Alcohols functionalized ketones from

The nitrites aie most conveniently prepared from the corresponding alcohols by treatment with nitrosyl chloride in pyridine. The crude nitrites can be precipitated by addition of water and recrystallized from appropriate solvents. However nitrites prepared from carbinols in which the adjacent carbon is substituted by halogen, free or esterified hydroxyl or a carbonyl function are very readily hydrolyzed and must be recrystallized with great care. In general the photolysis gives higher yields if purified and dried nitrites are used which do not contain acids or pyridine, although occasionally the addition of small amounts of pyridine is recommended in order to prevent hydrolysis of the nitrite. Traces of acids do in fact catalyze the thermal decomposition of secondary nitrites to equimolar amounts of alcohol and ketone. ... 

Kimura and co-workers have synthesized a series of alkoxide complexes with the alcohol functionality as a pendent arm.447 674 737 A zinc complex of l-(4-bromophenacyl)-l, 4,7,10-tetraaza-cyclododecane was also synthesized by the same workers to mimic the active site of class II aldolases. The X-ray structure shows a six-coordinate zinc center with five donors from the ligand and a water molecule bound. The ketone is bound with a Zn—O distance of 2.159(3) A (Figure 12). Potentiometric titration indicated formation of a mixture of the hydroxide and the enolate. Enolate formation was also independently carried out by reaction with sodium methoxide, allowing full characterization.738... 

Complexes containing one binap ligand per ruthenium (Fig. 3.5) turned out to be remarkably effective for a wide range of chemical processes of industrial importance. During the 1980s, such complexes were shown to be very effective, not only for the asymmetric hydrogenation of dehydroamino adds [42] - which previously was rhodium s domain - but also of allylic alcohols [77], unsaturated acids [78], cyclic enamides [79], and functionalized ketones [80, 81] - domains where rhodium complexes were not as effective. Table 3.2 (entries 3-5) lists impressive TOF values and excellent ee-values for the products of such reactions. The catalysts were rapidly put to use in industry to prepare, for example, the perfume additive citronellol from geraniol (Table 3.2, entry 5) and alkaloids from cyclic enamides. These developments have been reviewed by Noyori and Takaya [82, 83]. 

Asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones is one of the most efficient methods for making chiral alcohols. Ru-BINAP catalysts are highly effective in the asymmetric hydrogenation of functionalized ketones,54,55 and this may be used in the industrial production of synthetic intermediates for some important antibiotics. The preparation of statine 65 (from 63b R = i-Bu) and its analog is one example (Scheme 6-28).56 Table 6-6 shows the results when asymmetric hydrogenation of 63 catalyzed by RuBr2[(R)-BINAP] yields threo-64 as the major product. 

The intermolecular Heck reaction of halopyridines provides an alternative route to functionalized pyridines, circumventing the functional group compatibility problems encountered in other methods. 3-Bromopyridine has often been used as a substrate for the Heck reaction [124-126]. For example, ketone 155 was obtained from the Heck reaction of 3-bromo-2-methoxy-5-chloropyridine (153) with allylic alcohol 154 [125]. The mechanism for such a synthetically useful coupling warrants additional comments oxidative addition of 3-bromopyridine 153 to Pd(0) proceeds as usual to give the palladium intermediate 156. Subsequent insertion of allylic alcohol 154 to 156 gives intermediate 157. Reductive elimination of 157 gives enol 158, which then isomerizes to afford ketone 155 as the ultimate product This tactic is frequently used in the synthesis of ketones from allylic alcohols. 

In 1983, Prasad et al.12 first reported the condensation of chloromethyl polystyrene with /V-hydroxyphthalimide to give the ester, hydrazinolysis of which yielded the desired resin-bound hydroxylamine. However, the sole purpose of this reagent was to react with, and hence extract ketones from, a complex steroidal mixture, and its use for the solid-phase synthesis of hydroxamic acids was not explored. Recently, the exploitation of the above solid-phase approach for the synthesis of hydroxamic acids was independently reported by three groups,7-9 all of which differ only in the method for the initial anchoring of TV-hydroxyphtha-limide to an 4-alkoxybenzyl alcohol functionalized polystyrene or trityl chloride polystyrene. Subsequent /V-deprotection was... 

The production of optically active cyanohydrins, with nitrile and alcohol functional groups that can each be readily derivatized, is an increasingly significant organic synthesis method. Hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) enzymes have been shown to be very effective biocatalysts for the formation of these compounds from a variety of aldehyde and aliphatic ketone starting materials.Recent work has also expanded the application of HNLs to the asymmetric production of cyanohydrins from aromatic ketones. In particular, commercially available preparations of these enzymes have been utilized for high ee (5)-cyanohydrin synthesis from phenylacetones with a variety of different aromatic substitutions (Figure 8.1). 

The chiral compounds (/ )- and (5)-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenylethanol are particularly useful synthetic intermediates for the pharmaceutical industry, as the alcohol functionality can be easily transformed without a loss of stereospecificity and biological activity, and the trifluoromethyl functionalities slow the degradation of the compound by human metabolism. A very efficient process was recently demonstrated for the production of the (5)-enantiomer at >99% ee through ketone reduction catalyzed by the commercially available isolated alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme from Rhodococcus erythropolis (Figure 9.1). The (7 )-enantiomer could be generated at >99% ee as well using the isolated ketone reductase enzyme KRED-101. 

In contrast to phenolic hydroxyl, benzylic hydroxyl is replaced by hydrogen very easily. In catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic aldehydes, ketones, acids and esters it is sometimes difficult to prevent the easy hydrogenolysis of the benzylic alcohols which result from the reduction of the above functions. A catalyst suitable for preventing hydrogenolysis of benzylic hydroxyl is platinized charcoal [28], Other catalysts, especially palladium on charcoal [619], palladium hydride [619], nickel [43], Raney nickel [619] and copper chromite [620], promote hydrogenolysis. In the case of chiral alcohols such as 2-phenyl-2-butanol hydrogenolysis took place with inversion over platinum and palladium, and with retention over Raney nickel (optical purities 59-66%) [619]. 

The structure of the cyclic ketone is of utmost importance. Reduction of cyclic ketone by complex hydrides is started by a nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl function by a complex hydride anion. The approach of the nucleophile takes place from the less crowded side of the molecule (steric approach or steric strain control) leading usually to the less stable alcohol. In ketones with no steric hindrance (no substituents flanking the carbonyl group or bound in position 3 of the ring) usually the more stable (equatorial) hydroxyl is generated (product development or product stability control) [850, 851, 852, 555]. The contribution of the latter effect to the stereochemical outcome of... 

Early electrochemical processes for the oxidation of alcohols to ketones or carboxylic acids used platinum or lead dioxide anodes, usually with dilute sulphuric acid as electrolyte. A divided cell is only necessary in the oxidation of primary alcohols to carboxylic acids if (he substrate possesses an unsaturated function, which could be reduced at the cathode [1,2]. Lead dioxide is the better anode material and satisfactory yields of the carboxylic acid have been obtained from oxidation of primary alcohols up to hexanol [3]. Aldehydes are intermediates in these reactions. Volatile aldehydes can be removed from the electrochemical cell in a... 

The generation of hydroxy ketones by the brominolysis of stannylenes has been used several times in total synthesis. Experiment G [see Eq. (15)] describes a key step in the total synthesis of the antibiotic (+)-spectinomycin [12,13]. It is remarkable that the two oxygen atoms bound to the tin atom originate from hydroxyl groups, which are port of different functions, a hemiketal and a secondary alcohol. The oxidation is selective for one alcoholic function ont of three. The same product was obtained by W-bromosuccinimide oxidation of the tributylstarmyl ether. 

The primary and secondary alcohol functionalities have different reactivities, as exemplified by the slower reaction rate for secondary hydroxyls in the formation of esters from acids and alcohols (8). 1,2-Propylene glycol undeigoes most of the typical alcohol reactions, such as reaction with a free acid, acyl halide, or acid anhydride to form an ester reaction with alkali metal hydroxide to form metal salts and reaction with aldehydes or ketones to form acetals and ketals (9,10). The most important commercial application of propylene glycol is in the manufacture of polyesters by reaction with a dibasic or polybasic acid. 

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