Condensation, of acetoacetic ester, acid catalyzed

Isodehydroacetic acid has been prepared by the action of sulfuric acid on acetoacetic ester 3 4 The ethyl ester has been prepared by the action of dry hydrogen chloride on acetoacetic ester 6 6 and by the sodium-catalyzed condensation of ethyl /3-chloroisocrotonate with ethyl acetoacetate3 The methyl ester of isodehydroacetic acid has been prepared by the thermal rearrangement of pyrazolines 7... 

In the second example, the synthesis of a coumarin-type fluorescent brightener is illustrated. Here, meta-hydroxy-/V,/V-diethylani-line is condensed with ethyl acetoacetate followed by cyclization of the intermediate keto ester 61. The latter compound undergoes acid-catalyzed cyclization and dehydration to give C.I. Fluorescent Brightener 130. See Fig. 13.142. 

In 1887, Claisen and Lowman reported that the condensation of 2 mol of an ester, such as ethyl acetate, in the presence of base gave the p-keto ester, ethyl acetoacetate (ethyl 3-oxobutanoate equation 1). The intramolecular equivalent was recognized by Dieckmann in 1894. He found that heating an adipic acid ester with sodium and a trace of alcohol led to cyclization, with the formation of a cyclopentanone (equation 2). The reaction was, at an early stage, extended to the acylation of ketones. Claisen himself reported the base-catalyzed reaction of acetophenone and ethyl benzoate to give dibenzoylmethane in 1887. This reaction, too, has an intramolecular parallel. The acylation of ketones with esters and other acid derivatives is sometimes called a Claisen condensation, although this usage is criticized by some writers and avoided by others. A widely used example of ketone acylation is the synthesis of a-formyl (hydroxymethylene) ketones (equation 3). Intramolecular variants of this reaction include the classical synthesis of dimedone (Scheme 1). 

Two mechanisms can be envisioned for the Pechmann condensation (1) acid-catalyzed transesterification of the P-keto ester followed by acid-catalyzed cyclodehydration of the resulting aryl acetoacetate (4), or (2) acid-catalyzed Friedel-Crafts-like phenol alkylation ortho to the phenolic hydroxyl group) followed by intramolecular transesterification/cyclization of the resulting o-hydroxycinnamic acid ester (5). 

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