An electrochemical interpretation of the mechanism of the chemical decarboxylation of 6-carboxyperhydropyrimidin-4-ones

The present work analyzes the anodic oxidation of the tetrabutylammonium salt of 1-benzoyl-2(S)-tert-butyl-6(S)-carboxyperhydropyrimidin-4-one, which is a useful starting material in the synthesis of enantiopure α-substituted β-amino acids. It was demonstrated that in CH₂Cl₂ solvent, the anodic oxidation reaction results in fast and complete decarboxylation, followed by proton elimination thereby leading to the same product of chemical (diacetoxyiodobenzene) oxidative decarboxylation. The electrochemical mechanism involves two electron transfer steps, but appears as a monoelectronic process owing to the release of one proton from the key acyliminium carbocation intermediate. The relative stability of this intermediate and the suppression of any solvolysis reaction in CH₂Cl₂ allow for the detection of the acyliminium intermediate by means of cyclic voltammetry experiments. By contrast, in the presence of a nucleophilic solvent such as acetonitrile, the acyliminium intermediate is trapped in a typical Ritter reaction.