A,p Unsaturated aldehyde

Conjugation of the newly formed double bond with the carbonyl group stabilizes the a p unsaturated aldehyde provides the driving force for the dehydration and controls Its regioselectivity Dehydration can be effected by heating the aldol with acid or base Normally if the a p unsaturated aldehyde is the desired product all that is done is to carry out the base catalyzed aldol addition reaction at elevated temperature Under these conditions once the aldol addition product is formed it rapidly loses water to form the a p unsaturated aldehyde... 

Aldol condensation offers an effective route to a p unsaturated aldehydes and ketones These compounds have some interesting properties that result from conjugation of the carbon-carbon double bond with the carbonyl group As shown m Figure 18 6 the rr systems of the carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen double bonds overlap to form an extended rr system that permits increased electron delocalization... 

FIGURE 18 7 Nucleophilic addition to a p unsaturated aldehydes and ketones may take place either in a 1 2 or 1 4 manner Direct addition (1 2) occurs faster than conjugate addition (1 4) but gives a less stable product The product of 1 4 addition retains the carbon-oxygen double bond which is in general stronger than a carbon-carbon double bond... 

The preparation and some synthetic applications of lithium dialkylcuprates were described earlier (Section 14 11) The most prominent feature of these reagents is then-capacity to undergo conjugate addition to a p unsaturated aldehydes and ketones... 

A reaction of great synthetic val ue for carbon-carbon bond for mation Nucleophilic addition of an enolate ion to a carbonyl group followed by dehydration of the 3 hydroxy aldehyde yields an a p unsaturated aldehyde... 

Stabilized anions exhibit a pronounced tendency to undergo conjugate addition to a p unsaturated carbonyl compounds This reaction called the Michael reaction has been described for anions derived from p diketones m Section 18 13 The enolates of ethyl acetoacetate and diethyl malonate also undergo Michael addition to the p carbon atom of a p unsaturated aldehydes ketones and esters For example... 

Isopropyl alcohol can be oxidized by reaction of an a,P-unsaturated aldehyde or ketone at high temperature over metal oxide catalysts (28). In one Shell process for the manufacture of aHyl alcohol, a vapor mixture of isopropyl alcohol and acrolein, which contains two to three moles of alcohol per mole of aldehyde, is passed over a bed of uncalcined magnesium oxide [1309-48-4] and zinc oxide [1314-13-2] at 400°C. The process yields about 77% aHyl alcohol based on acrolein. 

The formation of pyridine derivatives from a, P-unsaturated aldehydes and ammonia involves formation of three bonds during the ring synthesis. For example, with an a, P-unsaturated aldehyde, both 2,5-substituted as well as 3,4-substituted pyridines can be obtained, depending on whether a 1,2- (eq. 17) or 1,4-addition (eq. 18) occurs with ammonia. Reactions are performed in the vapor phase with catalysts. 

Dijbner-von Miller Synthesis. A much less violent synthetic pathway, the Dn bner-von Miller, uses hydrochloric acid or 2inc chloride as the catalyst (43). As in the modified Skraup, a,P-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones make the dehydration of glycerol uimecessary, and allow a wider variety of substitution patterns. No added oxidant is required. With excess aniline the reaction proceeds as follows ... 

Hydroqulnollnes. Pyrans formed by reactions of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes with 1-ethoxycyclohexene and treated with hydroxjiamine are converted ia good yield to 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquiQolines (117). These compounds can be dehydrogenated to the corresponding quiaolines. The parent reduced product has been prepared by heating O-aHylcyclohexanone oxime (118). 

Xanthates have been added to activated double bonds, eg, acryhc derivatives and a,P-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones (59—61) ... 

The diminished tt electron density in the double bond makes a,p-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones less reactive than alkenes toward electrophilic addition. Electrophilic reagents—bromine and peroxy acids, for example—react more slowly with the carbon-carbon double bond of a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds than with simple alkenes. 

The Fiesselmann reaction has been extensively used with p-halovinyl esters, ketones,aldehydes and nitriles as reaction partners for thioglycolic acid and its derivatives. This reaction with P-halovinyl aldehydes has been extensively explored as a result of the availability of P-chloro-a,P-unsaturated aldehydes via the Vilsmeier... 

This reaction has recently been exploited for the synthesis of 2,3-diarylthiophenes. Thus, P-chloro-a,p-unsaturated aldehyde 19 underwent reaction with ethylthioglycolate to produce 20. The production of 20 by this method enabled the synthesis of a number of derivatives for investigations of their use as anti-inflammatory agents. 

This 1,3-migration of hydrogen was also observed when 40 reacted with Lawesson s reagent to produce the dithiolactone 41. However, when y-hydroxy-a,P-unsaturated aldehyde 42 was reacted under similar conditions, thiophene 43 was prepared efficiently. These results are not surprising considering that the oxidation state of 42 is equivalent to the traditional saturated 1,4-dicarbonyl substrates of the Paal thiophene reaction via tautomerization of the double bond, and aromaticity is reestablished in the fully conjugated 43. 

Corey used a chiral bromoborane 75 (1.1 equiv.) to promote the addition of tert-butyl bromoacetate (76) to aromatic, aliphatic, and a,P-unsaturated aldehydes to give the halo alcohols 77 with high enantio- and diastereoselectivities (Table 1.10) [35]. 

Whereas SHMT in vivo has a biosynthetic function, threonine aldolase catalyzes the degradation of threonine both l- and D-spedfic ThrA enzymes are known [16,192]. Typically, ThrA enzymes show complete enantiopreference for their natural a-D- or a-t-amino configuration but, with few exceptions, have only low specificity for the relative threo/erythro-configuration (e.g. (122)/(123)) [193]. Likewise, SHMT is highly selective for the L-configuration, but has poor threo/erythro selectivity [194]. For biocatalytic applications, the knovm SHMT, d- and t-ThrA show broad substrate tolerance for various acceptor aldehydes, notably induding aromatic aldehydes [193-196] however, a,P-unsaturated aldehydes are not accepted [197]. For preparative reactions, excess of (120) must compensate for the unfavorable equilibrium constant [34] to achieve economical yields. 

The product in this case is an allene, ° but such shifts can also give triple-bond compounds or, if Y=OH, an enol will be obtained that tautomerizes to an a,P-unsaturated aldehyde or ketone. 

Vinylic sulfides containing an a hydrogen can also be alkylated by alkyl halides or epoxides. This is a method for converting an alkyl halide RX to an a,P unsaturated aldehyde, which is the synthetic equivalent of the unknown HC=CH—CHO ion. Even simple alkyl aryl sulfides RCH2SAr and RR CHSAr have been alkylated a to the sulfur. ... 

In particular, a,P-unsaturated aldehydes seldom give 1,4 addition. The Michael reaction has traditionally been performed in protic solvents, with catalytic amounts of base, but more recently better yields with fewer side reactions have... 

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