Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/b2/c/solution

Label the enamine carbon bonded to nitrogen C1 and its alkene partner C2; C6 is the other carbon next to C1. B is the C-alkylated iminium ion bromide. Its new substituent at C2 is , while C1 is double-bonded to the pyrrolidine nitrogen, which bears positive charge. bromide is the counterion, accounting for Br in the empirical formula without requiring a retained C–Br bond.
The C2 end of the enamine attacks the bromomethyl carbon by displacement. Simultaneously, donation of the nitrogen lone pair creates the C1=N bond. This is ordinary enamine C-alkylation, not N-alkylation.
proton transfer removes an alpha proton at C6, converting the iminium ion into the enamine regioisomer C1=C6. That enamine attacks the terminal of the tethered acrylate in an intramolecular Michael addition. nitrogen donation restores the iminium ion, and protonation of the ester enolate completes the sequence.
The new bridge is . Together with the original ring and its C1 bridge this produces the bicyclononane iminium ion skeleton in C. It retains the pyrrolidine group and the ester; hydrolysis to a ketone is not part of the displayed reaction. The second panel of the original annulation figure shows the chemical atom connectivity and distinguishes ionic bromide in B from a covalent bromine substituent.

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