Aldehydes benzoin formation

In an attempt to use an acyl anion equivalent to open an aziridine, Wu and co-workers isolated an unexpected ring opened product 316 (Eq. 31) [158], The authors found that the presence of oxygen was the determining factor between benzoin formation and ester formation. No desired ketones were ever formed. Various aromatic substituted aldehydes were treated under standard reaction conditions to afford esters in good yields. 4-Methoxybenzaldehyde provided product in only 40% yield, presumably due to the ease of aldehyde oxidation. 

As to the mechanism of benzoin formation, cyanide ion adds to the aldehyde to form 12. This anion is in equilibrium with 13, wherein the negative charge can be delocalized over the phenyl and nitrile groups. A subsequent aldol-type addition of 13 to the carbonyl carbon of a second aldehyde molecule gives the addition product 14, and loss of HCN from 14 leads to the benzoin ... 

Thiazolium and triazolium salt-derived NHC, in particular, are well known catalysts for benzoin- and Stetter-type umpolung reactions. In the course of these reactions, the NHC catalyst adds to the electrophilic aldehyde, resulting in the formation of a nucleophilic enamine species. Subsequently, this enamine can react with a series of different electrophiles such as aldehydes (benzoin condensation) or a, )-unsaturalcd substrates (Stetter reaction) (Scheme 4). 

Quite often, the bisulfite product is isolated and purified before the treatment with alkali cyanide, particularly in the conversion of aromatic aldehydes since their bisulfite compounds are easily manipulated. The preparation of aromatic cyanohydrins from their bisulfite products is advantageous since benzoin formation, which is catalyzed by alkali cyanides, is largely avoided. Furthermore, because of the basic environment, hydrogen cyanide fumes are curtailed. 

Abstract The possible utilization of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), instead of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in the electrochemical procedures of organic synthesis has been discussed. The synthesis of p-lactams, the activation of carbon dioxide and its utilization as renewable carbon source and the carbon-carbon bond formation reactions via umpolung of aldehydes (benzoin condensation and Stetter reaction) and via Henry reaction have been selected as typical electrochani-cal methodologies. The results, related to procedures performed in RTILs, have been compared with those performed in VOCs. The double role of RTILs, as green solvents and parents of electrogenerated reactive intermediates or catalysts, has been emphasized. 

Quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde has been converted into the 2-carboxylic acid by oxidation with potassium permanganate in acetone and reduced to the 2-hydroxymethyl compound by treatment with formalin and potassium hydroxide. It also undergoes other typical reactions of aromatic aldehydes such as benzoin formation on reaction with potassium cyanide - and condensation reactions with malonic acid and its diethyl ester and Schiff base formation. Acid-catalyzed reaction of quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde with ethylene glycol gives the cyclic acetal the diethylacetal has been prepared by reaction of 2-dibromomethylquinoxaline with sodium ethoxide. " An indirect preparation of the oxime 11 is achieved by treatment of 2-nitromethyl-quinoxaline (10) with diazomethane followed by thermolysis of the resulting nitronic ester. 

In early studies of this chemistry we had examined the ability of such thiazolium salts to catalyse the benzoin condensation, a process which also formally involves an acyl anion but which is really of course the anion in which the thiazolium salt has been added to the carbonyl group (Figure 2.10). In this sense the thiazolium anion is very much like cyanide anion, the normal catalyst for simple benzoin condensations. Benzaldehyde would be expected to bind into a j8-cyclodextrin cavity, so we attached a thiazolium salt to a primary carbon of j8-cyclodextrin and examined it as a catalyst. We found that this was not a better catalyst for the benzoin condensation, apparently because there was no room in the j8-cyclodextrin cavity for the binding of two benzaldehyde molecules. However it was clear that at least the reaction intermediate was being formed we got very rapid tritium exchange from the aldehyde by formation of the thiazolium adduct, and as well a very rapid oxidation of para-f-butyl benzaldehyde by ferricyanide ion since it was able to oxidize the reaction intermediate formed when the bound t-butyl benzaldehyde underwent addition of the thiazolium ring. 

Homoenolate Reactivity The ability to generate homoenolates from enals and its application to the preparation of y-butyrolactones 30, through reaction with an aldehyde or aryl trifluoromethyl ketone, was reported independently by Glorius [8], and Bode and Burstein [9] (Scheme 12.4). A sterically demanding NHC catalyst is required to promote reactivity at the d terminus and to prevent competitive benzoin dimerisation. Nair and co-workers have reported a similar spiro-y-lactone formation reaction using cyclic 1,2-diones, including cyclohexane-1,2-dione and substituted isatin derivatives [10]. 

R)-Benzoins and (/ )-2-hydroxypropiophcnonc derivatives are formed on a preparative scale by benzaldehyde lyase (BAL)-catalyzed C-C bond formation from aromatic aldehydes and acetaldehyde in aqueous buffer/DMSO solution with remarkable ease in high chemical yield and high optical purity (Eq. 8.112).303 Less-stable mixed benzoins were also generated via reductive coupling of benzoyl cyanide and carbonyl compounds by aqueous titanium(III) ions.304... 

Attack by eCN is slow (rate-limiting), while proton transfer from HCN or a protic solvent, e.g. HzO, is rapid. The effect of the structure of the carbonyl compound on the position of equilibrium in cyanohydrin formation has already been referred to (p. 206) it is a preparative proposition with aldehydes, and with simple aliphatic and cyclic ketones, but is poor for ArCOR, and does not take place at all with ArCOAr. With ArCHO the benzoin reaction (p. 231) may compete with cyanohydrin formation with C=C—C=0, 1,4-addition may compete (cf. p. 200). 

The benzoin reaction dates back to 1832 when Wohler and Liebig reported that cyanide catalyzes the formation of benzoin 6 from benzaldehyde 5, a seminal example in which the normal mode of polarity of a functional group was reversed (Eq. 1) [26], This reversal of polarity, subsequently termed Umpolung [27], effectively changes an electrophilic aldehyde into a nucleophilic acyl anion equivalent. 

The benzoin reaction typically consists of the homocoupling of two aldehydes, which results in the formation of inherently dimeric compounds, therefore limiting the synthetic utility. The aoss-benzoin reaction has the potential to produce four products, two homocoupled adducts and two cross-benzoin products. Several strategies have been employed to develop a selective cross-benzoin reaction, including the use of donor-acceptor aldehydes, acyl silanes, acyl imines, as well as intramolecular reactions. 

Homoenolates generated catalytically with NHCs can also be employed for C-C and C-N bond formation. Bode and Glorias have independently accomplished the diastereoselective synthesis of y-butyrolactones by annulation of enals and aldehydes [121, 122]. Bode and co-workers envisioned that increasing the steric bulk of the acyl anion equivalent would allow reactivity at the homoenolate position. While trying to suppress the competing benzoin and enal dimerization the authors comment on the steric importance of the catalyst. Thiazolium pre-catalyst 173 proved unsuccessful at inducing annulation. A-mesityl substituted imidazolium salt 200 was found to provide up to 87% yield and moderate diastereoselectivities (Scheme 34). 

From mechanistic considerations and assuming that cleavage and formation of (R)-benzoin are in equilibrium, BAL should also catalyze carboligation. Consequently, BAL-catalyzed acyloin condensation of benzaldehyde in an aqueous buffer/DMSO mixture resulted in almost quantitative formation of enantiomeri-cally pure (R)-benzoin [Scheme 2.2.7.21, Eq. (1)]. The reaction was carried out on a preparative scale with different aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehydes [62]. From the viewpoint of the organic-preparative chemist, it is important to mention that crude cell extracts of the recombinant E. coli strain overexpressing the BAL gene are sufficient for catalysis, hence, purification of the enzyme is not necessary. 

Thiamin itself (in the absence of enzyme) had previously been shown to catalyse the formation of acetoin from acetaldehyde, albeit in very poor yield (Ukai et al., 1943 Mizuhara et al., 1951 Mizuhara and Handler, 1954). The reaction parallels the formation of benzoin from benzaldehyde, catalysed by cyanide ion. The mechanism of the latter reaction had been suggested in 1903 by Arthur Lapworth, who had shown how an aldehyde, R—CHO, could be converted into the equivalent of the anion R—C=0- (Lapworth, 1903). It is this idea that Breslow carried over to thiamin pyrophosphate and used to... 

By use of 1 mol each of two different aldehydes, an unsymmetrical or mixed benzoin is obtained (for example, the formation of 4-methoxybenzoin). 

A further complicating feature in these reactions is the finding that HETh and its thiazolium and benzothiazolium analogs can, in the presence of a base such as Me3N or DBU, be tautomerized to the rather stable 2-benzoylthiazolines9,10. This reaction apparently requires a aprotic medium. Further, Chen showed55,57 that for a number of aromatic aldehydes, when the reaction is performed in methanol, the principal product is not HBT but rather the dimethoxyacetal of the precursor aldehyde. Thiazolium salts appear to catalyze conversion of some aromatic aldehydes to their acetals in reasonable yields. This appears to be a rare example of acetal formation under alkaline conditions. These various reactions of aldehydes and thiazolium salts, additional to the benzoin condensations, are outlined in Scheme 5. 

Initially, a solution of cinnamaldehyde and 4-chlorobenzaldehyde in tetrahydrofuran (THF) was treated with different azolium salts under basic conditions (Scheme 6). The use of thiazolium salt 4 resulted in no formation of the desired y-butyrolactone, only benzoin products were formed. In contrast, using the NHC IMes [l,3-di(2,4,6-trimethyl-phenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene generated in situ from the salt IMesHCl by deprotonation], y-butyrolactone 3a was isolated in 53% yield and a 80 20 cisltrans ratio. This different outcome might be explained by the increased steric demand of IMes compared to 4 (Scheme 7). Most likely, IMes reversibly adds to the aldehyde groups of both substrates resulting in the intermediates la and 2a. Whereas the mesityl groups shield the former aldehyde carbon in both intermediates, the conjugate position of 2a is still accessible and can add to the electrophilic aldehyde. 

Aromatic aldehydes generally do not produce cyanohydrins on reaction with hydrogen cyanide, but undergo the benzoin condensation (Scheme 6.12). The initial product from nucleophilic attack by cyanide ion is depro-tonated to form a resonance-stabilized carbanion, which attacks a second molecule of the aldehyde. Elimination of HCN leads to an a-hydroxy ketone, benzoin (2-hydroxy-1,2-diphenylethanone). The benzoin condensation is catalysed specifically by cyanide ion, which assists in both the formation and stabilization of the carbanion. The reaction is limited to aromatic aldehydes, since the aryl ring also stabilizes the anion. 

Pyridazine 3-carbaldehyde can be prepared from 3-hydroxymethylpy-ridazine by oxidation with selenium dioxide (82BSB153). Its 2-oxide was obtained similarly (78JMC1333). Contrary to aromatic aldehydes, py-ridazine-4-carbaldehydes behave differently under the reaction conditions typical for benzoin condensation or cyanhydrin formation. In the first case, a crossed Cannizzaro reaction takes place and, with an equivalent amount of hydrocyanic acid, compound 80 is obtained. This is transformed with acetic anhydride into a mixture of E- and Z-isomers of 81. On attempted chromatographic separation, the mixture is converted into methyl 4-pyridazinecarboxylate (78JHC637). 

Osazone formation is not limited to carbohydrates, but is typical of a-hydroxy aldehydes and a-hydroxy ketones in general (e.g., benzoin, C5H5CHOHCOC6H5). 

In the benzoin condensation, both aromatic and heterocyclic aldehydes are transformed into a-hydroxy ketones of the general formula ArCHOHCOAr, often called benzoins. This class of compounds is frequently encountered in natural products, hence the benzoin and related reactions have received much at-tention. The reaction employs a cyanide ion as the catalyst and the mechanism, proposed by Lapworth, involves formation of carbanions stabilized by the nitrile group (Scheme 1). 

Studies on thiamine (vitamin Bi) catalyzed formation of acyloins from aliphatic aldehydes and on thiamine or thiamine diphosphate catalyzed decarboxylation of pyruvate have established the mechanism for the catalytic activity of 1,3-thiazolium salts in carbonyl condensation reactions. In the presence of bases, quaternary thiazolium salts are transformed into the ylide structure (2), the ylide being able to exert a cat ytic effect resembling that of the cyanide ion in the benzoin condensation (Scheme 2). Like cyanide, the zwitterion (2), formed by the reaction of thiazolium salts with base, is nucleophilic and reacts at the carbonyl group of aldehy s. The resultant intermediate can undergo base-catalyzed proton... 

The most systematically investigated acyl anion equivalents have been the IMS ethers of aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehyde cyanohydrins, TBDMS-protected cyanohydrins, - benzoyl-protected cyanohydrins, alkoxycaibonyl-protected cyanohydrins, THP-protected cyanohydrins, ethoxyethyl-protect cyanohydrins, a-(dialkylamino)nitriles, cyanophosphates, diethyl l-(trimethylsiloxy)-phenyimethyl phosphonate and dithioacetals. Deprotonation di these masked acyl anions under the action of strong basie, usually LDA, followed by treatment with a wide varies of electrophiles is of great synthetic value. If the electrophUe is another aldehyde, a-hydroxy ketones or benzoins are formed. More recently, the acyl caibanion equivalents formed by electroreduction of oxazolium salts were found to be useful for the formation of ketones, aldehydes or a-hydroxy ketones (Scheme 4). a-Methoxyvinyl-lithium also can act as an acyl anion equivalent and can be used for the formation of a-hydroxy ketones, a-diketones, ketones, y-diketones and silyl ketones. - - ... 

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