Diethyl- malonate

Ethyl cyanoacetate (Section 111,131) is sometimes preferable to diethyl malonate for the synthesis of acids. It forms a sodio derivative with sodium ethoxide  

Alkylation of the sodio derivative affords the C-substitutcd cyanoacetic ester, which when heated with dilute acid gives the mono-substituted acetic acid. 

Carry out this preparation in the fume cupboard. Dissolve 100 g. of chloroacetic acid (Section 111,125), contained in a large porcelain basin or casserole, in 200 ml. of water. Warm the solution to about 50°, using a 200° thermometer as a stirring rod. Introduce 90 g. of pure, powdered sodium bicarbonate in small quantities at a time with stirring maintain the temperature at 50-60° until effervescence ceases. Now add 80 g. of pure, finely-powdered potassium cyanide (or an equivalent quantity of sodium cyanide), stir the mixture without further warming until the 

Remove the ether using the apparatus shown in Fig. II, 13, 4 except that a 200 ml. Claisen flask replaces the distilling flask depicted in the diagram. Distil the residual ester under diminished pressure (Fig. II, 20, 1) and collect the ethyl malonate at 92-94°/16 mm. The yield is 105 g. 

under atmospheric pressure is 198-199°, but is attended by slight decomposition. 

In a short path distilling apparatus is placed 3-5 g of 1,1-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid. The flask is heated in an oil, sand, or metal bath to 160-170° until all the effervescence stops then the temperature of the bath is raised to 210°. Cyclobutanecarboxylic acid distills over at 191 -197°. It may be purified by redistillation at atmospheric pressure, bp 195-196°. 

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The crude product is evaporated to dryness and then heated with a mixture of ethanol and sulphuric acid the cyano group is thus hydrolysed giving malonic acid, which then undergoes esterification to give diethyl malonate. 

Diethyl malonate is a colourless liquid, d, 1 07 it has a faint pleasant odour, and is only slightly soluble in water. 

Barbituric acid and 2-thiobarbituric acid are readily prepared by the condensation of diethylmalonate with urea and thiourea respectively, in the presence of sodium ethoxide. The use of substituted derivatives of urea and thiourea and of diethyl malonate will clearly lead to a wide range of barbituric and thiobarbituric acids having substituents in the i, 3, or 5 positions. 

Successful results have been obtained (Renfrew and Chaney, 1946) with ethyl formate methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, n-butyl, iso-butyl, sec.-butyl and iso-amyl acetat ethyleneglycol diacetate ethyl monochloro- and trichloro-acetates methyl, n-propyl, n-octyl and n-dodecyl propionates ethyl butyrate n-butyl and n-amyl valerates ethyl laurate ethyl lactate ethyl acetoacetate diethyl carbonate dimethyl and diethyl oxalates diethyl malonate diethyl adipate di-n-butyl tartrate ethyl phenylacetate methyl and ethyl benzoates methyl and ethyl salicylates diethyl and di-n-butyl phthalates. The method fails for vinyl acetate, ieri.-butyl acetate, n-octadecyl propionate, ethyl and >i-butyl stearate, phenyl, benzyl- and guaicol-acetate, methyl and ethyl cinnamate, diethyl sulphate and ethyl p-aminobenzoate. 

The solution containing mineral acid should not be heated above 50-60 or diethyl malonate will be formed. 

Malonic acid may be prepared from chloroacetic acid by the following series of reactions (compare Diethyl Malonate, Section 111,153) —... 

Ethyl propane-1 1 3 3-tetracarboxylate. Cool a mixture of 320 g. (302 ml.) of redistilled diethyl malonate and 80 g. of 40 per cent, formaldehyde solution ( formalin ) contained in a 1-htre round-bottomed flask to 5° by immersion in ice, and add 5 g. (7 ml.) of diethylamine. Keep the mixture at room temperature for 15 hours and then heat under a reflux condenser on a boiling water bath for 6 hours. Separate the aqueous layer, dry the organic layer with anhydrous magnesium sulphate, and distil under reduced pressure. Collect the ethyl 1 1 3 3-tetracarboxylate at 200-215°/20 mm. The yield is 250 g. 

The carbopalladation is extended to homoallylic amines and sulfides[466. Treatment of 4-dimethylamino-l-butene (518) with diethyl malonate and Li2PdCl4 in THF at room temperature leads to the oily carbopalladated complex 519, hydrogenation of which affords diethyl 4-(dimethylamino) butylmalonate (520) in an overall yield of 91%. Similarly, isopropyl 3-butenyl sulfide (521) is carbopalladated with methyl cyclopentanonecarboxylate and Li2PdCl4. Reduction of the complex affords the alkylated keto ester 522 in 96% yield. Thus functionalization of alkenes is possible by this method. 

Sodium hydride (9.3 g, 0.22 mol) was washed with petroleum ether and DMSO (200 ml) was added and the mixture was heated to 100°C. A solution of diethyl malonate (35.2 g, 0.22mol) in DMSO (50 ml) was then added and stirred for 10 min to give a clear solution. A solution of 4-bromo-3-nitrobenzophenone (30.6 g, 0.10 mol) in DMSO (100 ml) was added and the resulting dark solution kept at 100 C for 1 h. The solution was poured into water (3 1) and extracted (2x) with ether. The extract was washed with water, dried (NajSOj and concentrated in vacuo to give an oil which crystallized. The solid was recrystallized from isopropyl alcohol to give 35.4 g (92% yield) of the product. 

Diethyl malonate (also known as malonic ester) serves as a source of the synthon O... 

The properties of diethyl malonate that make the malonic ester synthesis a useful procedure are the same as those responsible for the synthetic value of ethyl acetoacetate The hydrogens at C 2 of diethyl malonate are relatively acidic and one is readily removed on treatment with sodium ethoxide... 

Sodium salt of diethyl malonate (weaker base)... 

Treatment of the anion of diethyl malonate with alkyl halides leads to alkylation at C 2... 

H2C=CHCH2CH2CH2Br + CH2(COOCH2CH3)2 5 Bromo 1 pentene Diethyl malonate... 

We see that a secondary alkyl halide is needed as the alkylating agent The anion of diethyl malonate is a weaker base than ethoxide ion and reacts with secondary alkyl halides by substitution rather than elimination Thus the synthesis of 3 methylpentanoic acid begins with the alkylation of the anion of diethyl mal onate by 2 bromobutane... 

As actually carried out and reported in the chemical literature diethyl malonate has been alkylated with 2 bromobutane in 83-84% yield and the product of that reaction converted to 3 methylpentanoic acid by saponification acidification and decarboxylatlon in 62-65% yield j... 

Diethyl malonate has uses other than m the synthesis of carboxylic acids One particu larly valuable application lies m the preparation of barbituric acid by nucleophilic acyl substitution with urea... 

These compounds are prepared m a manner analogous to that of barbituric acid itself Diethyl malonate is alkylated twice then treated with urea... 

Show by writing a suitable sequence of reactions how you could prepare pentobarbital from diethyl malonate (The structure of pentobar... 

Thiourea (H2NCNH2) reacts with diethyl malonate and its alkyl derivatives in the same way that urea does Give the structure of the product obtained when thiourea is used instead of urea in the synthesis of pentobarbital The anesthetic thiopental (Pentothal) sodium is the sodium salt of this product yWhat IS the structure of this compound ... 

Aryl halides react too slowly to undergo substitution by the Sn2 mechanism with the sodium salt of diethyl malonate and so the phenyl substituent of phenobarbital cannot be introduced in the way that alkyl substituents can... 

Stabilized anions exhibit a pronounced tendency to undergo conjugate addition to a p unsaturated carbonyl compounds This reaction called the Michael reaction has been described for anions derived from p diketones m Section 18 13 The enolates of ethyl acetoacetate and diethyl malonate also undergo Michael addition to the p carbon atom of a p unsaturated aldehydes ketones and esters For example... 

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