Acetoacetic acid, activation condensation

Structures 64 and 65 were proposed in [7] for the product from the condensation of isatin 7 with acetoacetic acid (a P-keto acid). The first must clearly be preferred, since the CH2 group must be more active than CH3 under the conditions of the Pfitzinger reaction. Actually in [21] the structure of the product 64 was proved by its oxidation to the tricarboxylic acid 66, which was also synthesized from the keto dicarboxylic acid 67 and isatin 7. 

By substituting (S)-(-)-l-amino-2-(dimethylmethoxymethyl)pyrrolidine (S)-(83) for (S)-(4), Enders has developed an efficient and enantioselective Hantzsch synthesis (Scheme 4). In this synthesis, the more-hindered hydrazone formed from (83) was condensed with an acetoacetic acid ester. Deprotonation of the hydrazone so-formed (the major tautomer present was an enehydrazine) followed by addition of an arylidene malonate derivative yielded (85), which could be closed with mild acid to yield optically active... 

Reactions using highly acidic active methylene compounds (pAa = 9-13) comprise nearly all the early examples of imine condensation reactions, some of which date back to the turn of the century. Reviews by Layer and Harada have summarized many of these reactions and include examples using diethyl malonate, ethyl cyanoacetate, ethyl malonamide, acetoacetic acid, benzoylacetic esters and nitroalkanes. Conditions of these reactions vary they have been performed both in protic and aptotic solvents, neat, and with and without catalysts. Elevated temperatures are generally required. Reactions with malonates have useful applications for the synthesis of 3-amino acids. For example, hydrobenzamide (87), a trimeric form of the benzaldehyde-ammonia Schiff base, and malonic acid condense with concomitant decarboxylation to produce p-phenylalanine (88) in high yield (equation 14). This is one of the few examples of a Mannich reaction in which a primary Mannich base is produced in a direct manner but is apparently limited to aromatic imines. 

The roots of iminium activation can be traced back to the pioneering works of Knoevenagel [4]. The Knoevenagel condensation became the first reaction that might proceed via iminium catalysis. Next, Pollack reported that several proteins and amino acids catalyzed the decarboxylation of acetoacetic acid. The mechanism suggested by Petersen involves an imine intermediate [5]. 

A change in the pK of the molecule by elimination of the acidic enol function and inclusion of basic nitrogen leads to a marked change in biologic activity. That agent, chromonar (13) shows activity as a coronary vasodilator. Alkylation of ethyl acetoacetate with 2-chlorotriethylamine affords the substituted ketoester (10). Condensation with resorcinol in the presence of sulfuric acid affords directly the substituted coumarin (11). 

Pyrimidinopyrazines related to folic acid have been investigated in some detail for their antimeta-bolic and antineoplastic activities. A related compound, which lacks one nitrogen atom, has been described as an antiproliferative agent, indicating it too has an effect on cell replication. Aldol condensation of the benzaldehyde 99 with ethyl acetoacetate gives the cinnamate 100. This is then reduced catalytically to the acetoacetate 101. Reaction of that keto ester with 2,4,6- triami-nopyrimidine gives the product 102 which is subsequently chlorinated (103) and subjected to hydrogenolysls. There is thus formed piritrexim (104) [17]. 

On heating the parent acid of ester VI (from condensation of D-glucose with diethyl 3-oxoglutarate) in aqueous solution,11 following the procedure employed to obtain the corresponding derivative of ethyl acetoacetate XXVI, a sirup results. However, its change in optical activity shows a parallelism with that in analogous cases where crystalline products are isolated, and apparently indicates anhydride formation (see the last line in Table V). 

The Knoevenagel reaction consists in the condensation of aldehydes or ketones with active methylene compounds usually performed in the presence of a weakly basic amine (Scheme 29) [116], It is well-known that aldehydes are much more reactive than ketones, and active methylene substrates employed are essentially those bearing two electron-withdrawing groups. Among them, 1,3-dicarbonyl derivatives are particularly common substrates, and substances such as malonates, acetoacetates, acyclic and cyclic 1,3-diketones, Meldrum s acid, barbituric acids, quinines, or 4-hydroxycoumarins are frequently involved. If Z and Z groups are different, the Knoevenagel adduct can be obtained as a mixture of isomers, but the reaction is thermodynamically controlled and the major product is usually the more stable one. 

An interesting variation of the Dieckmann cyclization involves vinylogous activation of a methyl group in a 2-butenyl ester. Reaction of an a-halo ester with the enethiol formed by treatment of an acetoacetic ester, which may be substituted at the a-position, with hydrogen sulfide produces (92) in satisfactory yield. Treatment of these compounds with sodium in benzene produced the 4-hydroxythiophene-2-acetic acids (94) (40JCS1385). The product undoubtedly involved the intermediate (93), in which the activated methyl goup has condensed with the ethoxycarbonyl group in typical Claisen fashion. 

Esters, such as those of malonic, acetoacetic or cyanoacetic acids, in which the methylene group is doubly activated, will condense even with ketones. By varying the proportion of aldehyde or ketone to ester, 2 mols. of the former can be made to condense with 1 of the latter, using the basic condensing agents only (4, below). The following will illustrate these points — ... 

Aldolases such as fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBP-aldolase), a crucial enzyme in glycolysis, catalyze the formation of carbon-carbon bonds, a critical process for the synthesis of complex biological molecules. FBP-aldolase catalyzes the reversible condensation of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and glyceralde-hyde-3-phosphate (G3P) to form fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. There are two classes of aldolases the first, such as the mammalian FBP-aldolase, uses an active-site lysine to form a Schiff base, whereas the second class features an active-site zinc ion to perform the same reaction. Acetoacetate decarboxylase, an example of the second class, catalyzes the decarboxylation of /3-keto acids. A lysine residue is required for good activity of the enzyme the -amine of lysine activates the substrate carbonyl group by forming a Schiff base. 

A new carbon-carbon bond is formed during the reaction of lactim ethers with compounds containing active methylene groups, such as malonic ester and its derivatives, acetylacetone, barbituric acid, rhodanine, nitromethane, and oxindole.8 9 33 100-102 Examples are the condensation of the lactim ether of tetrahydro-/S-carbolinone with acetoacetic ester103 [Eq. (5)] and the condensation of the bislactim ether of 2,2 -dipyrrolidine-5,5 -dione (48) with butyl cyanoacetate20 [Eq. (6)]. Another instance is the reaction of 2 (R = Me) with 2-phenyloxazolin-5-one, to give 3,4-pentamethyleneimidazoles (49) via the intermediate 4-(homopiperid-2-ylene)oxazolin-5-one (50)104 (Scheme 16). 

The synthesis of a structurally somewhat more complex indolone tyrosine kinase inhibitor starts with the construction of the pyrrole ring. Reaction of tert-butyl acetoacetate (87) with nitrous acid leads to nitrosa-tion on the activated methylene carbon. This reaction introduces the nitrogen atom that will appear in the target pyrrole. Condensation of 88 with... 

The alkylation of p-keto ester enolates followed by decarboxylation affords substituted ketones (acetoacetic ester synthesis). The ester group acts as a temporary activating group. Retro-Claisen condensation can be a serious problem during hydrolysis of the ester, particularly in basic solution if the product has no protons between the carbonyl groups. In these cases, the hydrolysis should be carried out under acidic conditions or using one of the methods of decarbalkoxylation described in the next section. 

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