Base-catalyzed, acylation halides

The treatment of enamines with acid halides which possess no a hydrogens results in the simple acylation of the enamine (7,12,62-67). If the acid halide possesses an a hydrogen, however, ketenes are produced in situ through base-catalyzed elimination of hydrogen chloride from the acid halide. The base catalyst for this reaction may be the enamine itself or some other base introduced into the reaction mixture such as triethylamine. However, if the ketene is produced in situ instead of externally, there still remains the possibility of a side reaction between the acid halide and the enamine other than the production of ketene (67,84). 

The reaction between acyl halides and alcohols or phenols is the best general method for the preparation of carboxylic esters. It is believed to proceed by a 8 2 mechanism. As with 10-8, the mechanism can be S l or tetrahedral. Pyridine catalyzes the reaction by the nucleophilic catalysis route (see 10-9). The reaction is of wide scope, and many functional groups do not interfere. A base is frequently added to combine with the HX formed. When aqueous alkali is used, this is called the Schotten-Baumann procedure, but pyridine is also frequently used. Both R and R may be primary, secondary, or tertiary alkyl or aryl. Enolic esters can also be prepared by this method, though C-acylation competes in these cases. In difficult cases, especially with hindered acids or tertiary R, the alkoxide can be used instead of the alcohol. Activated alumina has also been used as a catalyst, for tertiary R. Thallium salts of phenols give very high yields of phenolic esters. Phase-transfer catalysis has been used for hindered phenols. Zinc has been used to couple... 

The most important reactions of alkyl substituents a and y to the ring heteroatom are those which proceed via base-catalyzed deprotonation. Treatment of 2- and 4-alkyl heterocycles with strong bases such as sodamide and liquid ammonia, alkyllithiums, LDA, etc., results in an essentially quantitative deprotonation and formation of the corresponding carbanions. These then react normally with a wide range of electrophiles such as alkyl halides and tosylates, acyl halides, carbon dioxide, aldehydes, ketones, formal-dehyde/dimethylamine, etc., to give the expected condensation products. Typical examples of these transformations are shown in Scheme 17. Deprotonation of alkyl groups by the use of either aqueous or alcoholic bases can also be readily demonstrated by NMR spectroscopy, and while the amount of deprotonation under these conditions is normally very small, under the appropriate conditions condensations with electrophiles proceed normally (Scheme 18). 

Anhydrides are somewhat more difficult to hydrolyze than acyl halides, but here too water is usually a strong enough nucleophile. The mechanism is usually tetrahedral. Only under acid catalysis does the SnI mechanism occur and seldom even then.s06 Anhydride hydrolysis can also be catalyzed by bases. Of course, OH- attacks more readily than water, but other bases can also catalyze the reaction. This phenomenon, called nucleophilic catalysis (p. 334). is actually the result of two successive tetrahedral mechanisms. For example, pyridine catalyzes the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride in this manner.507... 

Alkyl halide, barium oxide and/or barium hydroxide in DMF 2.3 General Substances sensitive to base-catalyzed degradation O-Acyl groups are replaced with 0-alkyl groups... 

Nelson and co-workers reported cinchona alkaloid-catalyzed [4-1-2] cycloaddition of ketenes and N-thioacyl imine, affording the 4,5-cw-disubstituted l,3-thiazin-6-one derivatives 146 with high enantioselectivities (>95% ee) and diastereoselectivities (>95 5 cis. trans). Scheme 3.47 [63], Ketene, in situ generated from acyl halide 143 and base, followed by addition to imine which was generated in situ via basic elimination of a-amido sulfone 144, providing the ketene-imine addition pathway toward the cycloadducts. 

The complex (XL) has also been found to catalyze the decarbonylatlon of acid halides 17, 111, 112). Aroyl halides yield aryl halides whereas acyl halides having a ]8-hydrogen give rise to olefins 111, 112). These reactions are usually carried out at the boiling point of the acid chloride. Blum et al. 17) have proposed a mechanism for the reaction with aroyl halides (Fig. 6). The proposed scheme is based on product yields and infrared spectra of certain isolated intermediates. 

Nelson SG, Spencer KL (2000) Enantioselective (3-amino acid synthesis based on catalyzed asymmetric acyl halide-aldehyde cyclocondensation reactions. Angew Chem Int Ed 39 1323-1325... 

Acidic chloroaluminate ionic liquids have already been described as both solvents and catalysts for reactions conventionally catalyzed by AICI3, such as catalytic Friedel-Crafts alkylation [35] or stoichiometric Friedel-Crafts acylation [36], in Section 5.1. In a very similar manner, Lewis-acidic transition metal complexes can form complex anions by reaction with organic halide salts. Seddon and co-workers, for example, patented a Friedel-Crafts acylation process based on an acidic chloro-ferrate ionic liquid catalyst [37]. 

The second possibly useful reaction in this group is the tetracarbonylcobalt anion-catalyzed conversion of alkyl halides with a base, CO, and conjugated dienes into acylated dienes (24). In this reaction the alkylcobalt intermediate... 

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