Carboxylic acids and halides

Esters from carboxylic acids and halides, sulfoxides and miscellaneous compounds... 

Esters from Carboxylic Acids and Halides, Sulfoxides, and Miscellaneous compounds. 

In Scheme 1.2, all of the types of carbonylations that are discussed in the book are depicted. Alcohols, amines, ethers, carboxylic acids and halides can be converted to acids, amides, esters, ketones, alkynones, alkenones, anhydrides and acid halides with the assistance of transition metal catalysts in the presence of a CO source. The CO sources used can be carbon monoxide gas, Mo(CO)6, Co(CO>6, formic acid, aldehyde, etc. If the starting material is alcohols or amines, some additives for activation are needed, such as BuONO, TsCl, AcCl. If the substrate is (Hetero)ArH, additional oxidants will be necessary this is a so-caUed oxidative carbonylation. If an unsaturated compound is to be carbonylated, a nucleophile NuH that carries an acidic hydrogen has to be present. In the case of insertion reactions, this is not necessary. 

Carboxylic acid esters from carboxylic acids and halides COOH -> COOR... 

The conversion of carboxylic acid derivatives (halides, esters and lactones, tertiary amides and lactams, nitriles) into aldehydes can be achieved with bulky aluminum hydrides (e.g. DIBAL = diisobutylaluminum hydride, lithium trialkoxyalanates). Simple addition of three equivalents of an alcohol to LiAlH, in THF solution produces those deactivated and selective reagents, e.g. lithium triisopropoxyalanate, LiAlH(OPr )j (J. Malek, 1972). 

Differences in solubility of the reactants may for example be utilized as follows. Sodium iodide is much more soluble in acetone than are sodium chloride or sodium bromide. Upon treatment of an alkyl chloride or bromide with sodium iodide in acetone, the newly formed sodium chloride or bromide precipitates from the solution and is thus removed from equilibrium. Alkyl iodides can be conveniently prepared in good yields by this route. Alkyl bromides are more reactive as the corresponding chlorides. Of high reactivity are a-halogen ketones, a-halogen carboxylic acids and their derivatives, as well as allyl and benzyl halides. 

Nitriles are similar in some respects to carboxylic acids and are prepared either by SN2 reaction of an alkyl halide with cyanide ion or by dehydration of an amide. Nitriles undergo nucleophilic addition to the polar C=N bond in the same way that carbonyl compounds do. The most important reactions of nitriles are their hydrolysis to carboxylic acids, reduction to primary amines, and reaction with organometallic reagents to yield ketones. 

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. 

We ve already seen in Sections 20.7 and 21.7 how amines can be prepared by reduction of nitriles and amides with LiAlH4. The two-step sequence of 5 2 displacement with C followed by reduction thus converts an alkyl halide into a primary alkylamine having one more carbon atom. Amide reduction converts carboxylic acids and their derivatives into amines with the same number of carbon atoms. 

Notable examples of general synthetic procedures in Volume 47 include the synthesis of aromatic aldehydes (from dichloro-methyl methyl ether), aliphatic aldehydes (from alkyl halides and trimethylamine oxide and by oxidation of alcohols using dimethyl sulfoxide, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, and pyridinum trifluoro-acetate the latter method is particularly useful since the conditions are so mild), carbethoxycycloalkanones (from sodium hydride, diethyl carbonate, and the cycloalkanone), m-dialkylbenzenes (from the />-isomer by isomerization with hydrogen fluoride and boron trifluoride), and the deamination of amines (by conversion to the nitrosoamide and thermolysis to the ester). Other general methods are represented by the synthesis of 1 J-difluoroolefins (from sodium chlorodifluoroacetate, triphenyl phosphine, and an aldehyde or ketone), the nitration of aromatic rings (with ni-tronium tetrafluoroborate), the reductive methylation of aromatic nitro compounds (with formaldehyde and hydrogen), the synthesis of dialkyl ketones (from carboxylic acids and iron powder), and the preparation of 1-substituted cyclopropanols (from the condensation of a 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol derivative and ethyl-... 

Conversion of Alkyl Halides, Alcohols, or Alkanes to Carboxylic Acids and Their Derivatives... 

The reaction between acyl halides and diazomethane is of wide scope and is the best way to prepare diazo ketones. Diazomethane must be present in excess or the HX produced will react with the diazo ketone (10-74). This reaction is the first step of the Amdt-Eistert synthesis (18-8). Diazo ketones can also be prepared directly from a carboxylic acid and diazomethane or diazoethane in the presence of dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide. ... 

Some preparations of alkene and acetylenic compounds from alkene and acetylenic starting materials can, in principle, be classified in either the monofunctional or difunctional sections for example, the transformation RCH=CHBr — RCH=CHCOOH could be considered as preparing carboxylic acids from halides (Section 25, monofunctional compounds) or preparing a carboxylic acid-alkene (Section 322, difunctional compounds). The choice usually depends on the focus of the particular paper where this reaction was found. In such cases both sections should be consulted. 

Other reactions useful for the protection of carboxylic acids are included in Section 107 (Esters from Carboxylic Acids and Acid Halides) and Section 23 (Carboxylic Acids from Esters). 

An enantioselective synthesis of both (R)- and (5)-a-alkylcysteines 144 and 147 is based on the phase-transfer catalytic alkylation of fert-butyl esters of 2-phenyl-2-thiazoline-4-carboxylic acid and 2-ort/ro-biphenyl-2-thiazoline-4-carboxylic acid, 142 and 145 <06JOC8276>. Treatment of 142 and 145 with alkyl halides and potassium hydroxide in the presence of chiral catalysts 140 and 141 gives the alkylated products, which are hydrolyzed to (R)- and (S)-a-alkylcysteines 144 and 147, respectively, in high enantioselectivity. This method may have potential for the practical synthesis of chiral a-alkylcysteines. 

Another Pd-catalyzed reaction of aryl- and alkylzinc halides used carboxylic anhydrides as starting organic compounds (Scheme 127).328 One of the advantages of this method is that anhydrides can be synthesized in situ from the corresponding sodium salts of carboxylic acids and ethyl chloroformate. The scope of the method includes aliphatic and aromatic anhydrides, phenyl-, ethyl-, isopropyl-, and n-butylzinc iodides. 

Although the ability of microwaves (MW) to heat water and other polar materials has been known for half a century or more, it was not until 1986 that two groups of researchers independently reported the application of MW heating to organic synthesis. Gedye et al. [1] found that several organic reactions in polar solvents could be performed rapidly and conveniently in closed Teflon vessels in a domestic MW oven. These reactions included the hydrolysis of amides and esters to carboxylic acids, esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols, oxidation of alkyl benzenes to aromatic carboxylic acids and the conversion of alkyl halides to ethers. 

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