Diazoketone Wolff rearrangement

Carboxylic acid esters from a-diazoketones Wolff rearrangement... 

Thiazole acid chlorides react with diazomethane to give the diazoketone. The later reacts with alcoholic hydrogen chloride to give chloroacetylthiazole (Scheme 16). However, the Wolff rearrangement of the diazoketone is not consistently satisfactory (82). Heated with alcohol in the presence of copper oxide the 5-diazomethylketone (24) gives ethyl 5-thiazoleacetate (25) instead of the expected ethoxymethyl 5-thiazolyl ketone (Scheme 17) (83). 

D. Cyclic a-Diazoketones Ring-Contraction in Photolytic Wolff Rearrangements... 

The photolytic decomposition of a-diazoketones, accompanied by rearrangement to ketene (photolytic Wolff rearrangement), has been used successfully in the preparation of A-nor- and C-norsteroids. The method is reviewed in chapter 15 by R. M. Scribner. ... 

The Arndt-Eistert reaction (Scheme 2.1) which involves the Wolff rearrangement of diazoketones 13 (prepared from the corresponding commercially available N-protected-a-amino acids 12 by reaction of their mixed anhydrides with diazomethane a cautionary note is warranted here the generation and handling of diazomethane require special precautions) has been used extensively by Seebach and coworkers for the preparation of N-protected /9 -amino acids 14 and /9 -amino acid esters 15 and 16. 

Photoelimination of nitrogen from diazoketones is complicated by Wolff rearrangement of the intermediate carbene, as shown below for diazoaceto-phenone<35) ... 

Diazoketones (53) may be obtained by the reaction of diazomethane, CH2N2, on acid chlorides, and a subsequent Wolff rearrangement in the presence of water is of importance because it constitutes part of the Arndt-Eistert procedure, by which an acid may be converted into its homologue ... 

Products of a so-called vinylogous Wolff rearrangement (see Sect. 9) rather than products of intramolecular cyclopropanation are generally obtained from P,y-unsaturated diazoketones I93), the formation of tricyclo[2,1.0.02 5]pentan-3-ones from 2-diazo-l-(cyclopropene-3-yl)-l-ethanones being a notable exception (see Table 10 and reference 12)). The use of Cu(OTf), does not change this situation for diazoketone 185 in the presence of an alcoholl93). With Cu(OTf)2 in nitromethane, on the other hand, A3-hydrinden-2-one 186 is formed 160). As 186 also results from the BF3 Et20-catalyzed reaction in similar yield, proton catalysis in the Cu(OTf)2-catalyzed reaction cannot be excluded, but electrophilic attack of the metal carbene on the double bond (Scheme 26) is also possible. That Rh2(OAc)4 is less efficient for the production of 186, would support the latter explanation, as the rhodium carbenes rank as less electrophilic than copper carbenes. 

Wolff rearrangement of a-diazoketones to give ketenes or subsequent products is an often used synthetic procedure the scope and limitations of which are well established 13 390), so that only a few new features of this reaction need to be considered here. Concerning its catalytic version, one knows that copper, rhodium and palladium catalysts tend to suppress the rearrangement390). A recent case to the contrary is provided by the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl -2-diazo-3-oxopent-4-enoates 404 from which the p,y-unsaturated esters 405 are ultimately obtained via a Wolff rearrangement 236). The Z-5-aryl-2-diazo-3-oxopent-4-enoates undergo intramolecular insertion into an aromatic C—H bond instead (see Sect. 4.1). 

In the list of diazoketones studied by us95 mostly derivatives were included which have in solution no or only a small tendency for a Wolff rearrangement. Nevertheless we found not a single diazoketone 71 which enabled us to identify a ketocarbene 72, only the corresponding ketenes 73 could be detected. The same observation was made when we studied in collaboration with Yannoni et al." the photochemically induced deazotation of l-diazo-2-propanone in an organic matrix at 77 K, using 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy as the analytical tool. 

The diazoketone first formed is decomposed in a high-boiling solvent (benzyl alcohol or octanol 2) at 160°-180°. Although no catalyst is required, but the addition of a collidine base improves the yield. The second step is the rearrangement of the diazoketone which is also called Wolff rearrangement. 

A density functional study has been made of the competition between Wolff rearrangement and [1,2]-H shift in /S-oxy-a-diazocarbonyl compounds. Silver-catalysed decomposition of a-diazoketones (88 n = 0), derived from A-tosyl a-amino acids in methanol, gave rise to mixtures of products of Wolff rearrangement (89) and direct insertion of the carbene into the NH bond (90). The -amino acid derived species (88 n = 1) gave rise to products of Wolff rearrangement. 

There are several transformations that are conceptually related to carbene reactions but do not involve carbene, or even carbenoid, intermediates. Usually, these are reactions in which the generation of a carbene is circumvented by a concerted rearrangement process. An important example of this type of reaction is the thermal and photochemical reactions of x-diazoketones. When z-diazoketones are decomposed thermally or photo-chemically, they usually rearrange to ketenes. This reaction is known as the Wolff rearrangement. 

At the present time, most of the positive photoresists used in the manufacture of microcircuits consist of a low molecular weight phenolic resin and a photoactive dissolution inhibitor. This composite system is not readily soluble in aqueous base but becomes so upon irradiation with ultraviolet light. When this resist is exposed, the dissolution inhibitor, a diazoketone, undergoes a Wolff rearrangement followed by reaction with ambient water to produce a substituted indene carboxylic acid. This photoinduced transformation of the photoactive compound from a hydrophobic molecule to a hydrophillic carboxylic acid allows the resin to be rapidly dissolved by the developer. (L2,3)... 

WOLFF REARRANGEMENT. Rearrangement of diazoketone to ketenes by action of heat, light or some metallic catalyst. The rearrangement is the key step in the Arndt-F.istert synthesis. 

The rearrangement of a-diazoketones to carboxylic acids or esters shown in Equation 9 is known as the Wolff rearrangement. 

Silver clusters 2.5 nm in diameter displayed unusual electrocatalytic properties in Wolff rearrangements of diazoketones.67 The reaction proceeds with electron transfer to and from the silver cluster. The presence of an a-ketocarbene/ketene was confirmed using pyridine as a nucleophilic probe and by UV-visible spectroscopy. Electrochemistry was used to support the role of the silver particles in the rearrangement. 

Treatment with silver oxide in water causes these a-diazoketones to undergo the Wolff rearrangement, yielding 2-deoxyaldonic acids (Scheme 6).95... 

The Arndt-Eistert Synthesis allows the formation of homologated carboxylic acids or their derivatives by reaction of the activated carboxylic acids with diazomethane and subsequent Wolff-Rearrangement of the intermediate diazoketones in the presence of nucleophiles such as water, alcohols, or amines. 

The key step of the Amdt-Eistert Homologation is the Wolff-Rearrangement of the diazoketones to ketenes, which can be accomplished thermally (over the range between r.t. and 750°C, photochemically or by silver(I) catalysis. The reaction is conducted in the presence of nucleophiles such as water (to yield carboxylic acids), alcohols (to give alcohols) or amines (to give amides), to capture the ketene intermediate and avoid the competing formation of diketenes. 

The Wolff Rearrangement allows the generation of ketenes from a-diazoketones. Normally, these ketenes are not isolated, due to their high reactivity to form diketenes. 

The formation of a-diazoketones from carboxylic acids (via the acyl chloride or an anhydride) and the subsequent Wolff Rearrangement in the presence of nucleophiles results in a one-carbon homologation of carboxylic acids. This reaction sequence. 

---