Acetoacetic ester acetoacetate

Synthesis of substituted acetic acids via acetoacetic ester Acetoacetic ester, an ester formed by the self-condensation of ethyl acetate via a Claisen condensation, has the following structure ... 

The parent acid is unstable and always reverts to the lactone form shown. It is reconverted to acetoacetic ester by boiling alcoholic potassium hydroxide. Reduced by hydrogen iodide to dimethylpyrone. 

Phenylhydrazine condenses with acetoacetic ester to give a pyrazolone derivative which on methylation gives phenazone. The sulphonic acid similarly gives rise to the tartrazine dyestuffs. It is used to make indole derivatives by the Fischer process. 

C HgNjOjS. Colourless needles, with iH20. Prepared by reducing diazotized sulphanilic acid with an excess of sodium sulphite. It is a typical hydrazine in its reactions with ketones, and with acetoacetic ester. The latter reaction gives rise to the tartrazine dyestuffs, and is much used commercially. 

The alkyl halides are also of great importance in synthetic operations (e.g.) using Grigard reagents (p. 280). acetoacetic ester (p. 269) and malonic ester (p. 2- S)-... 

This Reaction should be carefully distinguished from the Claisen Conden-tation, which is the condensation of an ester, under the influence of sodium ethoxide, with (i) another ester, (ii) a ketone, or (iii) a nitrile, with the elimination of alcohol. For details of this condensation, see Ethyl Acetoacetate, p. 264. 

Thus the sodio derivative (I) of the enol form of ethyl acetoacetate is obtained. This mechanism can clearly apply also to the condensation of an ester with a suitable ketone or nitrile, as in the above reactions (ii) and (iii) respectively. 

Refractionation of the low-boiling impurities gives a further quantity of the acetoacetate, but if the initial distillation has been carefully conducted, the amount recovered is less than i g., and the refractionation is not worth while. If possible, complete the preparation in one day. If this is not possible, it is best to allow the cold crude sodium derivative (before acidification) to stand overnight, the flask being closed by a cork carrying a calcium chloride tube the yield will now fall to about 38 g. Alternatively, the crude ester may be allowed to remain overnight in contact with the sodium sulphate, but in this case the yield will fall to about 30 g. 

If a vacuum-distillation apparatus is not available for the above preparation, the crude product may be distilled at atmospheric pressure and the acetoacetate collected as the fraction boiling at i75 -i85 . A pure preparation cannot be obtained in this way, however, because the ester decomposes slightly when distilled at atmospheric pressure. 

Synthetic use of Ethyl Acetoacetate, In view of the great importance of the ester in synthetic work, the following practical points concerning its use should be borne in mind. 

Mono and Di-iubstitution Derivatives. The enolic sodium derivative of ethyl acetoacetate (E) is prepared by mixing ethanolic solutions of the ester and of sodium ethoxide. It should not be prepared by the direct action of metallic sodium on the ester, as the reaction is slow and the nascent hydrogen evolved reduces some of the ester to ethyl p4iydroxy- butyrate, CH3CH(OH)CHjCOOEt. 

The important methods of hydrolysis of acetoacetic ester derivatives are however ... 

In the present preparation, ethyl acetoacetate is treated with sufficient nitrous acid to convert half into the a-nitroso (or a-oximino) ester, which is reduced by zinc and acetic acid to the a-amino ester (I). The latter then condenses with... 

This reaction consists of the condensation of two molecular equivalents of a 1,3 diketone (or a J3-keto-ester) with one equivalent of an aldehyde and one of ammonia. Thus the interaction of ethyl acetoacetate and acetaldehyde and ammonia affords the 1,4-dihy dro-pyridine derivative (1), which when boiled with dilute nitric acid readily undergoes dehydrogenation and aromatisation" to gb e the diethyl ester of collidine (or 2,4,6-trimethyl-pyridine-3,5 dicarboxylic acid (II)). For the initial condensation the solid aldehyde-ammonia can conveniently be used in place of the separate reagents. 

Gently warm a mixture of 32 g. (32 ml.) of ethyl acetoacetate and 10 g. of aldehyde-ammonia in a 400 ml. beaker by direct heating on a gauze, stirring the mixture carefully with a thermometer. As soon as the reaction starts, remove the heating, and replace it when the reaction slackens, but do not allow the temperature of the mixture to exceed 100-no the reaction is rapidly completed. Add to the mixture about twice its volume of 2A -hydrochloric acid, and stir the mass until the deposit either becomes solid or forms a thick paste, according to the quality of the aldehyde-ammonia employed. Decant the aqueous acid layer, repeat the extraction of the deposit with more acid, and again decant the acid, or filter off the deposit if it is solid. Transfer the deposit to a conical flask and recrystallise it twice from ethanol (or methylated spirit) diluted with an equal volume of water. The i,4-dihydro-collidine-3,5-dicarboxylic diethyl ester (I) is obtained as colourless crystals, m.p. 130-131°. Yield 12 5 g,... 

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 ... 

Acetoacetic ester is the classical example of a tautomeric substance, which at room temperature exists as an equilibrium mixture of the kelo and enol forms containing approximately 93 per cent, of the keto form ... 

The formation of ethyl acetoacetate is an example of a general reaction knowu as the acetoacetlc ester condensation in which an ester having hydrogen on the a-carbon atom condenses with a second molecule of the same ester or with another ester (which may or may not have hydrogen on the a-carbon atom) in the presence of a basic catalyst (sodium, sodium ethoxide, sodamide, sodium triphenylmethide) to form a p-keto-ester. The mechanism of the reaction may be illustrated by the condensation of ethyl acetate with another molecule of ethyl acetate by means of sodium ethoxide. ... 

The first step is the interaction of the basic catalyst with the ester to produce the carbanion (I) the carbanion so formed then attacks the carbonyl carbon of a second molecule of ester to produce the anion (II), which is converted to ethyl acetoacetate (II) by the ejection of an ethoxide ion. Finally (III) reacts with ethoxide ion to produce acetoacetic ester anion (IV). This and other anions are mesomeric thus (IV) may be written ... 

The acetoacetic ester condensation (involving the acylation of an ester by an ester) is a special case of a more general reaction term the Claisen condensation. The latter is the condensation between a carboxylic ester and an ester (or ketone or nitrile) containing an a-hydrogen atom in the presence of a base (sodium, sodium alkoxide, sodamide, sodium triphenylmethide, etc.). If R—H is the compound containing the a- or active hydrogen atom, the Claisen condensation may be written ... 

This is an alternative experiment to the actual preparation of the ester and will give the student practice in conducting a distillation under diminished pressure. Commercial ethyl acetoacetate generally contains inter alia some ethyl acetate and acetic acid these are removed in the following procedure. 

Malonic ester, like acetoacetic ester (Section 111,151), when treated with an equivalent of sodium ethoxide, forms a mono-sodium derivative, which is of great value in synthetical work. The simplest formulation of the reaction is to r rd it as an attack of the basic ethoxide ion on a hydrogen atom in the CH, group the hydrogen atoms in the CHj group are activated by the presence of the two adjacent carbethoxyl groups ... 

Esters of dicarboxyUc acids having hydrogen on tbe 8 or e carbon atoms undergo intramolecular cyclisation when heated with sodium or with sodium ethoxide. This cyclisation is known as the Dieckmann reaction. It is essentially an application of the Claiseu (or acetoacetic eater) condensation to the formation of a ring system the condensation occurs internally to produce s... 

Simple esters (e.g., ethyl acetate) undergo the acetoacetic ester condense tion (compare Section 111,151). The effective condensing agent is sodium ethoxide, produced by the action of sodium upon traces of alcohol present in the ester ... 

The formation of acyloins (a-hydroxyketones of the general formula RCH(OH)COR, where R is an aliphatic residue) proceeds best by reaction between finely-divided sodium (2 atoms) and esters of aliphatic acids (1 mol) in anhydrous ether or in anhydrous benzene with exclusion of oxygen salts of enediols are produced, which are converted by hydrolysis into acyloins. The yield of acetoin from ethyl acetate is low (ca. 23 per cent, in ether) owing to the accompanying acetoacetic ester condensation the latter reaction is favoured when the ester is used as the solvent. Ethyl propionate and ethyl ji-butyrate give yields of 52 per cent, of propionoin and 72 per cent, of butyroin respectively in ether. 

Acetoacetic ester condensation Amdt-Eistert reaction Bart reaction. ... 

The ester 322A is made by ester exchange with ethyl acetoacetate and a suitable alcohol. The product 322B decarboxylates spontaneously on heating. Draw out the whole sequence starting from ethyl acetoacetate. 

Difunctional target molecules are generally easily disconnected in a re/ro-Michael type transform. As an example we have chosen a simple symmetrical molecule, namely 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2,6-heptanedione. Only p-anisaldehyde and two acetone equivalents are needed as starting materials. The antithesis scheme given helow is self-explanatory. The aldol condensation product must be synthesized first and then be reacted under controlled conditions with a second enolate (e.g. a silyl enolate plus TiCl4 or a lithium enolate), enamine (M. Pfau, 1979), or best with acetoacetic ester anion as acetone equivalents. 

Diethyl 3-oxoheptanedioate, for example, is clearly derived from giutaryl and acetic acid synthons (e.g. acetoacetic ester M. Guha, 1973 disconnection 1). Disconnection 2 leads to acrylic and acetoacetic esters as reagents. The dianion of acetoacetic ester could, in prin-ciple,be used as described for acetylacetone (p. 9f.), but the reaction with acrylic ester would inevitably yield by-products from aldol-type side-reactions. 

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