Carboxylic acids ester reaction with Grignard reagents

Section 19.8 Esters give amides on reaction with ammonia and amines and are cleaved to a carboxylic acid and an alcohol on hydrolysis (Table 19.4). Esters react with Grignard reagents and are reduced by lithium aluminum hydride (Table 19.5). 

The heterocyclic derivative successfully protects the acid from attack by Grignard or hydride-transfer reagents. The carboxylic acid group can be regenerated by acidic hydrolysis or converted to an ester by acid-catalyzed reaction with the appropriate alcohol. 

Chiral 2,2-disubstituted cyclobutanones have been obtained by asymmetric rearrangement of chiral sulfinyl- 177,178 and sulfanylcyclopropanes.179 Using readily available cyclopropyl 4-tolyl (/ )-sulfoxide (l),180 the requisite sulfinylcyclopropanes 3 and 3 were obtained by a sequence of lithiation, reaction with carboxylic acid esters and stereoselective addition of Grignard reagents to the ketones 2 thus formed.178 The corresponding sulfanylcyclopropanes 4 and 4 resulted from a sequence of protection, reduction and deprotection.179... 

Acid chlorides react with diorganocuprate reagents to form ketones (Following fig.). Like the Grignard reaction, an alkyl group displaces the chloride ion to form a ketone. However, unlike the Grignard reaction, the reaction stops at the ketone stage. The mechanism is believed to be radical based rather than nucleophilic substitution. The reaction does not occur with carboxylic acids, acid anhydrides, esters, or amides. 

The reactions of Grignard reagents with aldehydes and ketones give alcohols, reaction with acid chlorides and esters give tertiary alcohols, reaction with carbon dioxide to give carboxylic acids, reaction with nitriles give ketones, and reaction with epoxides give alcohols. 

With organolithium reagents, stable intermediates are produced by addition to a carboxylic acid. On workup, these intermediates produce ketones. As with Grignard reagents, the reaction of organolithium reagents with esters produces tertiary alcohols because the intermediates decompose to ketones under the reaction conditions. The mechanisms for these processes are illustrated in the examples that follow. 

An alternate route to fluoroolefins relies upon the ease of reduction of difluoroolefins(18). Reduction of 114 with sodium bis(2-methoxyethoxy)aluminum hydride (Scheme 35) afforded the fluoroolefins 115 and 116 considerably enriched with the (E)-isomer 116. In a complementary reaction, reduction of the allylic alcohol 117 with LiAlH4 afforded selectively the (Z)-isomer 118. The difluoromethacrylic acid (121) was prepared in similar manner from 120 (Scheme 36) (53 for related examples see references 75 and 76). Under more forcing conditions, further reduction afforded 3-fluoromethacrylic acid 122. Of more general use is the reaction of 120 with Grignard reagents whereupon the 1,4-addition elimination mechanism offers an entry into a-difluoromethylene substituted aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids 123. Ester enolates (125) have been shown to add to trifluoropropene (124) forming the difluoroolefins (126) (Scheme 37) (54). 

Reduction of carboxylic acids to aldehydes Replacement of the Rosenmund reaction (conversion of carboxylic acids to acid chlorides followed by catalytic hydrogenation) or the reaction of Grignard reagents with formic esters by molecular hydrogen and heterogeneous catalysts (Ru3Sn7 alloy). 

As we have seen, most reactions of carboxylic acids, esters, and related compounds involve, as the first step, nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl carbon atom. Examples are Fischer esterification, saponification and ammonolysis of esters, and the first stage of the reaction of esters with Grignard reagents or lithium aluminum hydride. All of these reactions can be summarized by a single mechanistic equation ... 

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