Ketone acetoacetic ester synthesis

The acetoacetic ester ketone synthesis is only good for methyl ketones. 

The thermal decarboxylation of p keto acids is the last step in a ketone synthesis known as the acetoacetic ester synthesis The acetoacetic ester synthesis is discussed in Section 21 6... 

Acetoacetic ester synthesis (Section 21 6) A synthetic method for the preparation of ketones in which alkylation of the enolate of ethyl acetoacetate... 

This reaction sequence is called the acetoacetic ester synthesis. It is a standard procedure for the preparation of ketones from alkyl halides, as the conversion of 1-bromobutane to 2-heptanone illustrates. 

Related and equally important reactions are the acetoacetic ester synthesis and the eyanoaeetie ester synthesis Here too the initial substituted product can be hydrolyzed and decarboxylated, to yield a ketone 11 (i.e. a substituted acetone) from acetoacetic ester 10, and a substituted acetonitrile 14 from eyanoaeetie ester 13 respectively. Furthermore a substituted acetoacetic ester can be cleaved into a substituted acetic ester 12 and acetate by treatment with strong alkali ... 

Just as the malonic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a carboxylic acid, the acetoacetic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a methyl ketone having three more carbons. 

Using the Acetoacetic Ester Synthesis to Prepare a Ketone... 

Strategy The acetoacetic ester synthesis yields a methyl ketone by adding three carbons to an alkyl halide. 

What alkyl halides would you use to prepare the following ketones by an acetoacetic ester synthesis ... 

Alpha hydrogen atoms of carbonyl compounds are weakly acidic and can be removed by strong bases, such as lithium diisopropylamide (LDA), to yield nucleophilic enolate ions. The most important reaction of enolate ions is their Sn2 alkylation with alkyl halides. The malonic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a carboxylic acid with the addition of two carbon atoms. Similarly, the acetoacetic ester synthesis converts an alkyl halide into a methyl ketone. In addition, many carbonyl compounds, including ketones, esters, and nitriles, can be directly alkylated by treatment with LDA and an alkyl halide. 

Step 3 of Figure 29.12 Oxidation and Decarboxylation (2K,3S)-lsocitrate, a secondary alcohol, is oxidized by NAD+ in step 3 to give the ketone oxalosuccinate, which loses C02 to givea-ketoglutarate. Catalyzed by isocitrate dehydrogenase, the decarboxylation is a typical reaction of a /3-keto acid, just like that in the acetoacetic ester synthesis (Section 22.7). The enzyme requires a divalent cation as cofactor, presumably to polarize the ketone carbonyl group. 

Acetoacetic ester synthesis (Section 22.7) The synthesis of a methyl ketone by alkylation of an alkyl halide, followed by hydrolysis and decarboxylation. 

It is obvious that many carboxylic acids of the formulas RCH2COOH and RR CHCOOH can be synthesized by this method (for some other ways of preparing such acids, see 10-106, 10-108, and 10-109). Another important example is the acetoacetic ester synthesis, in which Z is COOEt and Z is COCH3. In this case the product can be decarboxylated with acid or dilute base (12-38) to give a ketone or cleaved with concentrated base (12-41) to give a carboxylic ester and a salt of acetic acid ... 

Among other methods for the preparation of alkylated ketones are (1) the Stork enamine reaction (12-18), (2) the acetoacetic ester synthesis (10-104), (3) alkylation of p-keto sulfones or sulfoxides (10-104), (4) acylation of CH3SOCH2 followed by reductive cleavage (10-119), (5) treatment of a-halo ketones with lithium dialkyl-copper reagents (10-94), and (6) treatment of a-halo ketones with trialkylboranes (10-109). 

Still another possibility in the base-catalyzed reactions of carbonyl compounds is alkylation or similar reaction at the oxygen atom. This is the predominant reaction of phenoxide ion, of course, but for enolates with less resonance stabilization it is exceptional and requires special conditions. Even phenolates react at carbon when the reagent is carbon dioxide, but this may be due merely to the instability of the alternative carbonic half ester. The association of enolate ions with a proton is evidently not very different from the association with metallic cations. Although the equilibrium mixture is about 92 % ketone, the sodium derivative of acetoacetic ester reacts with acetic acid in cold petroleum ether to give the enol. The Perkin ring closure reaction, which depends on C-alkylation, gives the alternative O-alkylation only when it is applied to the synthesis of a four membered ring ... 

The esters of nitrous acid are characterised by their high velocities of formation and hydrolysis. They are almost instantaneously decomposed by mineral acids and in the method of preparation given this has been taken into account. The slightest excess of hydrochloric acid must be avoided. Advantage is taken of this property of the alkyl nitrites in all cases where it is desired to liberate nitrous acid in organic solvents (in which metallic nitrites are insoluble). Examples addition of N203 to olefines, preparation of solid diazonium salts (p. 286), production of isonitroso-derivatives from ketones by the action of HN02. This synthesis is often also carried out in the manner of the acetoacetic ester synthesis, with ketone, alkyl nitrite, and sodium ethylate the sodium salt of the isonitrosoketone is formed (cf. in this connexion p. 259) ... 

Problem 17.47 Can the following ketones be prepared by the acetoacetic ester synthesis Explain, (a) CHjCOCHX H, (b) CHX0CHX(CH3),. ... 

Coupling of halo ketones with lithium alkylcopper reagents 0-94 Acetoacetic ester synthesis and similar reactions... 

No particular advantage over 4 in fact, ketones may be formed in competition with acids in acetoacetic-ester synthesis (see Section 18-8B). 

It is not possible to perform the acid hydrolysis without some ketonic hydrolysis occurring. This reaction and the preceding one are important in many syntheses of aliphatic ketones and acids. They might have been included equally well in the decomposition section (p. 411) in fact they are often referred to as the ketonic and acid decomposition of acetoacetic ester. The malonic ester synthesis of fatty acids may be compared with the present reaction (p. 135). 

Some of the best-known examples of decarboxylation in organic chemistry include the conversion of 3-ketoacids to ketones in the acetoacetic ester synthesis and the conversion of malonate derivatives to substituted carboxylic... 

Fig. 13.26. Acetoacetic ester synthesis of methyl ketones I preparation of an alkylated acetoacetic ester.

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). 

Fig. 13.28. Synthesis of complicated ketones in analogy to the acetoacetic ester synthesis I generation of a diketone.

Fig. 13.29. Synthesis of complicated ketones in analogy to the acetoacetic ester synthesis II generation of a cyclic ketone. In the first step, the /3-ketoester is alkylated at its activated position. In the second step, the /3-ketoester is treated with Li I . SN2 reaction of the iodide at the methyl group generates the /3-ketocar-boxylate ion as the leaving group. The /3-ketocarboxylate decarboxylates immediately under the reaction conditions (temperature above 100 °C) and yields the enolate of a ketone.

Ester-substituted ketone enolates are stabilized, and these enolates can be alkylated (ace-toacetic ester synthesis). Alkylation is, however, also possible for enolates that are not stabilized. In the case of the stabilized enolates, the alkylated ketones are formed in two or three steps, while the nonstabilized enolates afford the alkylated ketones in one step. However, the preparation of nonstabilized ketone enolates requires more aggressive reagents than the ones employed in the acetoacetic ester synthesis. 

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