In situ epoxide generation by dimethyldioxirane oxidation and the use of epichlorohydrin in the flow synthesis of a library of β-amino alcohols

Abstract

The flow coupling of epichlorohydrin with substituted phenols, while efficient, limits the nature of the epoxide available for the development of focused libraries of β-amino alcohols. This limitation was encountered in the production of analogues of 1-(4-nitrophenoxy)-3-((2-((4-(trifluoromethyl)pyrimidin-2-yl)amino)ethyl)amino)propan-2-ol 1 , a potential antibiotic lead. The in situ (flow) generation of dimethyldoxirane (DMDO) and subsequent flow olefin epoxidation abrogates this limitation and afforded facile access to structurally diverse β-amino alcohols. Analogues of 1 were readily accessed either via (i) a flow/microwave hybrid approach, or (ii) a sequential flow approach. Key steps were the in situ generation of DMDO, with olefin epoxidation in typically good yields and a flow-mediated ring opening aminolysis to form an expanded library of β-amino alcohols 1 and 10a – 18g , resulting in modest ( 11a , 21%) to excellent ( 12g , 80%) yields. Alternatively flow coupling of epichlorohydrin with phenols 4a – 4m (22%–89%) and a Bi(OTf) 3 catalysed microwave ring opening with amines afforded a select range of β-amino alcohols, but with lower levels of aminolysis regiocontrol than the sequential flow approach.