Amide C-N bonds activation by A new variant of bifunctional N-heterocyclic carbene.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38216571.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-44756-8 and PMC identifier 10786861.
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Abstract
We report an organocatalyst that combines a triazolium N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) with a squaramide as a hydrogen-bonding donor (HBD), which can effectively catalyze the atroposelective ring-opening of biaryl lactams via a unique amide C-N bond cleavage mode. The free carbene species attacks the amide carbonyl, forming an axially chiral acyl-azolium intermediate. Various axially chiral biaryl amines can be accessed by this methodology with up to 99% ee and 99% yield. By using mercaptan as a catalyst turnover agent, the resulting thioester synthon can be transformed into several interesting atropisomers. Both control experiments and theoretical calculations reveal the crucial role of the hybrid NHC-HBD skeleton, which activates the amide via H-bonding and brings it spatially close to the carbene centre. This discovery illustrates the potential of the NHC-HBD chimera and demonstrates a complementary strategy for amide bond activation and manipulation.