Acylating reagents chemoselective

The 2(3/T)-oxazolone homopolymer 217 and the 2(37f)-oxazolone copolymer 219 with a carbon-carbon bond backbone structure are readily obtained by heating a 3-acyl-2(3/7)-oxazolone alone or with styrene, respectively, at 70 °C in the presence of BPO with the exclusion of air." " ° The A -acetyl polymers serve as regioselective and chemoselective acylating reagents for amines and alcohols (Fig. 5.53). ° ... 

Because dialkyl 2-oxo-(0-(alkoxycarbonyl)alkylphosphonates are valuable synthetic intermediates that may be either converted to die corresponding amino compounds or treated with a variety of carbonyl compounds in a Homer-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction,procedures that effect their preparation are of special importance. The Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction, which furnishes low yields, does not appear to be an appropriate method for the preparation of dialkyl 2-oxo-(fl-(alkoxycarbonyl)alkylphosphonates. One of the most attractive synthetic methods involves the chemoselective reaction of a-metallated dialkyl alkylphosphonates with acylating reagents such as carboxylic acid chlorides, cyclic anhydrides, or esters. 

The parent 2(3/i/)-oxazolone moiety functions as a bifunctional leaving group when carboxyl groups are activated for acylations and condensations, similar to other five- and six-membered heterocycles such as imidazole, triazole, and 2-pyridinethiol. The excellent leaving ability of a 2(3//)-oxazolone moiety has led to the development of versatile reagents. Thus, 3-acyl- and 3-alkoxycarbonyl-2(3//)-oxazolones serve as ready-to-use -type agents for the regioselective and chemoselective N-protection of amino alcohols, amino phenols and polyamines. 

In a bifunctional compound, if a reagent reacts with one functional group preferentially, even though the other is apparently susceptible to the reaction conditions, the reaction is said to be chemoselective. Two illustrative examples are the reduction of a carbonyl group in the presence of a cyano, nitro or alkoxycarbonyl group (Section 5.4.1, p. 519 see also Metal hydrides, Section 4.2.49, p. 445) and the acylation of an aromatic amino group in the presence of a phenolic group (Section 6.9.3, p. 984). 

Fig. 6.48. Preparation of Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reagents (synthetic applications Section 11.3) by chemoselective acylation of a phosphonatestabilized "carb-anion" with an ester.

We hope that our survey of the important methods for reduction has shown you that, by choosing the right reagent, you can often react the functional group you want. The chemoselectivity you obtain is kinetic chemoselectivity—reaction at one functional group is simply faster than at another. Now look at the acylation of an amino alcohol (which is, in fact, a synthesis of the painkiller isobu-caine) using benzoyl chloride under acid conditions. The hydroxyl group is acylated to form an ester. Yet under basic conditions, the selectivity is quite different, and an amide is formed. 

One of the effective reagents for highly chemoselective dithioacetalization of carbonyl compounds is ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) in chloroform. When a mixture of benzaldehyde and acetophenone was allowed to react with 1,2-ethanedithiol and a catalytic amount of CAN, the 1,3-dithiolane derived from the aldehyde was obtained in 84% yield while the ketone was recovered unchanged. It is noteworthy that aromatic ketones, 7-lactones, and acylic ketones did not react at all under these conditions and even at elevated temperatures for longer reaction times <1995T7823>. 

A remarkable application of the stannylation procedure is the organotin-mediated monoacylation of diols with reversed chemoselectivity, by which monoesterification of unsymmet-rically substituted diols at the most substituted hydroxyl group can be achieved with acyl chlorides [60], In the reported mechanism [61], this unusual reversal of chemoselectivity rests on a fast intramolecular transesterification equilibrium in which the dibutylstannylene acetal plays the double role of reagent and catalyst. The knowledge of the reaction mechanism allows for adjustment of experimental conditions to achieve remarkable selective level which can be higher than 99% using appropriate reagents (Scheme 4). 

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