Stereoisomerism in 3-[N-(2-acetoxypropanoyl)-N-acylamino]quinazolin-4(3H)-ones, enantioselective acylating agents

The title compounds diacylaminoquinazolinones (DAQs) are enantioselective acylation agents for amines and a detailed study of their stereostructures was undertaken with the aim of understanding how this enantioselectivity arises. The N-N bond in these DAQs is a chiral axis. Even where both N-acyl groups are (S)-2-acetoxypropanoyl, the N-N bond is still a chiral axis because in the most stable conformation of the planar imide moiety, one exo/endo orientation of the carbonyl groups is much preferred over the alternative (endo/exo) as revealed by NMR spectroscopy. A conformational preference within the 2-acetoxypropanoyl grouping accounts for the presence of a single exo/endo conformation in solution for some of these DAQs (see above) but an interconverting exo/endo reversible arrow endo/exo mixture for others. Where a single exo/endo conformation is present in solution, evidence is presented that this closely resembles the X-ray determined crystal structure. A mechanism for the second acylation step to form these DAQs is proposed, which involves preliminary O-acylation of the 3-(monoacylamino)quinazolinone.