Conjugate nucleophilic addition reaction

The following transformation involves a conjugate nucleophilic addition reaction (Section 19.13) followed by an intramolecular nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction (Section 21.2). Show the mechanism. 

Nucleophilic Addition Reactions. Many nucleophiles, including amines, mercaptans, and alcohols, undergo 1,4-conjugate addition to the double bond of methacrylates (12—14). 

Figure 19.16 A comparison of direct (1,2) and conjugate (1,4) nucleophilic addition reactions.

The mechanism of the reaction is thought to involve conjugate nucleophilic addition of the diorganocopper anion, R2C1F, to the enone to give a... 

Step 2 of Figure 29.12 Isomerization Citrate, a prochiral tertiary alcohol, is next converted into its isomer, (2, 35)-isocitrate, a chiral secondary alcohol. The isomerization occurs in two steps, both of which are catalyzed by the same aconitase enzyme. The initial step is an ElcB dehydration of a /3-hydroxy acid to give cfs-aconitate, the same sort of reaction that occurs in step 9 of glycolysis (Figure 29.7). The second step is a conjugate nucleophilic addition of water to the C=C bond (Section 19.13). The dehydration of citrate takes place specifically on the pro-R arm—the one derived from oxaloacetate—rather than on the pro-S arm derived from acetyl CoA. 

Steps 7-8 of Figure 29.12 Hydration and Oxidation The final two steps in the citric acid cycle are the conjugate nucleophilic addition of water to fumarate to yield (S)-malate (L-malate) and the oxidation of (S)-malate by NAD+ to give oxaloacetate. The addition is cataiyzed by fumarase and is mechanistically similar to the addition of water to ris-aconitate in step 2. The reaction occurs through an enolate-ion intermediate, which is protonated on the side opposite the OH, leading to a net anti addition. 

This is a further example of a carbonyl-electrophile complex, and equivalent to the conjugate acid, so that the subsequent nucleophilic addition reaction parallels that in hemiacetal formation. Loss of the leaving group occurs first in an SNl-like process with the cation stabilized by the neighbouring oxygen an SN2-like process would be inhibited sterically. It is also possible to rationalize why base catalysis does not work. Base would simply remove a proton from the hydroxyl to initiate hemiacetal decomposition back to the aldehyde - what is needed is to transform the hydroxyl into a leaving group (see Section 6.1.4), hence the requirement for protonation. 

When a stepwise ionic addition reaction involves nucleophilic attack at carbon as a first step, it is described as a nucleophilic addition. Reactions of this type often are catalyzed by bases, which generate the required nucleophile. For example, consider the addition of some weakly acidic reagent HX to an alkene. In the presence of a strong base ( OH), HX could give up its proton to form the conjugate base Xe, which is expected to be a much better nucleophile than HX ... 

Cyclopropenes, even unactivated ones, exhibit extraordinarily high reactivity in both electrophilic and nucleophilic addition reactions. They are also good dienophiles and react with a variety of conjugated dienes including acyclic 1,3-dienes, alicyclic 1,3-dienes, anthracenes and furans. An endo selectivity is usually observed. An alkyl or aryl substituent at the 3-position of cyclopropene sterically hinders the Diels-Alder addition and thus 3,3-dialkyl- and 3,3-diarylcyclopropenes exhibit a reduced dienophilicity (equation 131) . On the other hand, numerous Diels-Alder reactions have been reported for 3,3-dicyano- and 3,3-dihalocyclopropenes. The reactions of 3-monosubsti-tuted cyclopropenes with the diene take place stereoselectively from the less crowded side of the substrates (equation 132) °. 

STEPS 7-8 Regeneration of oxaloacetate. Catalyzed by the enzyme fumarase, conjugate nucleophilic addition of water to fumarate yields L-malate in a reaction similar to that of step 2 in the fatty acid jS-oxidation pathway. Oxidation with NAD then gives oxaloacetate in a step catalyzed by malate dehydrogenase, and the citric acid cycle has returned to its starting point, ready to revolve again. 

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