Carbonyl groups relative reactivities

In certain polyfluorinated cyclic compounds difiuoromethylene groups are hydrolyzed to carbonyl groups relatively easily.141 This is usually associated with the formation of cycloalkene intermediates, since the proximity of a C = C bond notably increases the reactivity of a difluoro-methylene group towards hydrolytic reactions. Thus, easy conversion of such groups to oxo groups has been observed in many cyclobutene derivatives. 2-Chloro-l,l,2-trifluoro-3-phenyl-cyclobutane is converted by potassium hydroxide into cyclobutene 1 and cyclobut-2-enone 2.141... 

The carbonyl carbon of a ketone bears two electron releasing alkyl groups an aldehyde carbonyl group has only one Just as a disubstituted double bond m an alkene is more stable than a monosubstituted double bond a ketone carbonyl is more stable than an aldehyde carbonyl We 11 see later m this chapter that structural effects on the relative stability of carbonyl groups m aldehydes and ketones are an important factor m then rel ative reactivity... 

What structural features are responsible for the reactivity order of carboxylic acid derivatives Like the other carbonyl containing compounds that we ve studied they all have a planar arrangement of bonds to the carbonyl group Thus all are about the same in offering relatively unhindered access to the approach of a nucleophile They differ m the degree to which the atom attached to the carbonyl group can stabilize the carbonyl group by electron donation... 

AH ahphatic aldehydes and most ketones react to form cyanohydrins. The lower reactivity of ketones, relative to aldehydes, is attributed to a combination of electron-donating effects and increased steric hindrance of the second alkyl group in the ketones. The magnitude of the equiUbrium constants for the addition of hydrogen cyanide to a carbonyl group is a measure of the stabiUty of the cyanohydrin relative to the carbonyl compound plus hydrogen cyanide ... 

Ketophosphonium salts are considerably more acidic than alkylphosphonium salts and can be converted to ylides by relatively weak bases. The resulting ylides, which are stabilized by the carbonyl group, are substantially less reactive than unfunctionalized ylides. More vigorous conditions are required to bring about reactions with ketones. Stabilized ylides such as (carboethoxymethylidene)triphenylphosphorane (Entries 8 and 9) react with aldehydes to give exclusively trans double bonds. 

Dimethylsulfonium methylide is both more reactive and less stable than dimethylsulfoxonium methylide, so it is generated and used at a lower temperature. A sharp distinction between the two ylides emerges in their reactions with a, ( -unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Dimethylsulfonium methylide yields epoxides, whereas dimethylsulfoxonium methylide reacts by conjugate addition and gives cyclopropanes (compare Entries 5 and 6 in Scheme 2.21). It appears that the reason for the difference lies in the relative rates of the two reactions available to the betaine intermediate (a) reversal to starting materials, or (b) intramolecular nucleophilic displacement.284 Presumably both reagents react most rapidly at the carbonyl group. In the case of dimethylsulfonium methylide the intramolecular displacement step is faster than the reverse of the addition, and epoxide formation takes place. 

Diborane also has a useful pattern of selectivity. It reduces carboxylic acids to primary alcohols under mild conditions that leave esters unchanged.77 Nitro and cyano groups are relatively unreactive toward diborane. The rapid reaction between carboxylic acids and diborane is the result of formation of a triacyloxyborane intermediate by protonolysis of the B-H bonds. The resulting compound is essentially a mixed anhydride of the carboxylic acid and boric acid in which the carbonyl groups have enhanced reactivity toward borane or acetoxyborane. 

Bicyclic structures of this type are more reactive than monocyclic or acyclic carbamates, indicating that a relatively rigid orientation of the carbonyl group is favorable to lithiation. Substituted formamidines can also be lithiated.60... 

Several examples of intramolecular additions to carbonyl groups by organo-lithium reagents generated by halogen-metal exchange have been reported, such as the two examples shown below. What relative reactivity relationships must hold in order for such procedures to succeed ... 

In HO -catalyzed hydrolysis (specific base catalyzed hydrolysis), the tetrahedral intermediate is formed by the addition of a nucleophilic HO ion (Fig. 3.1, Pathway b). This reaction is irreversible for both esters and amides, since the carboxylate ion formed is deprotonated in basic solution and, hence, is not receptive to attack by the nucleophilic alcohol, phenol, or amine. The reactivity of the carboxylic acid derivative toward a particular nucleophile depends on a) the relative electron-donating or -withdrawing power of the substituents on the carbonyl group, and b) the relative ability of the -OR or -NR R" moiety to act as a leaving group. Thus, electronegative substituents accelerate hydrolysis, and esters are more readily hydrolyzed than amides. 

To conclude this section on the effect of solvent on a-nucleophilicity, we refer to the current, rather controversial, situation pertaining to gas-phase smdies and the a-effect. As reported in our review on the a-effect and its modulation by solvent the gas-phase reaction of methyl formate with HOO and HO , which proceeds via three competitive pathways proton abstraction, nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group and Sat2 displacement on the methyl group, showed no enhanced nucleophilic reactivity for HOO relative to This was consistent with gas-phase calculational work... 

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