Biacetyl

Some trivial names are retained acetone (2-propanone), biacetyl (2,3-butanedione), propiophen-one (CgHj—CO—CH2CH3), chalcone (C(,H5—CH=CH—CO—CgH5), and deoxybenzoin (C<,H5—CH3—CO—C H ). 

Acetic acid, fp 16.635°C ((1), bp 117.87°C at 101.3 kPa (2), is a clear, colorless Hquid. Water is the chief impurity in acetic acid although other materials such as acetaldehyde, acetic anhydride, formic acid, biacetyl, methyl acetate, ethyl acetoacetate, iron, and mercury are also sometimes found. Water significantly lowers the freezing point of glacial acetic acid as do acetic anhydride and methyl acetate (3). The presence of acetaldehyde [75-07-0] or formic acid [64-18-6] is commonly revealed by permanganate tests biacetyl [431-03-8] and iron are indicated by color. Ethyl acetoacetate [141-97-9] may cause slight color in acetic acid and is often mistaken for formic acid because it reduces mercuric chloride to calomel. Traces of mercury provoke catastrophic corrosion of aluminum metal, often employed in shipping the acid. 

Direct oxidation yields biacetyl (2,3-butanedione), a flavorant, or methyl ethyl ketone peroxide, an initiator used in polyester production. Ma.nufa.cture. MEK is predominandy produced by the dehydrogenation of 2-butanol. The reaction mechanism (11—13) and reaction equihbtium (14) have been reported, and the process is in many ways analogous to the production of acetone (qv) from isopropyl alcohol. 

Bl cetyl. Biacetyl [431-03-8] (2,3-butanedione) is a greenish yeUow liquid with a quinone odor. Biacetyl occurs naturally in bay oil and is readily soluble in organic solvents. It is a constituent of many food aromas, eg, butter, and is commonly used to flavor margarine. Flavor-grade biacetyl was available at 20.40/kg in July 1993, and is used as an odorant for coffee, vinegar, tobacco, and in perfumes. 

Biacetyl is produced by the dehydrogenation of 2,3-butanediol with a copper catalyst (290,291). Prior to the availabiUty of 2,3-butanediol, biacetyl was prepared by the nitrosation of methyl ethyl ketone and the hydrolysis of the resultant oxime. Other commercial routes include passing vinylacetylene into a solution of mercuric sulfate in sulfuric acid and decomposing the insoluble product with dilute hydrochloric acid (292), by the reaction of acetal with formaldehyde (293), by the acid-cataly2ed condensation of 1-hydroxyacetone with formaldehyde (294), and by fermentation of lactic acid bacterium (295—297). Acetoin [513-86-0] (3-hydroxy-2-butanone) is also coproduced in lactic acid fermentation. 

Bravo et al. studied the reaction of various ylides with monooximes of biacetyl and benzil. Dimethylsulfonium methylide and triphenylarsonium methylide gave 2-isoxazolin-5-ol and isoxazoles, with the former being the major product. Triphenylphosphonium methylide and dimethyloxosulfonium methylide gave open-chain products (Scheme 135) (70TL3223, 72G395). The cycloaddition of benzonitrile oxide to enolic compounds produced 5-ethers which could be cleaved or dehydrated (Scheme 136) (70CJC467, 72NKK1452). 

Biacetyl (butan-2,3-dione) [431-03-8] M 86.1, b 88 , d 0.981, ni 1.3933. Dried with anhydrous CaS04, CaCl2 or MgS04, then vacuum distd under nitrogen, taking the middle fraction and storing it at Dry-ice temperature in the dark (to prevent polymerization). 

Washed with EtOH until colourless, then with diethyl ether or acetone to remove biacetyl. Air dried by suction and further dried in a vacuum desiccator. 

Note that the acetonitrile oxide cyclooligomers (e.g. 13) are not true oxime derivatives. Such derivatives have been prepared from biacetyl, however . Derivatives related to 14, below, were prepared and found not to be good complexing agents. They were, nevertheless, capable of phase transferring either sodium or potassium permanganate into dichloromethane. 

In addition to thiodiglycolic acid esters, the use of bis(cyanomethyl)sulfide in the Hinsberg reaction has facilitated the preparation of 5-cyano-thiophene-2-carboxamides. Thus, the condensation of biacetyl with bis(cyanomethyl)sulfide resulted in the efficient preparation of 10 (94% yield). 

The reaction of diketosulfides with 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds other than glyoxal is often not efficient for the direct preparation of thiophenes. For example, the reaction of diketothiophene 24 and benzil or biacetyl reportedly gave only glycols as products. The elimination of water from the P-hydroxy ketones was not as efficient as in the case of the glyoxal series. Fortunately, the mixture of diastereomers of compounds 25 and 26 could be converted to their corresponding thiophenes by an additional dehydration step with thionyl chloride and pyridine. 

Mefenidil (78) is a cerebral vasodilator which may be of value in treating geriatric cerebral circulatory problems. It can be synthesized by reacting benzamidine (76) with biacetyl to produce the highly reactive methylene benzimidazole adduct 77. Reaction of the latter with sodium cyanide completes the synthesis 1,26]. 

Diketones can be reduced usually in high selectivity to either an intermediate ketol or thediol (72). Selectivity to the ketol depends in large measure on both catalyst and solvent. In cyclohexane solvent, the maximal yield of ketol obtained on partial hydrogenation of biacetyl fell in the order 5% Pd-on-C (99%), 5% Rh-on-C (92%), 5% Pt-on-C (88%), 5% Ru-on-C (63%) from acetylacelone the descending order was 5% Pd-on-C (86%), 5% Rh-on-C (60%), 5% Ru-on-C(35%), 5% Pt-on-C (27%)(56) from 1,4-cyclohexanedione in isopropanol initial selectivity to the ketol fell in the sequence 5% Pd-on-SiO, (96%), 5% Ir-on-C (95%), 5% Ru-on-C (92%), 5% Pt-on-C (67%) (73). Generalizing from these data, it appears palladium is a good first choice to achieve maximal selectivity. 

Quinoxaline (199) underwent homolytic acetylation by acetyl radicals from biacetyl to give a chromatographically separable mixture of 2-acetyl- (200, R = H) and 2,3-diacetylquinoxaline (200, R = Ac) (reactants, H2SO4, AgNOs, H2O, 50°C then Na2S20g/H20i during 15 min and stirred 15 h 48% and 12%, respectively) " (see Section 2.1.3). 

Acetoin consumes 4 equivalents of V(V) to produce some biacetyl via C-H fission however, this cleavage is not accompanied by a hydronium-ion concentration dependence of the rate thereby differing from a secondary alcohol oxidation. The mechanism of breakdown of the complex is depicted as follows... 

One intermediate thought to be the precursor of biacetyl is 2,3,4-pentanetrione which may be formed from 3-peroxyacetylacetone radical. 

Table 5 Energy values obtained for the ground and first singlet and triplet excited states of trans-biacetyl in two extremal conformations of the methyl groups, as well as torsional barriers.

Ir(cod)Cl]2 reacts with Q-diimines LL (derived from glyoxal and biacetyl) to yield cationic [Ir(cod)LL]+.523 If the reaction is carried out in the presence of SnCl2, then the pentacoordinate Ir(SnCl3)(cod)LL species results. The compounds are active catalysts in the homogeneous hydrogen transfer from isopropanol to cyclohexanone or to acetophenone followed by hydrogenation... 

They have shown that singlet energy transfer from many donors to biacetyl takes place by a diffusion-controlled process. 

Backstrom and Sandros<54-55) found that the phosphorescence of biacetyl in benzene solution at room temperature was quenched at a diffusion-controlled rate by aromatic hydrocarbons when the triplet energy of the hydrocarbon was sufficiently below that of biacetyl. 

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