Process for preparing carboxamido-4-azasteroids

Organic compounds -- part of the class 532-570 series – Organic compounds – Heterocyclic carbon compounds containing a hetero ring...

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546 61, 546 26, C07D22102

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active

061214493

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BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention refers to a process for preparing carboxamido-4-azasteroids and, more in particular, it relates to a process for preparing 17.beta.-carboxamido-4-azasteroids starting from the corresponding 17.beta.-carbonylimidazole derivatives.
Carboxamido-4-azasteroids such as, for instance, 17.beta.-carboxamido-4-aza-5.alpha.-androstan-3-ones and related unsaturated androstenones or androstadienones derivatives are compounds known in the art to be endowed with pharmacological activity, i.e. testosterone 5.alpha.-reductase inhibitory activity, and are thus useful in therapy in the treatment of hyperandrogenic conditions.
For a general reference to the pharmacological activity of the said compounds see, for instance, EP-A-0271220, WO 94/03475 and Current Pharmaceutical Design, 1996, 2, 59-84. Several processes for preparing carboxamido-4-azasteroids are known in the literature.
For instance, as reported in the international patent application WO 94/03475 in the name of the applicant, 17.beta.-carboxamido-4-azasteroids are prepared by reacting a properly activated 17.beta.-carboxy-4-azasteroid with a suitable amine.
Properly activated carboxy groups forming amide bonds include, for instance, acyl chlorides, thioesters, hydroxybenzotriazole esters, mixed anhydrides and acyl-imidazole derivatives.
Although suitable to form amide bonds, most of these activating groups cannot be used to prepare carboxamido-4-azasteroids because reacting with the N-atom of the azasteroid moiety or, if present, with the double bond in position 5,6 of the androst-5-ene or androsta-1,5-diene moieties or, alternatively, because unreactive towards the selected amine.
Therefore, with the aim to find a synthetic approach for preparing 17.beta.-carboxamido-4-azasteroids by condensing an amine with an activated 17.beta.-carboxy-4-azasteroid, being the said activated group unreactive towards other functional groups present in the molecule, we noticed that imidazolide derivatives could be successfully used.
However, steric hindered or low nucleophilic and hence scarcely reactive amines did not react at all with 17.beta.-carbonylimidazole-4-azasteroids or, alternatively, enabled to prepare the expected amides in yields even lower than 20%.
For instance, as reported by A. Bhattacharya et al. in Synthetic Communications, 30(17), 2683-2690 (1990), the direct condensation of 3-oxo-4-aza-androst-1-ene-17.beta.-acylimidazole with tert-butylamine so as to get the corresponding amide was unsuccessful, even under extreme reaction conditions.
Likewise, with the aim to prepare fluorinated amides, the condensation between 3-oxo-4-aza-androst-5-ene-17.beta.-carbonylimidazole and the fluorinated amine did not enabled us to get the corresponding amide even operating under drastic conditions, i.e. under pressure in autoclave. EP-A-0367502, in the name of Merck & Co. Inc., discloses a process for preparing 3-oxo-4-azasteroids, among which 17.beta.-carboxamido derivatives are comprised, by reacting the corresponding 17.beta.-carbonylimidazole intermediate with a suitable amine in the presence of a Grignard reagent.
However, it is well-known to the man skilled in the art that when using Grignard reagents, in particular on industrial scale, severe precautions so as to avoid the risks of hazardous reactions are required.
Therefore, although affording the desired amide in high yields, the industrial application of the aforementioned process could present some remarkable drawbacks.
In addition, the same methodology failed to achieve fluorinated 17.beta.-carboxamides in acceptable yields and purity.
In this respect, we have surprisingly found that the said imidazolide derivatives could be unexpectedly converted into the desired amide, under mild conditions, in the presence of acids.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention a process for preparing the compounds of formula ##STR2## wherein the dotted lines - - - , independently from each other, represent a single or double bond; straight or branched C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, phenylalkyl, alkylphenyl

REFERENCES:
patent: 5155107 (1992-10-01), Panzeri et al.
patent: 5342948 (1994-08-01), Panzeri et al.
patent: 5407939 (1995-04-01), Panzeri et al.
patent: 5418238 (1995-05-01), Panzeri et al.
patent: 5719159 (1998-02-01), Panzeri et al.

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