In this paper is described the competition and transition
between
hydrogen bonding and protonation of alkynes connected, on one side,
to various aromatic rings and to chiral amino ester appendages on
the other side. While the first mode of activation induced the cyclization
into pyrrolidines, the protonation of the alkyne led preferentially
to tetrahydropyridines due to the higher level of the highest occupied
molecular orbital (HOMO) of the considered arylogous ynolethers and
ynamines. The transition between H-bonding and protonation was observed
with the alkyne substituted with 2-methoxyphenyl, for which the cyclization
delivered either five- or six-membered rings depending on the temperature
of the experiment. From there, the cyclization of dialkoxy- and trialkoxyphenyl-substituted
alkynes into six-membered rings, i.e., tetrahydropyridines, was developed.
When next applied to alkynylindoles, the same pattern of cyclization
provided six-membered rings as an illustration of the reactivity of
arylogous ynamines. Thanks to the high reactivity of the intermediate
cationic species, weak nucleophiles such as NH-oxazolidinone participated
efficiently in the hydroamination reaction of alkynylindoles. Pyrrolidines,
tetrahydropyridines, and piperidines decorated with various aromatics
and substituents were thus prepared in enantio- and stereoselective
manner. Capitalizing on the enamine moiety of the azaheterocycles,
the molecular diversity was extended through stereoselective oxidation
and ring contraction processes.