Acylation of enols under acidic conditions

Under strongly acidic anhydrous conditions, carboxylic acids dehydrate to give the acylium ions, which you met as intermediates in the Friedel-Crafts reaction (Chapter 22), 

With another enolizable carfeonyl group in the molecule, cyclization may occur to give a new 1,3-dicarbonyl compound. Popular conditions for this reaction are polyphosphoric acid (PPA—partly dehydrated and polymerized H3PO4) in acetic acid as solvent. 

The first step is the formation of the acylium ion, which cyclizes on to one of the two possible enols of the ketone. 

Though the cyclization looks awkward—the product is a bridged bicyclic dike tone—the alternative would give a strained four-membered ring and does not occur. 

This cyclization is particularly impressive as the corresponding base-catalysed reaction on the keto-ester does not occur because a stable enolate cannot be formed—it would have an impossible bridgehead double bond. 

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The carbocation that is formed upon protonation of a carbonyl compound can lose H+ from the a-carbon to give an enol. Enols are good nucleophiles. Thus, under acidic conditions, carbonyl compounds are electrophilic at the carbonyl C and nucleophilic at the a-carbon and on oxygen, just like they are under basic conditions. Resonance-stabilized carbonyl compounds such as amides and esters are much less prone to enolize under acidic conditions than less stable carbonyl compounds such as ketones, aldehydes, and acyl chlorides in fact, esters and amides rarely undergo reactions at the a-carbon under acidic conditions. 

Two substitutions are occurring here H to Br, and Br to MeO. Looking at the order of reagents, the first substitution is H to Br. Br2 is electrophilic, so the a-C of the acyl bromide must be made nucleophilic. This is done by enolization. The substitution of Br with MeO occurs by a conventional addition-elimination reaction under acidic conditions. 

Ghosh also took advantage of the C—2 hydroxyl moiety of aminoindanols as a handle in the aldol reaction. Chiral sulfonamide 41 was O-acylated to give ester 42. The titanium enolate of ester 42 was formed as a single isomer and added to a solution of aldehyde, precomplexed with titanium tetrachloride, to yield the anft -aldol product 43 in excellent diastereoselectivities.63 One additional advantage of the ester-derived chiral auxiliaries was their ease of removal under mild conditions. Thus, hydrolysis of 43 afforded a ft -a-methyl- 3-hydroxy acid 44 as a pure enantiomer and cis-1-/ -1 o I y I s u I f on a m i do- 2 - i n da n ol was recovered without loss of optical purity (Scheme 24.7).63... 

The titanium(IV) chloride-promoted reactions of enol silyl ethers with aldehydes, ketones, and acetals, known as Mukaiyama reaction, are useful as aldol type reactions which proceed under acidic conditions (eq (23)) [20], Enol silyl ethers also undergo the Michael type reactions with enones or p.y-unsaturated acetals (eq (24)) [21]. Under similar reaction conditions, enol silyl ethers are alkylated with reactive alkyl halides such as tertiary halides or chloromethyl sulfides (eq (25)) [22], and acylated with acid halides to give 1,3-diketones (eq (26)) [23]. 

The a-proton of an aldehyde or ketone is less acidic as more carbon substituents are added. As more electron-withdrawing groups are added, the a-proton becomes more acidic, so a 1,3-diketone is more acidic than a ketone. The more acidic proton of an unsymmetrical ketone is the one attached to the less substituted carbon atom 8,12,13,14,22,23,28,30, 77,81,86,89,93. Enolate anions react as nucleophiles. They give nucleophilic acyl addition reactions with aldehydes and ketones. The condensation reaction of an aldehyde or ketone enolate with another aldehyde or ketone is called an aldol condensation. Selfcondensation of symmetrical aldehydes or ketones leads to a single product under thermodynamic conditions. Condensation between two different carbonyl compounds gives a mixture of products under thermodynamic conditions, but can give a single product under kinetic control conditions 5, 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18,19,20,21,23,29,30,31,32,33,34,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,49,91, 92, 94,102,114,115,123,134. 

Potassium enolates derived from acylfulvalenes were trapped with TBDMSCl but not TMSCl or diphenylmethylsilyl chloride. Interestingly, TBDMSCl was found to be compatible with CpK anion at —78 °C. TBDMS enol ethers have also been used as /3-acyl anion equivalents. The TBDMS-silyl enol ethers of diketones (eq 7) and /3-keto esters (eq 8) may be prepared by mixing them with TBDMSCl in THF with imidazole. Alcohols may be protected under acidic conditions as their TBDMS ethers by treatment with /3-silyl enol ethers in polar sovents. 

Monoprotected P-keto-aldehydes may be prepared by the a-dialkoxymethyl-ation of pre-formed enolates or enamines with trimethyl orthoformate and boron trifluoride diethyl etherate. Regiospecificity is maintained when the enolate is released from the silyl enol ether with methyl-lithium. P-Keto-acetals or P-diketones may also be formed by acylation of enol ethers with acid chlorides. High yields depended on the use of activated acid chlorides, such as a-halo- or a-cyano-acetyl chlorides. Enaminosilanes are acylated by a wide range of acid chlorides in the presence of potassium fluoride and a crown ether, giving very high yields of the enaminone [equation (46)]. Under the reaction conditions,... 

The amides of carboxylic acids and related carbonyl compounds like Af-acyl oxazolidinones lead to cis-enolates under the conditions of kinetic control by... 

The smooth conversion of the enol acetate (151) into an A -acyl derivative (152) under extremely mild conditions points to the high acylating capacity of these esters. This cleavage of isoxazolium salts is also caused by other anions of carboxylic acids, and thus they can be readily converted to reactive enol esters. A very convenient and specific synthesis of peptides due to Woodward et is based on... 

In lipase-catalyzed transesterifications, frequent use of enol esters as acyl agents has been seen [1, 5], since the leaving unsaturated alcohol irreversibly tautomerizes to an aldehyde or a ketone, leading to the desired product in high yields. The polymerization of divinyl adipate and 1,4-butanediol proceeded in the presence of lipase PF at 45 °C [39]. Under similar reaction conditions, adipic acid and diethyl adipate did not afford the polymeric materials, indicating the high polymerizability of bis(enol ester) toward lipase catalyst. 

A mechanistic study of acetophenone keto-enol tautomerism has been reported, and intramolecular and external factors determining the enol-enol equilibria in the cw-enol forms of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds have been analysed. The effects of substituents, solvents, concentration, and temperature on the tautomerization of ethyl 3-oxobutyrate and its 2-alkyl derivatives have been studied, and the keto-enol tautomerism of mono-substituted phenylpyruvic acids has been investigated. Equilibrium constants have been measured for the keto-enol tautomers of 2-, 3- and 4-phenylacetylpyridines in aqueous solution. A procedure has been developed for the acylation of phosphoryl- and thiophosphoryl-acetonitriles under phase-transfer catalysis conditions, and the keto-enol tautomerism of the resulting phosphoryl(thiophosphoryl)-substituted acylacetonitriles has been studied. The equilibrium (388) (389) has been catalysed by acid, base and by iron(III). Whereas... 

The diacylation of isopropenyl acetate with anhydrides of dicarboxylic acids is applicable for the synthesis of several other cyclic jS-triketones in moderate yield. - It has been used for the synthesis of 2-acetylcyclohexane-l,3-dione (40% yield), 2-acetyl-4-methylcyclopentane-l,3-dione (10% yield), 2-acetyl-4,4-dimethylcyclopentane-l,3-dione (10% yield), 2-acetyl-5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-l,3-dione (10% yield), 2-acetylcyclo-heptane-l,3-dione (12% yield) and 2-acetylindane-l,3-dione (26% yield). Maleic anhydrides under more drastic conditions give acetylcyclopent-4-ene-l,3-diones in yields from 5% to 12%. The corresponding acylation of the enol acetate of 2-butanone with succinic anhydride has been used to prepare 2-methylcyclopentane-l,3-dione, an important intermediate in steroid synthesis. - ... 

Under these conditions, the O-benzoyl derivative immediately enolizes and is O-acylated again to yield a dibenzoate. Without isolation, this product is cyclized by treatment with aqueous potassium hydroxide to yield 2-hydroxy-2,3-dihydroflavone. Dehydration to flavone is then effected by the action of glacial acetic acid containing sulfuric acid. 

With diketene, intermediates of type (III) were isolated and subsequently cyclized under basic conditions following step (b). In the case of 3-oxo-carboxylic acid esters or 3-acyl Meldrum s acids, cyclization step (b) immediately follows reaction step (a), if a slight excess of amine is employed (85TH1 87TH1). Note that conversion of (III) to (V) involves the (IH)-enol (Table I cf. 75BSF2731). The relatively low yield in the case of malonic acid ester, as well as the failure of the reaction with the non-enolizable diphenyl phosphinylacetic ester and cyanoacetate, points to the participation of an enol structure of (III). 

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