Isoxazolidines and oxazines: preliminary studies for the synthesis of N,O-heterocyclic systems via an organocatalyzed 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddiction and a tandem reaction mediated by TEMPO salts

This thesis is the result of the study of two reactions leading to the formation of important heterocyclic compounds of potential pharmaceutical interest. The first study concerns the reaction of (1,3)-dipolar cycloaddition between nitrones and activated olefins by hydrogen bond catalysis of thioureas derivatives leading to the formation of a five-membered cyclic adducts, an interesting and strategic synthetic intermediate, for the synthesis of benzoazepine. The second project wants to explore the direct oxidative C(sp3)-H α-alkylation of simple amides with subsequent addition of an olefin and cyclization in order to obtain the corresponding oxazine. Both reactions are still under development.

Synthesis of thioenol ether functionalized cyclooctyne and its orthogonal cycloaddition sequence

In this work, the synthesis of a new bifunctionalized cyclooctyne for a possible layer by layer surface functionalization is presented. The main objective is to find a more stable molecule than the literature known methyl enol ether substituted cyclooctyne. Accordingly, the two target functionalities are an internal alkyne group and a vinyl methyl sulfide group. The synthesis was achieved in 9 steps and consists first of all in the preparation of an aldehyde starting from 1,5-cyclooctadiene with a cyclopropanation reaction followed by a reduction and the SWERN oxidation to an aldehyde. The new functionality was introduced by exploiting the WITTIG reaction. For the alkyne group a bromination followed by a double elimination gave good results. The reactivity of the new molecule was tested using a sequential application of SPAAC and iEDDA reactions, comparing it with the cyclooctyne functionalized with a methyl enol ether. Concerning the comparison of both compounds the sulfur ether is significantly slower and therefore more stable. It will be tested in the future for surface functionalization from the KOERT group.