Anhydrides enolate anions from, reaction

Another amino acid synthesis is called the azlactone synthesis. Remember from before that an azlactone is an oxazolone (see 95). When glycine (52) is converted to its AT-benzoyl derivative (112 known as hippuric acid) by reaction with benzoyl chloride, treatment with acetic anhydride (AC2O) gives the azlactone 113. This is the reaction presented in the preceding section (see compormd 95). Compound 110 has the common name of hippuric acid azlactone. As with the thiohydantoin, the -CH2- unit in 113 is susceptible to an enolate anion condensation reaction with aldehydes (Chapter 22, Section 22.7.2), and reaction with 2-methylpropanal in the presence of pyridine gives azlactone 114. Catalytic hydrogenation of the alkene unit (Chapter 19, Section 19.3.2) and acid hydrolysis lead to the amino acid leucine (55). 

Reaction of phthalic anhydride (70-1) with the ylide from ethyl triphenylphos-phoniumacetate leads to the condensation product (70-2), which in effect consists of a cyclic enol anhydride. Treatment of this product with hydrazine leads to the hydrazone-hydrazide (70-3). Alkylation of the anion from removal of the hydrazide proton with the substituted benzyl bromide (70-4) affords the alkylation product (70-5). Saponification then leads to the aldose reductase inhibitor ponalrestat (70-6) [79]. 

The Perkin synthesis of cinnamic acids is considered to involve reaction of the enolate anion derived from the acid anhydride with the aldehyde, giving rise to the alkoxide (391). Intramolecular acylation follows and the resulting /3-acyloxy derivative undergoes elimination to the unsaturated acid (Scheme 125). 

Complementary to the acylation of enolate anions is the acid-catalyzed acylation of the corresponding enols, where the regiochemistry of acylation can vary from that observed in base-catalyzed reactions. Although the reaction has been studied extensively in simple systems, it has not been widely used in the synthesis of complex molecules. The catalysts most frequently employed are boron trifluoride, aluminum chloride and some proton acids, and acid anhydrides are the most frequently used acylating agents. Reaction is thought to involve electrophilic attack on the enol of the ketone by a Lewis acid complex of the anhydride (Scheme 58). In the presence of a proton acid, the enol ester is probably the reactive nucleophile. In either case, the first formed 1,3-dicarbonyl compound is converted into its borofluoride complex, which may be decomposed to give the 3-d>ketone, sometimes isolated as its copper complex. 

The Perkin reaction is believed to proceed by forming an enolate anion 5 from the acid anhydride 2, which subsequently reacts with the aldehyde 1 to form an alkoxide 6. The ensuing intramolecular acylation affords P-acyloxy derivative 8, which undergoes... 

Enolates formed by organocopper conjugate addition may be acylated cleanly by acid chlorides to give 3-diketones.146 Although O- and C-acylation are both possible, the latter is favored by the use of acid chlorides rather than anhydrides and by the use of diethyl ether as solvent, rather than DME. Good yields of 3-diketones have been obtained by acylation of the anions derived from both acyclic and cyclic unsaturated ketones with cuprates, or in copper-catalyzed Grignard reactions. Some synthetic applications are given in Scheme 54. 

Anions obtained from acetoacetic esters undergo acylation when they are treated with acyl chlorides or acid anhydrides. Because both of these acylating agents react with alcohols, acylation reactions cannot be carried out in ethanol and must be carried out in aptotic solvents such as DMF or DMSO (Section 6.13C). (If the reaction were to be carried out in ethanol, using sodium ethoxide, for example, then the acyl chloride would be rapidly converted to an ethyl ester and the ethoxide ion would be neutralized.) Sodium hydride can be used to generate the enolate ion in an aptotic solvent ... 

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