Branching carbon

The major problem in such conversions is the degradation of the branched carbon side-chain on C-17 which is present in all abundant steroids and lacking in all steroid hormones. The most important starting material used in industry today is diosgenin from the Mexican dioscorea plant. It is degraded by the method of Marker to 16-dehydropregnenolone in 45% total yield. This compound is a key substance in the production of several hormones with anabolic, catabolic, and sexual effects. 

Methane is the only alkane of molecular formula CH4 ethane the only one that is C2H6 and propane the only one that is C3Hj Beginning with C4H10 however constitutional isomers (Section 1 8) are possible two alkanes have this particular molecular formula In one called n butane, four carbons are joined m a continuous chain The nmn butane stands for normal and means that the carbon chain is unbranched The second isomer has a branched carbon chain and is called isobutane... 

The C4H9 alkyl groups may be derived either from the unbranched carbon skele ton of butane or from the branched carbon skeleton of isobutane Those derived from butane are the butyl (n butyl) group and the 1 methylpropyl (sec butyl) group... 

Butene has an unbranched carbon chain with a double bond between C 1 and C 2 It IS a constitutional isomer of the other three Similarly 2 methylpropene with a branched carbon chain is a constitutional isomer of the other three... 

Bond cleavage is more probable at branched carbon atoms tertiary > secondary > primary. The positive charge tends to remain with the branched carbon. 

One further word about naming alkyl groups the prefixes sec- (for secondary) and tert- (for tertiary) used for the C4 alkyl groups in Figure 3.3 refer to the number of other carbon atoms attached to the branching carbon atom. There are four possibilities primary (1°), secondary (2°), tertiary (3°), and quaternary (4°). 

The Prelog-Djerassi lactone (abbreviated here as P-D lactone) was originally isolated as a degradation product during structural investigations of antibiotics. Its open-chain equivalent 3 is typical of the methyl-branched carbon chains that occur frequently in macrolide and polyether antibiotics. The compound serves as a test case for the development of methods of control of stereochemistry in such polymethylated structures. There have been more than 20 different syntheses of P-D lactone.24 We focus here on some of those that provide enantiomerically pure product, as they illustrate several of the methods for enantioselective synthesis.25... 

The results with Mo(CO)s were similar to Trost s report. Reactions with S,S-ligand 31 yielded the S-products predominantly. It is interesting to point out that entry 1 and entry 2 should give the same result if this reaction was going through the same tr-allyl Mo complex. However, branched carbonate (entry 1) gave slightly... 

Based on the assumption that this reaction goes through Jt-allyl Mo intermediates (A and B), the result from either linear carbonate (L-C) or branched carbonate (B-C) should give exactly the same result if the equilibrium between A and B is much faster than nucleophilic addition of sodium dimethyl malonate to A or B (Curtain-Hammett) as shown in Scheme 2.17. 

In contrast, the mismatched R-carbonate B-C-R needs slower nucleophilic substitution for better selectivity, allowing the initially formed undesired tt-allyl Mo complex B to convert to A, prior to substitution. For instance, when all the malonate was added at the beginning with the mismatched B-C-R, the ee was only 70%. On the other hand, when malonate was added to the reaction mixture over six hours, the ee was dramatically improved to 92%. Previously, we reported that the reaction in toluene gave better selectivity than in THF with branched carbonate as the starting material. We monitored the progress of the reaction in toluene and TH F with chiral HPLC and the results are summarized in Figure 2.4. 

There was still some room for uncertainty on this retention-retention mechanism. The argument was, if the unobserved tt-allyl Mo complex (such as 77 or B in Scheme 2.18) was more highly reactive towards sodium malonate than experimentally observed tt-allyl Mo complexes (such as 71, 74, and 80), the reaction should proceed through inversion (since there is an equilibrium between the two tt-allyl Mo complexes via the o-allyl complex.) If so, when the isolated Mo-complex 71 was subjected to the reaction, 71 must be equilibrated to the enantiomer of 71 via the o-allyl complex prior to reaction with a nucleophile. Therefore, reaction from the Mo complex 71 should proceed with less stereoselectivity than that from a mismatched branched carbonate. This hypothesis was examined, as shown in Scheme 2.26. 

A further complication that may be encountered in the nomenclature of branched-chain monosaccharides is in the numbering of the carbon atoms of the molecule. There is some precedent for numbering the carbon atoms of the branched moiety continuously with the carbon atoms of the main chain. However, this can result in confusion and ambiguity, especially when there are further substituents on the branched carbon atoms. In this connection, the Geneva system of nomenclature11 provides a reasonable solution, which is illustrated in the naming of compounds XII10 and XIII. 

For the vinyl acetate hydroformylation, it has been proposed that the insertion of the alkene into the Rh - H at the branched carbon atom is stabilized by a five-membered ring intermediate, which has been observed by NMR spectroscopy [69],... 

In a nonconjugated diene, where the C=C bonds are separated by two or more methylene groups, only the double bond containing a branched carbon atom is reduced (equation 25)85. 

The formal view. The formal view is much simpler. The racemic catalysts have a twofold axis and therefore C2-symmetry. Both sites of the catalysts will therefore preferentially co-ordinate to the same face (be it re or si) of propene. Both sites will show the same enantiospecificity the twofold axis converts one site in the other one. Subsequently, insertion will lead to the same enantiomer. According to the definition of Natta, this means that isotactic polymer will be formed. If the chain would move from one site to the other without insertion of a next molecule of propene, it will continue making the same absolute configuration at the branched carbon atom. Hence, no mistake occurs when this happens. 

German for turpentine) and there are approximately 15000 terpenes. Terpenes are lipophilic, and the building blocks are five-carbon units with the branched carbon skeleton of isopentane. The basic units are sometimes called isoprene (F ig. 11.5fl), because heat decomposes terpenoids to isoprene. Depending on the number of C5 units fused, we distinguish mono- (Cio), sesqui- (C15), di- (C20), tri-(C30), tetra- (C40) and polyterpenoids [(Cs) , with n > 8]. Alpha-Pinene and bor-neol (Fig. 11.56) are examples of monoterpenes. 

The Prelog-Djerassi lactone (abbreviated as P-D-lactone) was originally isolated as a degradation product during structural investigation of antibiotics. Its open-chain precursor 1, is typical of methyl-branched carbon chains that occur frequently in macrolide and polyether antibiotics. 

Blends of PC, ABS, and MMBS are useful to form articles with good impact and low gloss. The articles produced are useful as automotive components, bottles, and tool housings. A mixture of randomly branched carbonate polymers and linear carbonate polymers has been suggested (19). MMBS acts also as a melt strength enhancing agent. 

Only blastmycinone (36), valienamine (39), 40, 41, and 44 have no substituent at the branching carbon atom (Type B). A diversity (such as formyl, hydroxymethyl, methyl, 1-hydroxyethyl, acetyl, 2-hydroxyace-tyl, 1,2-dihydroxyethyl, higher alkyl, and carboxyl groups) is observed in the branchings, but, some of them are chemically interconvertible, and also can be derived from a common intermediate (see Scheme 1). 

In Chapter 12 and in the preceding sections of this chapter we examined displacement and addition reactions involving nucleophilic centers on O, N, or S. Bonds from carbon to these atoms can usually be broken easily by acidic or basic catalysis. The breaking and making of C-C bonds does not occur as readily and the "carbon skeletons" of organic molecules often stick together tenaciously. Yet living cells must both form and destroy the many complex, branched carbon compounds found within them. 

Because of the importance of carbonyl groups to the mechanism of condensation reactions, much of the assembly of either straight-chain or branched-carbon skeletons takes place between compounds in which the average oxidation state of the carbon atoms is similar to that in carbohydrates (or in formaldehyde, H2CO). The diversity of chemical reactions possible with compounds at this state of oxidation is a maximum, a fact that may explain why carbohydrates and closely related substances are major biosynthetic precursors and why the average state of oxidation of the carbon in... 

Branched carbon skeletons are formed by standard reaction types but sometimes with addition of rearrangement steps. Compare the biosynthetic routes to three different branched five-carbon units (Fig. 17-19) The first is the use of a propionyl group to initiate formation of a branched-chain fatty acid. Propionyl-CoA is carboxylated to methylmalonyl-CoA, whose acyl group is transferred to the acyl carrier protein before condensation. Decarboxylation and reduction yields an acyl-CoA derivative with a methyl group in the 3-position. 

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