Air- and Moisture-Stable Amphoteric Molecules: Enabling Reagents in Synthesis

CONSPECTUS: Researchers continue to develop chemoselective synthesis strategies with the goal of rapidly assembling complex molecules. As one appealing approach, chemists are searching for new building blocks that include multiple functional groups with orthogonal chemical reactivity. Amphoteric molecules that possess nucleophilic and electrophilic sites offer a versatile platform for the development of chemoselective transformations. As part of a program focused on new methods of synthesis, we have been developing this type of reagents. This Account highlights examples of amphoteric molecules developed by our lab since 2006. We have prepared and evaluated aziridine aldehydes, a class of stable unprotected alpha-amino aldehydes. Structurally, aziridine aldehydes include both a nucleophilic amine nitrogen and an electrophilic aldehyde carbon over the span of three atoms. Under ambient conditions, these compounds exist as homochiral dimers with an aziridine-fused five-membered cyclic hemiaminal structure. We have investigated chemoselective reactions of aziridine aldehydes that involve both the aziridine and aldehyde functionalities. These transformations have produced a variety of densely functionalized nitrogen-containing compounds, including amino aldehydes, 1,2-diamines, reduced hydantoins, C-vinyl or alkynyl aziridines, and macrocyclic peptides. We have also developed air- and moisture-stable alpha-boryl aldehydes, another class of molecules that are kinetically amphoteric. The alpha-boryl aldehydes contain a tetracoordinated N-methyliminodiacetyl (MIDA) boryl substituent, which stabilizes the alpha-metalloid carbonyl system and prevents isomerization to its O-bond enolate form. Primarily taking advantage of chemoselective transformations at the aldehyde functionality, these alpha-boryl aldehydes have allowed us to synthesize a series of new functionalized boron-containing compounds that are difficult or impossible to prepare using established protocols, such as alpha-borylcarboxylic acids, boryl alcohols, enol ethers, and enamides. Using alpha-borylcarboxylic acids as starting materials, we have also prepared several new amphoteric borylated reagents, such as alpha-boryl isocyanates, isocyanides, and acylboronates. These compounds are versatile building blocks in their own right, enabling the rapid synthesis of other boron-containing molecules.