Nucleophilic substitution carboxylic acids

The chemistry of 1,3-dioxins containing four double bonds is poorly developed. A few examples of nucleophilic additions have been demonstrated. The proton-catalyzed addition of alcohol or carboxylic acid nucleophiles to anhydro derivatives of acetylsalicylic acid - new prodrugs of aspirin - was reported to give the C-2 O-substituted 1,3-dioxanes in 41-60% yield (Equation 19) <2001TL5231, 2003CRC265>. 

These substitution products A and B need not be the final product of the reaction of nucleophiles with carboxyl species. Sometimes they may be formed only as intermediates and continue to react with the nucleophile. Being carbonyl compounds (substitution products A) or carboxylic acid derivatives (substitution products B), they can in principle undergo, another addition or substitution reaction (see above). Thus, carboxylic acid derivatives can react with as many as two equivalents of nucleophiles, and carbonic acid derivatives can react with as many as three. 

There is one last reaction to consider. Remember the reaction of a carboxylic acid such as butanoic acid with a base such as NaOH or NaOCHg described in Chapter 6 (Section 6.2). Sodium methoxide is a good base (Chapter 12, Section 12.1), but as seen in Chapter 11 (Section 11.3.2), methoxide is also a good nucleophile. What happens when butanoic acid reacts with sodium methoxide in ether The answer is that the acid-base reaction dominates indeed, the acid-base reaction is much faster than the acyl substitution reaction. Therefore, sodium methoxide reacts with butanoic acid to give the sodium salt of butanoic acid (76, the conjugate base) and methanol (the conjugate acid). If a potential nucleophile is a potent base, the acid-base reaction will dominate with carboxylic acids. Nucleophilic acyl substitution reactions dominate with acid derivatives, with some exceptions that are discussed in Chapter 22. 

Solvent Effects on the Rate of Substitution by the S 2 Mechanism Polar solvents are required m typical bimolecular substitutions because ionic substances such as the sodium and potassium salts cited earlier m Table 8 1 are not sufficiently soluble m nonpolar solvents to give a high enough concentration of the nucleophile to allow the reaction to occur at a rapid rate Other than the requirement that the solvent be polar enough to dis solve ionic compounds however the effect of solvent polarity on the rate of 8 2 reactions IS small What is most important is whether or not the polar solvent is protic or aprotic Water (HOH) alcohols (ROH) and carboxylic acids (RCO2H) are classified as polar protic solvents they all have OH groups that allow them to form hydrogen bonds... 

Primary and secondary alkyl halides may be converted to the next higher carboxylic acid by a two step synthetic sequence involving the preparation and hydrolysis of nitriles Nitnles also known as alkyl cyanides are prepared by nucleophilic substitution... 

CARBOXYLIC ACID DERIVATIVES NUCLEOPHILIC ACYL SUBSTITUTION... 

Carboxylic Acid Derivatives Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution... 

Both stages involve more than one step and these steps differ in detail among the various carboxylic acid derivatives and for different reaction conditions This chapter is organized to place the various nucleophilic acyl substitutions into a common mechanis tic framework and to point out the ways m which individual classes differ from the rest... 

Conversions of acid anhydrides to other carboxylic acid derivatives are illustrated m Table 20 2 Because a more highly stabilized carbonyl group must result m order for nucleophilic acyl substitution to be effective acid anhydrides are readily converted to carboxylic acids esters and amides but not to acyl chlorides... 

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