One-pot functionalisation of N-substituted tetrahydroisoquinolines by photooxidation and tunable organometallic trapping of iminium intermediates

Barham, Joshua and John, Matthew P and Murphy, John A (2014) One-pot functionalisation of N-substituted tetrahydroisoquinolines by photooxidation and tunable organometallic trapping of iminium intermediates. Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, 10. pp. 2981-2988. ISSN 1860-5397 (https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.10.316)

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Abstract

Nucleophilic trapping of iminium salts generated via oxidative functionalisation of tertiary amines is well established with stabilised carbon nucleophiles. The few reports of organometallic additions have limited scope of substrate and organometallic nucleophile. We report a novel, one-pot methodology that functionalises N-substituted tetrahydroisoquinolines by visible lightassisted photooxidation, followed by trapping of the resultant iminium ions with organometallic nucleophiles. This affords 1,2-disubstituted tetrahydroisoquinolines in moderate to excellent yields.