Addition reactions acid-catalyzed hydration

We can extend the general principles of electrophilic addition to acid catalyzed hydration In the first step of the mechanism shown m Figure 6 9 proton transfer to 2 methylpropene forms tert butyl cation This is followed m step 2 by reaction of the car bocation with a molecule of water acting as a nucleophile The aUcyloxomum ion formed m this step is simply the conjugate acid of tert butyl alcohol Deprotonation of the alkyl oxonium ion m step 3 yields the alcohol and regenerates the acid catalyst... 

Problem 13.13. We have described acid-catalyzed dehydration (loss of water) of an alcohol to yield an alkene. However, Sec. 12.6.1 described the opposite reaction—acid-catalyzed hydration (addition of water) of an alkene to yield an alcohol. Which is correct ... 

Acid-Catalyzed Hydration and Related Addition Reactions... 

Alkynes react when heated with trifluoroacetic acid to give addition products. Mixtures of syn and anti addition products are obtained. Similar addition reactions occur with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid. These reactions are analogous to acid-catalyzed hydration and proceed through a vinyl cation intermediate. 

The acid catalyzed hydration of olefins is frequently attended by decomposition or rearrangement of the acid-sensitive substrate. A simple and mild procedure for the Markovnikov hydration of double bonds has recently been devised by Brown and co-workers 13). This reaction, which appears to be remarkably free of rearrangements, initially involves the addition of mercuric acetate to the double bond to give the 1,2-... 

Acid-catalyzed hydration of isolated double bonds is also uncommon in biological pathways. More frequently, biological hydrations require that the double bond be adjacent to a carbonyl group for reaction to proceed. Fumarate, for instance, is hydrated to give malate as one step in the citric acid cycle of food metabolism. Note that the requirement for an adjacent carbonyl group in the addition of water is the same as that we saw in Section 7.1 for the elimination of water. We ll see the reason for the requirement in Section 19.13, but might note for now that the reaction is not an electrophilic addition but instead occurs... 

These brackets indicate that H+ is not consumed in the reaction. In other words, H+ is a catalyst, and therefore, we call this reaction an acid-catalyzed hydration. In order to understand why this reaction proceeds via a Markovnikov addition, we turn our attention to the mechanism. The proposed mechanism of an acid-catalyzed hydration... 

The stereochemistry of acid-catalyzed hydration is very similar to the stereochemistry of ionic addition of HX (this should make sense, as we have already seen that the mechanisms for each of these reactions are identical). If only one stereocenter is formed, then we expect a pair of enantiomers (racemic mixture), regardless of whether the reaction was anti or syn. You will probably not see an example where two new stereocenters are formed, becanse the stereochemical ontcome in such a case is complex and is beyond the scope of our conversation. 

Answer If we compare the starting material and product, we see that we must add H and OH. We look at the regiochemistry, and we see that OH is ending up at the more substituted carbon—so we need a Markovnikov addition. Then, we look at the stereochemistry and we see that we are not creating two stereocenters in this reaction (in fact, we are not even creating one stereocenter). Therefore, the stereochemistry of the reaction will be irrelevant. So we need to choose reagents that will give a Markovnikov addition of H and OH. We can accomplish this with an acid-catalyzed hydration ... 

Fig. 2 Free energy reaction coordinate profiles for the stepwise acid-catalyzed hydration of an alkene through a carbocation intermediate (Scheme 5). (a) Reaction profile for the case where alkene protonation is rate determining (ks kp). This profile shows a change in rate-determining step as a result of Bronsted catalysis of protonation of the alkene. (b) Reaction profile for the case where addition of solvent to the carbocation is rate determining (ks fcp). This profile shows a change in rate-determining step as a result of trapping of the carbocation by an added nucleophilic reagent.

Very different solvent deuterium isotope effects (SDIE) of (/ch)/( d) = 0.42 and 1.66, respectively, are observed for acid-catalyzed addition of solvent to o-l and 81.50,58 The inverse SDIE for hydration of o-1 is consistent with initial fast and reversible protonation of substrate followed by rate-determining addition of solvent to the protonated benzylic carbocation o-H-l +. The normal primary SDIE on acid-catalyzed hydration of 81 is consistent with a change in mechanism from stepwise, for acid-catalyzed addition of water o-l,50 to concerted for the acid-catalyzed reaction of 81, where the addition of water and hydron occurs at a single reaction stage (kcon, Scheme 47). 

The mechanism of the formation of the tetrahydropyranyl ether (see Figure 23.1) is an acid-catalyzed addition of the alcohol to the double bond of the dihydropyran and is quite similar to the acid-catalyzed hydration of an alkene described in Section 11.3. Dihydropyran is especially reactive toward such an addition because the oxygen helps stabilize the carbocation that is initially produced in the reaction. The tetrahydropyranyl ether is inert toward bases and nucleophiles and serves to protect the alcohol from reagents with these properties. Although normal ethers are difficult to cleave, a tetrahydropyranyl ether is actually an acetal, and as such, it is readily cleaved under acidic conditions. (The mechanism for this cleavage is the reverse of that for acetal formation, shown in Figure 18.5 on page 776.)... 

Tlie acid-catalyzed hydration reaction begins with protonation of the carbonyl oxygen atom, which places a positive charge on oxygen and makes the carbonyl group more electrophilic. Subsequent nucleophilic addition of water to the protonated aldehyde or ketone then yields a protonated gem diol, which loses H to give the neutral product (Figure 19.5). 

Like the double bond, the carbon-carbon triple bond is susceptible to many of the common addition reactions. In some cases, such as reduction, hydroboration and acid-catalyzed hydration, it is even more reactive. A very efficient method for the protection of the triple bond is found in the alkynedicobalt hexacarbonyl complexes (.e.g. 117 and 118), readily formed by the reaction of the respective alkyne with dicobalt octacarbonyl. In eneynes this complexation is specific for the triple bond. The remaining alkenes can be reduced with diimide or borane as is illustrated for the ethynylation product (116) of 5-dehydro androsterone in Scheme 107. Alkynic alkenes and alcohols complexed in this way show an increased structural stability. This has been used for the construction of a variety of substituted alkynic compounds uncontaminated by allenic isomers (Scheme 107) and in syntheses of insect pheromones. From the protecting cobalt clusters, the parent alkynes can easily be regenerated by treatment with iron(III) nitrate, ammonium cerium nitrate or trimethylamine A -oxide. ° ... 

At the time when the Ase2 mechanism of the acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes was finnly established , the reaction of conjugated dienes was also investigated. It was shown that the same mechanism also applietl to dienes (equation 2). The first step is generally reversible but, under well-chosen reaction conditions, the formation of an allylic carbocation by proton addition to one of the two double bonds is rate-limiting. The fast trapping of the carbocation by water in the second step affords the two allylic alcohols conesponding either to a 1,2-addition or to a 1,4-addition. Several pieces of evidence supported this mechanism. 

In contrast to the protonation of the disubstituted alkenes mentioned above, high ktranJkcis ratios of 9 x 108 and 3 x 103, respectively have been observed in the acid-catalyzed addition of methanol to the trans- and cis-isomers of cycloheptene (39a and 38a) and cyclooctene (37a and 36a) (114a). The rate constants reflect partially the release of strain in the transformation of the cyclic olefins to the appropriate cycloalkyl cations. Comparison of the relative activation energies for these addition reactions with the difference of strain release leads to the estimate that the response to strain effects is about 60%. In a more recent study of the acid-catalyzed hydration of cis- (36b) and trans- 1-methylcyclooctene (37c), it was concluded that two conformationally different 1-methyl-carbocationic intermediates are... 

The overall reaction proceeds in two stages. The hemiacetal is formed in the hrst stage by nucleophilic addition of the alcohol to the carbonyl group. The mechanism of hemiacetal formation is exactly analogous to that of acid-catalyzed hydration of aldehydes and ketones (Section 17.6) ... 

Addition and elimination processes are the formal reverse of one another, and in some cases the reaction can occur in either direction. For example, acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes and dehydration of alcohols are both familiar reactions that constitute an addition-elimination pair. 

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