Anhydrides, reaction with enolate anions

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). 

The conj ugate addition of lithium dimethylcuprate and other organoeopper reagents to a,/ -unsaturated ketones is a reaction which has had wide application and which has been fairly well studied.6 In order that the positional specificity which has been conferred upon the enolate anions generated by such additions might be maintained, these intermediates have been intercepted with acetic anhydride,6 chlorotrimethylsilane, and diethyl phosphorochloridate.4 8... 

Enolate anions of esters, such as ethyl 3-oxobutanoate or diethyl propanedioate, react with aeyl halides or anhydrides to give acylation products. These reactions are carried out best using sodium hydride instead of sodium ethoxide for production of the enol salt, because then no alcohol is liberated to react with the acyl halide or anhydride ... 

Classically, this separation of roles was accomplished by utilizing substrates that differed drastically in their ability to form enolate anions. In fact, the various name reactions mentioned above are distinguished not by basic differences in mechanism, but by the nature of the components preferentially utilized as substrates. For example, in the Perkin reaction, the condensation of an aromatic aldehyde with an aliphatic acid anhydride is based on the fact that the electrophilic component, e.g. benzaldehyde, lacks a-hydrogens and therefore is incapable of forming an enolate. At the same time the utilized electrophile, acetic anhydride, contains a carbonyl group with reduced propensity to interact with nucleophiles. Hence, it is incapable of undergoing self-condensa-... 

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... 

This reaction can sometimes be useful in synthesis. In the Honda et al. formal synthesis of securinine,2h N-benzylamino-ketone (97) was treated with lithium hexamethyldisilazide and then sorbic anhydride. This gave dienyl ester 98 by O-alkylation of the initially formed enolate anion. When the nitrogen protecting group was... 

A variation of this condensation involves reaction with aldehydes, and it is called the Perkin reaction. Condensation of an aldehyde (having no enolizable protons) with the enolate of an acid anhydride leads to an acetoxy ester such as 182.10 Internal acyl substitution by the alkoxide forms the 0-acetyl ester and liberates the carboxylate anion (183). Subsequent reaction with more acetic anhydride generates a new mixed... 

When nerol oxide (419) is metallated with butyl-lithium, a sigmatropic rearrangement of the anion to (420) occurs. The two isomers of (420) can be trapped in acetic anhydride as the enol acetates (421), hydrolysis of the latter yielding the aldehydes (422). " Additional interest is given to this reaction because the... 

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). 

Malonate anions are convenient sources of ester enolates. They react with halides and a variety of other electrophiles. Acid hydrolysis of the ester followed by decarboxylation gives the mono-acid. An example of this approach used phthalic anhydride 1.178) as a starting material in a reaction with 2-aminoethanol to give 1.179. Conversion of the alcohol moiety in 1.179 to its 0-benzenesulfonate ester... 

A typical reaction that uses an amino acid derivative involves initial conversion to an enolate anion. This nucleophilic species is then reacted with an alkyl halide or a carbonyl derivative. An example that produces a new amino acid is the reaction of the ethyl ester of n-benzyl glycine with lithium diisopropylamide to give the enolate. Subsequent reaction with the mixed anhydride shown below proceeded with displacement of acetate to give /.22J.13 Acid hydrolysis generated a P-keto amino acid, which decarboxylated under the reaction conditions to give 4-oxo-5-aminopen-tanoic acid 1.156, also known as 5-aminolevulinic acid). 

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]. 

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. 

---