Carbanions enolate reactions, carbonyl groups

This reaction illustrates the striking difference in behavior between carboxylic esters on the one hand and aldehydes and ketones on the other. When a carbanion such as an enolate ion is added to the carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone (16-41), the H or R is not lost, since these groups are much poorer leaving groups than OR. Instead the intermediate similar to 146 adds a proton at the oxygen to give a hydroxy compound. 

The decarboxylation reaction usually proceeds from the dissociated form of a carboxyl group. As a result, the primary reaction intermediate is more or less a carbanion-like species. In one case, the carbanion is stabilized by the adjacent carbonyl group to form an enolate intermediate as seen in the case of decarboxylation of malonic acid and tropic acid derivatives. In the other case, the anion is stabilized by the aid of the thiazolium ring of TPP. This is the case of transketolases. The formation of carbanion equivalents is essentially important in the synthetic chemistry no matter what methods one takes, i.e., enzymatic or ordinary chemical. They undergo C—C bond-forming reactions with carbonyl compounds as well as a number of reactions with electrophiles, such as protonation, Michael-type addition, substitution with pyrophosphate and halides and so on. In this context,... 

The fundamental aspects of the structure and stability of carbanions were discussed in Chapter 6 of Part A. In the present chapter we relate the properties and reactivity of carbanions stabilized by carbonyl and other EWG substituents to their application as nucleophiles in synthesis. As discussed in Section 6.3 of Part A, there is a fundamental relationship between the stabilizing functional group and the acidity of the C-H groups, as illustrated by the pK data summarized in Table 6.7 in Part A. These pK data provide a basis for assessing the stability and reactivity of carbanions. The acidity of the reactant determines which bases can be used for generation of the anion. Another crucial factor is the distinction between kinetic or thermodynamic control of enolate formation by deprotonation (Part A, Section 6.3), which determines the enolate composition. Fundamental mechanisms of Sw2 alkylation reactions of carbanions are discussed in Section 6.5 of Part A. A review of this material may prove helpful. 

The addition reaction of enolates and enols with carbonyl compounds is of broad scope and of great synthetic importance. Essentially all of the stabilized carbanions mentioned in Section 1.1 are capable of adding to carbonyl groups, in what is known as the generalized aldol reaction. Enolates of aldehydes, ketones, esters, and amides, the carbanions of nitriles and nitro compounds, as well as phosphoms- and sulfur-stabilized carbanions and ylides undergo this reaction. In the next section we emphasize the fundamental regiochemical and stereochemical aspects of the reactions of ketones and aldehydes. 

The Reformatsky reaction is a classical reaction in which metallic zinc, an a-haloester, and a carbonyl compound react to give a (i-hydroxyester.162 The zinc and a-haloester react to form an organozinc reagent. Because the carboxylate group can stabilize the carbanionic center, the product is essentially the zinc enolate of the dehalogenated ester.163 The enolate effects nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl group. 

In the reduction of radicals by ET, simple carbanions are practically never formed, and one-electron reduction of a carbon-centered radicals is only effective if the electron can be accommodated by the substituent, e.g., a carbonyl group [reaction (24), whereby upon electron transfer the enolate is formed (Akhlaq et al. 1987)]. Thus, in their reduction reactions these radicals react like heteroatom-centered radicals despite the fact that major spin density is at carbon. 

Enolate anions are an important class of carbanions that appear in a variety of important reactions, including alkylation a- to a carbonyl group and the aldol (reaction 16-34) and Claisen condensation (reaction 16-85) reactions. Metal enolate anions of aldehydes, ketones, esters, and other acid derivatives exist as aggregates in ether solvents, and there is evidence that the hthium enolate of... 

The most important classes of carbonyl group reactions are those which generate an a-carbanion and include the retroaldol reaction, enolization reactions, and a-de-... 

We know how stabilized carbanions such as enols and enolated enamines are key intermediates in biological isomerization reactions and in carbon-carbon bond-forming and bond-breaking events. In this chapter, we will look at two more important reaction types, called Michael additions and -eliminations, which involve stabilized carbanion species as intermediates. In a Michael addition, a nucleophile and a proton are added to the two carbons of an alkene that is conjugated to a carbonyl group. The reverse of a Michael addition is called a -elimination. 

---