Aldehyde disproportionation

This involves hydride transfer from an aldehyde molecule lacking an a-H atom, e.g. HCHO, R3CCHO, ArCHO, to a second molecule of either the same aldehyde (disproportionation) or sometimes to a molecule of a different aldehyde ( crossed Cannizzaro). The reaction requires the presence of strong bases, and with, for example, PhCHO the rate law is found to be,... 

Nickel metal catalysts give mixtures of the corresponding silyl ether and silyl enol ether. The former is produced via hydrosilylation, while the latter is produced via de-hydrogenative silylation. The reaction catalyzed by zinc chloride proceeds under drastic conditions, and the product of aldehydes disproportionates. The reaction of a,jS-unsatu-rated carbonyl compounds with H2PtCl6 proceeds by 1,4-addition, while coupling is also observed on using metallic Ni as catalyst. ... 

EXPERIMENT 60 U Aldehyde Disproportionation A Structure Proof Problem 549... 

Another method for producing petoxycatboxyhc acids is by autoxidation of aldehydes (168). The reaction is a free-radical chain process, initiated by organic peroxides, uv irradiation, o2one, and various metal salts. It is terrninated by free-radical inhibitors (181,183). In certain cases, the petoxycatboxyhc acid forms an adduct with the aldehyde from which the petoxycatboxyhc acid can be hberated by heating or by acid hydrolysis. If the petoxycatboxyhc acid remains in contact with excess aldehyde, a redox disproportionation reaction occurs that forms a catboxyhc acid ... 

The most efficient intramolecular secondary processes competing with the acyl-alkyl diradical recombination in five-membered and larger cyclic ketones are hydrogen shifts resulting in the disproportionation of the diradical to either ketenes or unsaturated aldehydes [cf. (5) (4) (6)]. 

Acyl-AlkyI Diradical Disproportionations to Ketenes and Unsaturated Aldehydes... 

Aldehydes 1 that have no a-hydrogen give the Cannizzaro reaction upon treatment with a strong base, e.g. an alkali hydroxide.In this disproportionation reaction one molecule is reduced to the corresponding alcohol 2, while a second one is oxidized to the carboxylic acid 3. With aldehydes that do have a-hydrogens, the aldol reaction takes place preferentially. 

The synthetic importance of the reaction is limited, because as a consequence of the disproportionation, the yield of the alcohol as well as the carboxylic acid is restricted to 50%. However good yields of alcohols can often be obtained when the reaction is carried out in the presence of equimolar amounts of formaldehyde. The formaldehyde is oxidized to formic acid and concomitantly reduces the other aldehyde to the desired alcohol. This variant is called the crossed Cannizzaro reaction. 

Mino and Kaizerman [12] established that certain. ceric salts such as the nitrate and sulphate form very effective redox systems in the presence of organic reducing agents such as alcohols, thiols, glycols, aldehyde, and amines. Duke and coworkers [14,15] suggested the formation of an intermediate complex between the substrate and ceric ion, which subsequently is disproportionate to a free radical species. Evidence of complex formation between Ce(IV) and cellulose has been studied by several investigators [16-19]. Using alcohol the reaction can be written as follows ... 

Cannizzaro reaction (Section 19.12) The disproportionation reaction of an aldehyde to yield an alcohol and a carboxylic acid on treatment with base. 

Dioxaphosphorinanes with R = 7-Pr (3) and Ph (4) have also been obtained from phosphorus-containing diols and aldehydes [79IZV2136, 79DOK(244)610]. Phosphorus-containing diols with P(III) are very labile and are capable of dissociation and disproportionation under the reaction conditions. This apparently explains the difference in the physical constants of diols obtained by different authors. 

In the Cannizzaro reaction [110, 111] two aldehyde functionalities disproportionate into the corresponding hydroxyl and carboxyl functions, either as separate compounds or as an ester (Scheme 20.25). The reaction conditions needed are rather harsh, except when R1 or R2 is a phenyl group. Typically, an excess of so-... 

Five- or six-membered saturated cyclic ketones can also react by another pathway that does not involve decarbonylation. In these reactions, the biradical initially formed by a-cleavage undergoes internal disproportionation without loss of carbon monoxide, resulting in the formation of either an unsaturated aldehyde or a ketene. Methanol is usually added to convert the reactive ketene to a stable carboxylic-acid derivative (Scheme 9.2). 

A number of electrocatalytic reactions have been reported in which the EGB is derived by initial reduction of an aldehyde or a ketone that at the same time functions as the electrophile in a coupling reaction [136-139]. It is Kkely that the actual EGB is a dimer dianion of the carbonyl compound or a dianion of the carbonyl compound formed by disproportionation. The general principle is outlined in Scheme 38. The reactions become catalytic when the product anion, P , is protonated by the weak acid, NuH, whereby the nucleophile, Nu , is regenerated. 

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