IntroductionSubstituted 1,3,5-triazines, such as 2-chloro-4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazine 1 (CDMT) [1], 4-(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-4-methylmorpholinium chloride (DMTMM) 2 [2], polymer-supported 2,4-dichloro-1,3,5-triazine (PS-DCT) 3 [3], and fluorous CDMT 4 [4], represent an important class of coupling reagents for synthesis of amide bonds [5]. These reagents are derivatives of 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine (cyanuric chloride) [6]. Three chlorines of cyanuric chloride have different reactivity. Selective displacement of chlorines with MeOH for example, is performed at 0 °C for the first chlorine, at room temperature for the second one, and at 100 °C for the third one [5]. Commercially available 1,3,5-triazine-based reagents usually employ only one reactive site for coupling reactions. The other two active sites are blocked by alkoxy groups or a fluorous tag. PS-DCT 3 has two chlorines, but only one is reported to be involved in the coupling reaction [3a]. We describe here a new fluorous 2,4-dichloro-1,3,5-triazine (F-DCT) 5 which has one fluorous chain and two active sites for amide coupling reactions.A decade ago, fluorous technology was first introduced as a new phase-tagging strategy for biphasic catalysis [7]. The scope of fluorous chemistry has been well advanced since then and now it covers many aspects of organic synthesis [8]. A series of fluorous catalysts, reagents, scavengers, and protecting groups have been developed for solution-phase parallel and combinatorial synthesis of small molecules, peptides, and oligosaccharides
ResultsThe preparation of 5 was accomplished by modifying literature procedures [11] using one equiv of 3-(perfluorooctyl)propanol, 1.05 equiv of cyanuric chloride, and 2,4,6-collidine as a base. The reaction was conducted in benzotrifluride (BTF) at 25 °C for 10 h. After filtration to remove the salt, the concentrated crude product was crystallized from hexanes to give 5 in 60% as a white solid. Crude product can also be purified by flash column chromatography with normal silica gel. Compound 5 is slowly decomposed if it is not stored under nitrogen in a sealed bottle. Its purity can be easily determined by GC analysis.Taking advantage of the fact that fluorous compounds can be easily analyzed by conventional analytical methods [12], we first conducted a model reaction using F-CDT 5 in deuterinated THF and monitored each reaction step by 1 H NMR analysis. It is noteworthy that THF is a good solvent for coupling reactions with chlorinated triazines. Other solvents such as CH 2 Cl 2 may cause demethylation of N-methylmorpholine (NMM)-triazine complex [13]. At the first step, one equiv of 5 and two equiv of p-bromobenzoic acid was mixed in THF-d. Analysis of the mixture showed no reaction occurred at room temperature (Figure 1a). At the second step, 2.1 equiv of NMM was added and a small amount of white precipitate (presumably NMM-HCl salt) was generated immediately at room temperature. Chemical shift changes of aromatic protons indicated the formation of activated acid 6 (Fi...