Ring Opening of Azetidinols by Phenols: Regiochemistry and Stereochemistry
摘要:
Ring opening of a series of 1-alkyl- and 1-benzyl-3-azetidinols by 6-bromophenol without added base is reported. Opening of trans-2-methyl- and cis- and trans-2-phenyl-3-azetidinols is highly regioselective, if not regiospecific. The 2-methyl compounds open by cleavage of the N-C4 bond and the 2-phenyl compounds by cleavage of the N-C2 bond in a highly stereoselective, if not stereospecific, manner, which involves inversion of configuration at C2. The results are rationalized in terms of nucleophilic ring opening of the azetidinium ions.
Several (R*, S*)-1-alkyl-3-hydroxy-2-phenylazetidines (1) were synthesized by the reaction of (R*, R*)-2-(1-bromobenzyl)oxirane (2a) with aliphatic primary amines in good yields. By the reaction of (R*, S*)-2-(1-bromobenzyl)oxirane (2b), only (R*, R*)-2-aminomethyl-3-phenyloxirane (3) was obtained. Also, the reaction of (R*, R*)-2-(1-bromobenzyl)-2-methyloxirane (2c) gave a mixture of (R*, S*)-3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-phenylazetidine (4) as the major product and (R*, S*)-2-aminomethyl-2-methyl-3-phenyloxirane (5) as the minor product.