Use of Suzuki cross-coupling as a route to 2-phenoxy-6-iminopyridines and chiral 2-phenoxy-6-(methanamino)pyridines

The anisyl boronic acids, 2-OMe-3-R²-5-R¹-C₆H₂B(OH)₂ (R¹=R²=H (a); R¹=H, R²=Ph (b); R¹=Me, R²=H (c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (e)), have been employed in Suzuki cross-coupling reactions with either 2-bromo-6-formylpyridine (I) or 2-bromo-6-acetylpyridine (II) generating, following a facile deprotection step, the 2-phenoxy-6-carbonylpyridines, 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-(CHO)C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (1a); R¹=Me, R²=H (1c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (1d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (1e)) and 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-(CMeO)C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (2a); R¹=H, R²=Ph (2b)). Condensation reactions of 1 and 2 with 2,6-diisopropylaniline proceed smoothly to give the 2-phenoxy-6-iminopyridines, 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-{CHN(2,6-i-Pr₂C₆H₃)}C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (3a); R¹=Me, R²=H (3c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (3d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (3e)) and 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R²-C₆H₂)-6-{CMeN(2,6-i-Pr₂C₆H₃)}C₅H₃N (R¹=H, R²=Ph (4a), R¹=H, R²=Ph (4b)). Reduction of the imino unit (and concomitant C-C bond formation) in 3 can be achieved by treatment with trimethylaluminium or methyllithium which, following hydrolysis, furnishes the racemic chiral 2-phenoxy-6-(methanamino)pyridines, 2-(2′-OH-3′-R²-5′-R¹-C₆H₂)-6-{CHMe-NH(2,6-i-Pr₂C₆H₃)}C₅H₃N (R¹=R²=H (5a); R¹=Me, R²=H (5c); R¹=Cl, R²=H (5d); R¹=t-Bu, R²=H (5e)). This work represents a straightforward and rapid synthetic route to libraries of sterically and electronically variable phenoxy-substituted imino- and methanamino-pyridines, which are expected to act as useful ligands or proligands for late and early transition metal-mediated alkene polymerisation catalysis.