Development of Strategies for the Functionalization of Amines

Rutgers, The State Univ Of N.J., New Brunswick NJ

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The majority of pharmaceutical drugs that are essential for human health consist of nitrogen containing compounds. A particularly attractive approach to these targets is the modification of cheap and readily available amines by means of C-H bond functionalization. However, methods that accomplish this task efficiently are scarce and severely lacking in scope. Moreover, the currently known approaches typically require the use of expensive transition metal catalysts and/or oxidants. This proposal is focused on the design and development of efficient and practical methods for amine functionalization. The main goal is the ?- and ß-functionalization of amines through conceptually new and underdeveloped methods of substrate activation. A major focus is on redox-neutral approaches to C-H bond functionalization that do not require expensive oxidants or precious metal catalysts. The central theme of our proposed work is to couple an oxidative C-H bond functionalization with a productive reduction event that contributes to the formation of products by allowing for the generation of additional C-C, or C-X bonds. Our proposed reactions proceed via iminium ion, azomethine ylide and enamine intermediates that can be accessed under relatively mild conditions. In addition to targeting the rapid preparation of biologically active compounds such as epiquinamide, harmicine and quinazolinone alkaloids, our efforts will center on the development of particularly powerful reactions that rapidly generate new polycylic amines. A priority is the generation of novel structural frameworks that are absent from current drug discovery screening libraries.