Carboxylic acid derivatives, nucleophilic attack

With this rule, we can now appreciate that a carboxylic acid derivative will react differently with H or C than it wiU with any other type of nucleophile. When we use a hydrogen nucleophile or a carbon nucleophile, we find that the carboxylic acid derivative gets attacked twice. Let s see why Consider, for example, the reaction that occurs when an acid halide is treated with an excess of Grignard reagent. First, the Grignard reagent attacks the carbonyl group, just as we would expect ... 

Interconversion of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives. Diethyl phosphorochloridate is useful for activation of carboxylic acids toward nucleophilic attack. Subsequent treatment of the phosphate ester with thallium sulfides produced thiol esters." Variations"" on this theme included prior formation of a heterocyclic phospho-nate followed by treatment with alcohols, amines, or thiols, thus providing a racemization-free method to prepare esters, amides, and thiol esters, respectively (eq 9),""" ... 

Alkyl radicals produced by oxidative decarboxylation of carboxylic acids are nucleophilic and attack protonated azoles at the most electron-deficient sites. Thus imidazole and 1-alkylimidazoles are alkylated exclusively at the 2-position (80AHC(27)241). Similarly, thiazoles are attacked in acidic media by methyl and propyl radicals to give 2-substituted derivatives in moderate yields, with smaller amounts of 5-substitution. These reactions have been reviewed (74AHC(i6)123) the mechanism involves an intermediate cr-complex. 

Use of the relatively small cyclopropane ring drastically reduces the potential for deleterious steric bulk effects and adds only a relatively small lipophilic increment to the partition coefficient of the drug. One of the clever elements of the rolicyprine synthesis itself is the reaction of d,l tranylcypromine (67) with L-5-pyrrolidone-2-carboxylic acid (derived from glutamic acid) to form a highly crystalline diastereomeric salt, thereby effecting resolution. Addition of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide activates the carboxyl group to nucleophilic attack by the primary amine thus forming the amide rolicyprine (68). 

The most common bicyclic 5-6 system with one bridgehead N-O and one extra heteroatom described in the period covered in this chapter has been the diketopiperazine derived from proline as it is present in natural products, in biologically active synthetic molecules, and has been used as starting material for the preparation of conformationally constrained peptidomimetics. The classical approach to this class of molecule is the ring closing of the dipeptide derived from proline and another amino acid via nucleophilic attack of the NH2 to the activated carboxylic group. This method has been applied several times to prepare different diketopiperazines for different uses. 

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. 

A less powerful complex metal hydride is Na BH4 which will reduce aldehydes and ketones only, and does not attack carboxylic acid derivatives nor does it—as Li AlH4 does—attack NO2 or C=N present in the same compound. It has the great advantage of being usable in hydroxylic solvents. A wide variety of other reagents of the MH4 , MH3OR , MHjfORlj type have been developed their relative effectiveness is related to both the nucleophilicity and size of MH4 , etc. 

Hydrolysis resulting from nucleophilic attack of HO on carbonyl carbon is the main source of loss of efficiency, since the carboxylic acid derivative is nonchemiluminescent (Scheme 33, A). However, nucleophilic attack of the hydroxide anion on position 9 of the acridinium ring is preferred and also results in loss of chemiluminescence (Scheme 33. B)235,... 

Note that the reaction at the phosphorus atom is postulated to occur by an SN2 (no intermediate formed) rather than by an addition mechanism such as we encountered with carboxylic acid derivatives (Kirby and Warren, 1967). As we learned in Section 13.2, for attack at a saturated carbon atom, OH- is a better nucleophile than H20 by about a factor of 104 (Table 13.2). Toward phosphorus, which is a harder electrophilic center (see Box 13.1), however, the relative nucleophilicity increases dramatically. For triphenyl phosphate, for example, OH- is about 108 times stronger than H20 as a nucleophile (Barnard et al., 1961). Note that in the case of triphenyl phosphate, no substitution may occur at the carbon bound to the oxygen of the alcohol moiety, and therefore, neutral hydrolysis is much less important as compared to the other cases (see /NB values in Table 13.12). Consequently, the base-catalyzed reaction generally occurs at the phosphorus atom leading to the dissociation of the alcohol moiety that is the best leaving group (P-0 cleavage), as is illustrated by the reaction of parathion with OH ... 

The two main types of reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives with which we now shall be concerned are the replacement of X by attack of a nucleophile Nue at the carbonyl carbon with subsequent cleavage of the C-X bond (Equation 18-8), and substitution at the a carbon facilitated by the carbonyl group (Equation 18-9) ... 

In the first step of the conversion catalyzed by pyruvate decarboxylase, a carbon atom from thiamine pyrophosphate adds to the carbonyl carbon of pyruvate. Decarboxylation produces the key reactive intermediate, hydroxyethyl thiamine pyrophosphate (HETPP). As shown in figure 13.5, the ionized ylid form of HETPP is resonance-stabilized by the existence of a form without charge separation. The next enzyme, dihydrolipoyltransacetylase, catalyzes the transfer of the two-carbon moiety to lipoic acid. A nucleophilic attack by HETPP on the sulfur atom attached to carbon 8 of oxidized lipoic acid displaces the electrons of the disulfide bond to the sulfur atom attached to carbon 6. The sulfur then picks up a proton from the environment as shown in figure 13.5. This simple displacement reaction is also an oxidation-reduction reaction, in which the attacking carbon atom is oxidized from the aldehyde level in HETPP to the carboxyl level in the lipoic acid derivative. The oxidized (disulfide) form of lipoic acid is converted to the reduced (mer-capto) form. The fact that the two-carbon moiety has become an acyl group is shown more clearly after dissocia-... 

Nucleophilic catalysis is a process of particular significance in reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives. As an example we may cite hydrolysis catalyzed by a tertiary amine (Scheme 20). The catalysis is effective because initial attack of the amine will be faster than attack by the less nucleophilic water the amine addition yields the intermediate 27 which, because of the positive charge, has an extremely reactive carbonyl group and is attacked by water much faster than the original compound. The fact that a given base is acting by nucleophilic catalysis... 

Theoretical calculations using MNDO and 4-31G basis sets of the frontier orbitals by the group of Yamabe1 have shown that nucleophilic attack of carboxylic acid derivatives... 

Due to the presence of a strongly electrophilic carbon centre alkyl halides are susceptible to nucleophilic attack, a nucleophile displaces the halogen as a nucleophilic halide ion (Following fig.). The reaction is called nucleophilic substitution and there are two types of mechanism, i.e. the S I and SN2 mechanisms. Carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid derivatives also undergo nucleophilic substitutions, but the mechanisms are totally different. 

On the basis of what we have already learned about the reactions of lithium aluminum hydride with aldehydes and ketones (Chapter 18) and the mechanisms presented so far in this chapter, we can readily predict the product that results when hydride reacts with a carboxylic acid derivative. Consider, for example, the reaction of ethyl benzoate with lithium aluminum hydride. As with all of the reactions in this chapter, this reaction begins with attack of the nucleophile, hydride ion, at the carbon of the carbonyl group, displacing the pi electrons onto the oxygen (see Figure 19.7). Next, these electrons help displace ethoxide from the tetrahedral intermediate. The product of this step is an aldehyde. But recall from Chapter 18 that aldehydes also react with lithium aluminum hydride. Therefore, the product, after workup with acid, is a primary alcohol. 

A lot of reactions were presented in this chapter. Remember to identify the electrophile (usually the carbonyl carbon of a carboxylic acid derivative) and the nucleophile. The nucleophile bonds to the carbonyl carbon to form the tetrahedral intermediate. Then the leaving group departs as the CO double bond reforms. The product may be subject to further nucleophilic attack. 

When a nucleophile containing a heteroatom attacks at a carboxyl carbon, SN reactions occur that convert carboxylic acid derivatives to other carboxylic acid derivatives, or that convert carbonic acid derivatives to other carbonic acid derivatives. When an organometallic compound is used as the nucleophile, SN reactions at the carboxyl carbon make it possible to synthesize aldehydes (from derivatives of formic acid), ketones (from derivatives of higher carboxylic acids), or—starting from carbonic acid derivatives—in some cases carboxylic acid derivatives. Similarly, when using a hydride transfer agent as the nucleophile, SN reactions at a carboxyl carbon allow the conversion of carboxylic acid derivatives into aldehydes. 

In Chapter 9 we discussed ways of making ketones by nucleophilic attack on carboxylic acid derivatives. 

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