CA1327585C - Process for preparing aryl piperidine diones - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract A process is disclosed for the preparation of a compound of formula (I):

(I) wherein Ar is aryl or substituted aryl and R3 is hydrogen, alkyl or aralkyl, which process comprises reducing a compound of formula (II):

Description

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CHEMICAL PROCESS

This invention relates to a novel chemical process for preparing aryl piperidine carbinols and to novel intermediates used in that process. This application is a divisional application of copending parent application SN 515,598 of the same title, which was filed August 8, 1986 and includes claims to a process for the preparation of aryl-piperidine carbinols.

British patent no. 1422263 and US paten~ no 4007196 disclose compounds of for~ula A

~ ~ ~ x A
CHIOR~

in which Rl represents hydrogen, trifluoro (Cl_4) alkyl, alXyl or alkynyl, R2 represents an alkyl or alkynyl group having 1-4 carbon atoms, or a phenyl group optionally substituted by Cl_4 alkyl, alkylthio, alkoxy, halogen, nitro, acyl.amino, methylsulfonyl or methylenedioxy, or represents tetrahydronaphthyl, and X
represents hydrogen~ alkyl having 1-4 carbon atoms, alkoxy, trifluoroalkyl, hydroxy, halogen, methylthio, or aralkyloxy.

The compounds of formula A are disclosed as having pharmacological properties that make them useful as an~i-depressants.

i~

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,: ., ,: ' ' `: ' ' ,. . '~

- 2 ~ 7 ~ ~ ~
One compound that has proved especially valuable is paroxetine [R1 = H/ R2 = 5-(1,3-benzdioxylyl), X ~ 4-F]
which is in the (-)-trans configuration.

In the above-mentioned patents, the compounds of formula A are prepared using an intermediate of formula B

R'- ~ ~ X
CHloH B

in which Rl and X are as defined above.

The piperidine carbinols of formula B are prepared by reduction of an ester of formula C

R' -- Y~
COOCH~ C

with a complex metal hydride reducing agent.

The compound of formula C is obtained by reacting arecoline (when Rl = methyl) or arecoline homologues with phenyl (or substituted phenyl) magnesium bromide.

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This procedure has the disadvantage that arecoline is a ~owerful irritant and that the ester of formula C is obtained as a mixture of ClS and trans configuration compounds.

We have now discovered a new process for preparation of piperidine carbinols which advantageously avoids the use of arecoline and selectively produces the trans-isomer in a good overall yield.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for preparing a compound of formula I

Ar ~, CH~OH

N

in which Ar represents an aryl or substituted aryl group and R3 represents hydrogen, an alkyl or aralkyl group, by reduction of a compound of formula II

Ar ~ C02 K~

o N II

in which Ar and R3 are as defined for formula (I), and R4 is an alkyl group.

. . ..

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In formulae I and II, Ar may be I X where X is as defined for formula A. Preferably X is fluorine or hydrogen, R3 is hydrogen, methyl or benzyl, and R4 is ethyl.

The reduction may be carried out conventionally using a metal hydride, for exarnple using lithium alumini~n hydride or aluminium hydride in an inert solvent such as tetrahydrofuran or in a tetrahydrofuran/toluene mixture.

The compounds of formula I are obtaine~ in the trans configuration but as a mixture of enantiomers. The compounds may be resolved into their enantiomeric forms by conventional methods, such as by use of an optically active acid, for example (+)-2'-nitrotartranilic acid or (-)-di-p-toluoyltartaric acid.

The compounds of formula I may be used as intermediates in the preparation of compounds of formula A making use of the procedures set out in British Patent no 1422263 or US patent no 4007196.

For example, to prepare paroxetine, the compound of formula I in which Ar = ~ F, and preferably R3= Me to protect the nitrogen atom, in the (-)-trans -configuration, is reacted with thionyl chloride or benzenesulphonyl chloride and then with sodium 3,4-methylenedioxyphenoxide. Subsequently the N-methyl group is replaced by reaction with phenyl chloroformate followed by de-acylation with KOH to obtain R3= ~.

The present invention also provides the intermediates of formula II as novel compounds. Preferred substituents are as exemplified for formula I.

- 5 - ~ ~ 2 7~ ~
The compounds of formula II may be prepared by reaction of alkyl amido malonates of formula III where R3 and R4 are ~s defined previously Co2R4 I

CE~2 I

CoNHR3 III
with appropriate cinnamic acid esters~ such as alkyl and aryl esters for example a compound of formula IV
Ar Co20R5 where Ar is as previously defined and oR5 is a leaving group.

The reaction may be perormed as a condensation in a base/solvent system, for example sodium hydride/dimethyl sulphoxide; potassium tert. butoxide in e~hanol or tetrahydrofuran; or sodium methoxide or ethoxide in ethyl acetate.

Advanta~eously the compound of formula II is prepared as a 'single pot' reaction forming the cinnamate in situ from the appropriate benzaldehyde. For example the appropriate alkyl amidomalonate is added to a mixture of the benzaldehyde and sodium methoxide in ethyl acetate.

Compounds of formula II in which R3= alkyl or aralkyl may also be prepared by conventional alkylation of compounds of formula II in which R3= H. For example, ester-imides o formula II in which R3=
H may be reacted with alkyl or aralkyl halides in the presence of mild bases such as potassium carbonate.

The above described processes for producing the novel intermediates of formula II also form part of this invention.

- -....
.. . .

: . :

- 6 ~ L3 ~ ~
As used herein, the terms alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, alkoxy and aralkyloxy include, but are not limited to, groups in which the alkyl moiety, if present, is straight or branched and contains from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, more especially from 1 to 4 carbon a-toms, and the aryl moiety, if present, is phenyl.

The following Examples illustrate the preparation of novel intermediates of this invention (Examples 1 to 4) and the novel process of this invention (Examples 5 to g). Temperatures are in C.

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Examole 1 .

(i)-trans-3-Ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4 -fluorophenyl) piperidin-2,6-dione (El) potassium t-butoxide (l.Olg) was added to a solution of ethyl amidomalonate (1.38g) in tetrahydrofuran (38ml) maintained at 33. After cooling to 25, ethyl 4-fluorocinnamate (1.50g) was added and the mixture stirred overnight at room temperature. Brine was added, the mixture extracted with ethyl acetate (3 x 60ml) and the organic solution dried and evaporated to give the crude product. This was chromatographed on silica gel, using dry ether as eluent, to give the title compound (0.92g, 43~), m.p. 97-99.

H-n.m.r. (CDCl~) h= 1.07 (t, J=8Hz, 3H) 2.67-2.90 (m, 2H) 3.50-3.84 (m, 2H) 4.00 (q, J=8Hz, 2H) 6.70-7.27 (m, 4H) 8.90 (br.s, lH) Example 2 ( )-trans-3-Ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-~-methyl piperidin-2,6-dione (E2) (a) Sodium hydride (80~, 2.6g) was added slowly to a stirred solution of ethyl N-methylamidomalonate (11.9g) in dimethyl sulphoxide (50ml) under nitrogen.
After hydrogen evolution had ceased and the dark solution had cooled to room temperature, ethyl 4-fluorocinnamate (15.3g) was added in one portion ., : ..
.~

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along with further dimethyl sulphoxide (lOml) and the whole stirred at room temperature for 19 hours. After extraction with petroleum ether (3 x 16ml), the mixture was stirred and neutralised by the addition of glacial acetic acid (4.9ml) followed by the addition of ethyl acetate (75ml) and water (35ml). ~le organic solution was separated, washed with brine (30 ml), sodi~
bicarbonate solution (22ml) and brine and finally dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate. Evaporation gave an off-whi~e crystalline solid (22.7g), which was triturated with isopropyl ether before filtering and drying to give the title compound as a white crystalline solid (20.0g, 86%), m.p. 91-96.

H-n.m.r. (CDCl~) 6 =1.10 (t, J=8Hz, 3H) 2.75-3.00 (m, 2H) 3.18 (s, 3H) 3.50-3.90 (m, 2H) 4.10 (q, J=8Hz, 2H) 6.80-7.30 (m, 4H) (b) A solution of compound El (i)-trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'fluorophenyl)piperidin-2,6-dione (l.Og) in anhydrous dimethylformamide was stirred and cooled to about 0 and methyl ioclide (0.679) and anhydrous potassium carbonate (O.51g) added. The mixture was stirred at 0-2 for 7.5 hours, after which it was diluted with water and extracted with ethyl acetate (lOOml). The extract was washed with water, brine and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate.
Evaporation gave the title compound as a pale yellow oil, ca. 90% pure by n.m.r. spectroscopy.

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g Example 3 ~ trans-3-Ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)--piperidin-2,6-dione (E3) A solution of ethyl amidomalonate (17.5 gms, 1.0 eq at 70%) in ethyl acetate (50 ml) was added to a solution of ethyl cinnamate (21.6 gms, O.lm at 90~) in ethyl acetate (200 mls) containing sodium methoxide (7.6 gms) over 0.5 hr at 20C. The slurry was stirred for 8 hours at 20C and 72 hours at 5C. 'rhe slurry was then added to a mixture of water (200 ml) and acetic acid (2.5 eq).

After separation of the rich ethyl acetate the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure and product isolated via crystallisation from propan-2-ol by adding heptane.

Yield = 5.2 gms Product was a mixture of 20% methyl, 80~ ethyl esters Structure confirmed by NMR and HPLC comparison with the N-methyl equivalent~ (E2) Example 4 (+)-trans 3-Ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-N-methyl -piperidin-2,6-dione (E4~

A solution of p-fluorobenzaldehyde (lOOg) in ethyl acetate (lOOml) was added slowly to a mixture of sodium methoxide (105g) in ethyl acetate (9OOml), maintaining the temperature at 10-20C and stirring for a further 30 minutes at 15-25C. Then a solution of desiccated : , ., . -.
' " ; ' ' - .

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ethyl ~-methylamidom~lonate (139g) in ethyl acetate (200ml) was added over 1 hour whilst maintaininy the temperature at 15-25C and stirring for a further 1-2 hours. The resulting mixture was added to solution of acetic acid (120g) in water (475ml) and stirred for 15 minutes. The lower aqueous layer was then separated and discarded. The rich solvent was washed with saturated brine ~250ml). The solvent was removed by vacuum distillation and replaced with propan-2-ol then cooled with stirring to obtain the crystalline title compound. Water (600ml) was added over 30 minutes and the mixture stirred for 1-2 hours at lS-25C. The product was filtered and washed with water then isopropyl ether before drying.

yield = 80-90%

Example 5 ~ trans-4-(4'-Fluorophenyl)-3-hydrox~methyl-N-methyl-piperidine (E5) Compound E2 (+)-trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-~-methylpiperidin-2,6-dione (18.0g) in tetrahydrofuran (80ml) was added slowly to a solution of lithium aluminium hydride (6.0g~ in tetrahydrofuran (40ml) under nitrogen, keeping the temperature below 40. ~hen addition was complete, the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight, then warmed to 50 for about 7 hours and finally stirred overniyht at room temperature.

Decomposition was ~ffected by the careful addition of water (30ml) followed by 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution (6.0ml). The hydrolysed mixture was stirred for 1~2 hours before filtering off the precipitated .. : '' "',', ~"' '' ' ' , .

r3~ ~

salts which were washed with ethyl acetate (50ml~. The filtrate was dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and evaporated down to give a solid product which was triturated with ether, filtered and dried, to give the title compound (s.Og, 65%), m.p. 122-126.

lH_n.m.r (DMSO-d6) 6 = 1.56-1.92 (m, 5H) 2.15-2.29 ~m, 4H3 2.77-2.85 (d, lH) 2.88-2.99 (m, lH) 3.02-3.14 (m, 2EI) 3.38 (s, lH) 7.06-7.29 (m, 4H) Resolution The title compound E5 (8.6g) and (~)-2'-nitrotartranilic acid (10.4g) were dissolved in warm acetone (70ml) and water (1.9 ml) added. After cooling and allowing to stand at 5 for 2 days, the crystalline salt was filtered off, washed with acetone and dried in vacuo (7.7g, 39%).

The salt (7.6g) was suspended in water and a slight excess of dilute hydrochloric acid added to precipitate the tartranilic acid which was filtered off and washed with water. The filtrate was basified with sodium carbonate soLution and extracted with ethyl acetate (total 60ml) and the extracts washed with sodium carbonate soLution, water and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate. Evaporation gave (-)-trans-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-3-hydroXymethyl-N-methylpiperidine as a crystalline solid which was triturated with .

, . ' ' " . . , , ., . ,;

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ether/petrole~n ether (b.p. 60-80), filtered and dried (3.1g, 95% recovery), m.p. 102-103, [a]D26 (c=5 in aceto~e) -37.

Example 6 (i)-trans-4~(4~-Fluorophenyl)-3-hydroxymethylpiperidine Compound El (~)-trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)piperidin-2,6-dione (2.0g) was reduced with lithium aluminium hydride (0.58g) in refluxing tetrahydrofuran (50ml) for 4 hours. Work up as described in Example 5 gave the title compound as a solid (0.28g, 22%).

Example 7 ~)-trans-4-(4' fluorophenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-~-methyl piperidine. (E7) Compound E4 (34g) in toluene (150 ml) was added slowly to a slurry of lithium aluminium hydride (lOg) in a tetrahydrofuran (So ml)/toluene 1150 ml) mixture, maintaining the temperature at 0-5C under nitrogen.
(Commercially available solutions of lithium aluminium hydride in tetrahydrofuran/toluene have also been used successfully)~ The mixture was stirred for a further 1-5 hours and then allowed to warm up to 15-25C
overnight. The excess lithium aluminium hydride was destroyed by the carefully controlled addition of water (10 ml), dilute 15% sodium hydroxide (10 mls) and water (30 ml~. The solids were then removed by filtration and reslurried in toluene (100 ml). The combined rich toluene layers were concentrated to a low volume (75 ml) and poured into petroleum ether [100-120~] (25 ml). After stirring for 8-24 hours the product was ~ Q3 isolated by filtration, washed with petroleum ether (10 ml) and dried.

yield = 65-75 Example 8 ~ trans-4-(4'Fluorophenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-~methyl piperidine Compound E7 (5g) was dissolved in acetone (S0 ml) and added to a solution of (-)-di-p-toluoyltartaric acid (11.25g) in acetone (50 ml) at 15-25Co The mixture was stirred for 1 hour at 15-25C~ then a further hour at 0-10C~ The crystalline salt was filtered off, washed with acetone and dried.

Yield = 40-45%

The salt (6g) was suspended in water and methylene dichloride (MDC). The (-)-trans-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-N~methylpiperidine was extracted into the MDC using sodium hydroxide. Evaporation of the rich MDC gave an oil which was redissolved in toluen~.
The toluene was removed by evaporation to give an oil.
The addition of heptane and trituration gave a crystalline solid which was filtered off and dried.

Yield = 8S-89~ [~] = -35(c-l~ in methanol).
D

., : .: . , . . ` .... :

1 ~ 2 7 ~ ~ ~

Example 9 .

(i)-trans-4-(4'-Fluorophenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-N-methyl piperidine (E9) Lithium aluminium hydride (3.24g; 0.085 mol) was added with stirring to dry tetrahydrofuran (200ml) at 0C
under an atmosphere of nitrogen. Concentrated sulphuric acid (2.16ml) was then added dropwise and the mixture was stirred at 0C for 1 hour to giv~ a solution of aluminium hydride. The imide (E2, lO.Og;
0.034 mol) was added as a solution in dry tetrahydrofuran (199ml) and the mixture stirred at 0-5C for 4-5 hours, then at room temperature overnight. Sodium hydroxide (16.2ml of a 40% aqueous solution) was added, and the resultant precipitate was filtered and washed. Filtration was repeated several times to remove cloudiness then the filtrate and washing were evaporated in vacuo, to give the product as an orange oil (6.9g, 91%~ which could be crystallised from ether, m.p. 122-3C.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A process for the preparation of a compound of formula (II):

(II) wherein R3 is hydrogen, C1-6 alkyl or phenyl C1-6 alkyl and R4 is C1-6 alkyl and Ar is in which X is hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, trifluoro alkyl, hydroxy, halogen, methylthio or phenylalkyl in which the alkyl chain when present has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, which process comprises (a) reacting a compound of formula (III):

(III) wherein R3 and R4 are as defined with respect to formula (II), with a compound of formula (IV):
(IV) wherein Ar is as defined with respect to formula (II) and OR5 is a leaving group, and/or (b) conventional alkylation of a compound of formula (II) wherein R3 is hydrogen to a compound of formula (II) wherein R3 is C1-16 alkyl or phenyl C1-16 alkyl.

2. A process according to claim 1, herein a compound of formula (III) as defined in claim 1 is condensed with a compound of formula (IV) as defined in claim 1 in a base/solvent system 3. A process according to claim 1 part (b), wherein a compound of formula (II) wherein R3 is hydrogen is converted to a compound of formula (II) wherein R3 is C1-6 alkyl or phenyl C1-6 alkyl by reaction with a C1-6 alkyl or phenyl C1-6 alkyl halide in the presence of a base.

4. A process according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the compound of formula (IV) is formed in situ by the base catalysed condensation of a compound of formula wherein X is as defined in claim 1, with a C1-6 alkyl or phenyl ester of acetic acid.

5. A process for the preparation of the compound (?) -trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-piperidine-2,6-dione which comprises reacting ethyl amidomalonate with ethyl 4-fluoro cinnamate in a solvent in the presence of a base and recovering the required compound.

6. A process for the preparation of the compound (?)-trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-N-methyl piperidine-2,6-dione which comprises reacting N-methylamidomalonate with ethyl 4-fluorocinnamate in 2 solvent in the presence of a base and recovering the required compound.

7. A compound of formula (II) (II) wherein Ar is in which X is hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, trifluoroalkyl, hydroxy, halogen, methylthio or phenylalkyl in which the alkyl chain when present has 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R3 is hydrogen, C1-6 alkyl or phenyl C1-6 alkyl, and R4 is C1-6 alkyl.
8. (?)-trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-piperidin-2,6-dione.
9. (?)-trans-3-ethoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-flourophenyl-N-methyl piperidin-2,6-dione.
10. (?)-trans-3-methoxycarbonyl-4-(4'-fluorophenyl)-piperidin-2,6-dione.