My watch list  

Mannich reaction

The Mannich reaction is an organic reaction and consists of a amino alkylation of an acidic proton placed next to a carbonyl functional group with formaldehyde and ammonia or any primary or secondary amine. The final product is a β-amino-carbonyl compound [1]. Reactions between aldimines and α-methylene carbonyls are also considered Mannich reactions because these imines form between amines and aldehydes.

The reaction is named after Chemist Carl Mannich [2].



The Mannich reaction is an example of nucleophilic addition of an amine to a carbonyl group followed by elimination of a hydroxyl anion to the Schiff base. The Schiff base is an electrophile which reacts in step two in a second nucleophilic addition with a carbanion generated from a compound containing an acidic proton. The Mannich reaction is also considered a condensation reaction.

In the Mannich reaction ammonia or primary or secondary amines are employed for the activation of formaldehyde. Tertiary amines and aryl amines stop at the Schiff base because it lacks a proton to form the intermediate imine. α-CH-acidic compounds (Nucleophiles) are Carbonyl compounds, Nitrile compounds, Acetylene compounds, aliphatic Nitro compounds, α- alkyl-pyridine compounds or Imine compounds.

This reaction yields β-amino carbonyl compounds and Mannich base compounds. See for example tropinone.

The Mannich reaction requires high reaction temperatures, long reaction times and a protic solvent. Formation of undesired reaction by-product is a common phenomenon.

Reaction mechanism

The Mannich Reaction has a two part reaction mechanism

  1. Formation of the Schiff base electrophile in a nucleophilic addition Scheme 2
  2. amino alkylation of an acidic hydrogen containing compound Scheme 3

In the second step of the reaction a carbanion is generated from a CH acidic compound (in the example below diethyl malonate) under the influence of a base which then attacks the iminium salt in a second nucleophilic addition.

Asymmetric Mannich reactions

Progress has been made towards asymmetric Mannich reactions. When properly functionalized the newly formed ethylene bridge in the Mannich adduct has two prochiral centers giving rise to two diastereomeric pairs of enantiomers. The first asymmetric Mannich reaction with an unmodified aldehyde was carried with (S)-proline as a naturally occurring chiral catalyst [3].

The reaction taking place is between a simple aldehyde such as propionaldehyde and an imine derived from ethyl glyoxylate and para-methoxy-aniline (PMP = paramethoxphenyl) catalyzed by (S)-proline in dioxane at room temperature. The reaction product is diastereoselective with a preference for the syn-Mannich reaction 3:1 when the alkyl substituent on the aldehyde is a methyl group or 19:1 when the alkyl group the much larger pentyl group. Of the two possible syn adducts (S,S) or (R,R) the reaction is also enantioselective with a preference for the (S,S) adduct with enantiomeric excess larger than 99%. Scheme 5 explains this stereoselectivity.

Proline enters a catalytic cycle by reacting with the aldehyde to form an enamine. The two reactants (imine and enamine) line up for the Mannich reaction with Si facial attack of the imine by the Si-face of the enamine-aldehyde. Relieve of steric strain dictates that the alkyl residue R of the enamine and the imine group are antiperiplanar on approach which locks in the syn mode of addition. The enantioselectivity is further controlled by hydrogen bonding between the proline carboxylic acid group and the imine. The transition state for the addition is a nine-membered ring with chair conformation with partial single bonds and double bonds. The proline group is converted back to the aldehyde and a single S,S isomer is formed.

By modification of the proline catalyst to it is also possible to obtain anti-Mannich adducts [4]

An additional methyl group attached to proline forces a specific enamine approach and the transition state now is a 10-membered ring with addition in anti-mode. The diastereoselectivity is at least anti:syn 95:5 regardless of alkyl group size and the S,R enantiomer is preferred with at least 97% ee.


The Mannich-Reaction is employed in the organic synthesis of natural compounds like for instance Peptides-Nucleotides-Antibiotics and Alkaloids. Other applications are in agro chemicals such as plant growth regulators [5], paint- and polymer chemistry, catalysts and crosslinking.

The Mannich Reaction is also used in the synthesis of medicinal compounds e.g. Rolitetracycline (Mannich base of Tetracycline), Fluoxetine (Antidepressant) and Tolmetin (Antiinflammatory drug).


  1. ^ Original translated from German Wiki
  2. ^ Mannich, C.; Krosche, W. (1912). "Ueber ein Kondensationsprodukt aus Formaldehyd, Ammoniak und Antipyrin". Archiv der Pharmazie 250: 647-667. doi:10.1002/ardp.19122500151.
  3. ^ Cordova, A.; Watanabe, S.; Tanaka, F.; Notz, W.; Barbas, C. F., III (2002). "A Highly Enantioselective Route to Either Enantiomer of Both α- and β-Amino Acid Derivatives". Journal of the American Chemical Society 124 (9): 1866-1867. doi:10.1021/ja017833p.
  4. ^ Mitsumori S., Zhang H., Ha-Yeon Cheong P., Houk K. N.,Tanaka F., Barbas III C. F. (2006). "Direct Asymmetric anti-Mannich-Type Reactions Catalyzed by a Designed Amino Acid". Journal of the American Chemical Society 128 (4): 1040 - 1041. doi:10.1021/ja056984f.
  5. ^ da Rosa F. A. F., Rebelo R. A., Nascimento II M. G. (2003). "Synthesis of new indolecarboxylic acids related to the plant hormone indoleacetic acid". Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society 14: 11.

See also

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mannich_reaction". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.