Recent Synthetic Methods Involving Intermolecular alpha;-Amidoalkylation at Carbon

This paper summarizes the work that has been done in the field since the most recent review of the subject¹, i. e. literature coverage from January, 1963 to June, 1969. Briefly, the scope includes any reaction resulting in the attachment of an α-amidoalkyl group to a carbon atom of another molecule. The electrophilic amidoalkylation reagents generally can be represented by the structure, R-CO-N(R′)-CH(R″)-X, where X, the leaving group, is -OH, -OR, -O-CO-R, -NH-CO-R, -NR₂, -NR₃ ⁺, or halogen (in the tables this order will be used in listing the reagents). The group R′ may be hydrogen, alkyl, or a second acyl group. When R′ is hydrogen, HX may be eliminated in certain cases to give the corresponding acylimine, R-CO-N = CH-R″, also an effective α-amidoalkylating agent. Compounds bearing carbon atoms sufficiently nucleophilic to be susceptible to attack by the amidoalkylation agents represent a wide variety of structural types. They include aromatic compounds, olefins, acetylenes, ketenes, carbenoid compounds, and carbanionoid compounds derived from active methylenes, Grignard reagents, and other organometallics. The review surveys α-amidoalkylation of 1. Aromatic Compounds 2. Mono-olefins 3. Conjugated Dienes 4. Acetylenes 5. Ketenes 6. Carbenoid Carbon 7. Active Methylene Compounds (and HCN) 8. Grignard Reagents