Carboxylic esters, base catalyzed condensation

Further kinetic evidence for the importance of enols comes from work on the base-catalyzed condensations of carbonyl-containing compounds. There are a number of such reactions characteristic of aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, amides, etc. Of these the most elementary appear to be the aldol condensations, which are prototypes of the others. These reactions can be represented by the equation... 

Replacement of a benzene ring by its isostere, thiophene, is one of the more venerable practices in medicinal chemistry. Application of this stratagem to the NSAID piroxicam, gives tenoxicam, 136, a drug with substantially the same activity, nie synthesis of this compound starts by a multi-step conversion of hydroxy thiophene carboxylic ester 130, to the sulfonyl chloride 133. Reaction of that with N-methylglycinc ethyl ester, gives the sulfonamide 134. Base-catalyzed Claisen type condensation serves to cyclize that intermediate to the p-keto ester 135 (shown as the enol tautomer). The final product tenoxicam (136) is obtained by heating the ester with 2-aminopyridine [22]. 

The products of the base-catalyzed Stobbe condensation of 3-formylindole and of 2-formylpyrroles undergo acid-catalyzed cyclization to yield l-hydroxycarbazole-3-carboxylic esters and 4-hydroxyindole-6-carboxylic esters, respectively (73JPR295, 74JPR386, 76JPR816). The analogous condensation of dimethyl homophthalate with 2-formyi-l-methylpyrrole and with 3-formylindole produces (443 Hetero= l-methyl-2-pyrrolyl, 3-indolyl), (444) and (445) under acidic conditions (76JHC83). 

Pyrrolo[2,1 -d][ 1,5]benzothiazepine-6-carboxylic acid (27) was obtained via base-catalyzed cyclization of pyrrole-2-carboxaldehydes 26 and 28, each synthesized by Vilsmeier-Haack formylation of their respective pyrroles 24 and 25, prepared in turn by condensation of 18, respectively, with ethyl bromoacetate and chloroacetonitrile in the presence of sodium ethylate at room temperature. When treated with piperidine in refluxing benzene for 48 hours, 26 and 28 afforded ester 29 and nitrile 31 from which, in an alkaline medium, acid 27 could be obtained. Under similar experimental conditions, acid 27 was also formed from amide 30 (Scheme... 

The reaction of water with esters, hydrolysis, is the reverse of the reaction by which they were made, the condensation reaction, as shown in Equation 15.2. Hydrolysis of esters can be carried out under either acid- or base-catalyzed conditions. Under basic conditions (Figure 15.13), the RDS is the attack of hydroxide ion on the ester carbonyl to give a tetrahedral intermediate. This collapses rapidly, to lose ethoxide. This would appear to break our rules for what reactions are, or are not, possible, because hydroxide is a better leaving group than ethoxide. But this does work, for two reasons. The mass action effect is on our side, as water is in large excess. Also, the final step of the reaction is an irreversible one ethoxide (p/carboxylic acid (p/Ca typically 5). This final step means that the process in base is not fully reversible esters may be hydrolyzed in base but cannot be synthesized in base. The alcohol is not a sufficiently good nucleophile to attack the carboxylate anion, which is the major species present in base. 

Self-Condensation. Use of Electron-Release Caialyst (Cannizzaro reaction). Fundamentally, the base-catalyzed Cannizzaro reaction involves the reaction between two molecules of an aldehyde containing no a-hydrogen atoms. The overall result is the transfer of one aldehyde hydrogen to another aldehyde group, thus producing two radicals that could combine to form an ester. The presence of the basic catalyst prevents the ester formation, and an alcohol and a metal carboxylate result. The mechanism can be shown as follows ... 

Bahrami K, Khodaei MM, Farrokhi A (2009) Highly efficient solvent-free synthesis of dihydropyrimidinones catalyzed by zinc oxide. Synth Commun 39 1801-1808 74. Gross GA, Wurziger H, Schober A (2006) Solid-phase synthesis of 4,6-diaryl-3,4-dihydro-pyrimidine-2(lH)-one-5-carboxylic acid amide derivatives a Biginelli three-component-condensation protocol based on immobilized beta-ketoamides. J Comb Chem 8 153-155 Desai B, Dallinger D, Kappe CO (2006) Microwave-assisted solution phase synthesis of dihydropyrimidine C5 amides and esters. Tetrahedron 62 4651 664 Kumar A, Maurya RA (2007) An efficient bakers yeast catalyzed synthesis of 3,4-dihydro-pyrimidin-2-(lH)-ones. Tetrahedron Lett 48 4569-4571 77. Zalavadiya P, Tala S, Akbari J, Joshi H (2009) Multi-component synthesis of dihydropyrimidines by iodine catalyst at ambient temperature and in-vitro anti mycobacterial activity. Arch Pharm 342 469-475... 

Quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde has been converted into the 2-carboxylic acid by oxidation with potassium permanganate in acetone and reduced to the 2-hydroxymethyl compound by treatment with formalin and potassium hydroxide. It also undergoes other typical reactions of aromatic aldehydes such as benzoin formation on reaction with potassium cyanide - and condensation reactions with malonic acid and its diethyl ester and Schiff base formation. Acid-catalyzed reaction of quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde with ethylene glycol gives the cyclic acetal the diethylacetal has been prepared by reaction of 2-dibromomethylquinoxaline with sodium ethoxide. " An indirect preparation of the oxime 11 is achieved by treatment of 2-nitromethyl-quinoxaline (10) with diazomethane followed by thermolysis of the resulting nitronic ester. 

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