1.4- Dicarbonyl compounds from ketones

Pteridine syntheses from pyrimidine intermediates Traube synthesis and can be condensed with 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds and ketones and aldehydes, respectively, in a very effective manner. There is also a series of regioselective approaches leading towards 6- and 7-substituted pteridine derivatives carrying a broad variety of substituents in these positions. 

Nitrosobenzene, CjHsNO, which is obtained by the oxidation of phenylhydroxylamine, and p>nitrosodimethylaniline, p-(CH3)2NCjH4NO, which is easily prepared by the nitrosation of dimethylaniline, are fairly specific oxidizing agents for the preparation of aromatic aldehydes from benzyl halides or tosylates and of a-dicarbonyl compounds from from a-halo ketones [984, 985]. Also, a methylene group flanked by two carbonyls can be oxidized to a carbonyl group by nitrosodimethylaniline [986]. Pyridine is frequently used to form quaternary pyridinium salts from reactive halides prior to their oxidation to aromatic aldehydes, a-ketoaldehydes, or a-diketones [984] (equations 22 and 23). 

Hexaethylditin was explored in 1985 by Bumagin et a/. to form ketones or dicarbonyl compounds from acid chlorides under palladium catalysis. 

Analysis Another lactone FGl reveals the true TM (A). Our normal discormection a of an a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compound gives us the 1,5-dicarbonyl compound (B) and the ketone (C) clearly derived from phenol. Alternatively we could disconnect bond b to the keto-ester (D) with the further discormection shown ... 

The most general methods for the syntheses of 1,2-difunctional molecules are based on the oxidation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (p. 117) and the opening of oxiranes by hetero atoms (p. 123fl.). There exist, however, also a few useful reactions in which an a - and a d -synthon or two r -synthons are combined. The classical polar reaction is the addition of cyanide anion to carbonyl groups, which leads to a-hydroxynitriles (cyanohydrins). It is used, for example, in Strecker s synthesis of amino acids and in the homologization of monosaccharides. The ff-hydroxy group of a nitrile can be easily substituted by various nucleophiles, the nitrile can be solvolyzed or reduced. Therefore a large variety of terminal difunctional molecules with one additional carbon atom can be made. Equally versatile are a-methylsulfinyl ketones (H.G. Hauthal, 1971 T. Durst, 1979 O. DeLucchi, 1991), which are available from acid chlorides or esters and the dimsyl anion. Carbanions of these compounds can also be used for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (p. 65f.). 

In addition to formation from a ketone, the hydra2ones can be obtained from dicarbonyl compounds by a Japp-Klingemann reaction. This is especially useful for P-ketoesters and P-ketoacids, which undergo either deacylation or decarboxylation. 

The procedure described illustrates a general method for the preparation of o ,j3-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones from the enol ethers of 3-dicarbonyl compounds. 

The reaction of tnfluoromethyl-substituted A -acyl umnes toward nucleophiles in many aspects parallels that of the parent polyfluoro ketones Heteronucleophiles and carbon nucleophiles, such as enarmnes [37, 38], enol ethers [38, 39, 40], hydrogen cyanide [34], tnmethylsilylcarbomlnle [2,47], alkynes [42], electron-nch heterocycles [43], 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds [44], organolithium compounds [45, 46, 47, 48], and Gngnard compounds [49,50], readily undergo hydroxyalkylation with hexafluoroace-tone and amidoalkylation with acyl imines denved from hexafluoroacetone... 

The reaction of diketosulfides with 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds other than glyoxal is often not efficient for the direct preparation of thiophenes. For example, the reaction of diketothiophene 24 and benzil or biacetyl reportedly gave only glycols as products. The elimination of water from the P-hydroxy ketones was not as efficient as in the case of the glyoxal series. Fortunately, the mixture of diastereomers of compounds 25 and 26 could be converted to their corresponding thiophenes by an additional dehydration step with thionyl chloride and pyridine. 

The best Michael reactions are those that take place when a particularly stable enolate ion such as that derived from a /i-keto ester or other 1,3-dicarbonyl compound adds to an unhindered a,/3-unsaturated ketone. Tor example, ethyl acetoacetate reacts with 3-buten-2-one in the presence of sodium ethoxide to yield the conjugate addition product. 

Scheme 2.11 shows some examples of Robinson annulation reactions. Entries 1 and 2 show annulation reactions of relatively acidic dicarbonyl compounds. Entry 3 is an example of use of 4-(trimethylammonio)-2-butanone as a precursor of methyl vinyl ketone. This compound generates methyl vinyl ketone in situ by (3-eliminalion. The original conditions developed for the Robinson annulation reaction are such that the ketone enolate composition is under thermodynamic control. This usually results in the formation of product from the more stable enolate, as in Entry 3. The C(l) enolate is preferred because of the conjugation with the aromatic ring. For monosubstituted cyclohexanones, the cyclization usually occurs at the more-substituted position in hydroxylic solvents. The alternative regiochemistry can be achieved by using an enamine. Entry 4 is an example. As discussed in Section 1.9, the less-substituted enamine is favored, so addition occurs at the less-substituted position. 

A mixture of 1,4-dioxane and water is often used as the solvent for the conversion of aldehydes and ketones by H2Se03 to a-dicarbonyl compounds in one step (Eq. 8.117).331 Dehydrogenation of carbonyl compounds with selenium dioxide generates the a, (i-unsaturated carbonyl compounds in aqueous acetic acid.332 Using water as the reaction medium, ketones can be transformed into a-iodo ketones upon treatment with sodium iodide, hydrogen peroxide, and an acid.333 Interestingly, a-iodo ketones can be also obtained from secondary alcohol through a metal-free tandem oxidation-iodination approach. 

The Michael addition of nitroalkanes to a,P-unsaturated ketones followed by the Nef reaction has been extensively used as a method for the conjugated addition of acyl anions to enones (see Section 6.1, Nef Reaction). This strategy is one of the best methods for the preparation of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds.156a h Various natural products have been prepared via this route.157 For example, r/.v-jasmone is prepared from readily available materials, as shown in Scheme 4.19.156f... 

The reaction, formally speaking a [3 + 2] cycloaddition between the aldehyde and a ketocarbene, resembles the dihydrofuran formation from 57 a or similar a-diazoketones and alkenes (see Sect. 2.3.1). For that reaction type, 2-diazo-l,3-dicarbonyl compounds and ethyl diazopyruvate 56 were found to be suited equally well. This similarity pertains also to the reactivity towards carbonyl functions 1,3-dioxole-4-carboxylates are also obtained by copper chelate catalyzed decomposition of 56 in the presence of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes as well as enolizable ketones 276). No such products were reported for the catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of the same ketones 271,272). The reasons for the different reactivity of ethoxycarbonylcarbene and a-ketocarbenes (or the respective metal carbenes) have only been speculated upon so far 276). 

The formation of an allenyl ketone as the sole product can be achieved by using an excess (2 equiv.) of propargyl bromide (entries 3—6, Table 5.9). Use of an increased amount (3 equiv.) of the acylzirconocene chloride in the reaction with propargyl bromide and/or tosylate yields a significant amount of a 1,4-dicarbonyl compound derived from Michael-type addition of the acylzirconocene chloride to the initially formed allenyl ketone (entry 2, Table 5.9). The Michael-type addition of acylzirconocene chlorides to allenyl ketones under Cu(I)-catalyzed conditions has been confirmed by an independent experiment (Scheme 5.31). 

Acyloxy-l-cyanoalkanes [45, 46], which can be used as precursors for ketones [47], a-hydroxy ketones [48] and 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds [47], are prepared in one pot from the appropriate aldehyde, sodium or potassium cyanide, and the acylating agent under phase-transfer catalytic conditions [47-49]. Attempts to synthesize chiral cyanhydrins using chiral phase-transfer catalysts have been unsuccessful (see Section 12.3). 

Figure 17-1 presents atypical retrosynthetic analysis problem. (The presence of a p-diccirbonyl compound indicates that the formation of a carbanion through the loss of a hydrogen ion from the a-carbon will probably be important however, don t let this distract you from the task at hand.) The problem asks you to prepare a ketone. Your first question should be, How can 1 prepare a ketone One answer to this question is to deccirboxylate a 5-dicarbonyl compound. For the compound in this problem, the reaction shown in Figure 17-2 works. 

It is not customary to attempt the isolation of ketone or aldehyde intermediates (121) the formula serves merely as a reminder that once hydrolysis of the protecting enol ether or acetal occurs, the same type of structure is formed from any given dicarbonyl compound. Cyclization has been carried out in refluxing ethanolic picric acid or acetic anhydride with a few drops of sulfuric acid, but Hansen and Amstutz (63JOC393) offered excellent theoretical reasons for avoiding an excess of acid, and reported that best results (Table 3) can be obtained by refluxing the dry hydrobromide in acetic anhydride containing no sulfuric acid. 

The reaction with optically active hydrazones provided an access to optically active ketones. The butylzinc aza-enolate generated from the hydrazone 449 (derived from 4-heptanone and (,S )-1 -amino-2-(methoxymethyl)pyrrolidine (SAMP)) reacted with the cyclopropenone ketal 78 and led to 450 after hydrolysis. The reaction proceeded with 100% of 1,2-diastereoselectivity at the newly formed carbon—carbon bond (mutual diastereo-selection) and 78% of substrate-induced diastereoselectivity (with respect to the chiral induction from the SAMP hydrazone). The latter level of diastereoselection was improved to 87% by the use of the ZnCl enolate derived from 449, at the expense of a slight decrease in yield. Finally, the resulting cyclopropanone ketal 450 could be transformed to the polyfunctional open-chain dicarbonyl compound 451 by removal of the hydrazone moiety and oxymercuration of the three-membered ring (equation 192). 

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