0-Bromo ketones

The high nucleophilicity of sulfur atoms is preserved, even if it is bound to electron withdrawing carbonyl groups. Thiocarboxylales, for example, substitute bromine, e.g. of a-bromo ketones. In the presence of bases the or-acylthio ketones deprotonate and rearrange to episulfides. After desulfurization with triphenylphosphine, 1,3-diketones are formed in good yield. Thiolactams react in the same way, and A. Eschenmoser (1970) has used this sequence in his vitamin B]2 synthesis (p. 261). 

The silyl enol ether 940 is prepared from the Q-bromo ketone 939 by the transmetahation with trimethylsilyltributyjtin[784J. 

The conversion of the intermediate bromo aldehyde to the dioxane proceeds readily owing to a favorable equilibrium position. However, the equilibrium for the reaction of the bromo ketone with the diol is unfavorable and requires removal of the by-product, water. This is done under mild conditions using... 

Bromo ketones are commonly employed and are much easier to dehydro-halogenate than chloro ketones, although the latter are not so susceptible to reduction and rearrangement. lodo ketones are generally less accessible and very prone to reduction. 

The scope of this reaction was investigated by Djerassi, °° who showed that 4-bromo ketones in the series and 2-bromo ketones in the 5a series give unsaturated 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones in 80-90% yield on warming under nitrogen with 1.1 moles of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine in acetic acid. Cleavage with pyruvic acid affords the pure unsaturated ketones in 60-70 % yield. 

While the use of substituted hydrazine derivatives is generally recognized to be the most reliable method for dehydrobromination of bromo ketones without rearrangement, this side reaction can be important in some cases. Both the 2-bromo-A" -3-ketone and its 4-bromo isomer give the same A" -diene hydrazone (33), °° which is cleaved to the ketone in very poor yield (however, see ref. 65 for a successful use of the semicarbazide method). 

Pyridine base eliminations of a-bromo ketones cannot be recommended for general use because of the side reactions already discussed. The semi-carbazone-pyruvic acid method should be employed if strict absence of isomerization is required in the dehydrobromination of 2- or 4-bromo-3-ke-tones. This procedure is not applicable for the preparation of -3-ketones,... 

Joly s method (or modifications) is the best procedure for preparing A " -3-ketones and can be extended to the elimination of hydrogen bromide from a-bromo ketones of all types. Rearrangement is sometimes observed but is not often serious. Selectivity can be improved in some instances by lowering the reaction temperature. The method has been found useful for the preparation of A" -3-ketones from 6-halo-A" -3-ketones ... 

Dibromo-3-ketones may also be used as substrates for the preparation of A -3-ketones by Joly s method. " Hexamethylphosphoramide has been recommended as a medium suitable for the dehydrobromination of a-bromo ketones to give a, -unsaturated ketones in high yield without rearrange-... 

The reductive elimination of halohydrins provides a means of introduction of double bonds in specific locations, particularly as the halohydrin may be obtained from the corresponding a-halo ketone. This route is one way of converting a ketone into an olefin. (The elimination of alcohols obtainable by reduction has been covered above, and other routes will be discussed in sections IX and X.) An advantage of this method is that it is unnecessary to separate the epimeric alcohols obtained on reduction of the a-bromo ketone, since both cis- and tran -bromohydrins give olefins (ref. 185, p. 251, 271 cf. ref. 272). Many examples of this approach have been recorded. (For recent examples, see ref. 176, 227, 228, 242, 273.) The preparation of an-drost-16-ene (123) is illustrative, although there are better routes to this compound. 

The success of the halo ketone route depends on the stereo- and regio-selectivity in the halo ketone synthesis, as well as on the stereochemistry of reduction of the bromo ketone. Lithium aluminum hydride or sodium borohydride are commonly used to reduce halo ketones to the /mm-halohydrins. However, carefully controlled reaction conditions or alternate reducing reagents, e.g., lithium borohydride, are often required to avoid reductive elimination of the halogen. 

The sensitivity of this ketol side chain to acid or base requires careful control of the hydrolysis of the epoxyacetate. Alternatively, the enol acetate can be brominated and the resulting bromo ketone converted to the 21-acetoxy-20-ketone ... 

A solution of the bromo ketone (1 g) and sodium iodide (1 g) in 40 ml of acetone is refluxed for 20 min. The hot solution is filtered and the filtrate added to a mixture of 5 g of potassium bicarbonate and 4 ml of acetic acid. This mixture is then refluxed overnight, cooled and poured into a large excess of water. The resulting white precipitate is collected by filtration, dried in vacuo and finally recrystallized twice from methanol to afford 0.49 g of 3, 21-diacetoxypregna-5,16-dien-20-one mp 153-155° [a]jj —40° (CHCI3). 

Note 2. By cautious crystallization from methanol the unstable bromo ketone mp 176-181° (dec.) [a]o 19° is obtained in crystalline form. The compound decomposes on attempted recrystallization. 

A-Homo-estra-, 4, )-triene-3, l-dione (50). A solution of bromo ketone (49 0.2 g), silver perchlorate (0.5 g) and 20% aqueous acetone (30 ml) is heated at reflux with stirring for 30 min and then allowed to cool to room temperature. The mixture is filtered to remove precipitated silver bromide (ca. 0.19 g) and the filtrate is diluted with water (200 ml) and then extracted with chloroform. The chloroform extracts are washed, successively with water, 5% sodium bicarbonate solution, water and saturated salt solution. After being dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, the solvents are removed at reduced pressure to give a solid. Recrystallization from ethyl acetate gives A-homo-estra-l,4,5(10)-triene-3,17-dione (50 0.17 g) mp 193-197°. 

Kurath described the conversion of 3a,17y5-diacetoxy-5)9-androstan-12-one (partial structure 78) to diketone (79) by bromination of (78) and hydrolysis of the C-11 epimeric bromo ketones... 

In a separate report, the Darzens reaction was recently used by Barluenga, Concellon, and coworkers for the preparation of enantiopure a"-amino a,P-epoxy ketones. Accordingly, the Z enolate of a"-amino a-bromo ketone 41 was generated with KHMDS at -100°C. Benzaldehyde was added, and trans epoxyketone 42 was isolated in 87% yield and >95% de. ... 

Dihydrothiazoloquinoline is a key intermediate in the synthesis of natural sulfur-containing pyridoacridine alkaloids—kuanoniamines and derdercitins, where the starting dienone is converted after a multistep reaction sequence to an a-bromo-ketone, which in turn was cyclized with thiourea to the desired dihydrothiazoloquinoline, photochemically convertible to the final alkaloid derivatives 39 (Scheme 21) (92JA10081, 95TL4709, 95JA12460). 

Terminal alkynes react with lir2 and water to yield bromo ketones. For example ... 

YVe saw in Section 17.4 that keLones react with NaBH4 to yield alcohols. We ll also see in Section 22.3 that ketones react writh Br2 to yield a-bromo ketones. Perhaps surprisingly, treatment with NaBH4 of the a-bromo ketone from acetophenone yields an epoxide rather than a bromo alcohol. Show the structure of the epoxide, and explain its formation. 

The Fuvorskii reaction involves treatment of an a-bromo ketone with base to yield a ring-contracted product, for example, reaction of 2-bromocyclo-hexanone with aqueous NaOH yields cyclopentanecarboxylic acid. Propose a mechanism. 

---