Esters reaction with amide bases

Under different reaction conditions, esters still other than the ones shown in Figure 10.53 can be employed for the acylation of ester enolates. In such a case, one completely deprotonates two equivalents of an ester with LDA or a comparable amide base and then adds one equivalent of the ester that serves as the acylating agent. The acylation product is a /3-ketoester, and thus a stronger C,H acid than the conjugate acid of the ester enolate employed. Therefore, the initially formed /3-ketoester reacts immediately in an acid/base reaction with the second equivalent of the ester enolate The /3-ketoester protonates this ester enolate and thereby consumes it completely. 

Figure 10 Schematic representation of the most common reactions for labeling an amine (a) reaction with isothiocyanate to give a thiourea (b) reaction with a Succinimidil ester to give an amide (c) reaction with a sulfonyl chloride to give a sulfonamide (d) reaction with an aldehyde to give an imine (Schiff s base) and (e) reaction with a carbodiimide-activated carboxylic acid to give an amide.

Ester enolates, much more sensitive and capricious than ketone and amide enolates, seemed to be unsuitable for palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylations. Thus, Hegedus and coworkers [24] reported on low yields and predominant side reactions in the allylation of the lithium enolate of methyl cyclohexanecarboxylate. It seems that so far the only reliable and efficient version of a Tsuji-Trost reaction with ester enolates is based on the chelated zinc enolates 41 derived from N-protected glycinates 40 - a procedure that was developed by Kazmaier s group. 

The amide group is readily hydrolyzed to acrylic acid, and this reaction is kinetically faster in base than in acid solutions (5,32,33). However, hydrolysis of N-alkyl derivatives proceeds at slower rates. The presence of an electron-with-drawing group on nitrogen not only facilitates hydrolysis but also affects the polymerization behavior of these derivatives (34,35). With concentrated sulfuric acid, acrylamide forms acrylamide sulfate salt, the intermediate of the former sulfuric acid process for producing acrylamide commercially. Further reaction of the salt with alcohols produces acrylate esters (5). In strongly alkaline anhydrous solutions a potassium salt can be formed by reaction with potassium / /-butoxide in tert-huty alcohol at room temperature (36). 

Sn2 reactions with anionic nucleophiles fall into this class, and observations are generally in accord with the qualitative prediction. Unusual effects may be seen in solvents of low dielectric constant where ion pairing is extensive, and we have already commented on the enhanced nucleophilic reactivity of anionic nucleophiles in dipolar aprotic solvents owing to their relative desolvation in these solvents. Another important class of ion-molecule reaction is the hydroxide-catalyzed hydrolysis of neutral esters and amides. Because these reactions are carried out in hydroxy lie solvents, the general medium effect is confounded with the acid-base equilibria of the mixed solvent lyate species. (This same problem occurs with Sn2 reactions in hydroxylic solvents.) This equilibrium is established in alcohol-water mixtures ... 

Notice in the list of Lewis bases just given that some compounds, such as carboxylic acids, esters, and amides, have more than one atom ivith a lone pair of electrons and can therefore react at more than one site. Acetic acid, for example, can be protonated either on the doubly bonded oxygen atom or on the singly bonded oxygen atom. Reaction normally occurs only once in such instances, and the more stable of the two possible protonation products is formed. For acetic add, protonation by reaction with sulfuric acid occurs on... 

This procedure, which is based on the work of Ishii and co-workers, affords a mild and general method for converting a wide variety of esters to primary, secondary, and tertiary amides (Table 1). While the preparation of the tertiary amide, N,N-dimethylcyclohexanecarboxamide, described here is carried out in benzene, aluminum amides derived from ammonia and a variety of primary amines have been prepared by reaction with trimethylaluminum in dichloromethane and utilized for aminolysis in this solvent. Although 1 equivalent of the dimethylaluminum amides from amines was generally sufficient for high conversion within 5-48 hours, best results were obtained when 2 equivalents of the aluminum reagent from ammonia was used. Diethyl-aluminum amides can also effect aminolysis, but with considerably slower rates. 

One of the most important characteristics of IL is its wide temperature range for the liquid phase with no vapor pressure, so next we tested the lipase-catalyzed reaction under reduced pressure. It is known that usual methyl esters are not suitable for lipase-catalyzed transesterification as acyl donors because reverse reaction with produced methanol takes place. However, we can avoid such difficulty when the reaction is carried out under reduced pressure even if methyl esters are used as the acyl donor, because the produced methanol is removed immediately from the reaction mixture and thus the reaction equilibrium goes through to produce the desired product. To realize this idea, proper choice of the acyl donor ester was very important. The desired reaction was accomplished using methyl phenylth-ioacetate as acyl donor. Various methyl esters can also be used as acyl donor for these reactions methyl nonanoate was also recommended and efficient optical resolution was accomplished. Using our system, we demonstrated the completely recyclable use of lipase. The transesterification took place smoothly under reduced pressure at 10 Torr at 40°C when 0.5 equivalent of methyl phenylthioacetate was used as acyl donor, and we were able to obtain this compound in optically pure form. Five repetitions of this process showed no drop in the reaction rate (Fig. 4). Recently Kato reported nice additional examples of lipase-catalyzed reaction based on the same idea that CAL-B-catalyzed esterification or amidation of carboxylic acid was accomplished under reduced pressure conditions. ... 

Ester enolates are somewhat less stable than ketone enolates because of the potential for elimination of alkoxide. The sodium and potassium enolates are rather unstable, but Rathke and co-workers found that the lithium enolates can be generated at -78° C.69 Alkylations of simple esters require a strong base because relatively weak bases such as alkoxides promote condensation reactions (see Section 2.3.1). The successful formation of ester enolates typically involves an amide base, usually LDA or LiHDMS, at low temperature.70 The resulting enolates can be successfully alkylated with alkyl bromides or iodides. HMPA is sometimes added to accelerate the alkylation reaction. 

Both esters and amides undergo hydrolysis reactions. In a hydrolysis reaction, the ester or amide bond is cleaved, or split in two, to form two products. As mentioned earlier, the hydrolysis of an ester produces a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. The hydrolysis of an amide produces a carboxylic acid and an amine. There are two methods of hydrolysis acidic hydrolysis and basic hydrolysis. Both methods are shown in Figure 2.9. Hydrolysis usually requires heat. In acidic hydrolysis, the ester or amide reacts with water in the presence of an acid, such as H2SO4. In basic hydrolysis, the ester or amide reacts with the OH ion, from NaOH or water, in the presence of a base. Soap is made by the basic hydrolysis of ester bonds in vegetable oils or animal fats. 

Base hydrolysis of amides also requires quite vigorous conditions, but mechanistically it is exactly equivalent to base hydrolysis of esters. After nucleophilic attack of hydroxide on to the carbonyl, the tetrahedral anionic intermediate is able to lose either an amide anion (care with nomenclature here, the amide anion is quite different from the amide molecule) or hydroxide. Although loss of hydroxide is preferred, since the amide anion is a stronger base than hydroxide, this would merely reverse the reaction. 

The reaction progresses because the amide anion, once a small amount is released, abstracts a proton from the carboxylic acid product. Again, we have an analogy with the last step in the base hydrolysis of esters, and the ionization becomes an essentially... 

One way to gain fast access to complex stmctures are multicomponent reactions (MCRs), of which especially the isocyanide-based MCRs are suitable to introduce peptidic elements, as the isonitrile usually ends up as an amide after the reaction is complete. Here the Ugi-4 component reaction (Ugi CR) is the most suitable one as it introduces two amide bonds to form an M-alkylated dipeptide usually (Fig. 2). The Passerini-3CR produces a typical element of depsipeptides with ester and amide in succession, and the Staudinger-3CR results in p-lactams. The biggest unsolved problem in all these MCRs is, however, that it is stUl close to impossible to obtain products with defined stereochemistry. On the other hand, this resistance, particularly of the Ugi-reaction, to render diastereo- and enantioselective processes allows the easy and unbiased synthesis of libraries with all stereoisomers present, usually in close to equal amounts. 

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