Carboxylic acids Birch reduction

Reaction No. 5 (Table 11) is part of a synthetically useful method for the alkylation of aromatic compounds. At first the aromatic carboxylic acid is reductively alkylated by way of a Birch reduction in the presence of alkyl halides, this is then followed by an eliminative decarboxylation. In reaction No. 9 decarboxylation occurs probably by oxidation at the nitrogen to the radical cation that undergoes decarboxylation (see... 

The less hindered f/ans-olefins may be obtained by reduction with lithium or sodium metal in liquid ammonia or amine solvents (Birch reduction). This reagent, however, attacks most polar functional groups (except for carboxylic acids R.E.A. Dear, 1963 J. Fried, 1968), and their protection is necessary (see section 2.6). 

Because of the highly negative reduction potentials ( —3.0 V vs. SCE) [32], the electroreduction of esters of aliphatic carboxylic acids to primary alcohols by direct electron transfer from the cathode is very difficult and the electrochemical Birch-type reduction of aliphatic esters in MeNH2 or liquid NH3 has not been reported until recently (Scheme 15) [33, 34]. This reaction is not a reduction by direct electron transfer from the cathode to the C=0 bonds of the ester but the reduction by a solvated electron. 

We were interested in applications of the high level of stereocontrol associated with the asymmetric Birch reduction-alkylation to problems in acyclic and heterocyclic synthesis. The pivotal disconnection of the six-membered ring is accomplished by utilization of the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation (Scheme 7). Treatment of cyclohexanones 25a and 25b with MCPBA gave caprolactone amides 26a and 26b with complete regiocon-trol. Acid-catalyzed transacylation gave the butyrolactone carboxylic acid 27 from 26a and the bis-lactone 28 from 26b cyclohexanones 31a and 31b afforded the diastereomeric lactones 29 and 30. ... 

Alkylation of the enolate of a carboxylic acid, formed as an intermediate in the Birch reduction of an aromatic acid, has been successfully exploited in synthesis, e.g., in the synthesis of gibberellic acid. A model compound 24 was reduced with sodium in diethyl ether-liquid ammonia and the resulting carbanion was alkylated with iodomethane to give 25 in ca. 80% yield87. 

Therefore, using either direct Birch reduction alkylation or Birch reduction-protonation-enolate formation alkylation, both followed by auxiliary removal, it is possible to prepare either enantiomer of a desired 2,5-cyclohexadiene-l -carboxylic acid derivative in excellent enantiomeric purity from the same starting materials. 

In contrast to the ester enolates, the a.O-carboxylic dianions are intrinsically more reactive and their use in conjugate reactions is thus limited. Typically, a-substituted-a.O-carboxylic dianions add exclusively to a,(3-unsaturated esters155a and nitroalkenes,155b while additions to ot,(3-enones are sensitive to the substitution pattern of the enones.155c>d Notable is the conjugate addition of dihydrobenzoic acid dianions (207), from Birch reduction of benzoic acids, to oi,3-unsaturated esters (Scheme 77).155e... 

The most common procedure is ozonolysis at -78 °C (P.S. Bailey, 1978) in methanol or methylene chloride in the presence of dimethyl sulfide or pyridine, which reduce the intermediate ozonides to aldehydes. Unsubstituted cydohexene derivatives give 1,6-dialdehydes, enol ethers or esters yield carboxylic acid derivatives. Oxygen-substituted C—C bonds in cyclohexene derivatives, which may also be obtained by Birch reduction of alkoxyarenes (see p. 103f.), are often more rapidly oxidized than non-substituted bonds (E.J. Corey, 1968 D G. Stork, 1968 A,B). Catechol derivatives may also be directly cleaved to afford conjugated hexa-dienedioic acid derivatives (R.B. Woodward, 1963). Highly regioselective cleavage of the more electron-rich double bond is achieved in the ozonization of dienes (W. KnOll, 1975). 

The Birch reduction of benzoic acid is the same type as that of biphenyl, and the product, with protonation successively at C-4 and C-l is the acid 7.102. In the reaction medium, it will be benzoate ion 7.101 that is being reduced. As a result of the delocalisation of the negative charge in the benzoate ion, we should probably regard the carboxylate ion more as a C- than as a Z-substituent. 

The Birch reduction has been applied to electron-deficient pyrroles substituted with a chiral auxiliary at the C(2)-position <1999TL435>. Using either (—)-8-phenylmenthol or (- -)-/ra /-2-(ot-cumyl)cyclohexanol as auxiliaries, high levels of stereoselectivity were obtained. Pyrrole 911, prepared from the l/7-pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid 910 in 90% yield, was reduced under modified Birch conditions (Scheme 176). The best conditions involved lithium metal (3 equiv), liquid ammonia and THE at —78°C. The addition of A, A -bis(2-methoxyethyl)amine (10 equiv) helped to reduce side reactions caused by the lithium amide formed in the reaction <1998TL3075>. After 15 min, the Birch reductions were quenched with a range of electrophiles and in each case 3,4-dehydroproline derivatives 912 were formed in excellent yields and with good diastereoselectivities. 

The synthesis of )-A -BOC-2-hydroxymethyl-2,5-dihydropyrrole )-923 with ee up to 98% was achieved by its irreversible acetylation catalyzed by Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase (Scheme 179) <1998TA403>. Precursor ( )-922 for compound 923 can be easily prepared from commercially available pyrrole-2-carboxylic acid 921 by Birch reduction, followed by esterification and reduction according to literature procedure <1996JOC7664>. 

Nishino et al. found that 2-acylthiophenes are also reduced to the corresponding 2,5-dihydro derivatives (equation 24) and the intermediate anions can be intercepted with alkylating agents (equation 25). The resulting compounds can be easily converted into the corresponding 1,3-dienyl ketones (equation 25). Dmitrienko and coworkers have found that the Birch reduction of thiophene-3-carboxylic acid leads to the 2,3-dihydro derivative. ... 

Birch reduction of benzoic acids in the presence of an alcohol (proton donor) furnishes 1,4-dihydrobenzoic acids. The carboxylate salt (-CO2 M ) formed during reduction of benzoic acid derivatives is sufficiently electron rich that it is not reduced. 

Carboxylic acids can be transformed into alkenes when they contain a leaving group like H (Scheme 12), SiMea, SPh or CO2H in the -position. The alkene is formed by an 1-elimination from the intermediate carbocation. Some examples are summarized in Table 10. The decarboxylative elimination of l,4-cyclohexadiene-6-carboxylic acids (Table 10, entry 2) is part of a useful method for the alkylation of aromatic compounds. This involves first a reductive alkylation using a Birch reduction, which is then fol-... 

Birch reduction of pyrrole carboxylic esters and tertiary amides gives dihydro-derivatives the presence of an electron-withdrawing gronp on the nitrogen serves both to remove the acidic iV-hydrogen and also to rednce the electron density on the ring. Quenching the immediate reduced species - an enolate - with an alkyl halide produces alkylated dihydropyrroles. ... 

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