1.3- Diketones, Knoevenagel reaction

Dimethylcyclohexenone and a-Xylenol from Ethylidenebisacetacetic Ester- (Ring Closing in a 1.5 Diketone. Knoevenagel Reaction.1)... 

The Knoevenagel reaction consists in the condensation of aldehydes or ketones with active methylene compounds usually performed in the presence of a weakly basic amine (Scheme 29) [116], It is well-known that aldehydes are much more reactive than ketones, and active methylene substrates employed are essentially those bearing two electron-withdrawing groups. Among them, 1,3-dicarbonyl derivatives are particularly common substrates, and substances such as malonates, acetoacetates, acyclic and cyclic 1,3-diketones, Meldrum s acid, barbituric acids, quinines, or 4-hydroxycoumarins are frequently involved. If Z and Z groups are different, the Knoevenagel adduct can be obtained as a mixture of isomers, but the reaction is thermodynamically controlled and the major product is usually the more stable one. 

Knoevenagel reaction. As surrogate for benzaldehyde in the condensation with active methylene compounds, the benzenesulfonimine is superior. In the presence of EtjN in chloroform the reaction with, inter alia, /8-diketones, )3-keto esters, a-sulfonyl ketones, a-nitro esters, and malononitrile proceeds at room temperature. 

The preparation of (83) (Expt 8.29) is an example of the Hantzsch pyridine synthesis. This is a widely used general procedure since considerable structural variation in the aldehydic compound (aliphatic or aromatic) and in the 1,3-dicarbonyl component (fi-keto ester or /J-diketone) is possible, leading to the synthesis of a great range of pyridine derivatives. The precise mechanistic sequence of ring formation may depend on the reaction conditions employed. Thus if, as implied in the retrosynthetic analysis above, ethyl acetoacetate and the aldehyde are first allowed to react in the presence of a base catalyst (as in Expt 8.29), a bis-keto ester [e.g. (88)] is formed by successive Knoevenagel and Michael reactions (Section 5.11.6, p. 681). Cyclisation of this 1,5-dione with ammonia then gives the dihydropyridine derivative. Under different reaction conditions condensation between an aminocrotonic ester and an alkylidene acetoacetate may be involved. 

According to the classical Hantzsch synthesis of pyridine derivatives, an a,(5-unsaturated carbonyl compound is first formed by Knoevenagel condensation of an aldehyde with a P-dicarbonyl compound. The next step is a Michael reaction with another equivalent of the P-dicarbonyl compound (or its enamine) to form a 1,5-diketone, which finally undergoes a cyclocondensation with ammonia to give a 1,4-dihydropyridine with specific symmetry in its substitution pattern. 

The domino reaction consists of a Knoevenagel condensation giving an intermediate that immediately undergoes an intramolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction with inverse electron demand [31]. As aldehydes, rac-dtronellal, an aromatic aldehyde, and two commercially available 1,3-diketones, 1,3-dimethylbarbituric add and Meldrum s acid, were seleded. By combinations of these reactants, different cycloadducts were generated. 

This sequence illustrates the use of enolates from 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in Michael reactions they are useful too in alkylations, aldol condensations (Knoevenagel conditions), and reactions with epoxides, as in the synthesis3 of 20. Nowadays they tend to be used if they are readily available, or if the disconnections suggest their use, as in the building of 11 into 18. Examples include the diketone 11 and the six-membered equivalent both used in steroid synthesis, acetoacetates 16 and 19 and the keto-lactones 20, malonic acid 21 and its esters, "Meldrum s acid 22, a very enolisable malonate derivative,4 and the keto-ester 25 formed via its stable enolate 24, by the cyclisation of the diester 23, an intermediate in nylon manufacture. The compounds 11,16, 19, 20 R=H, 21, 22, and 25 are all available commercially. 

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