Carboxylic acids hydroxide + amides

Transformation of enolizable a-haloketones to esters, carboxylic acids, or amides via alkoxide-, hydroxide-, or amine-catalyzed rearrangements, respectively. 

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... 

Following formation of the amide intermediate, a second nucleophilic addition of hydroxide ion to the amide carbonyl group then yields a tetrahedral alkoxide ion, which expels amide ion, NHZ-, as leaving group and gives the car-boxylate ion, thereby driving the reaction toward products. Subsequent acidification in a separate step yields the carboxylic acid. We ll look at this process in more detail in Section 21.7. 

When a carbonyl group is bonded to a substituent group that can potentially depart as a Lewis base, addition of a nucleophile to the carbonyl carbon leads to elimination and the regeneration of a carbon-oxygen double bond. Esters undergo hydrolysis with alkali hydroxides to form alkali metal salts of carboxylic acids and alcohols. Amides undergo hydrolysis with mineral acids to form carboxylic acids and amine salts. Carbamates undergo alkaline hydrolysis to form amines, carbon dioxide, and alcohols. 

In these reactions (12-41-12-44), a carbonyl group is attacked by a hydroxide ion (or amide ion) giving an intermediate that undergoes cleavage to a carboxylic acid (or an amide). With respect to the leaving group, this is nucleophilic substitution at a carbonyl group and the mechanism is the tetrahedral one discussed in Chapter 10. 

Base-catalysed hydrolysis. The hydroxide ion attacks the nitrile carhon, followed hy protonation on the unstable nitrogen anion to generate an imidic acid. The imidic acid tautomerizes to the more stable amide via deprotonation on oxygen and protonation on nitrogen. The base-catalysed amide is converted to carboxylic acid in several steps as discussed earlier for the hydrolysis of amides. 

The methoxy group in 7-methoxy,2 7-methoxy-6-methyl,41 and 7-methoxy-4-methylisatin41 has been cleaved to the corresponding hydroxy group with pyridine hydrochloride, while treatment with sodium hydroxide cleaves the 6-methoxy group of 5-chloro-6,7-dimethoxy-l-methylisatin.48 5-Acetamidoisatins have been hydrolyzed to 5-aminoisatins.30 Isatin carboxylic acids have been converted to amides and esters by means of standard procedures.52,53... 

The acyl group (—COOR) in esters and amides is determined by hydrolysis in alcoholic sodium hydroxide solution, followed by ion exchange with an acidic resin. The carboxylic acid formed is then titrated with standard sodium hydroxide, as in (1). The reactions are... 

Hydrolysis of 1-acetoxy- or l-hydroxy-3-cyanoindole (115) by hydrogen peroxide or 1 M sodium hydroxide gave the corresponding amide, while QM sodium hydroxide gave the 3-carboxylic acid which decomposed rapidly at room temperature with diazomethane, the last compound gave the stable methyl l-methoxyindole-3-carboxylate [78JCS(P1)1117]. 1-... 

The basic hydrolysis mechanism (shown next for a primary amide) is similar to that for hydrolysis of an ester. Hydroxide attacks the carbonyl to give a tetrahedral intermediate. Expulsion of an amide ion gives a carboxylic acid, which is quickly deproto-nated to give the salt of the acid and ammonia. 

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