Alpha Bromination of Carboxylic Acids The Hell-Volhard-Zelinskii Reaction

I Alpha Bromination of Carboxylic Acids The Hell-Volhard-Zelinskii Reaction... 

Carbonyl compounds are in a rapid equilibrium with their cnols, a process called keto-enol tautomerism. Although enol tautomers arc normally present to only a small extent at equilibrium and can t usually be isolated in pure form, they nevertheless contain a highly nucleophilic double bond and react with electrophiles. P or example, aldehydes and ketones are rapidly halogenated at the a position by reaction with CI2 Br2, or I2 in acetic acid solution. Alpha bromination of carboxylic acids can be similarly accomplished by the Hell-Volhard-Zelinskii (HVZ) reaction, in which an acid is treated with Bt2 and PBrThe a--halogenated inoducts can then undergo base-induced E2 elimination to yield a,/3-un.salurated carbonyl compounds. 

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