Nitriles carboxylic acid amides

It reduces esters or lactones selectively in the presence of several other functional groups such as carboxylic acids, amides, nitriles, and h.iiidcs. Simple amides are not reduced, but tertiary amides are reduced to the correspond,ng tertiary amines. LiB(C H,),H or 9-BBN reduces tertiary amides to the corresponding alcohols. 

Tert. amines from N,N-disubst. carboxylic acid amides Nitriles from unsatd. carboxylic acid amides... 

C-Methylation. Methyl iodide is an active alkylating agent employed in the C-methylation of carbanions derived from ketones, esters, carboxylic acids, amides, nitriles, nitroalkanes, sulfones, sulfoxides, imines, and hydrazones. The quantity of methyl iodide utilized in methylations varies from a slight (1.1 equiv) to a large excess (used as solvent). 

Closely related to the carboxylic acids and nitriles discussed in the previous chapter are the carboxylic acid derivatives, compounds in which an acyl group is bonded to an electronegative atom or substituent that can net as a leaving group in a substitution reaction. Many kinds of acid derivatives are known, but we ll be concerned primarily with four of the more common ones acid halides, acid anhydrides, esters, and amides. Esters and amides are common in both laboratory and biological chemistry, while acid halides and acid anhydrides are used only in the laboratory. Thioesters and acyl phosphates are encountered primarily in biological chemistry. Note the structural similarity between acid anhydrides and acy) phosphates. 

Alkylation of Aldehydes, Esters, Carboxylic Acids, Amides, and Nitriles... 

The synthesis of nitriles from halides is valuable in medicinal chemistry because nitriles are flexible building blocks readily converted into carboxylic acids, amides, amines, or a variety of heterocycles, e. g. thiazoles, oxazolidones, triazoles, and tetrazoles. The importance of the tetrazole group in medicinal chemistry is easily understood if we consider that it is the most commonly used bioisostere of the carboxyl group. 

Addition of HCN to acetone to form the cyanohydrin is still the main route to methyl methacrylate. Hydrocyanins can be converted to amino acids as well. The nitrile group can be easily converted to amines, carboxylic acids, amides, etc. Addition to aldehydes and activated alkenes can be done with simple base, but addition to unactivated alkenes requires a transition metal catalyst. The methods of HCN addition have been discussed by Brown [2],... 

Bacterial enzymes have been reported to catalyze the hydrolysis of nitriles [118][121], A nitrilase (EC 3.5.5.1) acts to hydrolyze aromatic nitriles directly to the carboxylic acid. A nitrile hydratase (a lyase, EC 4.2. E84) acts on short-chain aliphatic nitriles to form the amide. As discussed below, the hydrolysis of nitriles to amides is also documented in mammals, but little appears known about the enzymes involved. 

Notably, nitrile-degrading enzymes (e.g. nitrilase that converts the CN group to carboxylic acid, and nitrile hydratase that produces an amide function) have been described, and they co-exist with aldoxime-degrading enzymes in bacteria (Reference 111 and references cited therein). Smdies in this area led to the proposal that the aldoxime-nitrile pathway, which is implemented in synthesis of drugs and fine chemicals, occurs as a natural enzymic pathway. It is of interest that the enzyme responsible for bacterial conversion of Af-hydroxy-L-phenylalanine to phenacetylaldoxime, an oxidative decarboxylation reaction, lacks heme or flavin groups which are found in plant or human enzymes that catalyze the same reaction. Its dependency on pyridoxal phosphate raised the possibility that similar systems may also be present in plants . 

An alternative to the azlactone procedure for the preparation of short-chain dehydropeptides 19 is offered by the direct condensation of an a-oxo acid 17 on heating with one equivalent of a carboxylic acid amide or by the treatment of an a-oxo acid 17 with a nitrile in the presence of dry HC1 gas (Scheme 6). If the former reaction proceeds with the condensation of two molecules of amide per molecule of a-oxo acid, then the corresponding a,a-bis(acylamino) aliphatic acid 18 is formed, which on warming with acetic acid results in partial deamidation with formation of the corresponding dehydropeptide 19. 

There are non-systematic number roots for hydrocarbon derivatives containing acyl groups or derived from acyl groups. These are the ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, nitriles, and amides ... 

Fig. 7.1 Survey of the mutual interconversion of carboxylic acid derivatives, especially primary amides of carboxylic acids, and nitriles.

Fig. 7.4. Triftuoromethane-sulfonic acid an hydride/pyridine-mediated dehydration of primary carboxylic acid amides (A) to give the corresponding nitriles (B) with the reagents converting into pyridinium trifluormethanesulfonate pyrH F3C-S03 .

Fig. 7.8. Partial hydrolysis of a nitrile to a primary carboxylic acid amide under acidic conditions initiating the two-step total hydrolysis of acetone cyanohydrin (B). Grey background overall reaction above the grey area competing reactions with inappropriate choice of pH below the grey area mechanistic details.

Reduction of azides. Alkyi and aryi azides are reduced to primary amines by the combination of 1,3-propanedithiol and triethylamine (equation 1). The method is highly selective, and does not affect double or triple bonds, nitro, nitrile, carboxylic acid, amide, and ester groups. ... 

A still unresolved problem is the structure of the often used adducts from phosphorus trihalides and carboxylic acid amides, which might be described by the formulae (8) or (9). With the aid of in situ generated adducts of acid amides and PX3 amidines, isonitriles, quinazolinones, alkyl chlorides, aminomethylenediphosphonic acids, carbamoyl halides, triformylaminomethane, 1,3,4-oxadia-zoles, sulfides (from sulfoxides), nitriles (from primary nitro compounds)" and bromoqui-nolines (from methoxyquinolines)" have been prepared. 

Dihalomethyleneiminium salts undeigo condensation reactions with CH-acidic compounds such as ketones, carboxylic acid chlorides, nitriles and amides, to give amide halides, e.g. (51 equation... 

The other procedure10 illustrates a general method for conversion of carboxylic acids into the corresponding nitriles. Treatment of cinnamic acid (4) with chlorosulfonyl isocyanate gives the carboxylic acid amide N-sulfonyl chloride (5). As above, treatment of (5) with DMF gives cinnamonitrile (6) in 78-87% yield. 

Carboxylic acid amides from nitriles via imino ester hydrochlorides... 

Nitriles from carboxylic acid amides CONHs —> CN... 

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