Acetophenone, reactions

Oxidation of cumene to cumene hydroperoxide is usually achieved in three to four oxidizers in series, where the fractional conversion is about the same for each reactor. Fresh cumene and recycled cumene are fed to the first reactor. Air is bubbled in at the bottom of the reactor and leaves at the top of each reactor. The oxidizers are operated at low to moderate pressure. Due to the exothermic nature of the oxidation reaction, heat is generated and must be removed by external cooling. A portion of cumene reacts to form dimethylbenzyl alcohol and acetophenone. Methanol is formed in the acetophenone reaction and is further oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid. A small amount of water is also formed by the various reactions. The selectivity of the oxidation reaction is a function of oxidation conditions temperature, conversion level, residence time, and oxygen partial pressure. Typical commercial yield of cumene hydroperoxide is about 95 mol % in the oxidizers. The reaction effluent is stripped off unreacted cumene which is then recycled as feedstock. Spent air from the oxidizers is treated to recover 99.99% of the cumene and other volatile organic compounds. 

Compound (B), being an oxidation product of a ketone should be a carboxylic acid. The molecular formula of (B) Indicates that it should be benzoic acid and compound (A) should, therefore, be a monosubstituted aromatic methyl ketone. The molecular formula of (A) indicates that it should be phenyl methyl ketone (acetophenone). Reactions are as follows ... 

Fig 23(A) shows an assembly for boiling a liquid under reflux whilst adding another liquid at a rate which can be clearly seen cf. preparation of acetophenone, p. 253). The outlet A allows expansion of the vapour content, and can be fitted with a calcium chloride or soda-lime tube. The outlet A can also be used for collecting a gas evolved during the reaction cf, preparation of acetylene,... 

Aldehydes and ketones may be converted into the corresponding primary amines by reduction of their oximes or hydrazones (p. 93). A method of more limited application, known as the Leuckart Reaction, consists of heating the carbonyl compound with ammonium formate, whereby the formyLamino derivative is formed, and can be readily hydrolysed by acids to the amine. Thus acetophenone gives the i-phenylethylformamide, which without isolation can be hydrolysed to i-phenylethylamine. 

TTie true ketones, in which the >CO group is in the side chain, the most common examples being acetophenone or methyl phenyl ketone, C HjCOCH, and benzophenone or diphenyl ketone, C HjCOC(Hj. These ketones are usually prepared by a modification of the Friedel-Crafts reaction, an aromatic hydrocarbon being treated with an acyl chloride (either aliphatic or aromatic) in the presence of aluminium chloride. Thus benzene reacts with acetyl chloride... 

Acetophenone similarly gives an oxime, CHjCCgHjlCtNOH, of m.p. 59° owing to its lower m.p. and its greater solubility in most liquids, it is not as suitable as the phenylhydrazone for characterising the ketone. Its chief use is for the preparation of 1-phenyl-ethylamine, CHjCCgHslCHNHj, which can be readily obtained by the reduction of the oxime or by the Leuckart reaction (p. 223), and which can then be resolved by d-tartaric acid and /-malic acid into optically active forms. The optically active amine is frequently used in turn for the resolution of racemic acids. 

The Mannich Reaction involves the condensation of formaldehyde with ammonia or a primary or secondary amine and with a third compound containing a reactive methylene group these compounds are most frequently those in which the methylene group is activated by a neighbouring keto group. Thus when acetophenone is boiled in ethanolic solution with paraformaldehyde and dimethylamine hydrochloride, condensation occurs readily with the formation of... 

The Fischer Indolisation Reaction occurs when the phenylhydrazone of a suitable aldehyde or ketone undergoes cyclisation with loss of ammonia, under the influence of various reagents, such as zinc chloride, ethnnolic hydrogen chloride, or acetic acid. For example, the phenylhydrazone of acetophenone (p. 257) when heated with zinc chloride gives 2 phenylindole. ... 

Iodoform reaction. To 0 5 ml. of acetone add 3 ml. of 10% KI solution and 10 ml. of freshly prepared sodium hypochlorite solution and mix well. A pale yellow precipitate of iodofonn is rapidly formed without heating. Acetophenone similarly gives iodoform, but the mixture must be shaken vigorously on account of the limited solubility of acetophenone in water. Benzophenone does not give iodoform. 

The ketones are readily prepared, for example, acetophenone from benzene, acetyl chloride (or acetic anhydride) and aluminium chloride by the Friedel and Crafts reaction ethyl benzyl ketones by passing a mixture of phenylacetic acid and propionic acid over thoria at 450° and n-propyl- p-phenylethylketone by circulating a mixture of hydrocinnamic acid and n-butyric acid over thoria (for further details, see under Aromatic Ketones, Sections IV,136, IV,137 and IV,141). 

The reaction is illustrated by the preparation of ethylbenzene from acetophenone the resulting hydrocarbon is quite pure and free from unsaturated compounds ... 

The reduction takes place at a comparatively low temperature and is fairiy rapid for acetophenone. With higher ketones, the upper layer of the initial distillate should be returned to the contents of the flask and the refluxing continued for 3-6 hours. The reaction mixture and aqueous distillate are then combined, extracted with ether, etc. 

This reaction involves the condensation of an aldehyde or ketone with an a-halo ester in the presence of a basic condensing agent (sodium ethoxlde, sodamide, finely divided sodium or potassium iert.-butoxide) to give a glycldio (or ap-epoxy) ester. Thus acetophenone and ethyl chloroacetate yield phenyl-methylglycidic ester (I) ... 

The reaction is illustrated by the conversion of 3 5-dinitrobenzoic acid into 3 5-dlnltroaniline, and of acetophenone into acetanilide ... 

Acetanilide from acetophenone. Dissolve 12 g. of acetophenone in 100 ml. of glacial acetic acid containing 10 g. of concentrated sulphuric acid. To the stirred solution at 60-70°, add 9 8 g. of sodium azide in small portions at such a rate that the temperature does not rise above 70°. Stir the mixture with gentle heating until the evolution of nitrogen subsides (2-3 hours) and then allow to stand overnight at room temperature. Pour the reaction mixture on to 300 g. of crushed ice, filter the solid product, wash it with water and dry at 100°. The yield of crude acetanilide, m.p. 111-112°, is 13 g. Recrystallisation from water raises the m.p. to 114°. 

For the nitration of the very weak base, acetophenone, there is reasonable agreement between observed and calculated activation parameters, and there is no doubt that nitration of the free base occurs at acidities below that of maximum rate. In this case the equilibrium concentration of free base is much greater than in the examples just discussed and there is no question of reaction upon encounter. ... 

Thallation of aromatic compounds with thallium tris(trifluoroacetate) proceeds more easily than mercuration. Transmetallation of organothallium compounds with Pd(II) is used for synthetic purposes. The reaction of alkenes with arylthallium compounds in the presence of Pd(Il) salt gives styrene derivatives (433). The reaction can be made catalytic by use of CuCl7[393,394], The aryla-tion of methyl vinyl ketone was carried out with the arylthallium compound 434[395]. The /9-alkoxythallium compound 435, obtained by oxythallation of styrene, is converted into acetophenone by the treatment with PdCh[396]. 

Similarly, the A-mesitylbydrazone of acetophenone gives 2-phcnyl-4,5,7-trimethylindole as a minor product (10%)[5]. 2,4,6-Trialkylphenylhydrazones have also been observed to give 5,6,7-trialkylindoles as the result of a formal 3a 6 shift[6]. These reactions probably occur via a 1,5-shift followed by a 1,2-shift. 

Anilines react with ct-haloacetophenones to give 2-arylindoles. In a typical procedure an W-phenacylaniline is heated with a tw o-fold excess of the aniline hydrobromide to 200-250°C[1]. The mechanism of the reaction was the subject of considerable investigation in the 1940s[2]. A crucial aspect of the reaction seems to be the formation of an imine of the acetophenone which can isomerize to an aldimine intermediate. This intermediate apparently undergoes cyclization more rapidly (path bl -> b2) than its precursor (Scheme 7.3). Only with very reactive rings, e.g, 3,5-dimethoxyaniline, has the alternative cydiz-ation (path al a2) to a 3-arylindole been observed and then only under modified reaction conditions[3],... 

Amino-4-phenylthiazole when heated with Raney Ni is reported to yield acetophenone (469). In the course of a general study on reductive cleavage in heterocyclic systems Hoff et al. studied the reaction of 2-amino-4-methylthiazole with Na in liquid ammonia. Two equivalents of Na are necessary to obtain a mixture of 4-methyl-3-thiazoline (240) and... 

Another reaction has been reported in which action of sulfur and ammonia on acetophenone affords 2,5-diphenylthiazole (511). 

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