Reductive allylation of pyrrole with allylboranes. Synthesis oftrans- andcis-2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines

Pyrrole undergoes reductive mono- and diallylation on successive treatment with β,γ-unsaturated organoboron derivatives (triallylborane, allyl(dipropyl)borane, and triprenylborane) and alcohols to give 2-allylated 3-pyrrolines andtrans-2,5-diallylated pyrrolidines. The addition of both the first and second boron-allylic fragment to the heterocycle proceeds with rearrangement. A method for transformation of thetrans-2,5-diallylpyrrolidine into thecis-isomer (heating with triallylborane at 190 °C) was developed and a series ofN-substituted derivatives of these pyrrolidines was synthesized. A method for the preparative synthesis of nonsymmetrically substitutedtrans- andcis-2-alkyl(phenyl)-5-allylpyrrolidines, based on reductive allylboration of pyrrole followed by 1,2-addition of RLi to the 5-allyl-1-pyrroline that formed, was also developed. A direct confirmation of intermediate formation of 2H- and 3H-pyrrole tautomers under the action of allylboranes was obtained. The adduct of 2H-pyrrole with BF₃ was detected by NMR spectroscopy. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1718–1728, September, 1999.