Academia / Industry Collaborations towards the Functionalization of Aryl Azoles.

Aryl azoles can be found in numerous active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Milvexian is a Factor Xia inhibitor currently in phase III for the treatment of thrombotic events containing an ortho-substituted 1-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazole moiety. During the process development of Milvexian, we assessed multiple approaches for the preparation of 4-chloro-1,2,3-triazole, intermediate 1. In this review article, we will detail how we initiated several academic collaborations to speed up the selection of the best synthesis for commercial manufacturing. Ultimately, those results not only helped us to achieve our goal but yielded general methodologies for the functionalization of azoles that extended even beyond our initial scope.

Regioselective functionalization of aryl azoles as powerful tool for the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant targets.

Aryl azole scaffolds are present in a wide range of pharmaceutically relevant molecules. Their ortho-selective metalation at the aryl ring is challenging, due to the competitive metalation of the more acidic heterocycle. Seeking a practical access to a key Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) intermediate currently in development, we investigated the metalation of 1-aryl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles and other related heterocycles with sterically hindered metal-amide bases. We report here a room temperature and highly regioselective ortho-magnesiation of several aryl azoles using a tailored magnesium amide, TMPMgBu (TMP = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidyl) in hydrocarbon solvents followed by an efficient Pd-catalyzed arylation. This scalable and selective reaction allows variation of the initial substitution pattern of the aryl ring, the nature of the azole moiety, as well as the nature of the electrophile. This versatile method can be applied to the synthesis of bioactive azole derivatives and complements existing metal-mediated ortho-functionalizations.

Iridium-imine and -amine complexes relevant to the (S)-metolachlor process: structures, exchange kinetics, and C-H activation by Iri causing racemization.

Iridium complexes of DMA-imine [2,6-dimethylphenyl-1'-methyl-2'-methoxyethylimine, 1 a) and (R)-DMA-amine [(1'R)-2,6-dimethylphenyl-1'-methyl-2'-methoxyethylamine, 2 a] that are relevant to the catalytic imine hydrogenation step of the Syngenta (S)-Metolachlor process were synthesized: metathetical exchange of [Ir2Cl2(cod)2] (cod=1,5-cyclooctadiene) with [Ag(1 a)2]BF4 and [Ag((R)-2 a)2]BF4 afforded [Ir(cod)(kappa2- -1 a)]BF4 (11) and [Ir(cod)(kappa2-(R)-2 a)]BF4 ((R)-19)), respectively. These complexes were then used in stopped-flow experiments to study the displacement of amine 2 a from complex 19 by imine 1 a to form the imine complex 11, thus modeling the product/substrate exchange step in the catalytic cycle. The data suggest a two-step associative mechanism characterized by k1=(2.6+/-0.3) x 10(2) M(-1) s(-1) and k2=(4.3+/-0.6) x 10(-2) s(-1) with the respective activation energies EA1=(7.5+/-0.6) kJ mol(-1) and EA2=(37+/-3) kJ mol(-1). Furthermore, complex 11 reacted with H2O to afford the hydrolysis product [Ir(cod)(eta(6-)-2,6-dimethylaniline)]BF4 (12), and with I2 to liberate quantitatively the DMA-iminium salt 14. On the other hand, the chiral amine complex (R)-19 formed the optically inactive eta6-bound compound [Ir(cod)(eta6-rac-2 a)]BF4 (rac-18) upon dissolution in THF at room temperature, presumably via intramolecular C-H activation. This racemization was found to be a two-step event with k'1=9.0 x 10(-4) s(-1) and k2=2.89 x 10(-5) s(-1), featuring an optically active intermediate prior to sp3 C-H activation. Compounds 11, 12, rac-18, and (R)-19 were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray analyses.

Chiral iridium [corrected] xyliphos complexes for the catalytic imine hydrogenation leading to the metolachlor herbicide: isolation of catalyst-substrate adducts.

Iridium complexes relevant to the catalytic enantioselective hydrogenation of 2-methyl-6-ethylphenyl-1'-methyl-2'-methoxyethylimine (MEA-imine, 1) in the Syngenta Metolachlor (3) process were prepared and characterized. Reaction of the diphosphane (S)-1-[(R)-2-(diphenylphosphanyl)ferrocenyl]ethyldi(3,5-xylyl)phosphane ((S)-(R)-Xyliphos, (S)-(R)-4) with [Ir(2)(micro-Cl)(2)(cod)(2)] (cod=1,5-cyclooctadiene) afforded [Ir(Cl)(cod)[(S)-(R)-4]] (7), which reacted with AgBF(4) to form [Ir(cod)[(S)-(R)-4]]BF(4) (8). Complexes 7 and 8 reacted with iodide to yield [Ir(I)(cod)[(S)-(R)-4]] (9). When 9 was treated with one and two equivalents of HBF(4), two isomers of the cationic Ir(III) iodo hydrido complex [Ir(I)(H)(cod)[(S)-(R)-4]]BF(4) were solated (10 and 11, respectively). Complex 9 was oxidized with one equivalent of I(2) to give the iodo-bridged dinuclear species [Ir(2)I(2)(micro-I)(3)[(S)-(R)-4](2))]I (12). [Ir(2)(micro-Cl)(2)(coe)(4)] (coe=cyclooctene) reacted with (S)-(R)-4 to yield the chloro-bridged dinuclear complex [Ir(2)(micro-Cl)(2)[(S)-(R)-4](2)] (13). Complexes 7-12 were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and tested as single-component catalyst precursors for enantioselective hydrogenation of MEA-imine. Complex 10 and dinuclear complex 12 gave the best catalytic results. Efforts were also directed at isolating substrate- or product-catalyst adducts: Treatment of 8 with 2,6-dimethylphenyl-1'-methyl-2'-methoxyethylimine (DMA-imine, 14, a model for 1) under H(2) allowed four isomers of [Ir(H)(2)[(S)-(R)-4](14)]BF(4) (18-21) to be isolated. These analytically pure isomers were fully characterized by 2D NMR techniques. X-ray structural analysis of an Ir(I)-imine adduct, namely, [Ir(C(2)H(4))(2)(14)]BF(4) (25), which was prepared by reacting [IrCl(C(2)H(4))(4)] with [Ag(14)(2)]BF(4) (16), confirmed the kappa(2) coordination mode of imine 14.

Bridging fluorides and hard/soft mismatch in d6 and d8 complexes: the case of [Tl(mu-F)3Ru(PPh3)3].

[RuCl2(PPh3)3] reacts with thallium(I) fluoride to give either [Tl(mu-F)3Ru(PPh3)3] (1) or [Tl(mu3-F)(mu2-Cl)2Ru2(mu2-Cl)(mu2-F)(PPh3)4] (2) depending on the excess of TlF used. Both 1 and 2 were fully characterized, including X-ray structure determinations. Complex 1 reacts with dihydrogen to form the known ruthenium hydride complex [Ru(H)2(H2)(PPh3)3] upon hydrogenolysis of the Ru-F bond. The reaction of 1 with activated alkyl bromides (R-Br) gives the corresponding alkyl fluorides and the trinuclear complex [Tl(mu3-F)(mu2-F)(mu2-X)Ru2(mu2-Br)(mu2-F)(PPh3)4] (X=Br, F) (3), whose structure closely resembles that of 2. However, 1 is not active as catalyst for the nucleophilic fluorination of R-Br in the presence of thallium fluoride. The effect of the bridging coordination mode of fluoride on the Ru-F bond is discussed in terms of the HSAB principle, which suggests a more general model for predicting the stability of d6 and d8 complexes containing hard ligands (such as fluoro, oxo, and amido).

Titanium-catalyzed stereoselective geminal heterodihalogenation of beta-ketoesters.

[reaction: see text] beta-Ketoesters can be effectively monofluorinated with F-TEDA using CpTiCl(3) as a catalyst. With the use of this catalyst, the extent of the competing difluorination does not reach 10%. [TiCl(2)(TADDOLato)] complexes catalyze the one-pot enantioselective heterodihalogenation of beta-ketoesters with F-TEDA and NCS to afford alpha-chloro-alpha-fluoro-beta-ketoesters in moderate to good yields. The sequence of addition of the halogenating agents determines the sense of chiral induction.