Carbonyl compounds, from nitro reagents

Secondary amines can be prepared from the primary amine and carbonyl compounds by way of the reduction of the derived Schiff bases, with or without the isolation of these intermediates. This procedure represents one aspect of the general method of reductive alkylation discussed in Section 5.16.3, p. 776. With aromatic primary amines and aromatic aldehydes the Schiff bases are usually readily isolable in the crystalline state and can then be subsequently subjected to a suitable reduction procedure, often by hydrogenation over a Raney nickel catalyst at moderate temperatures and pressures. A convenient procedure, which is illustrated in Expt 6.58, uses sodium borohydride in methanol, a reagent which owing to its selective reducing properties (Section 5.4.1, p. 519) does not affect other reducible functional groups (particularly the nitro group) which may be present in the Schiff base contrast the use of sodium borohydride in the presence of palladium-on-carbon, p. 894. 

The first lithiopyrazine derivative was prepared by Hirschberg et al. (1015) from 3-iodo-2,5-dimethylpyrazine and butyllithium in ether subsequent reaction with (a) carbon dioxide gave 3-carboxy-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, and (b) several aromatic aldehydes gave the carbinols (62, R = H, p-methoxy, m-nitro) (1015). Similar reactions were observed when 2-formylpyridine and 2-acetylpyridine (1016) were used as the carbonyl compounds, but with acetaldehyde attempted reactions were unsuccessful (1015). A patent also describes the preparation of many carbinols from 2,5-disubstituted 3-iodopyrazines (164). The lithio reagent derived from 3-iodo-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (with butyllithium in hexane) with 2-nitrobenzaldehyde gave 2,5-dimethyl-3[ 1 -hydroxy-1 (2"-nitrophenyl)methyl] pyrazine (1017). 

Lower valent tungsten halides are a new class of deoxygenation agents, e.g. for the conversion of carbonyl or epoxy compounds into olefins . A new reagent, generated in situ from iron pentacarbonyl and a small amount of base in moist solvents, selectively and efficiently hydrogenates the ethylenic portion of a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds, such as ketones or lactones, under mild conditions. Aliphatic tert. amides can be easily reduced to alcohols by alkali metals in hexa-methylphosphoramide and a protic cosolvent such as tert-butanol. Aldehydes can be obtained from acids by catalytic reduction of intermediate carboxylic alkoxyformic anhydrides . Sec. nitro compds. are converted into ketones by the joint action of a nitrite ester and NaNOg under mild, non-acidic conditions . 

The reaction products formed by other nucleophilic reagents (e.g., amino compounds or carbanions derived from carbonyl or nitro compounds) can be considered as ring chain prototropic systems. The newly formed Cl—or Cl—C bond in the cyclic form of these compounds is more or less polar (evidence for this is the sensitivity to... 

Carbonic add diesters are very attractive reagents and of great economic interest because they represent safe, nonenvironmentally acceptable alternatives to phosgene for carbonylation and carboxylation reactions. For example, methoxycarboxylation with dimethyl carbonate offers an eco-friendly alternative route for the production of carbamates and isocyanates, which are valuable precursors of ureas (see Sections 4.3.1 and 4.3.2) [781, 782]. The method is comparable, from an environmental point of view, with the transition metal catalyzed carbonylation of nitro compounds and amines with CO. 

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