Catalysis carboxylic acids

A prerequisite that the mechanism in a series should be the same is a linear free-energy correlation if a member of the series takes a different pathway then the alternative mechanism will be more favourable, will predominate over the normal and will be diagnosed as a positive deviant point. An example of this behaviour is the demonstration that general acid catalysis by primary amines of the iodination of acetone differs from that by carboxylic acids (Fig. 24) [3a] simple proton transfer is identified with the carboxylic acid catalysis and it is thought that amines utihse Schiff s base formation (Eqn. 116) leading to a more favourable path. 

Otton, J. and Ratton, S., Investigation of the formation of poly(elhylene terephtlialate) witli model molecules. I. Carboxylic acid catalysis (monofunctional reactants), J. Polym. ScL, Polym. Chem. Ed., 26, 2187-2197... 

Carboxylic acid catalysis (monofunctional reactants). Polym. Sci. Polym. Chem. Ed., 26, 2183-2197. 

Inspired by the many hydrolytically-active metallo enzymes encountered in nature, extensive studies have been performed on so-called metallo micelles. These investigations usually focus on mixed micelles of a common surfactant together with a special chelating surfactant that exhibits a high affinity for transition-metal ions. These aggregates can have remarkable catalytic effects on the hydrolysis of activated carboxylic acid esters, phosphate esters and amides. In these reactions the exact role of the metal ion is not clear and may vary from one system to another. However, there are strong indications that the major function of the metal ion is the coordination of hydroxide anion in the Stem region of the micelle where it is in the proximity of the micelle-bound substrate. The first report of catalysis of a hydrolysis reaction by me tall omi cell es stems from 1978. In the years that... 

A number of studies of the acid-catalyzed mechanism of enolization have been done. The case of cyclohexanone is illustrative. The reaction is catalyzed by various carboxylic acids and substituted ammonium ions. The effectiveness of these proton donors as catalysts correlates with their pK values. When plotted according to the Bronsted catalysis law (Section 4.8), the value of the slope a is 0.74. When deuterium or tritium is introduced in the a position, there is a marked decrease in the rate of acid-catalyzed enolization h/ d 5. This kinetic isotope effect indicates that the C—H bond cleavage is part of the rate-determining step. The generally accepted mechanism for acid-catalyzed enolization pictures the rate-determining step as deprotonation of the protonated ketone ... 

The transition state for the rapid hydrolysis of the monoanion has been depicted as involving an intramolecular general acid catalysis by the carboxylic acid group, with participation by the anionic carboxylate group, which becomes bound at the developing electrophilic center... 

Hydrolysis of aspirin in H2 0 leads to no incorporation of into the product salicylic acid, ruling out the anhydride as an intermediate and thereby excluding mechanism 1. The general acid catalysis of mechanism III can be ruled out on the basis of failure of other nucleophiles to show evidence for general acid catalysis by the neighboring carboxylic acid group. Because there is no reason to believe hydroxide should be special in this way, mechanism III is eliminated. Thus, mechanism II, general base catalysis of hydroxide-ion attack, is believed to be the correct description of the hydrolysis of aspirin. 

Chiral oxazolines developed by Albert I. Meyers and coworkers have been employed as activating groups and/or chiral auxiliaries in nucleophilic addition and substitution reactions that lead to the asymmetric construction of carbon-carbon bonds. For example, metalation of chiral oxazoline 1 followed by alkylation and hydrolysis affords enantioenriched carboxylic acid 2. Enantioenriched dihydronaphthalenes are produced via addition of alkyllithium reagents to 1-naphthyloxazoline 3 followed by alkylation of the resulting anion with an alkyl halide to give 4, which is subjected to reductive cleavage of the oxazoline moiety to yield aldehyde 5. Chiral oxazolines have also found numerous applications as ligands in asymmetric catalysis these applications have been recently reviewed, and are not discussed in this chapter. ... 

Another pathway takes place upon cyclization of hydrazides of benzene carboxylic acids in the presence of CuCl in an inert atmosphere in DMF. However, only the cyclization of hydrazide 76 (R = H) in conditions of copper catalysis makes it possible to isolate compound 77 (yield 20%). Other hydrazides of acetylenylbenzoic acids react to give a complex mixture of products (Scheme 132) (85IZV1367 85MI2). 

Substituted 2-phenoxyphenylacetic acids readily cyclize under Friedel-Crafts conditions or acid catalysis to give dibenz[Z>,/]oxepin-10(l l//)-ones.71 85,104- 108 When this reaction is carried out in methanolic hydrochloric acid the 10-methoxy-substituted dibenz[6,/]oxepin system 9a can be isolated.109 5-(Nitro-2-phenoxyphenyl)-2-oxopropanoic acid undergoes cyclization in the presence of polyphosphoric acid yielding the carboxylated dibenzoxepin 9b.107... 

By simply hydrolyzing the easily accessible 2-hydroxy-2-methylalkanenitriles with concentrated acid, 2-hydroxy-2-methylalkanoic acids are obtained without measurable racemization (Table 3). The reaction sequence from the starting ketone to the carboxylic acid can be carried out in one pot without isolation of the cyanohydrin. The enantiomeric excesses of the (/ )-cyanohydrins and the (ft)-2-hydroxyalkanoic acids are determined from the ( + )-(/T)-Mosher ester derivatives and as methyl alkanoates by capillary GC, respectively. The most efficient catalysis by (R)-oxynitrilase is observed for the reaction of hydrocyanic acid with 2-alkanoncs. 3-Alkanoncs are also substrates for (ft)-oxynitrilase, to give the corresponding (/ )-cyanohydrins32. 

The ionization of (E)-diazo methyl ethers is catalyzed by the general acid mechanism, as shown by Broxton and Stray (1980, 1982) using acetic acid and six other aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids. The observation of general acid catalysis is evidence that proton transfer occurs in the rate-determining part of the reaction (Scheme 6-5). The Bronsted a value is 0.32, which indicates that in the transition state the proton is still closer to the carboxylic acid than to the oxygen atom of the methanol to be formed. If the benzene ring of the diazo ether (Ar in Scheme 6-5) contains a carboxy group in the 2-position, intramolecular acid catalysis is observed (Broxton and McLeish, 1983). 

However, it may be that the acid catalysis mechanism is more complex than that described by Scheme 6-5. Broxton and McLeish (1983) investigated the (ii)-diazo ether of a benzene derivative with a carboxy group in the 2-position. They also observed acid catalysis by added carboxylic acids, but, interestingly enough, the reactivity decreased as the strength of the added acid increased. 

The ionization of alkyl (E)-arylazo ethers is subject to general acid catalysis when the reaction is carried out in the presence of carboxylic acid buffers (see Scheme 6-3), and the ionization is also subject to steric acceleration in the presence of bulky substituents ortho to the azo ether group (Broxton and Stray, 1980 Broxton and McLeish, 1983 a, and earlier work of Broxton s group). 

Bifunctional catalysis in nucleophilic aromatic substitution was first observed by Bitter and Zollinger34, who studied the reaction of cyanuric chloride with aniline in benzene. This reaction was not accelerated by phenols or y-pyridone but was catalyzed by triethylamine and pyridine and by bifunctional catalysts such as a-pyridone and carboxylic acids. The carboxylic acids did not function as purely electrophilic reagents, since there was no relationship between catalytic efficiency and acid strength, acetic acid being more effective than chloracetic acid, which in turn was a more efficient catalyst than trichloroacetic acid. For catalysis by the carboxylic acids Bitter and Zollinger proposed the transition state depicted by H. 

---