One-pot formation of aza-enolates from secondary amines and condensation to esters and alkyl bromides

Starting from commercial secondary amines, a one-pot procedure allows a direct access to enaminones through a one-pot deprotonation/oxidation/in situ re-deprotonation/acylation sequence without intermediate isolation of the intermediate Schiff base or its corresponding enamine tautomer. An alternative one-pot sequence involving a similar oxidation step followed by one or two alkylation steps yields, after acidic work-up, functionalized ketones directly from the parent amine. This process has been applied to an expeditious synthesis of the male aggregation pheromone of the cereal leaf beetle Oulema melanopus.

Graphical Abstract