Acetylacetone, enol formation from

Beryllium chemistry includes its S-diketonate complexes formed from dimedone (9), acetylacetone and some other S-diketones such as a,a,a-trifluoroacetylacetone. However, unlike the monomeric chelate products from acetylacetone and its fluorinated derivative, the enolate species of dimedone (9) cannot form chelates and as the complex is polymeric, it cannot be distilled and is more labile to hydrolysis, as might be expected for an unstabilized alkoxide. However, dimedone has a gas phase deprotonation enthalpy of 1418 9 kJmoD while acetylacetone enol (the more stable tautomer) is somewhat less acidic with a deprotonation enthalpy of 1438 10 klmoD Accordingly, had beryllium acetylacetonate not been a chelate, this species would have been more, not less, susceptible to hydrolysis. There is a formal similarity (roughly 7r-isoelectronic structures) between cyclic S-diketonates and complexes of dimedone with benzene and poly acetylene (10). The difference between the enthalpies of formation of these hydrocarbons is ca... 

Chelating extractants such as beta-diketones, tropolones, hydroxyoximes, and 8-hydroxyquinolines (Figure 2.1), have been used extensively for the extraction of actinide ions from moderate to weakly acidic solutions (15-17). Beta-diketones such as acetylacetone (acac), HTTA, benzoyl trifluoroacetone (BTFA), and dibenzoyl-methane (HDBM) have been commonly used for the separation of actinide ions. The extraction mechanism involved formation of the enol form of the beta-diketone prior to complexation and extraction of the metal ion (Figure 2.2). 

Tungsten oxide is not the only nanomaterial that forms unusual morphologies in benzyl alcohol. Another example is ZnO that grows into fan-like nanorod bundles [168]. The chemical formation mechanism, elaborated from the analysis of the organic compounds detected by GC coupled with mass spectrometry, involved a nucleophilic attack of the hydroxyl function of benzyl alcohol on one of the carbonyl groups of the acetylacetonate ligand of the precursor molecule (Scheme 2.4). Release of acetone (in its enol form) and benzyl acetate resulted in the formation of a zinc hydroxyl species, which then underwent condensation to a Zn—O—Zn bridge. 

---