Carboxylic acids, enediolates

Exceptionally, in Escherichia coli acireductone dioxygenase (enediol dioxygenase) carries out two enzymatic activities that are responsible for the salvage of methionine, but are encoded by the same gene. Whereas one enzyme is dependent on Fe and produces the ketoacid and formate (Figure 3.34a), the other that is nickel-dependent produces the carboxylic acid, formate, and CO (Figure 3.34b) (Dai et al. 1999). 

The first example of a stable geminal enediol derivative of a carboxylic acid, isolated as its platinum(II) complex, has been reported.324 Treatment of [Pt(OH2)2(en)]2+ with /V,/V-bis(phos-phonomethyl)aminoacetic acid yields zwitterionic [Pt(bpmaa)(en)] (bpmaaH = 7V,7V-bis(phosphono-methyl)aminoacetic add), which upon crystallization from water (pH 1) affords the corresponding enol tautomer (130), as determined by X-ray crystallography and IR spectroscopy. 

Extensive studies have been carried out on the metal enediolates of carboxylic acids and the influence of substrate structure on kinetic aldol diastereoselection (eq. [26]). For all but the most sterically demanding substituents (Rj = t-C4H9, mesityl, 1-adamantyl) the condensations exhibit only modest threo diastereoselection (Table 13). The reader is referred to Table 4 for the analogous thermodynamically controlled aldol data. 

Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, clearly appears to be of carbohydrate nature. Its most obvious functional group is the lactone ring system, and, although termed ascorbic acid, it is certainly not a carboxylic acid. Nevertheless, it shows acidic properties, since it is an enol, in fact an enediol. It is easy to predict which enol hydroxyl group is going to ionize more readily. It must be the one P to the carbonyl, ionization of which produces a conjugate base that is nicely resonance stabilized (see Section 4.3.5). Indeed, note that these resonance forms correspond to those of an enolate anion derived from a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound (see Section 10.1). Ionization of the a-hydroxyl provides less favourable resonance, and the remaining hydroxyls are typical non-acidic alcohols (see Section 4.3.3). Thus, the of vitamin C is 4.0, and is comparable to that of a carboxylic acid. 

The antiscorbutic factor of fresh fruits, which prevents the development of the typical symptoms of scurvy in humans, is a carbohydrate derivative known as vitamin C or ascorbic acid. This substance is not a carboxylic acid, but a lactone, and owes its acidic properties (and ease of oxidation) to the presence of an enediol grouping. It belongs to the l series by the glyceraldehyde convention ... 

Masked chiral a-hetero substituted carboxylic acid enolates have also shown utility in dia-stereoselective additions to nitroalkenes. For example, derivatives of a-hydroxycarboxylic acids, e.g. l,3-dioxolan-4-ones (187) a-amino acids, e.g. 1,3-imidazolidin-4-ones (188) and a-amino-fi-hydroxy-carboxylic acids, e.g. methyl 1,3-oxazolidin-4-carboxylates (189) and methyl l,3-oxazolin-4-carboxy-lates (190), have been employed.1S0a Further, diastereoselective additions of chiral (3-hydroxyesters (191), via the enediolates, to nitroalkenes (40) afford predominant anr/ -P-hydroxyesters (192 Scheme... 

The enolization constants of carboxylic acids to form enediols are generally still lower than those of ketones. The pAE of acetic acid is about 20.35 Due to the relatively high acidity of 1,1-enediols, the enol content of carboxylate anions is somewhat higher. When the carboxylate is attached to cyclopenta-dienyl, a strong mesomeric electron acceptor, the conjugate acid of the enol, fulvene-l,l-diol, becomes a strong acid, pAa = 1.3, and the pAE of the enol anion is reduced to 5.0 (Almstead JIK and Wirz J, Unpublished data).36,37... 

Ivanov Reagents are carboxylate enolates (enediolates, or carboxyl 0 acid dianions) derived from phenyl acetic acid or... 

Sodium enolates of ketones and disodium enediolates of substituted phenylacetic acids reacted with activated aziridines to afford 7-amido ketones and 7-amidobutyric acids, respectively (Scheme 72). Aziridine-2-carboxylic acid esters can be utilized as versatile precursors for amino acid derivatives. Although the product distribution resulting from the reaction of activated aziridine-2-carboxylates with amines depends on the structure of the reactants, the reactions with alcohols or thiols in the presence of acidic cabilysts generally gave the a-amino acid derivatives (Scheme 73). ° On the other hand, free 3-methyl-2-aziridinecarboxylic acids (168) reacted with thiophenol, cysteine and glutathione to afford P-amino acid derivatives with sulfur substituents at the a-position as the main product (Scheme 73). ... 

Vitamin C is another enol-based redox system like the hydroquinones and tyrosine, but it has no aromatic character. The enediol component is stabilized by a conjugated lactone group. The oxidation (Ej = +58 mV) occurs in two one-electron steps, but the ascorbate radical is not as stable as the semiquinone radical (Bielski, and Richter, 1977). The anion radical disproportionates via an initial dimerization in a similar way as semiquinone radicals (Bielski et al., 1981 Sawyer, et al., 1982). The lifetime of the radical is in the order of microseconds. The acidity of ascorbic acid (pk = 4.2) stems from the OH group in the P position to the lactone carbonyl group. It corresponds to the OH group of a vinylogous carboxylic acid (Scheme 7.2.11). Its UV maximum occurs at 260 nm (e = 1 x 1(T). 

Under proper conditions, periodate oxidation of cellulose affords products rich in carboxylic acid groups evaluation of the carboxyl content of oxycel-lulose can be complicated by processes of lactonization and by the presence of acidic, enediol groupings. ... 

A full paper on the conjugate addition of organolithium reagents to free a, -unsaturated carboxylic acids (rather than esters) has now appeared. Methyl groups at the a- and /3-carbon of the alk-2-enoic acid decrease reactivity as acceptors, and foster deprotonation, respectively. The lithium enediolate resulting from the conjugate addition can be intercepted by electrophiles. PM3 calculations are in agreement with the substituent effects. 

As an alternative to the use of auxiliaries for the asymmetric alkylation of carboxylic acid derivatives, in 2011, Zakarian and Stivala reported on the direct stereoselective alkylation of arylacetic acids with chiral lithium amide bases.This method offers an alternative to traditional auxiliary-based methods and operates through the formation of enediolates also, it builds on earlier work by Shioiri and Ando and by Koga and Matsuo . Zakarian and Stivala examined several C2-symmetric tetramines for their enan-tiodirecting power. After significant experimentation, conditions were established that used 4 equivalents of -BuLi and a slight excess of the tetramine that provided clean formation of the desired product. The enantioselectivity was found to be dependent on the quality of the -butyllithium. The reaction scope was examined with a variety of... 

Formation of the enediol(ate) of RuBP is readily assayed on the basis of exchange of solvent protons with the C3 proton of substrate (20-22). The six-carbon intermediate of the carboxylation pathway (II in Fig. 1) can be prepared by rapid quench after mixing equimolar amounts of RuBP and the carboxylase in the presence of 14CO2 (23). Availability of this labeled intermediate allows determination of an enzyme s commitment to forward processing in the carboxylation step. Decomposition, via decarboxylation, is observed as a decrease in radioactivity that can be stabilized by borohydride, whereas forward catalysis is equated with an increase in acid-stable radioactivity. 

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