Carbonyls acid anhydride

Many compounds contain more than one functional group Prostaglandin Ei a hormone that regulates the relaxation of smooth muscles con tains two different kinds of carbonyl groups Classify each one (aldehyde ketone carboxylic acid ester amide acyl chloride or acid anhydride) Identify the most acidic proton in prostaglandin Ei and use Table 1 7 to estimate its pK ... 

The mechanisms of the Fischer esterification and the reactions of alcohols with acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides will be discussed m detail m Chapters 19 and 20 after some fundamental principles of carbonyl group reactivity have been developed For the present it is sufficient to point out that most of the reactions that convert alcohols to esters leave the C—O bond of the alcohol intact... 

The chemistry of the carbonyl group is probably the single most important aspect of organic chemical reactivity Classes of compounds that contain the carbonyl group include many derived from carboxylic acids (acyl chlorides acid anhydrides esters and amides) as well as the two related classes discussed m this chapter aldehydes and ketones... 

Acid anhydrides The carbonyl group of an acid anhydride is better stabilized by electron donation than the carbonyl group of an acyl chloride Even though oxygen... 

Esters Like acid anhydrides the carbonyl group of an ester is stabilized by elec tron release from oxygen Because there is only one carbonyl group versus two m anhydrides esters are stabilized more and are less reactive than anhydrides... 

Conversions of acid anhydrides to other carboxylic acid derivatives are illustrated m Table 20 2 Because a more highly stabilized carbonyl group must result m order for nucleophilic acyl substitution to be effective acid anhydrides are readily converted to carboxylic acids esters and amides but not to acyl chlorides... 

Nucleophilic acyl substitutions at the ester carbonyl group are summarized m Table 20 5 on page 849 Esters are less reactive than acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides Nude ophilic acyl substitution m esters especially ester hydrolysis has been extensively mves tigated from a mechanistic perspective Indeed much of what we know concerning the general topic of nucleophilic acyl substitution comes from studies carried out on esters The following sections describe those mechanistic studies... 

The carbonyl group of an amide is stabilized to a greater extent than that of an acyl chlo ride acid anhydride or ester amides are formed rapidly and m high yield from each of these carboxylic acid derivatives... 

The characteristic reaction of acyl chlorides acid anhydrides esters and amides is nucleophilic acyl substitution Addition of a nucleophilic reagent Nu—H to the carbonyl group leads to a tetrahedral mtermedi ate that dissociates to give the product of substitution... 

The O acylation of phenols with carboxylic acid anhydrides can be conveniently catalyzed m either of two ways One method involves converting the acid anhydride to a more powerful acylatmg agent by protonation of one of its carbonyl oxygens Addi tion of a few drops of sulfuric acid is usually sufficient... 

Step 2 Structurally O acylisoureas resemble carboxylic acid anhydrides and are powerful acylatmg agents In the reaction s second stage the amine adds to the carbonyl group of the O acylisourea to give a tetrahedral intermediate... 

Anhydrides are reduced with relative ease. McAlees and McCrindle 20) established the following increasing order of difficulty for various carbonyls acid chlorides > aldehydes, ketones > anhydrides > esters > carboxylic acids > amides. Reduction may proceed by 1,2-addilion of hydrogen or by cleavage of an oxygen-carbonyl bond. If 1,2-addition to the carbonyl occurs, as in the presence of strong protic acids over palladium, 1,1-diesters are formed by acylation 26). 

Acid chlorides are easily detected by their characteristic absorption near 1800 cm-1. Acid anhydrides can be identified by the fact that they show two absorptions in the carbonyl region, one at 1820 cm 1 and another at 1760 cm-1. Esters are detected by their absorption at 1735 cm 1, a position somewhat higher than that for either aldehydes or ketones. Amides, by contrast, absorb near the low wavenumber end of the carbonyl region, with the degree of substitution on nitrogen affecting the exact position of the IR band. 

The reactivity of an acid derivative toward substitution depends both on the steric environment near the carbonyl group and on the electronic nature of the substituent, Y. The reactivity order is acid halide > acid anhydride > thioester > ester > amide. 

Similar additions have been successfully carried out with carboxylic acids, anhydrides, acyl halides, carboxylic esters, nitriles, and other types of compounds. These reactions are not successful when the alkene contains electron-withdrawing groups such as halo or carbonyl groups. A free-radical initiator is required, usually peroxides or UV light. The mechanism is illustrated for aldehydes but is similar for the other compounds ... 

Tin and HCl reduce out the ben/.ylic OH from (43) in high yield.The Mannich base (45) decomposes to (41) simply on heating. Cyanide addition gives (46) which can be hydrolysed to (40), but a short cut is to hydrolyse to amide (47) and reduce out the carbonyl group by the Clemmensen method (Table T 24.1). Under these conditions the amide is hydrolysed to the acid. Cyclisation to (38) occurs with strong acid, acid anhydrides, or by AlClg-catalysed reaction of the acid chloride. 

The CO-X bond breaking is the result of an electrophilic attack (on the carbonyl oxygen atom, hence the catalytic role of acids in these rupture reactions) or a nucleophilic one (on the carbonyl carbon atom whose positive property is due to the X electron-withdrawing property). The dangers of this type of reaction come from its speed and high exothermicity and/or instability of the products obtained in some cases. The accidents that are described below can make one believe that acid anhydrides in general and acetic anhydride in particular represent greater risks than acid chlorides since they constitute the accident factor of almost all accidents described. This is obviously related to their frequent use in synthesis rather than acid chlorides, that are rarely used. 

In this reaction the carbanion (103) is obtained by removal of an ot-H atom from a molecule of an acid anhydride (104), the anion of the corresponding acid acting as the necessary base the carbonyl acceptor is pretty well confined to aromatic aldehydes. The products are a/J-unsaturated acids, e.g. 3-phenylpropenoic(cinnamic) acid (105) from PhCHO/excess (MeC0)20/MeC02e at 140° ... 

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