Chain Reactions carbonyl substitutions

The Cornforth rearrangement involves the thermal interconversion of 4-carbonyl substituted oxazoles, with exchange between the C-C-O side-chain and the C-C-O fragment of the oxazole ring. These reactions generally involve compounds where a heteroatom (-OR, -SR, -Cl) is attached to the 5-position (R2) of the starting oxazole. 

Because the addition steps are generally fast and consequently exothermic chain steps, their transition states should occur early on the reaction coordinate and therefore resemble the starting alkene. This was recently confirmed by ab initio calculations for the attack at ethylene by methyl radicals and fluorene atoms. The relative stability of the adduct radicals therefore should have little influence on reacti-vity 2 ). The analysis of reactivity and regioselectivity for radical addition reactions, however, is even more complex, because polar effects seem to have an important influence. It has been known for some time that electronegative radicals X-prefer to react with ordinary alkenes while nucleophilic alkyl or acyl radicals rather attack electron deficient olefins e.g., cyano or carbonyl substituted olefins The best known example for this behavior is copolymerization This view was supported by different MO-calculation procedures and in particular by the successful FMO-treatment of the regioselectivity and relative reactivity of additions of radicals to a series of alkenes An excellent review of most of the more recent experimental data and their interpretation was published recently by Tedder and... 

Compound 63, the 2-formyl derivative of compound 61, undergoes a series of side-chain reactions at the carbonyl group including reduction with sodium borohydride and condensation reactions with hydroxylamine or malononitrile. The reactions afford the appropriately 2-substituted products in excellent yields <2004CHE1477>. 

Co-polymerization of pentaerythritol and two other monomers—an unsaturated acid and benzene 1,3-dicarboxylic acid—gives a network of polymer chains branching out from the quaternary carbon atom at the centre of pentaerythritol. The reaction is simply ester formation by a carbonyl substitution reaction at high temperature (> 200°C). Ester formation between acids and alcohols is an equilibrium reaction but at high temperatures water is lost as steam and the equilibrium is driven over to the right. 

Reactions of Br2 show essentially the same type of behavior (32) with substituted carbonyls although the extent of adduct formation is significantly lower. Reaction of Mn2(CO)1q with Br2 is, however, unique (33) in proceeding via a chain reaction, the propagation steps presumably being as in eq 16 and 17. 

In any chain reaction, apart from initiation steps, the termination steps are also important. In metathesis there are many possibilities for termination reactions. Besides the reverse of the initiation step, the reaction between two carbene species is also a possibility (eq. (17)). The observation that, when using the Me4SnAVCl6 system, as well as methane traces of ethylene are also observed [26] is in agreement with this reaction. Further reactions which lead to loss of catalytic activity are (1) the destruction of the metallacyclobutane intermediate resulting in the formation of cyclopropanes or alkenes, and (2) the reaction of the metallacycle or metal carbene with impurities in the system or with the functional group in the case of a functionally substituted alkene (e. g., Wittig-type reactions of the metal carbene with carbonyl groups). 

At this point, to complete the subject of the radical oxidation of substituted carboxaldehydes, mention should be made of the findings concerning glyceric aldehyde [43], In the aqueous phase, the oxidation of this compound is a chain reaction. The accumulation of intermediate products such as glyceride and glycolic acids at the same time as acetic and formic acids and C02 indicates that this aldehyde has two reactive oxidation sites, i.e. the carbonyl group and the carbon a to this group. 

Easic Principles Practical Photochemistry General Considerations Carbonyl Compounds a-Cleavage Carbonyl Compounds Hydrogren Abstraction Steroids Carbonyl Compounds Cycloaddition Enone and Dienone Rearrangements Alkenes Isomerisation and Rearrangement Alkenes Cycloaddition Alkenes Photo-Cxidation Terpenoids Aromatic Compounds Isomerisation and Cycloaddition Practical Photochemistry Scale-up Aromatic Compounds Substitution and Cydisation Alkaloids Photoinitiated Free-radical Chain Reactions. 

Aryl-substituted aldehydes 352 can be cleaved to chain-shortened carbonyl compounds 353 and formaldehyde by iodosylbenzene in the presence of acids or Lewis acids (Scheme 3.140). Formaldehyde is further oxidized to CO and CO2 under the reaction conditions [457]. Oxidative decarboxylation of 2-aryl-substituted carboxylic acids 354 into corresponding aldehydes, ketones (e.g., 355) and nitriles at room temperature can be achieved by treatment with (diacetoxyiodo)benzene and a catalytic amount of sodium azide in acetonitrile (Scheme 3.141) [458]. 

Controlled electron-transfer chain catalysed nucleophilic substitution reactions of di- and trinuclear metal carbonyls allows sequential and regioselective coordination of polydentate ligands. This type of reaction has been illustrated by the syntheses of (tCFg)3C3]Co3(C0)g L > (n = 1-3 L =... 

Hammen equation A correlation between the structure and reactivity in the side chain derivatives of aromatic compounds. Its derivation follows from many comparisons between rate constants for various reactions and the equilibrium constants for other reactions, or other functions of molecules which can be measured (e g. the i.r. carbonyl group stretching frequency). For example the dissociation constants of a series of para substituted (O2N —, MeO —, Cl —, etc.) benzoic acids correlate with the rate constant k for the alkaline hydrolysis of para substituted benzyl chlorides. If log Kq is plotted against log k, the data fall on a straight line. Similar results are obtained for meta substituted derivatives but not for orthosubstituted derivatives. 

The hydroformylation reaction is carried out in the Hquid phase using a metal carbonyl catalyst such as HCo(CO)4 (36), HCo(CO)2[P( -C4H2)] (37), or HRh(CO)2[P(CgH3)2]2 (38,39). The phosphine-substituted rhodium compound is the catalyst of choice for new commercial plants that can operate at 353—383 K and 0.7—2 MPa (7—20 atm) (39). The differences among the catalysts are found in their intrinsic activity, their selectivity to straight-chain product, their abiHty to isomerize the olefin feedstock and hydrogenate the product aldehyde to alcohol, and the ease with which they are separated from the reaction medium (36). 

An example of cleavage ol the sulfur-oxygen bond in trifluoromethane-sulfonic ester has been reported Tnfluororaethyl triflate reacts with neutral or anionic nucleophiles with elimination of carbonyl difluoride and formation of trifluoromethanesulfonyl fluoride [57] (equation 32) The mechanism of this reaction involves elimination of fluoride ion, which is a chain carrier in the substitution of fluorine for the trifluoromethoxy group... 

Isolated carbonyls always give epoxides from the Corey-Chaykovsky reaction. Take the aldehyde substrate as an example. Spiro epoxide 30 was produced from the reaction of trisnorsqualene aldehyde 28 (R20 represents the polyene side-chain with 20 carbons) with substituted sulfur ylide 29, prepared in situ from cyclopropyldiphenylsulfonium tetrafluoroborate and KOH. " For the epoxidation of ketones, the Corey-Chaykovsky reaction works well for diaryl- (31), arylalkyl- (32), ... 

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