Carbonyl Condensations The Aldol Reaction

Carbonyl condensation reactions take place between tw o carbonyl partners and involve a combination of nucleophilic addition and a-substitution steps. One partner is converted into an enolate-ion nucleophile and adds to the 

The product is a j8-hydroxy carbonyl compound. Sign in srwww.thomsonedu.com to see a simulation based on this figure and to take a short quiz. 

O A carbonyl compound with an a hydrogen atom is converted by base into its enolate ion. 

0 Protonation of the tetrahedral alkoxide ion intermediate gives the neutral condensation product and regenerates the base catalyst. 

Thomson J Click Organic Interactive to learn to draw the structures of products from aldol-type condensation reactions. 

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Nature builds carbon-carbon bonds essentially by aldol or Claisen-type reactions, both involving a carbonyl group as an electrophile, and an enol or enolate as a nucleophile. A less-frequent reaction bears a formal analogy to the Claisen acyloin condensation. The aldol reaction of carbohydrates always involves an aldehyde as the electrophile, and an aldehyde or ketone as the nucleophile (see Eq. 1). 

An aldol reaction is a reaction between two carbonyl compounds in which one carbonyl compound plays the role of a nucleophile while the other carbonyl compound acts as an electrophile. The term aldol reaction covers two types of reactions, aldol additions (see Section 13.3) and aldol condensations. The aldol reactions that lead to /i-hydroxycarbonyl compounds belong to the class of aldol additions. Aldol condensations start from the same substrates but result in a,/l-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (Figure 13.49). 

On the other hand, we might want to carry out a carbonyl condensation reaction. Since we need to generate only a small amount of the enolate ion in the presence of unreacted carbonyl compound, the aldol reaction requires only a catalytic amount of a weaker base, rather than a full equivalent. Once a condensation has occurred, the basic catalyst is regenerateJ To carry out an aldol reaction on propanal, for example, we might dissol the aldehyde in methanol, add 0.05 equivalent of sodium methoxide, asl then warm the mixture to give the aldol product. 

Besides the aldol reaction to form y0-hydroxyketone, 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition can also form similar molecules. In addition to the Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction, the following are also similar or closely related to the aldol reaction the Claisen-Schmidt Condensation (the aldol reaction between benzaldehyde and an aliphatic aldehyde or ketone in the presence of relatively strong bases to form an o, )0-unsaturated aldehyde or ketone), the Henry Reaction (base-catalyzed addition of nitroalkane to aldehydes or ketones), the Ivanov Reaction (the addition of enediolates or aryl acetic acid to electrophiles, especially carbonyl compounds), the Knoevenagel Reaction (the condensation of aldehydes or ketones with acidic methylene compounds in the presence of amine or ammonia), the Reformatsky Reaction (the condensation of aldehydes or ketones with organozinc derivatives of of-halo-esters), and the Robinson Annulation Reaction (the condensation of ketone cyclohexanone with methyl vinyl ketone or its equivalent to form bicyclic compounds). 

Ba.se Catalyzed. Depending on the nature of the hydrocarbon groups attached to the carbonyl, ketones can either undergo self-condensation, or condense with other activated reagents, in the presence of base. Name reactions which describe these conditions include the aldol reaction, the Darzens-Claisen condensation, the Claisen-Schmidt condensation, and the Michael reaction. 

The addition of the a-carbon of an enolizable aldehyde or ketone 1 to the carbonyl group of a second aldehyde or ketone 2 is called the aldol reaction It is a versatile method for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds, and is frequently used in organic chemistry. The initial reaction product is a /3-hydroxy aldehyde (aldol) or /3-hydroxy ketone (ketol) 3. A subsequent dehydration step can follow, to yield an o ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl compound 4. In that case the entire process is also called aldol condensation. 

Aldehydes and ketones with an a hydrogen atom undergo a base-catalyzed carbonyl condensation reaction called the aldol reaction. For example, treatment of acetaldehyde with a base such as sodium ethoxide or sodium hydroxide in a protic solvent leads to rapid and reversible formation of 3-hydroxybutanal, known commonly as aldol (aidehyde + alcohol), hence the general name of the reaction. 

Mechanism of the aldol reaction, a typical carbonyl condensation. 

Tire mechanism of the Claisen condensation is similar to that of the aldol condensation and involves the nucleophilic addition of an ester enolate ion to the carbonyl group of a second ester molecule. The only difference between the aldol condensation of an aldeiwde or ketone and the Claisen condensation of an ester involves the fate of the initially formed tetrahedral intermediate. The tetrahedral intermediate in the aldol reaction is protonated to give an alcohol product—exactly the behavior previously seen for aldehydes and ketones (Section 19.4). The tetrahedral intermediate in the Claisen reaction, however, expels an alkoxide leaving group to yield an acyl substitution product—exactly the behavior previously seen for esters (Section 21.6). The mechanism of the Claisen condensation reaction is shown in Figure 23.5. 

The aldol reaction is a carbonyl condensation that occurs between two aldehyde or ketone molecules. Aldol reactions are reversible, leading first to a /3-hydroxy aldehyde or ketone and then to an cr,/6-unsaturated product. Mixed aldol condensations between two different aldehydes or ketones generally give a mixture of all four possible products. A mixed reaction can be successful, however, if one of the two partners is an unusually good donor (ethyl aceto-acetate, for instance) or if it can act only as an acceptor (formaldehyde and benzaldehyde, for instance). Intramolecular aldol condensations of 1,4- and 1,5-diketones are also successful and provide a good way to make five-and six-inembered rings. 

Three tactical approaches were surveyed in the evolution of our program. As outlined in Scheme 2.7, initially the aldol reaction (Path A) was performed direcdy between aldehyde 63 and the dianion derived from tricarbonyl 58. In this way, it was indeed possible to generate the Z-lithium enolate of 58 as shown in Scheme 2.7 which underwent successful aldol condensation. However, the resultant C7 P-hydroxyl functionality tended to cyclize to the C3 carbonyl group, thereby affording a rather unmanageable mixture of hydroxy ketone 59a and lactol 59b products. Lac-tol formation could be reversed following treatment of the crude aldol product under the conditions shown (Scheme 2.7) however, under these conditions an inseparable 4 1 mixture of diastereomeric products, 60 (a or b) 61 (a or b) [30], was obtained. This avenue was further impeded when it became apparent that neither the acetate nor TES groups were compatible with the remainder of the synthesis. 

Although the results are easily rationalised in the case of the a-alkylation (attack of the electrophile at the Re face, i.e., attack from the less hindered a face), in the aldol condensation it is somewhat more difficult to rationalise and several factors should be considered. According to Evans [14] one possible explanation for the diastereofacial selection observed for these chiral enolates is illustrated in Scheme 9.14. In the aldol reactions, the more basic carbonyl group of the aldehyde partner interacts with the chelated boron enolate 45 to give the "complex" A which may... 

The aldol reaction can be applied to dicarbonyl compounds in which the two carbonyl groups are favorably disposed for intramolecular reaction. For formation of five- and six-membered rings, the use of a catalytic amount of a base is frequently satisfactory. With more complex structures, the special techniques required for directed aldol condensations are used. Scheme 2.9 illustrates intramolecular aldol condensations. 

Acetyl thiadiazole also displays enhanced reactivity in both the carbonyl and the methyl groups and enters the aldol condensation, the Mannich reaction, cyanoethylation reaction, the Willgerodt... 

The forward synthetic reaction is a base-catalysed condensation reaction between two carbonyl compounds, the aldol condensation leading to -hydroxy-aldehydes or / -hydroxyketones followed by dehydration. This sequence is one of the most important carbon-carbon bond forming reactions, and aldol-type condensation reactions are considered in a number of other sections of the text, for example, the Doebner reaction (Section 5.18.3, p. 805), the Knoevenagel reaction (Section 5.11.6, p. 681), the Perkin reaction (Section 6.12.3, p. 1036) and the Robinson annelation reaction (Section 7.2). 

In the aldol condensation, an enolate anion acts as a carbon nucleophile and adds to a carbonyl group to form a new carbon-carbon bond. Thus, the a-carbon of one aldehyde molecule becomes bonded to the carbonyl carbon of another aldehyde molecule to form an aldol (a 3-hydroxyaldehyde). In the mixed aldol condensation, the reactant with an a-hydrogen supplies the enolate anion, and the other reactant, usually without an a-hydrogen, supplies the carbonyl group to which the enolate ion adds. The aldol reaction is used commercially and also occurs in nature. 

Disconnection 37 again uses the natural polarity of the carbonyl group but at the next bond 37 since we hope to use some enolate derivative 38 in an alkylation reaction. But—and it is a big but—do not think for a moment that you can make 37 just by mixing the ketone 39 with an alkyl halide and some base. The problem is that the ketone is itself electrophilic and the self-condensation by the aldol reaction (chapter 19) is generally preferred to alkylation. 

Hexafluoroacetone has also demonstrated unusual reactivity when condensed with the boron cnolatc of an optically active oxazolidinone or the boron enolate of the sultam derived from camphorsulfonic acid s to give products 3 and 4, respectively. The absolute stereochemistry of the products 3 and 4 is the opposite of that formed on addition to nonfluorinated ketones and aldehydes. This change was attributed to the involvement of an open transition state in the aldol reaction, a consequence of the diminished basicity of fluorinated carbonyl oxygens. 

The Michael addition represents an extremely efficient synthetic method for achieving chain elongation by adding a three (or more) carbon fragment electrophile to a nucleophilic moiety. Notice that the typical Michael electrophiles (e.g. 90) are products of condensation of carbonyl compounds and can be easily formed via the aldol-like condensation, the Wittig reaction (with ylides like 81), the Perkin reaction, or the Mannich reaction (see below). 

The isolation of the initial aldol products from the condensation of the enolates of carbene complexes and carbonyl compounds is possible if the carbonyl compound is pretreated with a Lewis acid. As indicated in equation (9), the scope of the aldol reaction can also be extended to ketones and enolizable aldehydes by this procedure. The condensations with ketones were most successful when boron trifluoride etherate was employed, and for aldehydes, the Lewis acid of choice is titanium tetrachloride. The carbonyl compound is pretreated with a stoichiometric amount of the Lewis acid and to this is added a solution of the anion generated from the caibene complex. An excess of the carbonyl-Lewis acid complex (2-10 equiv.) is employed however, above 2 equiv. only small improvements in the overall yield are realized. 

C. Reactions of Carbon Nucleophiles with Carbonyl Compounds The Aldol Condensation... 

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