Carbanions oxidation

The removal of an electron from a carbanion oxidizes it to a free radical and sometimes, in the presence of oxygen, to a peroxide. Organometallic compounds give many radical-like reactions of course, and a possible oxidation mechanism for such compounds is a preliminary dissociation into radicals followed by oxidation of the radicals and the metal. 

Consider the C-H bond in alkanes. Carbon is a more electronegative element than hydrogen. Consequently, the electron pair that forms this bond is shifted towards the carbon atom. In the extreme, an ionic representation of this bond can be given as pictured in 122 (Scheme 2.45). Within these conventions the carbon atom in an alkane can be approximated as a carbanion (oxidation level 0 by definition). Using this definition it becomes possible to apply oxidation-reduction terminology to the processes as if they occurred to ion pair 122. Thus, oxidation of 122 with the loss of one electron leads to the radical 123. With the loss of two electrons, the oxidation leads to carbocation 124. Similarly, the conversion of an alkane to an alcohol and the alcohol into an aldehyde and the aldehyde eventually to a carboxylic acid can unambiguously be classified as an oxidation sequence with the loss of two, four, and six electrons. The oxidation levels 1, 2, and 3 are ascribed respectively to these functional derivatives. The conversion of an alkane to an alkene or alkyne can be interpreted in an analogous fashion. 

It is thought that the mechanism involves abstraction of the proton a to the carboxyl group followed by oxidation of the resulting carbanion. The exact nature of the oxidation step - 1-electron vs. 2-electron transfer and the importance of flavin N5 or 43 adducts - is presently unknown. Nucleophilic addition can take place by hydride or carbanion attack at N5 or 4a of the isoalloxazine (Scheme 5). However, there is radical trapping and CIDNP evidence that carbanion oxidation can take place by 1-electron transfer. 1-Electron transfer from a carbanion to the electron-deficient, but aromatic, oxidised flavin has been observed in model systems (Scheme 5). 

Most of the oxidation reactions discussed in this chapter are reactions of anions which are solubilized by the phase transfer method. The catalyst transports into solution an oxidizing anion which reacts stoichiometrically with a substrate. It is important to distinguish this kind of catalysis from catalytic oxidation in which the oxidizing agent is continually regenerated (Sect. 11.5). With the exception of carbanion oxidation (Sect. 11.7) and phosphorylation (Sect. 11.8), this chapter deals with ionic oxidizing reagents in nonpolar solutions. 

Oxidation of Carbanions. Oxidative coupling of terminal alkynes to diynes (eq 1) with Cu(OAc)2 and pyridine can be carried out in MeOH or in benzene/ether. The reaction requires the presence of copper(I) salt the rate-determining step corresponds to the formation of the Cu acetylide. ... 

The parallels between the reactions of firefly luciferin, as presently understood, and those of the acridan are striking, as the comparison below shows. Note that the oxidation to form the peroxide does not take place in one step. Investigation [37] has shown that electron transfer and recombination within the solvent cage, very similar to other carbanion oxidations, gives the appearance of a one step reaction. 

The introduction of additional alkyl groups mostly involves the formation of a bond between a carbanion and a carbon attached to a suitable leaving group. S,.,2-reactions prevail, although radical mechanisms are also possible, especially if organometallic compounds are involved. Since many carbanions and radicals are easily oxidized by oxygen, working under inert gas is advised, until it has been shown for each specific reaction that air has no harmful effect on yields. 

Olefin synthesis starts usually from carbonyl compounds and carbanions with relatively electropositive, redox-active substituents mostly containing phosphorus, sulfur, or silicon. The carbanions add to the carbonyl group and the oxy anion attacks the oxidizable atom Y in-tramolecularly. The oxide Y—O" is then eliminated and a new C—C bond is formed. Such reactions take place because the formation of a Y—0 bond is thermodynamically favored and because Y is able to expand its coordination sphere and to raise its oxidation number. 

The phosphorus ylides of the Wittig reaction can be replaced by trimethylsilylmethyl-carbanions (Peterson reaction). These silylated carbanions add to carbonyl groups and can easily be eliminated with base to give olefins. The only by-products are volatile silanols. They are more easily removed than the phosphine oxides or phosphates of the more conventional Wittig or Homer reactions (D.J. Peterson, 1968). 

The most general methods for the syntheses of 1,2-difunctional molecules are based on the oxidation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (p. 117) and the opening of oxiranes by hetero atoms (p. 123fl.). There exist, however, also a few useful reactions in which an a - and a d -synthon or two r -synthons are combined. The classical polar reaction is the addition of cyanide anion to carbonyl groups, which leads to a-hydroxynitriles (cyanohydrins). It is used, for example, in Strecker s synthesis of amino acids and in the homologization of monosaccharides. The ff-hydroxy group of a nitrile can be easily substituted by various nucleophiles, the nitrile can be solvolyzed or reduced. Therefore a large variety of terminal difunctional molecules with one additional carbon atom can be made. Equally versatile are a-methylsulfinyl ketones (H.G. Hauthal, 1971 T. Durst, 1979 O. DeLucchi, 1991), which are available from acid chlorides or esters and the dimsyl anion. Carbanions of these compounds can also be used for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (p. 65f.). 

The reduction of o-nitrophenyl acetic acids or esters leads to cyclization to oxindoles. Several routes to o-nitrophenylacetic acid derivatives arc available, including nitroarylation of carbanions with o-nitroaryl halides[2l,22] or trif-late[23] and acylation of o-nitrotoluenes with diethyl oxalate followed by oxidation of the resulting 3-(u-nitrophenyl)pyruvate[24 26]. 

Work in the mid-1970s demonstrated that the vitamin K-dependent step in prothrombin synthesis was the conversion of glutamyl residues to y-carboxyglutamyl residues. Subsequent studies more cleady defined the role of vitamin K in this conversion and have led to the current theory that the vitamin K-dependent carboxylation reaction is essentially a two-step process which first involves generation of a carbanion at the y-position of the glutamyl (Gla) residue. This event is coupled with the epoxidation of the reduced form of vitamin K and in a subsequent step, the carbanion is carboxylated (77—80). Studies have provided thermochemical confirmation for the mechanism of vitamin K and have shown the oxidation of vitamin KH2 (15) can produce a base of sufficient strength to deprotonate the y-position of the glutamate (81—83). 

Fatty acids with odd numbers of carbon atoms are rare in mammals, but fairly common in plants and marine organisms. Humans and animals whose diets include these food sources metabolize odd-carbon fatty acids via the /3-oxida-tion pathway. The final product of /3-oxidation in this case is the 3-carbon pro-pionyl-CoA instead of acetyl-CoA. Three specialized enzymes then carry out the reactions that convert propionyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA, a TCA cycle intermediate. (Because propionyl-CoA is a degradation product of methionine, valine, and isoleucine, this sequence of reactions is also important in amino acid catabolism, as we shall see in Chapter 26.) The pathway involves an initial carboxylation at the a-carbon of propionyl-CoA to produce D-methylmalonyl-CoA (Figure 24.19). The reaction is catalyzed by a biotin-dependent enzyme, propionyl-CoA carboxylase. The mechanism involves ATP-driven carboxylation of biotin at Nj, followed by nucleophilic attack by the a-carbanion of propi-onyl-CoA in a stereo-specific manner. 

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