IChO 1990 · Theory problem 3

Organic synthesis - synthesis of haloperidol

Haloperidol is a powerful neuroleptic prescribed in cases of psychomotoric disorder and for the treatment of various psychoses. A synthesis of this compound is proposed.

3.1 Give a scheme for the preparation of methyl 4-chlorobenzoate starting from benzene and all necessary inorganic substances. Diazomethane (\(\ce{H2CN2}\)) must be used in your synthesis.

γ-Butyrolactone (J) is a cyclic ester represented below.

Figure 1

3.2 How can γ-butyrolactone J be converted into 4-hydroxybutanoic acid (K)?

3.3 Convert K into 4-chlorobutanoyl chloride (L).

The reactions described below do not correspond to those used in the industrial synthesis of haloperidol for which the route is quite complex.

Methyl 4-chlorobenzoate is treated with an excess of vinylmagnesium bromide in anhydrous ether. M is obtained after hydrolysis. When M is treated with an excess of hydrogen bromide in anhydrous conditions in the presence of benzoyl peroxide, N is obtained. N reacts with ammonia to form 4-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-hydroxypiperidine (O).

3.4 Write down the structure of M, N and O and indicate the mechanism of the reaction leading to M.

In the presence of a moderate amount of aluminium chloride, L reacts with fluorobenzene to yield mainly a ketone P (\(\ce{C10H10OFCl}\)).

3.5 Sketch the structure of P and indicate the mechanism.

3.6 Give a chemical and physical test method for the determination of the carbonyl group. How can you make sure that the carbonyl group does not belong to an aldehyde group?

P reacts with O in basic media in a 1 : 1 molar ratio to give H that contains only one chlorine atom on the aromatic ring.

3.7 Give the structure of H which is haloperidol.

3.8 State the multiplicity of each resonance in the \(\ce{^1H}\) NMR spectrum of K. Assume that all coupling constants between protons and adjacent carbons are identical.

Official English text of the problem.

Answers

  • 3.1 Chlorinate benzene; nitrate and isolate the para isomer; reduce the nitro group; diazotize; replace the diazonium group with cyanide; hydrolyze the nitrile; methylate with diazomethane. The product is methyl 4-chlorobenzoate, COC(=O)c1ccc(Cl)cc1.
  • 3.2 Hydrolyze J with aqueous sodium hydroxide, then acidify to obtain K, 4-hydroxybutanoic acid, O=C(O)CCCO.
  • 3.3 Treat K with excess phosphorus pentachloride to obtain L, 4-chlorobutanoyl chloride, O=C(Cl)CCCCl.
  • 3.4
  • M: 3-(4-chlorophenyl)penta-1,4-dien-3-ol, C=CC(O)(c1ccc(Cl)cc1)C=C.
  • N: 1,5-dibromo-3-(4-chlorophenyl)pentan-3-ol, OC(c1ccc(Cl)cc1)(CCBr)CCBr.
  • O: 4-(4-chlorophenyl)piperidin-4-ol, OC1(c2ccc(Cl)cc2)CCNCC1.
  • Formation of M involves two successive Grignard additions, with elimination of methoxide after the first addition, followed by protonation.
  • 3.5 P is 4-chloro-1-(4-fluorophenyl)butan-1-one, O=C(CCCCl)c1ccc(F)cc1, formed by para Friedel–Crafts acylation.
  • 3.6 A positive 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine test establishes an aldehyde or ketone carbonyl; IR shows a strong carbonyl absorption near \(1700\ \mathrm{cm^{-1}}\). A negative Tollens test, supported by the absence of an aldehydic proton in the \(\ce{^1H}\) NMR spectrum, identifies the carbonyl as a ketone.
  • 3.7 H, haloperidol, is 4-[4-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-hydroxypiperidin-1-yl]-1-(4-fluorophenyl)butan-1-one, O=C(CCCN1CCC(O)(c2ccc(Cl)cc2)CC1)c1ccc(F)cc1.
  • 3.8 For K, written as \(\ce{HOOC-CH2-CH2-CH2-OH}\), the three methylene resonances are respectively triplet, quintet, triplet. The alcoholic and carboxylic acid protons normally give two broad singlets, assuming rapid proton exchange.

Solution

3.1 — Preparation of methyl 4-chlorobenzoate

A route through an aromatic nitrile supplies the carboxyl carbon from inorganic cyanide. The ester methyl group comes from the required diazomethane.

  1. Chlorination of benzene.

Benzene, c1ccccc1, reacts with chlorine, ClCl, using iron(III) chloride as catalyst, to give chlorobenzene, Clc1ccccc1:

\[ \ce{C6H6 + Cl2 ->[FeCl3] C6H5Cl + HCl} \]

  1. Nitration and isolation of the para isomer.

Chlorine deactivates the ring but directs electrophilic substitution to the ortho and para positions. Nitration therefore gives a mixture from which 1-chloro-4-nitrobenzene, O=[N+]([O-])c1ccc(Cl)cc1, is isolated:

\[ \ce{C6H5Cl + HNO3 ->[H2SO4] p-ClC6H4NO2 + H2O} \]

Separation is essential: the equation represents the desired para branch, not an exclusively para-selective reaction.

  1. Reduction of the nitro group.

Iron and hydrochloric acid reduce the nitro group. In the acidic medium, the product is 4-chloroanilinium chloride, [NH3+]c1ccc(Cl)cc1.[Cl-]:

\[ \ce{p-ClC6H4NO2 + 3Fe + 7HCl -> [p-ClC6H4NH3]Cl + 3FeCl2 + 2H2O} \]

  1. Diazotization.

Sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid at approximately \(0\text{–}5\,^\circ\mathrm C\) give 4-chlorobenzenediazonium chloride, N#[N+]c1ccc(Cl)cc1.[Cl-]:

\[ \ce{[p-ClC6H4NH3]Cl + NaNO2 + HCl -> [p-ClC6H4N2]Cl + NaCl + 2H2O} \]

  1. Sandmeyer cyanation.

Copper(I) cyanide, [Cu+].[C-]#N, replaces the diazonium group with a nitrile group, giving 4-chlorobenzonitrile, N#Cc1ccc(Cl)cc1:

\[ \ce{[p-ClC6H4N2]Cl + CuCN -> p-ClC6H4CN + N2 + CuCl} \]

  1. Hydrolysis of the nitrile.

Heating with aqueous acid gives 4-chlorobenzoic acid, O=C(O)c1ccc(Cl)cc1:

\[ \ce{p-ClC6H4CN + 2H2O + HCl -> p-ClC6H4COOH + NH4Cl} \]

  1. Esterification with diazomethane.

Diazomethane, C=[N+]=[N-], converts the acid into methyl 4-chlorobenzoate, COC(=O)c1ccc(Cl)cc1, with evolution of nitrogen:

\[ \ce{p-ClC6H4COOH + CH2N2 -> p-ClC6H4COOCH3 + N2} \]

All added reagents in this route are inorganic except the explicitly required diazomethane.

3.2 — Opening the lactone ring

J, γ-butyrolactone or oxolan-2-one, O=C1CCCO1, is a cyclic ester. Aqueous sodium hydroxide, [Na+].[OH-], opens its ring by ester saponification:

\[ \ce{C4H6O2 + NaOH -> HO(CH2)3COONa} \]

The product is sodium 4-hydroxybutanoate, [Na+].O=C([O-])CCCO. Acidification gives K, 4-hydroxybutanoic acid, O=C(O)CCCO:

\[ \ce{HO(CH2)3COONa + HCl -> HO(CH2)3COOH + NaCl} \]

Mechanistically, hydroxide attacks the ester carbonyl carbon. Collapse of the tetrahedral intermediate breaks the bond between the acyl carbon and the ring oxygen; proton transfer produces the hydroxycarboxylate.

Basic hydrolysis drives ring opening through formation of the carboxylate. Acidification should be mild, because the free hydroxy acid can cyclize back to the lactone, particularly on heating.

3.3 — Preparation of the bifunctional chloride

Use excess phosphorus pentachloride, ClP(Cl)(Cl)(Cl)Cl. It replaces both the alcoholic hydroxyl group and the carboxylic hydroxyl group with chlorine:

\[ \ce{HO(CH2)3COOH + 2PCl5 -> Cl(CH2)3COCl + 2POCl3 + 2HCl} \]

Thus L is 4-chlorobutanoyl chloride, O=C(Cl)CCCCl. The phosphorus-containing product is phosphoryl chloride, O=P(Cl)(Cl)Cl.

The two chlorine atoms have different roles: one belongs to an acyl chloride, while the other is attached to a terminal primary carbon.

3.4 — Structures of M, N and O, and the mechanism leading to M

Formation of M. Vinylmagnesium bromide, C=C[Mg]Br, supplies a vinyl group with nucleophilic carbon character. Two equivalents add per ester molecule:

\[ \ce{ p-ClC6H4COOCH3 + 2CH2=CHMgBr + 2H2O -> p-ClC6H4C(OH)(CH=CH2)2 + CH3OH + 2Mg(OH)Br } \]

This equation represents the addition and subsequent aqueous work-up. The other products are methanol, CO, and magnesium hydroxybromide, represented ionically as [Mg+2].[OH-].[Br-].

The mechanism is as follows; magnesium counterions are omitted from the intermediate SMILES.

  1. The carbon bonded to magnesium attacks the ester carbonyl carbon, while the carbonyl \(\pi\) electrons move onto oxygen. The resulting tetrahedral alkoxide intermediate is C=CC([O-])(OC)c1ccc(Cl)cc1.

  2. The oxygen lone pair reforms the carbonyl bond, and the bond to the methoxy oxygen breaks, expelling methoxide, C[O-]. The intermediate ketone is 1-(4-chlorophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one, C=CC(=O)c1ccc(Cl)cc1.

  3. A second vinylmagnesium bromide molecule attacks this ketone at its carbonyl carbon. This gives 3-(4-chlorophenyl)penta-1,4-dien-3-olate, C=CC([O-])(c1ccc(Cl)cc1)C=C.

  4. Aqueous work-up protonates the alkoxide, yielding M, 3-(4-chlorophenyl)penta-1,4-dien-3-ol, C=CC(O)(c1ccc(Cl)cc1)C=C.

Thus the central carbon of M bears a hydroxyl group, a para-chlorophenyl group and two vinyl groups.

Formation of N. Hydrogen bromide, Br, in the presence of benzoyl peroxide, O=C(c1ccccc1)OOC(=O)c1ccccc1, undergoes radical, anti-Markovnikov addition to each vinyl group:

\[ \ce{ p-ClC6H4C(OH)(CH=CH2)2 + 2HBr -> [\text{benzoyl peroxide}] p-ClC6H4C(OH)(CH2CH2Br)2 } \]

A bromine radical adds to the terminal carbon of each double bond, leaving the more substituted carbon radical. Hydrogen abstraction from another hydrogen bromide molecule completes the addition and regenerates a bromine radical.

The intended product N is therefore 1,5-dibromo-3-(4-chlorophenyl)pentan-3-ol, OC(c1ccc(Cl)cc1)(CCBr)CCBr.

Formation of O. Ammonia, N, substitutes one terminal bromide. The resulting amino group then attacks the other terminal carbon intramolecularly, closing a six-membered ring. Deprotonation gives the secondary amine.

With excess ammonia also neutralizing the acid formed, the balanced equation is:

\[ \ce{C11H13Br2ClO + 3NH3 -> C11H14ClNO + 2NH4Br} \]

The salt is ammonium bromide, [NH4+].[Br-].

O is 4-(4-chlorophenyl)piperidin-4-ol, OC1(c2ccc(Cl)cc2)CCNCC1. To sketch it, draw a six-membered saturated ring with one nitrogen bearing hydrogen; the carbon opposite nitrogen bears both the hydroxyl group and the para-chlorophenyl group.

3.5 — Friedel–Crafts acylation

L acylates fluorobenzene, Fc1ccccc1, in the presence of aluminium chloride, Cl[Al](Cl)Cl:

\[ \ce{ C6H5F + Cl(CH2)3COCl -> [AlCl3] p-FC6H4CO(CH2)3Cl + HCl } \]

Fluorine deactivates the aromatic ring inductively but directs electrophilic substitution to the ortho and para positions through lone-pair donation. The less hindered para product predominates.

Therefore P is 4-chloro-1-(4-fluorophenyl)butan-1-one, O=C(CCCCl)c1ccc(F)cc1.

To sketch P, draw a benzene ring bearing fluorine and \(\ce{-COCH2CH2CH2Cl}\) in para positions. Its formula is:

\[ \ce{C6H4F + CO(CH2)3Cl} \quad\Longrightarrow\quad \ce{C10H10ClFO}, \]

consistent with the formula supplied.

The mechanism has three principal steps.

  1. Generation of the acyl electrophile.

Aluminium chloride accepts the acyl chloride’s chloride ion:

\[ \ce{Cl(CH2)3COCl + AlCl3 <=> [Cl(CH2)3CO]+ + AlCl4-} \]

The 4-chlorobutanoyl acylium ion has resonance representations O=[C+]CCCCl and ClCCCC#[O+]. The counterion is tetrachloroaluminate, [Al-](Cl)(Cl)(Cl)Cl.

  1. Aromatic attack.

Aromatic \(\pi\) electrons attack the acylium carbon at the position para to fluorine. This forms a nonaromatic arenium ion; one resonance contributor is O=C(CCCCl)C1C=C[C+](F)C=C1.

\[ \ce{C6H5F + C4H6ClO+ -> C10H11ClFO+} \]

  1. Restoration of aromaticity.

Tetrachloroaluminate removes the proton from the carbon where substitution occurred. The carbon–hydrogen bond electrons restore the aromatic \(\pi\) system:

\[ \ce{C10H11ClFO+ + AlCl4- -> C10H10ClFO + HCl + AlCl3} \]

The ketone oxygen can coordinate to aluminium chloride; aqueous work-up releases P from that complex.

3.6 — Identification of the carbonyl group

Chemical test: 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine.

2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine, NNc1ccc([N+](=O)[O-])cc1[N+](=O)[O-], reacts with an aldehyde or ketone to give a typically yellow or orange hydrazone precipitate:

\[ \ce{ p-FC6H4CO(CH2)3Cl + H2NNHC6H3(NO2)2 -> [H+] p-FC6H4C(=NNHC6H3(NO2)2)(CH2)3Cl + H2O } \]

The product is the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone of P:

ClCCCC(=NNc1ccc([N+](=O)[O-])cc1[N+](=O)[O-])c1ccc(F)cc1

No particular hydrazone \(E/Z\) configuration is required for this qualitative test.

Physical test: infrared spectroscopy.

A strong carbonyl stretching absorption is expected near \(1700\ \mathrm{cm^{-1}}\), approximately \(1685\text{–}1710\ \mathrm{cm^{-1}}\) for this aromatic-conjugated ketone.

Exclusion of an aldehyde: Tollens test.

An aldehyde reduces Tollens reagent to metallic silver; P should give a negative test. The reactive complex is the diamminesilver(I) ion, [NH3]->[Ag+]<-[NH3]; the arrows in this SMILES denote nitrogen-to-silver coordination.

For example, benzaldehyde, O=Cc1ccccc1, gives benzoate, O=C([O-])c1ccccc1, and silver:

\[ \ce{ C6H5CHO + 2[Ag(NH3)2]+ + 3OH- -> C6H5COO- + 2Ag + 4NH3 + 2H2O } \]

A working aldehyde control should give the silver deposit, whereas P should not. The absence of an aldehydic proton resonance, normally around \(\delta 9\text{–}10\ \mathrm{ppm}\), provides an additional spectroscopic check.

3.7 — Formation of haloperidol

The secondary amine nitrogen of O attacks the terminal primary carbon bearing chlorine in P, by an \(S_\mathrm{N}2\) reaction. Base removes the nitrogen-bound proton, giving a tertiary amine.

With sodium hydroxide representing the base, the overall balance is:

\[ \ce{ C10H10ClFO + C11H14ClNO + NaOH -> C21H23ClFNO2 + NaCl + H2O } \]

The product H, haloperidol, is:

4-[4-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-hydroxypiperidin-1-yl]-1-(4-fluorophenyl)butan-1-one

O=C(CCCN1CCC(O)(c2ccc(Cl)cc2)CC1)c1ccc(F)cc1

To sketch it, start from the piperidine structure O and replace its nitrogen-bound hydrogen with \(\ce{-CH2CH2CH2CO-C6H4-F}\), with fluorine para to the carbonyl attachment on that ring. The hydroxyl group and para-chlorophenyl substituent at piperidine carbon 4 remain present.

The chlorine originally on the terminal carbon of P is displaced. The only chlorine remaining in H is the chlorine on the aromatic ring, as required.

3.8 — Proton NMR multiplicities of K

Write K as:

\[ \ce{HOOC-CH2(a)-CH2(b)-CH2(c)-OH}. \]

Under the usual first-order treatment and rapid exchange of hydroxyl protons:

Proton set Integral Coupled neighboring carbon-bound protons Multiplicity
\(a\): methylene next to the carboxyl group \(2\) Two protons of \(b\) Triplet, \(1:2:1\)
\(b\): middle methylene \(2\) Two protons of \(a\) and two of \(c\) Quintet, \(1:4:6:4:1\)
\(c\): methylene next to the hydroxyl group \(2\) Two protons of \(b\) Triplet, \(1:2:1\)
Alcoholic hydroxyl proton \(1\) Coupling normally averaged out by exchange Broad singlet
Carboxylic acid proton \(1\) No normally resolved coupling Broad singlet

The middle methylene would generally be split separately by its two neighboring methylene groups. Here their coupling constants are stipulated to be identical, so the lines coincide to produce a quintet:

\[ (1+x)^2(1+x)^2=(1+x)^4 =1+4x+6x^2+4x^3+x^4. \]

The total integration is \(2+2+2+1+1=8\) protons, consistent with \(\ce{C4H8O3}\).

The solution was checked against the official solution.