: the Kornblum reaction 3.3 Kornblum and the SN1/SN2 dichotomy 3.3.1 Mechanistic evidence from ambident nucleophiles 3.3.2 Stereochemical evidence 3.3.3 Other evidence 3.4 Tertiary halo−nitro substitution α to a carbonyl 3.4.1 Mechanism of tertiary halo−nitro substitution α to a carbonyl 3.4.1.1 Rate measurements 3.4.1.2 Rate dependence on nitrite concentration 3.4.1.3 Hammett plots 3.5 Experimental procedures and compound characterization 3.5.1 Acylation reactions 3.5.2 Substitution reactions 3.5.2.1 Br−NO2 Substitution in the absence of O2 3.5.2.2 Br−NO2 Substitution at low nitrite concentration 4. 2-Nitropropane – A new leaving group and novel formation of an isocyanate 4.1 Properties of 2-nitropropane 4.1.1 Separation and capture of 2-nitropropane formed 4.2 Properties of the isocyanate group 4.2.1 Existing preparations of the isocyanate group 4.3 Mechanistic considerations 4.3.1 Trapping isocyanate intermediate 4.4 Towards preparation of discrete isocyanate compounds using this route. 4.5 Experimental procedures and compound characterization 5. Key findings and Future work 5.1 Outcomes and applications 5.2 Further work 5.2.1 RU58841 synthesis vi © Matthew Leonard 2014 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions 5.2.1.1 Analogues of RU58841 5.2.1.2 Blaise reaction on intermediates 5.2.1.3 Synthesis of useful peptide macrocycles 5.2.2 Bromo–nitro substitution 5.2.3 Isocyanates from α nitroisobutyranilides with 2-nitropropane leaving group 6. References and Appendices 6.1 References 6.2 Appendix I: Data from Br−NO2 substitution rates 6.3 Appendix II: Plots of ln(% start material) against time for Br−NO2 substitution 6.4 Appendix III: Hammett plots 6.5 Appendix IV: Fragmentation patterns of isocyanates obtained from α nitroisobutyranilides on GC MS injector port compared with those from SDBS 6.6 Appendix V: IR and NMR spectra of novel compounds vii © Matthew Leonard 2014 A novel hydantoin synthesis and exploration of related reactions 1. A general introduction to hydantoins, their properties & preparations 1.1 The hydantoin moiety A hydantoin (IUPAC “imidazolidine-2,4-dione”) is a 5-membered ring with two nitrogens in the ring. There are two carbonyls in the ring, one of them between the two nitrogens. The five positions of the ring are numbered and, as such, there are four points of functionality, one at the 1 position, one at the 3 position and two at the 5 position. The hydantoin moiety While it is possible for the carbon at position 5 to act as a chiral centre when bound to two different functional groups, positions 1–4 are mostly rigid and planar. If the oxygen at the 2 or the 4 position is replaced by a sulphur, the structure is known as a 2-thiohydantoin or 4-thiohydantoin respectively. When all four points of functionality are hydrogen, the compound is known as ‘hydantoin’ (2): a white solid with m.p. 220 °C. Hydantoins are sometimes mistakenly referred to as imidazoles; they are not, although the locations on the ring are numbered the same way and they can be formally formulated as dihydroxyimidazoles. Although imidazoles and hydantoin compounds have both been used as antibiotics, they each offer quite different chemistry and differ in their robustness and reactivity. This is mostly a function of the different properties of amides and amines. The hydantoin moiety can be more closely compared with the barbiturate moiety as its nitrogens behave in a similar way and it has two points of functionality at the 5 position. Like barbiturates, hydantoins can be substituted at one or both nitrogens, although the two nitrogens on a hydantoin are, unlike the barbiturate, not equivalent. Only one is an imide, the other being an amide and amides behave somewhat differently.