1.3- Dicarbonyl compounds, furans

Sulphur compounds Diacetyl and other dicarbonyl compounds Furans,... 

The conversion of furans by oxidative acetylation or methoxylation to 2,5-diacetoxy- or 2,5-dimethoxy-2,5-dihydrofurans respectively, and their subsequent hydrogenation to the corresponding tetrahydrofurans, provides a useful source of protected 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds capable of conversion inter alia into the other five-membered heterocycles [Pg.142]

Several variations of the Feist-Benary reaction furnish substituted furans as products. The following three examples provide synthetically useful alternatives to the standard reaction conditions. One method is based on the reaction of a sulfonium salt with a P-dicarbonyl compound. For example, reaction of acetylacetone (39) with sulfonium salt 38 in the presence of sodium ethoxide yields 81% of trisubstituted furan 40. This strategy provides a flexible method for the preparation of 2,3,4-trisubstituted furans. 

Disubstituted furans are available from the combination of P-dicarbonyl compounds with bromoacetaldehyde diethyl acetal (44). For example, dibenzoylmethane (45) reacts with acetal 44 to furnish 2,3-disubstituted furan 46 in 77% yield. This two-... 

The ease with which furans may be formed from and hydrolyzed back to 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds, together with ready 5-lithiation of 2-substituted furans. 

Scheme 3b). It is instructive at this point to reiterate that the furan nucleus can be used in synthesis as a progenitor for a 1,4-dicarbonyl. Whereas the action of aqueous acid on a furan is known to provide direct access to a 1,4-dicarbonyl compound, exposure of a furan to an alcohol and an acid catalyst should result in the formation of a 1,4-diketal. Indeed, when a solution of intermediate 15 in benzene is treated with excess ethylene glycol, a catalytic amount of / ara-toluenesulfonic acid, and a trace of hydroquinone at reflux, bisethylene ketal 14 is formed in a yield of 71 %. The azeotropic removal of water provides a driving force for the ketalization reaction, and the presence of a trace of hydroquinone suppresses the formation of polymeric material. Through a Finkelstein reaction,14 the action of sodium iodide on primary bromide 14 results in the formation of primary iodide 23, a substance which is then treated, in crude form, with triphenylphosphine to give crystalline phosphonium iodide 24 in a yield of 93 % from 14.

The use of microwaves for the preparation of aromatic five-membered heterocycles has been intensely investigated with excellent results in terms of yields and purities of the products prepared. The Paal-Knorr reaction, namely the cyclocondensation of a 1,4-dicarbonyl compound to give furans, pyrroles and thiophenes has been successfully carried out with the aid of microwaves. 

Efforts were made by Garcia Gonzalez and his coworkers to elucidate the mechanism of this reaction. In one of the working hypotheses, it was considered that the aldehydo form of the sugar and the 1,3-dicarbonyl compound undergo an aldol reaction to yield a 2-C-(alditol-l-yl)-l,3-dicar-bonyl compound, which is then dehydrated to form the furan. This hypothesis was supported by the isolation of the aldol-addition product of... 

The process is assumed to take place by a chemoselective attack of the dianion 2-223 at the bromomethyl group of 2-221 and subsequent nucleophilic attack of the resultant monoanion 2-224 onto the epoxide moiety to give 2-225. Use of the sodium-lithium-salt 2-223 of the dicarbonyl compound 2-220, the reaction temperature as well as the Lewis acid LiC104, are crucial. The reaction seems to be quite general, since various 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds can be converted into the corresponding furans. 

A review is available of the synthesis of polyhydroxyalkyl substituted heterocycles, including furans, by condensations of aldose and ketose sugars with / -dicarbonyl compounds.Ih... 

Dicarbonyl compounds can be converted into furans by methods other than the classical Feist- Benary method, the essential feature of which is alkylation by a haloketone or similar species. A curious variation is provided by the use of trichloronitroethene, Cl2C=CCIN02, which condenses with two moles of a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound by Michael addition followed by elimination of two chloride ions the third chloride is lost at the aroma-tization step so that, for example, methyl 3-oxobenzenepropanoate is converted into the nitrofuran 38."... 

As depicted in the following scheme, in the presence of sodium iodate and pyridine, several 5,6-dihydroxylated benzofuran derivatives were synthesized via an oxidation-Michael addition of P-dicarbonyl compounds to catechols in a one-pot procedure <06TL2615 06JHC1673>. A novel additive Pummerer reaction of 2-benzo[fc]furan sulfilimines with carbon nucleophiles derived from P-dicarbonyl compounds was also employed to the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted benzo[b]furans <06TL595>. 

In analogy to the Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis described by Taddei and coworkers [342] (Scheme 6.181), similar reaction conditions were used by these authors to cyclize 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds to give furans (Scheme 6.190). Thus, heating a solution of a 1,4-dicarbonyl compound in ethanol/water in the presence of a catalytic amount of hydrochloric acid at 140 °C for 3 min provided an excellent yield of the corresponding trisubstituted furan derivative. 

Experiments show that substances with the formula R—CO— CHOH—R react with /3-dicarbonyl compounds to give furan derivatives having the following general formula. It is noteworthy that this reaction... 

Substituted furan formation by an indirect cyclization of 1,4-dicarbonyl derivatives has also been adopted as a key step in the synthesis of 3-oxa-guaianolides. Although 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds have been traditionally considered as the direct precursors for furans, treatment of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds having a tertiary acetoxy group with p-toluenesulfonic acid leads to only 11% yield of an alkenylfurans as derived from a cyclization/acetoxy-elimination route. The following scheme shows an alternative multi-step conversion of the 1,4-dicarbonyl that leads to a more acceptable yield of the acetoxyfuran . 

Reaction of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with vinyl sulfides gives the corresponding medium- and large-sized ring substituted furans 78 in moderate to good yields. In addition to cyclohexane-1,3-diones, 4-hydroxycoumarins and 4-hydroxyquinone can also be used as 1,3-dicarbonyl components . 

Aside from alcohols, other oxygen nucleophiles have also participated in hydroalkoxylation reactions with alkynes. The most common of these are 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, whose enol oxygens are readily available to add to alkynes. Cyclization reactions of this type have been carried out under Pd(0) catalysis with various aryl or vinyl iodides or triflates, often in the presence of CO, affording the corresponding furan derivatives (Equation (95)).337-340 A similar approach employing cyclic 1,3-diketones has also been reported to prepare THFs and dihydropyrans under Pd, Pt, or W catalysis.341 Simple l-alkyn-5-ones have also been isomerized to furans under the influence of Hg(OTf)2.342... 

Cyclopentenones. 1,3-Dicarbonyl compounds add to enol ethers or esters (terminal) in the presence of Mn30(OAc)7 (excess) to form l-alkoxy-l,2-dihydro-furans. These can be converted to a 1,4-diketone, which undergoes aldol cyclization to fused (or spiro) cyclopentenones.1... 

Furans.2 Enol ethers, p-dicarbonyl compounds, and Mn(III) acetate (2 equiv.) react in acetic acid (25°) to form l-aIkoxy-l,2-dihydrofurans, which form furans readily on acid-catalyzed elimination of ROH. 

The reaction is applicable to acyclic and cyclic enol ethers and to various (3-dicarbonyl compounds, but fails with silyl enol ethers and simple 1,2-disubstituted alkenes. When applicable, this route to furans is useful because the yields and regioselectivity are consistently satisfactory. The paper includes a preparation of the reagent by reaction of Mn(NO,)3 with Ac20 at 100° to give Mn,0(0Ac)7 H0Ac in 60% yield. 

Furans, from acetylenic sul-fonium salts and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, 53, 3... 

On a commercial scale, furan is obtained from 2-formylfuran (furfural, furan-2-carbaldehyde) (see Section 6.2.7) by gas-phase decarbonylation, but in the laboratory, furans can be formed by the cyclodehydration of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds. Heating in boiling benzene with a trace of /7-toluenesulfonic acid as a catalyst in a Dean-Stark apparatus is often effective (Scheme 6.30a). 

This is often achieved from 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds in a procedure similar to that used to form furans but using phosphorus pentasulfide, or Lawesson s reagent (see below), to cause a transposition from carbonyl to thiocarbonyl groups, prior to cyclization and loss of hydrogen sulfide (Scheme 6.37). 

The first two reactions of the sequence are similar to reactions that occur in acidic medium. The 1,2- and 2,3-enediols, and the unsaturated elimination-products derived from them, are present both in acidic and basic solutions. In general, however, reactions in basic solution are much faster than in acidic solution, because of the greater catalytic effect of the hydroxyl ion on the transformation reactions Mechanistic differences between the media become operative in steps c and d. In acid, further dehydration, if it is possible, occurs rapidly, before equilibrium of the deoxy-enediol with the dicarbonyl compound has been established,17 and the products are furans. In alkaline solution, the rapid formation of the tautomeric dicarbonyl compound permits the benzilic acid rearrangement42 to proceed. 

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