Synthesis and reactions of 1-[1-oxido-2-(3,4)-pyridinyl]-2-methyloxiranes with nitrogen nucleophiles

Reaction of 2(3,4)-pyridinecarboxaldehydes (5) with ethylidenetriphenylphosphorane afford a mixture of stereoisomers Z-( 6 ) and E-1-2(3,4)-pyridinyl]-1-propenes ( 7 ). m-Chloroperbenzoic acid oxidation of 6 and 7 yields a 60:40 mixture of Z-( 8 ) and E-1-1-oxido-2(3,4)-pyridinyl]-2-methyloxiranes ( 9 ). The regiospecific reaction of Z-isomers 8a-c with cyclic amines as piperidine give rise to threo-1-hydroxy-1-1-oxido-2(3,4)-pyridinyl]-2-(1-piperidino)propanes ( 10 ) while the E-isomer 9a yields erythro- 11 . On tho other hand, the E-isomers 9b and 9c having 1-oxido-3(4)-pyridinyl substituents afford erythro- 12 resulting from attack by piperidine at C-1 of the oxirane. Reductive deoxygenation using 10% palladium on charcoal and hydrogen gas effectively removed the N-oxide substituent from the threo- 10 and erythro- 11 β-aminoalcohols. Dilute solution ir spectroscopy indicated the existance of strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the β-aminoalcohols 10 and 11 . The assignment of relative configuration of diastereoisomers 10 and 11 was based on the magnitude of the vicinal coupling constant J where J threo is greater than J erythro.