Acyl Transfers

Acyl transfer from an acid an hydride to an alcohol is a standard method for the prep aration of esters The reaction IS subject to catalysis by either acids (H2SO4) or bases (pyri dine)... 

Thioesters undergo the same kinds of reactions as esters and by similar mechanisms Nucleophilic acyl substitution of a thioester gives a thiol along with the product of acyl transfer For example... 

The product of this reaction is an imide (Section 20 16) a diacyl derivative of an amine Either aqueous acid or aqueous base can be used to hydrolyze its two amide bonds and liberate the desired primary amine A more effective method of cleaving the two amide bonds is by acyl transfer to hydrazine... 

Triacylglycerols arise not by acylation of glycerol itself but by a sequence of steps m which the first stage is acyl transfer to l glycerol 3 phosphate (from reduction of dihy droxyacetone 3 phosphate formed as described m Section 25 21) The product of this stage IS called a phosphatidic acid... 

Acylium ion (Section 12 7) The cation R—C=0 Acyl transfer (Section 20 3) A nucleophilic acyl substitution A reaction in which one type of carboxylic acid derivative IS converted to another... 

Ester hydrolysis can also be promoted by nucleophilic catalysis. If a component of the reaction system is a more effective nucleophile toward the carbonyl group than hydroxide ion or water under a given set of conditions, an acyl-transfer reaction can take place to form an intermediate ... 

When a Br nsted base functions catalytically by sharing an electron pair with a proton, it is acting as a general base catalyst, but when it shares the electron with an atom other than the proton it is (by definition) acting as a nucleophile. This other atom (electrophilic site) is usually carbon, but in organic chemistry it might also be, for example, phosphorus or silicon, whereas in inorganic chemistry it could be the central metal ion in a coordination complex. Here we consider nucleophilic reactions at unsaturated carbon, primarily at carbonyl carbon. Nucleophilic reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives have been well studied. These acyl transfer reactions can be represented by... 

If the reaction is complex, a change in the rate-determining step may take place along the pK scale. Most acyl transfers are thought to take place via a tetrahedral intermediate, as in Scheme II. 

The reaction mechanism may change in the reaction series, and this should reveal itself in the Br(step process shown in Scheme II. A direct displacement is also possible, as in Scheme III. 

As a consequence, it appears to be valid to apply Marcus theory (Section 5.3) to Sn2 reactions. Note that we may expect structure-reactivity relationships in Sn2 reactions to be functions of both the bond formation and bond cleavage processes, just as in acyl transfers. 

We consider first the Sn2 type of process. (In some important Sn2 reactions the solvent may function as the nucleophile. We will treat solvent nucleophilicity as a separate topic in Chapter 8.) Basicity toward the proton, that is, the pKa of the conjugate acid of the nucleophile, has been found to be less successful as a model property for reactions at saturated carbon than for nucleophilic acyl transfers, although basicity must have some relationship to nucleophilicity. Bordwell et al. have demonstrated very satisfactory Brjinsted-type plots for nucleophilic displacements at saturated carbon when the basicities and reactivities are measured in polar aprotic solvents like dimethylsulfoxide. The problem of establishing such simple correlations in hydroxylic solvents lies in the varying solvation stabilization within a reaction series in H-bond donor solvents. 

FIGURE 18.24 Acyl transfer from acyl-CoA to a nucleophile is more favorable than transfer of an acyl group from an oxygen ester. 

Pyridine-HF, THF, 0-25°, 70% yield. Cyclic acetals and THP derivatives were found to be stable to these conditions. In the following reaction, if excess pyridine was not included as a buffer, some acyl transfer was observed. ... 

Flavone formation is believed to proceed through a similar mechanism as the synthesis of chromones, albeit aromatic acid anhydrides and their corresponding salts are used. The first step is benzoylation of 12 to give the ester 14. Enolization and o-alkylation then affords the enolbenzoate 15. Enolbenzoate 15 then undergoes an acyl transfer to yield... 

Thomson Click Organic Process to view animations showing chemistry of the acyl transfer process. 

Steps 1-2 of Figure 29.5 Acyl Transfers The starting material for fatty-acid synthesis is the thioesteT acetyl CoA, the ultimate product of carbohydrate breakdown, as we ll see in Section 29.6. The synthetic pathway begins with several priming reactions, which transport acetyl CoA and convert it into more reactive species. The first priming reaction is a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction that converts acetyl CoA into acetyl ACP (acyl carrier protein). The reaction is catalyzed by ACP transacyla.se. 

Step 5 of Figure 29.11 Acyl Transfer Acetyl dihydrolipoamide. a thioester, undergoes a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction with coen/.yrne A to yield acetyl CoA plus dihydrolipoamide. The dihydrolipoamide is then oxidized back... 

The only definite examples are the acyl transfer reactions of acylcorrinoids, discovered by Bernhauer and Irion 14), and later studied in more detail by Yamada et al. 180). These reactions can be written... 

Enantioenriched alcohols and amines are valuable building blocks for the synthesis of bioactive compounds. While some of them are available from nature s chiral pool , the large majority is accessible only by asymmetric synthesis or resolution of a racemic mixture. Similarly to DMAP, 64b is readily acylated by acetic anhydride to form a positively charged planar chiral acylpyridinium species [64b-Ac] (Fig. 43). The latter preferentially reacts with one enantiomer of a racemic alcohol by acyl-transfer thereby regenerating the free catalyst. For this type of reaction, the CsPhs-derivatives 64b/d have been found superior. 

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