Benzilic acid rearrangment

This reaction applies to many i,2 diketones, and is termed the Benzilic Acid Rearrangement. It provides a ready method for the preparation of disubstituted a4iydroxy-carboxylic acids. When applied to a cyclic 1,2-diketone, the ring system is necessarily reduced by one carbon atom for example, cyclohexan-i,2 ... 

Benzilic acid rearrangement Benzoin reaction (condensation) Blanc chloromethylation reaction Bouveault-Blanc reduction Bucherer hydantoin synthesis Bucherer reaction Cannizzaro reaction Claisen aldoi condensation Claisen condensation Claisen-Schmidt reaction. Clemmensen reduction Darzens glycidic ester condensation Diazoamino-aminoazo rearrangement Dieckmann reaction Diels-Alder reaction Doebner reaction Erlenmeyer azlactone synthesis Fischer indole synthesis Fischer-Speior esterification Friedel-Crafts reaction... 

The benzilic acid rearrangement of steroid a-diketones is often the preferred method for ring contraction. Yields are generally excellent, and in several instances the reaction has been shown to be stereospecific. Preparation of the starting a-diketones is discussed below and illustrated with several excellent experimental procedures. 

Hirschmann and co-workers have reported the synthesis of another A-nor analog of cortisone obtained from the benzilic acid rearrangement of a 2,3-diketo-A -steroid. 17a,20 20,21-Bismethylenedioxypregna-L4-diene-... 

In systems which preclude retro-aldol condensations, benzilic acid rearrangement of 11,12-diketones affords normal C-norsteroids in fair yields. For example, 11,12-diketotigogenin (82) is converted to the C-nor-(5oc,9(, 22a)-spirostane (83) in 65 % yield by barium oxide in boiling aqueous methyl-cellosolve. ... 

An interesting one-step combined oxidation and benzilic acid rearrangement has been described by Holden and Kerwin in connection with the synthesis of C-norpregnanes from 3a,20yS-dihydroxy-5j9-pregnan-12-one (partial structure 85). 

Ring contraction by benzilic acid rearrangement of a-diketones... 

Baeyer-Villager oxidation, 10, 151, 433 Bamford-Stevens reaction, 402 Barton reaction, 253 Beckmann rearrangement, 140 Benzilic acid rearrangement, 418, 435 3 -Benzoyloxy-7-methylenecholest-5-ene, 60 Benzylmagnesium chloride, 64 3-Benzyloxycholesta-3,5-diene, 342... 

Finally a proton transfer leads to formation of carboxylate anion 3. Of particular interest is the benzilic acid rearrangement of cyclic diketones such as 4, since it... 

Substrates can be 1,2-diketones with aryl groups as well as some aliphatic substituents, cyclic and heterocyclic diketones. However the benzilic acid rearrangement is of limited preparative importance. 

Mechanistically closely related is the benzilic acid rearrangement, where an alkyl or aryl group migrates instead of the hydrogen. 

The following reaction, called the benzilic acid rearrangement, tajkes place by typical carbonyl-group reactions. Propose a mechanism fPh = phenyl). 

The first step in the nonreversible degradation reactions is the formation of a reactive a-dicarbonyl species through the p-elimination of a hydroxide ion. The subsequent reaction pathways to all degradation products can be described by just five reaction types, namely, p-elimination, benzilic acid rearrangement, a-dicarbonyl cleavage, aldol condensation, and retro-aldol condensation (see Fig. 7).31 Retro-aldol condensation and a-dicarbonyl cleavage involve C-C bond... 

Some reactions that belong in this category have been considered in earlier chapters. Among these are the Tollens condensation (16-46), the benzil-benzilic acid rearrangement (18-6), and the Wallach rearrangement (18-43). 

Benzil (and other a-diketones Ar—CO—CO—Ar) upon refluxing with aqueous-alcoholic potassium hydroxide undergo the benzilic acid rearrangement. Thus benzil is converted into a salt of benzilic acid ... 

We have already discussed a large group of reactions in which carbanions add to the C=0 group (cf. pp. 221-234), including examples of intramolecular carbanion addition, e.g. an aldol reaction (p. 226), Dieckmann reaction (p. 230), and the benzilic acid rearrangement (p. 232), and also to the C=C—C=O system, the Michael reaction... 

Literature reports on diazaquinones derived from o-benzoquinone are very rare. Compound 74 was suggested to be a common intermediate formed during heating of 2,5-bis(diazo)-3,4-diketoadipate 73 with isopropanol and with various bases (76T269). Direct reduction of the intermediate with isopropanol provided pyridazine 75. A base-catalyzed benzilic acid rearrangement of 74 followed by decarboxylation of 76 afforded pyrazole 77 (Scheme 18). 

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