Curtius degradation

Curtius rearrangement
Named after	Theodor Curtius
Reaction type	Rearrangement reaction
Identifiers
Organic Chemistry Portal	curtius-rearrangement
RSC ontology ID	RXNO:0000054

The Curtius rearrangement (or Curtius reaction or Curtius degradation), first defined by Theodor Curtius in 1885, is the thermal decomposition of an acyl azide to an isocyanate with loss of nitrogen gas. The isocyanate then undergoes attack by a variety of nucleophiles such as water, alcohols and amines, to yield a primary amine, carbamate or urea derivative respectively. Several reviews have been published.

The acyl azide is usually made from the reaction of acid chlorides or anydrides with sodium azide or trimethylsilyl azide. Acyl azides are also obtained from treating acylhydrazines with nitrous acid. Alternatively, the acyl azide can be formed by the direct reaction of a carboxylic acid with diphenylphosphoryl azide (DPPA).

It was originally believed that the Curtius rearrangement was a two-step process, with the loss of nitrogen gas forming an acyl nitrene, followed by migration of the R-group to give the isocyanate. However, recent research has indicated that the thermal decomposition is a concerted process, with both steps happening together, due to the absence of any nitrene insertion or addition byproducts observed or isolated in the reaction. Thermodynamic calculations also support a concerted mechanism.

The migration occurs with full retention of configuration at the R-group. The migratory aptitude of the R-group is roughly tertiary > secondary ~ aryl > primary. The isocyanate formed can then be hydrolyzed to give a primary amine, or undergo nucleophilic attack with alcohols and amines to form carbamates and urea derivatives respectively.

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