Aldehydes nucleophile acceptance

The Cannizzaro reaction takes place by nucleophilic addition of OH- to an aldehyde to give a tetrahedral intermediate, which expels hydride ion as a leaving group and is thereby oxidized. A second aldehyde molecule accepts the hydride ion in another nucleophilic addition step and is thereby reduced. Benzaldehyde, for instance, yields benzyl alcohol plus benzoic acid when heated with aqueous NaOH. 

KDPG is a member of a yet unexplored group of aldolases that utilize pymvate or phosphoenol pymvate as the nucleophile in the aldol addition. They are quite tolerant of different electrophilic components and accept a large number of uimatural aldehydes (148). The reaction itself, however, is quite specific, generating a new stereogenic center at the C-4 position. 

The E. coli enzyme accepts substitution on either cosubstrate propanal, acetone or 1-fluoro-2-propanone can replace the donor and a variety of aldehydes can replace the acceptor moiety 3. Shortcomings are the relatively low conversion rates obtained for any substrate analog and the as yet unidentified level of relative stereocontrol induced upon substitution at the nucleophilic carbon. 

Using (31) as the nucleophile, FSA has been shown to accept several aldehydes as acceptor components for preparative synthesis [91]. In addition to (31), it also utilizes hydroxyacetone as an alternative donor to generate 1-deoxysugars such as (66) regioselectively (Figure 10.25). 

The finding that thiamine, and even simple thiazolium ring derivatives, can perform many reactions in the absence of the host apoenzyme has allowed detailed analyses of its chemistry [33, 34]. In 1958 Breslow first proposed a mechanism for thiamine catalysis to this day, this mechanism remains as the generally accepted model [35]. NMR deuterium exchange experiments were enlisted to show that the thiazolium C2-proton of thiamine was exchangeable, suggesting that a carbanion zwitterion could be formed at that center. This nucleophilic carbanion was proposed to interact with sites in the substrates. The thiazolium thus acts as an electron sink to stabilize a carbonyl carbanion generated by deprotonation of an aldehydic carbon or decarboxylation of an a-keto acid. The nucleophilic carbonyl equivalent could then react with other electro-... 

A less common reactive species is the Fe peroxo anion expected from two-electron reduction of O2 at a hemoprotein iron atom (Fig. 14, structure A). Protonation of this intermediate would yield the Fe —OOH precursor (Fig. 14, structure B) of the ferryl species. However, it is now clear that the Fe peroxo anion can directly react as a nucleophile with highly electrophilic substrates such as aldehydes. Addition of the peroxo anion to the aldehyde, followed by homolytic scission of the dioxygen bond, is now accepted as the mechanism for the carbon-carbon bond cleavage reactions catalyzed by several cytochrome P450 enzymes, including aromatase, lanosterol 14-demethylase, and sterol 17-lyase (133). A similar nucleophilic addition of the Fe peroxo anion to a carbon-nitrogen double bond has been invoked in the mechanism of the nitric oxide synthases (133). 

Breslow and co-workers elucidated the currently accepted mechanism of the benzoin reaction in 1958 using thiamin 8. The mechanism is closely related to Lapworth s mechanism for cyanide anion catalyzed benzoin reaction (Scheme 2) [28, 29], The carbene, formed in situ by deprotonation of the corresponding thiazolium salt, undergoes nucleophilic addition to the aldehyde. A subsequent proton transfer generates a nucleophilic acyl anion equivalent known as the Breslow intermediate IX. Subsequent attack of the acyl anion equivalent into another molecule of aldehyde generates a new carbon - carbon bond XI. A proton transfer forms tetrahedral intermediate XII, allowing for collapse to produce the a-hydroxy ketone accompanied by liberation of the active catalyst. As with the cyanide catalyzed benzoin reaction, the thiazolylidene catalyzed benzoin reaction is reversible [30]. 

When an ionic organic reaction (the kind catalyzed by most enzymes) occurs a nucleophilic center joins with an electrophilic center. We use arrows to show the movement of pairs of electrons. Tire movement is always away from the nucleophile which can be thought of as "attacking" an electrophilic center. Notice the first step in the second example at right. The unsaturated ketone is polarized initially. However, this is not shown as a separate step. Rather, the flow of electrons from the double bond, between the a- and (1-carbons into the electron-accepting C=0 groups, is coordinated with the attack by the nucleophile. Dotted lines are often used to indicate bonds that will be formed in a reaction step, e.g., in an aldol condensation (right). Dashed or dotted lines are often used to indicate partially formed and partially broken bonds in a transition state, e.g., for the aldol condensation (with prior protonation of the aldehyde). However, do not put arrows on transition state structures. 

The Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction is the formation of a-methylene-/ -hydroxycarbonyl compounds X by addition of aldehydes IX to a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds VIII, for example vinyl ketones, acrylonitriles or acrylic esters (Scheme 6.58) [143-148]. For the reaction to occur the presence of catalytically active nucleophiles ( Nu , Scheme 6.58) is required. It is now commonly accepted that the MBH reaction is initiated by addition of the catalytically active nucleophile to the enone/enoate VIII. The resulting enolate adds to the aldehyde IX, establishing the new stereogenic center at the aldehydic carbonyl carbon atom. Formation of the product X is completed by proton transfer from the a-position of the carbonyl moiety to the alcoholate oxygen atom with concomitant elimination of the nucleophile. Thus Nu is available for the next catalytic cycle. 

S)-proline-catalyzed reaction using propionaldehyde as donor and the results showed that the imine reactivity was approximately sevenfold higher than that of the aldehyde [83]. Under basic conditions, it is generally accepted that nucleophilic addition to an aldehyde is typically faster than addition to an aldimine, but nucleophilic addition to an aldimine is faster than addition to an aldehyde when protonation of the imine nitrogen occurs [83]. In the (S)-proline-catalyzed three-component Mannich reactions in the absence of arylaldehyde, self-Mannich products were obtained with moderate to high diastereo- and enantioselectivities (Scheme 2.19) [71b, 82]. 

LUMO of a simple carbonyl group. The nearest thing you have met so far (in Chapter 7) are the orbitals of butadiene (C=C conjugated with C=C), which we can compare with the a,(3-unsaturated aldehyde acrolein (C=C conjugated with C=0). The orbitals in the 7t systems of butadiene and acrolein are shown here. They are different because acrolein s orbitals are perturbed (distorted) by the oxygen atom (Chapter 4). You need not be concerned with exactly how the sizes of the orbitals are worked out, but for the moment just concentrate on the shape of the LUMO, the orbital that will accept electrons when a nucleophile attacks. 

Finally, it should be pointed out that the configuration of a newly formed stereocenter at the /1-position of the accepting C —C double bond may be controlled by temporarily tethering the incoming 0-nucleophile to an adjacent stereocenter. For example, acid-catalyzed addition of aldehydes or ketones to the hydroxy enone rac-16 resulted in exclusive cw-fusion of the newly formed 1,3-dioxolane ring53. This method could potentially be applied to more complex problems. In any case, exploring its scope should prove worthwhile. 

The transketolase (TK EC 2.2.1.1) catalyzes the reversible transfer of a hydroxy-acetyl fragment from a ketose to an aldehyde [42]. A notable feature for applications in asymmetric synthesis is that it only accepts the o-enantiomer of 2-hydroxyaldehydes with effective kinetic resolution [117, 118] and adds the nucleophile stereospecifically to the re-face of the acceptor. In effect, this allows to control the stereochemistry of two adjacent stereogenic centers in the generation of (3S,4R)-configurated ketoses by starting from racemic aldehydes thus this provides products stereochemically equivalent to those obtained by FruA catalysis. The natural donor component can be replaced by hydroxy-pyruvate from which the reactive intermediate is formed by a spontaneous decarboxylation, which for preparative purposes renders the overall addition to aldehydic substrates essentially irreversible [42]. 

A wide range of natural and unnatural monosaccharides has been generated by exploiting the catalytic capacity of aldolases which perform reactions equivalent to nonenzymatic aldol additions [54]. More than 20 aldolases have been identified so far and can be divided into three main groups, accepting either dihydroxyace-tone phosphate (DHAP), acetaldehyde, or pyruvic acid, and phosphoenolpyruvate as nucleophilic methylene component. A common feature is their high stereocontrol in the formation of the new C-C bond. As presented in Scheme 10 all four possible vicinal diols are accessible by selection of the appropriate DHAP-aldo-lase [2, 55], all of which show a distinct preference for the two stereocenters and a broad substrate tolerance for the aldehyde component. 

It is widely accepted that the carbonyl reactivity toward nucleophiles increases in the order aldehyde>ketone>ester>amide [6]. This reactivity order is simply based on the extent to which each carbonyl carbon is sterically and electronically activated. However, reactivities might change when these carbonyl substrates are subjected to a Lewis acid. It is generally assumed that the coordination capability of the carbonyl oxygen to Lewis acids is the means by which Lewis acids activate carbonyl substrates. Thus, in some re.spects, the reaction rate parallels the Lewis basicity of the carbonyls. Furthermore, the reactivity of a carbonyl substrate depends on the reaction type as well as the Lewis acid employed. Special care must be taken in assessing the relationship between the relative reaction rate, the relative Lewis basicity, and the inherent carbonyl reactivity of each substrate. It is instructive to take a look at the following example (Schemes 2-2 and 2-3 Fig. 2-1). 

Carbohydrates are either polyhydroxyaldehydes (aldoses, oses) or polyhydroxyke-tones (ketoses, uloses) there is an electron gap at their carbonyl carbon atom. Typically, aldehydes and ketones accept nucleophiles such as water to form hydrates or alcohols to form hemiketals (5.1 and 5.3) and hemiacetals (5.4 and 5.6), respectively. In pentoses, pentuloses, hexoses, hexuloses, and higher carbohydrates, one of the hydroxyl groups can play the role of internal nucleophile. Thus, open-chain structure (5.2 and 5.5) cyclizes into internal hemiacetals and ketals, all with either five- (5.1 and 5.3) or six- (5.4 and 5.6) membered cycles. 

---