A, p-Unsaturated orthoesters

The relative reactivities of acetals and orthoesters in Lewis acid catalyzed reactions with enol ethers have been investigated. For BF3-OEt2-catalyzed reactions with methyl vinyl ether, the following order has been found saturated acetals < methyl orthoformate < benzaldehyde acetals < a,p-unsaturated acetals. ... 

Posner and colleagues have recently made use of a [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of an a,P-unsaturated sulfoxide as part of a regiospecific conversion of allylic alcohols into two-carbon-extended conjugated dienoate esters [233]. For example, reaction of allyl alcohol (291) with the sulfinyl orthoester (292) and a catalytic amount of 2,46-trimethylbenzoic acid in dichloromethane at 100°C produced ethyl pentadienoate (295) in 75% yield. The reaction is believed to... 

The most commonly used protected derivatives of aldehydes and ketones are 1,3-dioxolanes and 1,3-oxathiolanes. They are obtained from the carbonyl compounds and 1,2-ethanediol or 2-mercaptoethanol, respectively, in aprotic solvents and in the presence of catalysts, e.g. BF (L.F. Fieser, 1954 G.E. Wilson, Jr., 1968), and water scavengers, e.g. orthoesters (P. Doyle, 1965). Acid-catalyzed exchange dioxolanation with dioxolanes of low boiling ketones, e.g. acetone, which are distilled during the reaction, can also be applied (H. J. Dauben, Jr., 1954). Selective monoketalization of diketones is often used with good success (C. Mercier, 1973). Even from diketones with two keto groups of very similar reactivity monoketals may be obtained by repeated acid-catalyzed equilibration (W.S. Johnson, 1962 A.G. Hortmann, 1969). Most aldehydes are easily converted into acetals. The ketalization of ketones is more difficult for sterical reasons and often requires long reaction times at elevated temperatures. a,/9-Unsaturated ketones react more slowly than saturated ketones. 2-Mercaptoethanol is more reactive than 1,2-ethanediol (J. Romo, 1951 C. Djerassi, 1952 G.E. Wilson, Jr., 1968). 

Nitrosolysis of camphor ethyl acetal with ethanolic ethyl nitrite in sulphur dioxide yields the orthoester oxime (205) which is rapidly dehydrated by excess acetal to the orthoester nitrile which then reacts with sulphur dioxide to form the ester nitrile and diethyl sulphite.Further papers in this section include the full paper on ozonolysis of silyl ethers (Vol. 5, p. 33), another synthesis of camphor-enol trimethylsilyl ether (cf. Vol. 6, p. 41)/°° the conversion of camphor oxime with Grignard reagents into the corresponding imine with no aziridine formation/° the preparation of (206) by treating bornylene with trichloroacetyl isocyanate/ the oxidation of thiocam-phor to the 5-oxide and alkylation in the presence of thallium(i) ethoxide to a/S-unsaturated sulphoxides/ and the free-radical C-3 alkylation of camphor with alkenes. " ... 

S-Orthoesters seldom appear in organic synthesis but they do occupy one useful niche. In 1967 Seebach245-246 introduced tris(methylthio)methyhithium as an acyl anion equivalent of a carboxyl group. It was sufficiently stable and nucleophilic to react with a range of electrophiles. For example, nucleophilic substitution of the allylic chloride 121,1, followed by mercury(Il)-mediated hydrolysis of the SS-orthoester intermediate 121,2, gives the p,y-unsaturated car-... 

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