Decarboxylation, acetoacetic acid

Acetoacetyl Co A is built from two acetyl Co A molecules. Free acetoacetic acid is either formed from acetoacetyl CoA or from /5-hydroxybutyric acid (Fig. 50). Acetoacetic acid decarboxylates spontaneously to acetone. Reduction of acetoacetyl CoA yields j8-hydroxybutyryl CoA which may be transformed to a polymeric derivative (Fig. 50), to butyric acid, or to butanol (Fig. 51). 

By the ketonic hydrolysis of substituted acetoacetic esters this is brought about by the action of dilute alkali in the cold, followed by acidification and boiling. The free substituted acetoacetic acid is produced, which readily undergoes decarboxylation (since it has a carboxyl and a carbonyl group on the same carbon atom) to give a ketone, for example ... 

The a-acetobutyrolactone, with or without isolation, can be used in the preparation of various 5-substituted 2-butanone derivatives, presumably by decarboxylation of the acetoacetic acid obtained by ring hydrolysis. Simple hydrolysis gives 5-hydroxybutan-2-one (158) and acidolysis with hydrochloric acid gives 5-chlorobutan-2-one in good yields (159). 

The ease with which acetoacetic acid undergoes thermal decarboxylation... 

Step 2 of Figure 29.11 Decarboxylation The TPP addition product, which contains an iminium ion j8 to a carboxylate anion, undergoes decarboxylation in much the same way that a jB-keto acid decarboxylates in the acetoacetic ester synthesis (Section 22.7). The C=N+ bond of the pyruvate addition product acts... 

It is also possible to use the dilithium derivative of acetoacetic acid as the synthetic equivalent of acetone enolate.49 In this case, the hydrolysis step is unnecessary and decarboxylation can be done directly on the alkylation product. 

Acetone cyanohydrin nitrate, a reagent prepared from the nitration of acetone cyanohydrin with acetic anhydride-nitric acid, has been used for the alkaline nitration of alkyl-substituted malonate esters. In these reactions sodium hydride is used to form the carbanions of the malonate esters, which on reaction with acetone cyanohydrin nitrate form the corresponding nitromalonates. The use of a 100 % excess of sodium hydride in these reactions causes the nitromalonates to decompose by decarboxylation to the corresponding a-nitroesters. Alkyl-substituted acetoacetic acid esters behave in a similar way and have been used to synthesize a-nitroesters. Yields of a-nitroesters from both methods average 50-55 %. 

Examples of this approach to the synthesis of ketones and carboxylic acids are presented in Scheme 1.6. In these procedures, an ester group is removed by hydrolysis and decarboxylation after the alkylation step. The malonate and acetoacetate carbanions are the synthetic equivalents of the simpler carbanions lacking the ester substituents. In the preparation of 2-heptanone (entries 1, Schemes 1.5 and 1.6), for example, ethyl acetoacetate functions as the synthetic equivalent of acetone. It is also possible to use the dilithium derivative of acetoacetic acid as the synthetic equivalent of acetone enolate.29 In this case, the hydrolysis step is unnecessary, and decarboxylation can be done directly on the alkylation product. 

Dilute acid or base hydrolyzes the COOC2H5 group and forms acetoacetic acids, which decarboxylate to methyl ketones. 

A third early mechanism for enzymic processes involves the formation of imines between the amino group of a lysine residue on an enzyme and the carbonyl group of a substrate, followed by standard imine chemistry. The first example concerned the decarboxylation of acetoacetic acid (Hamilton and Westheimer, 1959). The mechanism was based on the non-enzymic physical organic chemistry of Kai Pedersen (Pedersen, 1934). He postulated that the catalysis by aniline of the decarboxylation of dimethylacetoacetic acid proceeds by a mechanism parallel to that shown in Scheme 7 for acetoacetic acid itself (Pedersen, 1938). 

Hamilton marked the carbonyl group of acetoacetic acid with ieO, and then carried out the enzymic decarboxylation (Hamilton and Westheimer, 1959). The product of the decarboxylation, acetone, contained none of the label. This result is demanded by the ketimine mechanism, whereas the mechanism of uncatalyzed decarboxylation would have required that the label appear intact in the product. Of course, in order to make these statements we had to carry out an elaborate set of control experiments, since 180 is washed out of both acetone and acetoacetic acid by buffers and even more... 

Decarboxylation of p-oxoacids. Beta-oxoacids such as oxaloacetic acid and acetoacetic acid are unstable, their decarboxylation being catalyzed by amines, metal ions, and other substances. Catalysis by amines depends upon Schiff base formation,232 while metal ions form chelates in which the metal assists in electron withdrawal to form an enolate anion.233 235... 

The decarboxylation of the acetoacetic acid (227) to the hexan-2-one (228) in the presence of 180-labelled water revealed obligatory incorporation of 180 in the antibody-catalysed reaction which is consistent with the decarboxylation proceeding through an imine intermediate.203... 

Gas-phase decarboxylation of /i-ketocarboxylic acids XCOCH2COOH (X = H, OH, and CH3) has also been the subject of theoretical studies.42 Ah initio calculations reveal that decarboxylation via a six-membered (rather than four-membered) ring transition state is favoured. Activation barriers of 23.8, 23.3 and 28.5 kcal mol-1 have been calculated for decarboxylation of 3-oxopropanoic acid, acetoacetic acid, and malonic acid, respectively. Only marginal effects of solvent on the energy barriers and on the geometries of the reactants and transition structures are predicted. The activation energy predicted for reaction of malonic acid agrees well with the experimental value and rate constants have been predicted for decarboxylation of 3-oxopropanoic acid and acetoacetic acid in the gas phase. 

By analogy, the chemical Claisen condensation using the enolate anion from diethyl malonate in Figure 2.10 proceeds much more favourably than that using the enolate from ethyl acetate. The same acetoacetic acid product can be formed in the malonate condensation by hydrolysis of the acylated malonate intermediate and decarboxylation of the gem-diacid. 

The decarboxylation of simple /f-ketoacids, such as acetoacetic acid, is not metal promoted (Fig. 5-22) - this is in part due to formation of the chelate complex, which is in the enolate form. Mechanistic studies have indicated that the enol or enolate is inactive in the decarboxylation reaction. The mechanism indicated in Fig. 5-21 is not applicable to the metal complex. 

Fig. 13.27. Acetoacetic ester synthesis of methyl ketones II hydrolysis of the alkylated acetoacetic ester/decarboxylation of the alkylated acetoacetic acid.

The butylated /J-ketoester C of Figure 13.26 is not the final synthetic target of the acetoacetic ester synthesis of methyl ketones. In that context, the /J-ketoester C is converted into the corresponding /J-ketocarhoxylic acid via acid-catalyzed hydrolysis (Figure 13.27 for the mechanism, see Figure 6.22). This /i-ketocarboxylic acid is then heated either in the same pot or after isolation to effect decarboxylation. The /f-ketocarboxylic acid decarboxylates via a cyclic six-membered transition state in which three valence electron pairs are shifted at the same time. The reaction product is an enol, which isomerizes immediately to a ketone (to phenyl methyl ketone in the specific example shown). 

Another example where mechanism and model have been developed is that for the decarboxylation of acetoacetic acid here no coenzyme is required, and the chemistry involves the enzyme itself. The mechanism for the enzymic decarboxylation with crystalline decarboxylase from Clostridium acetobutylicum has been worked out in some detail it is presented below (20, 21). The initial work, carried out in the author s laboratory by G. Hamilton (22) and I. Fridovich (23, 24) proved that the essential intermediate is a ketimine much of the subsequent development of the enzymic system resulted from the researches of W. Tagaki (25). 

Precursors. Precursors for this reaction are compounds exhibiting keto-enol tau-tomerism. These compounds are usually secondary metabolites derived from the glycolysis cycle of yeast metabolism during fermentation. Pyruvic acid is one of the main precursor compounds involved in this type of reaction. During yeast fermentation it is decarboxylated to acetaldehyde and then reduced to ethanol. Acetone, ace-toin (3-hydroxybutan-2-one), oxalacetic acid, acetoacetic acid and diacetyl, among others, are also secondary metabolites likely to participate in this kind of condensation reaction with anthocyanins. 

It was shown that an enol intermediate was initially formed in the decarboxylation of l -ketoacids and presumably in the decarboxylation of malonic acids. It was found that the rate of decarboxylation of a,a-dimethylacetoacetic acid equalled the rate of disappearance of added bromine or iodine. Yet the reaction was zero order in the halogen . Qualitative rate studies in bicyclic systems support the need for orbital overlap in the transition state between the developing p-orbital on the carbon atom bearing the carboxyl group and the p-orbital on the i -carbonyl carbon atom . It was also demonstrated that the keto, not the enol form, of p ketoacids is responsible for decarboxylation of the free acids from the observa-tion that the rate of decarboxylation of a,a-dimethylacetoacetic acid k cid = 12.1 xlO sec ) is greater than that of acetoacetic acid (fcacw = 2.68x10 sec ) in water at 18 °C. Enolization is not possible for the former acid, but is permissible for the latter. Presumably this conclusion can be extended to malonic acids. 

Decarboxylation of free acetoacetic acid involves transfer of the acidic hydrogen to the keto group, either prior to (as shown here) or simultaneously with... 

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