Acyl chlorides reactivity

Acyi halides are reactive compounds and react with nucleophiles without a catalyst, but they are activated further by forming the acylpalladium intermediates, which undergo insertion and further transformations. The decarbonyla-tive reaction of acyl chlorides as pseudo-halides to form the aryipalladium is treated in Section 1,1.1.1. The reaction without decarbonylation is treated in this section. 

Since the exocyclic sulfur is more reactive in the ambident anion than in A-4-thiazoIine-2-thione. greater nucleophilic reactivity is to be expected. Thus a large variety of thioethers were prepared in good yields starting from alkylhalides (e.g.. Scheme 38 (54, 91, 111, 166-179). lactones (54, 160), aryl halides (54, 152. 180, 181), acyl chlorides (54. 149, 182-184). halothiazoles (54, 185-190), a-haloesters (149. 152. 177. 191-194), cyanuric chloride (151). fV.N-dimethylthiocarbamoyl chloride (151, 152. 195. 196), /3-chloroethyl ester of acrylic acid (197), (3-dimethylaminoethyl chloride (152). l,4-dichloro-2-butyne (152), 1,4-dichloro-2-butene (152), and 2-chloro-propionitrile (152). A general... 

Acyl cations (acylium ions) generated by treating an acyl chloride or acid anhydride with aluminum chloride attack aromatic rings to yield ketones The arene must be at least as reactive as a halobenzene Acyl cations are relatively stable and do not re arrange... 

The mechanisms of the Fischer esterification and the reactions of alcohols with acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides will be discussed m detail m Chapters 19 and 20 after some fundamental principles of carbonyl group reactivity have been developed For the present it is sufficient to point out that most of the reactions that convert alcohols to esters leave the C—O bond of the alcohol intact... 

The chemistry of the carbonyl group is probably the single most important aspect of organic chemical reactivity Classes of compounds that contain the carbonyl group include many derived from carboxylic acids (acyl chlorides acid anhydrides esters and amides) as well as the two related classes discussed m this chapter aldehydes and ketones... 

IS general for nucleophilic acyl substitution and well worth remembering The range of reactivities is quite large a factor of about 10 m relative rate separates acyl chlorides from amides... 

Acid anhydrides are more stable and less reactive than acyl chlorides Acetyl chlo ride for example undergoes hydrolysis about 100 000 times more rapidly than acetic anhydride at 25°C... 

Nucleophilic acyl substitutions at the ester carbonyl group are summarized m Table 20 5 on page 849 Esters are less reactive than acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides Nude ophilic acyl substitution m esters especially ester hydrolysis has been extensively mves tigated from a mechanistic perspective Indeed much of what we know concerning the general topic of nucleophilic acyl substitution comes from studies carried out on esters The following sections describe those mechanistic studies... 

Nitrogen is a better electron parr donor than oxygen and amides have a more stabilized carbonyl group than esters and anhydrides Chlorine is the poorest electron pair donor and acyl chlorides have the least stabi lized carbonyl group and are the most reactive... 

Section 20 6 Acid anhydrides are less reactive toward nucleophilic acyl substitution than acyl chlorides but are useful reagents for preparing esters and amides... 

Amines are convert ed to amides on reaction with acyl chlorides Other acylating agents such as carboxylic acid anhydrides and esters may also be used but are less reactive... 

To form a peptide bond between two suitably protected ammo acids the free carboxyl group of one of them must be activated so that it is a reactive acylatmg agent The most familiar acylatmg agents are acyl chlorides and they were once extensively used to couple ammo acids Certain drawbacks to this approach however led chemists to seek alternative methods... 

Acylation. Acylation is the most rehable means of introducing a 3-substituent on the indole ring. Because 3-acyl substituents can be easily reduced to 3-aLkyl groups, a two-step acylation—reduction sequence is often an attractive alternative to direct 3-aLkylation. Several kinds of conditions have been employed for acylation. Very reactive acyl haUdes, such as oxalyl chloride, can effect substitution directiy without any catalyst. Normal acid chlorides are usually allowed to react with the magnesium (15) or 2inc (16) salts. The Vilsmeier-Haack conditions involving an amide and phosphoms oxychloride, in which a chloroiminium ion is the active electrophile, frequentiy give excellent yields of 3-acylindoles. 

There are large differences in reactivity among the various carboxylic acid derivatives, such as amides, esters, and acyl chlorides. One important factor is the resonance stabilization provided by the heteroatom. This decreases in the order N > O > Cl. Electron donation reduces the electrophilicity of the carbonyl group, and the corresponding stabilization is lost in the tetrahedral intermediate. 

The high reactivity of the acyl chlorides also reflects the polar electron-withdrawing effect of the chlorine, which more than outweighs the small 7t-donor effect. 

Pyridine is more nucleophilic than an alcohol toward the carbonyl center of an acyl chloride. The product that results, an acylpyridinium ion, is, in turn, more reactive toward an alcohol than the original acyl chloride. The conditions required for nucleophilic catalysis therefore exist, and acylation of the alcohol by acyl chloride is faster in the presence of pyridine than in its absence. Among the evidence that supports this mechanism is spectroscopic observation of the acetylpyridinium ion. An even more effective catalyst is 4-dimeftiyIaminopyridine (DMAP), which functions in the same wsy but is more reactive because of the electron-donating dimethylamino substituent. ... 

There are alternatives to the addition-elimination mechanism for nucleophilic substitution of acyl chlorides. Certain acyl chlorides are known to react with alcohols by a dissociative mechanism in which acylium ions are intermediates. This mechanism is observed with aroyl halides having electron-releasing substituents. Other acyl halides show reactivity indicative of mixed or borderline mechanisms. The existence of the SnI-like dissociative mechanism reflects the relative stability of acylium ions. 

The acyl derivatives of A-hydroxypyridine-2-thione are a synthetically versatile source of free radicals. These eompounds are readily prepared from reactive acylating agents, sueh as acyl chlorides, and a salt of A-hydroxypyridine-2-thione ... 

Theperfluoroorganozmc compounds have limited application in organic syn thesis because of their lack of reactivity However, heptafluoro I methylethylzinc iodide reacts with acyl fluorides or anhydrides of carboxylic acids in the presence of pyndine to give the corresponding ketones [7S] (equations 28 and 29) In the presence of zinc fluoride, acyl chlorides can be used as substrates [7d]... 

FIGURE 20.1 Structure, reactivity, and carbonyl-group stabilization in carboxylic acid derivatives. Acyl chlorides are the most reactive, amides the least reactive. Acyl chlorides have the least stabilized carbonyl group, amides the most. Conversion of one class of compounds to another is feasible only in the direction that leads to a more stabilized carbonyl group that is, from more reactive to less reactive. 

In exceptional circumstances the acylium ion (or the polarised complex) can decompose to give an alkyl cation so that alkylation accompanies acylation. This occurs in the aluminium chloride-catalysed reaction of pivaloyl chloride which gives acylation with reactive aromatics such as anisole, but with less reactive aromatics such as benzene, the acylium ion has time to decompose, viz. 

---