Electron-rich acids

Electron-rich substituted indoles displayed greater reactivity compared to electron-deficient indoles. The low yields for 2-methylindole suggested the reaction was sensitive to steric effects. Strongly electron-withdrawing substituents such as nitro were less effective. Solvent selection was critical for achieving selective C3-acylation other solvents favored the C2-product. Electron-deficient acids exhibited enhanced reactivity compared to electron-rich acids. 

Surprisingly, the highest catalytic activity is observed in TFE. One mi t envisage this to be a result of the poor interaction between TFE and the copper(II) cation, so that the cation will retain most of its Lewis-acidity. In the other solvents the interaction between their electron-rich hetero atoms and the cation is likely to be stronger, thus diminishing the efficiency of the Lewis-acid catalysis. The observation that Cu(N03)2 is only poorly soluble in TFE and much better in the other solvents used, is in line with this reasoning. 

The metal-ion complexmg properties of crown ethers are clearly evident m their effects on the solubility and reactivity of ionic compounds m nonpolar media Potassium fluoride (KF) is ionic and practically insoluble m benzene alone but dissolves m it when 18 crown 6 is present This happens because of the electron distribution of 18 crown 6 as shown m Figure 16 2a The electrostatic potential surface consists of essentially two regions an electron rich interior associated with the oxygens and a hydrocarbon like exterior associated with the CH2 groups When KF is added to a solution of 18 crown 6 m benzene potassium ion (K ) interacts with the oxygens of the crown ether to form a Lewis acid Lewis base complex As can be seen m the space filling model of this... 

Lone pair donation from the hydroxyl oxygen makes the carbonyl group less elec trophilic than that of an aldehyde or ketone The graphic that opened this chapter is an electrostatic potential map of formic acid that shows the most electron rich site to be the oxygen of the carbonyl group and the most electron poor one to be as expected the OH hydrogen... 

Many of the properties of phenols reflect the polarization implied by the resonance description The hydroxyl oxygen is less basic and the hydroxyl proton more acidic in phenols than m alcohols Electrophiles attack the aromatic ring of phenols much faster than they attack benzene indicating that the ring especially at the positions ortho and para to the hydroxyl group is relatively electron rich... 

Fnedel-Crafts alkylation Alcohols in combination with acids serve as sources of carbocations Attack of a carbocation on the electron rich ring of a phe nol brings about its alkylation... 

Phenylalanine and tryptophan have side chains that incorporate aromatic rings which are large and hydrophobic The aromatic portion of tryptophan is bicyclic which makes it larger than phenylalanine Tryptophan also has a more electron rich aromatic ring and is more polarizable than phenylalanine Its role is more specialized and it is less abundant m proteins than most of the other ammo acids... 

The electron-rich carbon—carbon double bond reacts with reagents that are deficient in electrons, eg, with electrophilic reagents in electrophilic addition (6,7), free radicals in free-radical addition (8,9), and under acidic conditions with another butylene (cation) in dimerization. 

Synthesis. Almost without exception, azo dyes ate made by diazotization of a primary aromatic amine followed by coupling of the resultant diazonium salt with an electron-rich nucleophile. The diazotization reaction is carried out by treating the primary aromatic amine with nitrous acid, normally generated in situ with hydrochloric acid and sodium nitrite. The nitrous acid nitrosates the amine to generate the N-nitroso compound, which tautomerizes to the diazo hydroxide. 

A diazonium salt is a weak electrophile, and thus reacts only with highly electron-rich species such as amino and hydroxy compounds. Even hydroxy compounds must be ionized for reaction to occur. Consequendy, hydroxy compounds such as phenols and naphthols are coupled in an alkaline medium (pH > of phenol or naphthol typically pH 7—11), whereas aromatic amines such as N,N diaLkylamines are coupled in a slightly acid medium, typically pH 1—5. This provides optimum stabiUty for the dia2onium salt (stable in acid) without deactivating the nucleophile (protonation of the amine). 

The unusual conditions needed to produce an a2o dye, namely, strong acid plus nitrous acid for dia2oti2ation, the low temperatures necessary for the unstable dia2onium salt to exist, and the presence of electron-rich amino or hydroxy compounds to effect coupling, means that a2o dyes have no natural counterparts. 

The Stability of the resulting neutral species is increased by substituent groups that can help to stabilize the electron-rich carbon. Phosphonium ions with acylmethyl substituents, tor example, are quite acidic. A series of aroylmethyl phosphonium ions have pAT values of 4-7, with the precise value depending on the aryl substituents ... 

Heavily fluonnated aminobenzenes, pyridines, and pyrimidines are diazotized in strong-acid media Solid sodium nitrite added directly to the fluonnated amine dissolved in 80% hydrofluonc acid, anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, or (1 1 wt/wt) 98% sulfuric acid in (86 14 wt/wt) acetic and propionic acids affords the electrophilic fluoroarenediazonium ion Addition of an electron rich aromatic to the resultant diazonium solution gives the fluoroareneazo compound [10 II] (equa tions 9 and 10)... 

A number of transition-metal complexes of RNSO ligands have been structurally characterized. Three bonding modes, r(A,5), o-(5)-trigonal and o (5 )-pyramidal, have been observed (Scheme 9.1). Side-on (N,S) coordination is favoured by electron-rich (et or j °) metal centers, while the ff(S)-trigonal mode is preferred for less electron-rich metal centres (or those with competitive strong r-acid co-ligands). As expected ti (N,S)... 

Display electrostatic potential maps for the conjugate bases of the acids above (hydroxide, ethoxide, formate and propionate anions), and examine the value of the electrostatic potential at the most electron-rich site. What causes a larger change in electrostatic potential, switching the alkyl group for H, or changing the structure of the functional group ... 

Strong acids promote SnI substitution reactions by converting an electron-rich ( basic ) atom on the substrate into a good leaving group, e.g., for substitution reactions of tert-butyl derivatives. 

Display an electrostatic potential map iot acetic acid. Where are the most electron-rich sites Where are the most electron-poor sites Propose a structure for the dimer of acetic acid based on favorable electrostatic interactions between electron-rich and electron-poor sites. Compare your structure to that for acetic acid dimer. What is another name for the types of interactions that hold the two acetic acid molecules together (See also Chapter 2, Problem 2). 

The Friedlander reaction is quite versatile. The primary limitation on the o-aminobenzaldehyde component is preparation of the starting material as one might expect, these compounds are prone to self-condensation. Both electron rich and electron poor o-aminobenzocarbonyl compounds undergo the Friedlander reaction. When ketone partner 2 has only one available reactive methyl or methylene or is symmetrical, only one product is obtained. Even when two products can be formed, it is possible to choose reaction conditions such that only one product is isolated vide infra). The reaction can be promoted by acid catalysis, sometimes with improved results. 

Skraup proposed a simple mechanism involving imine formation followed by an acid-mediated cyclization. Unfortunately the observed regioselectivity is not consistent with the proposed mechanism when, for example, electron-rich aniline 4 reacts with a, 3-unsaturated aldehyde 5 to give quinoline 6. ... 

To complete this section, we note the cleavage of electron-rich DTDAFs by CH-acidic five-membered heterocycles of the oxazolidine, thiazolidine, and imidazolidine types (64BSF2857). 

Intramolecular addition of the amide group to the triple bond in pyrazoles is more difficult, and results in closure of the 5-lactam rather than the y-lactam ring. The reaction time of the 4-phenylethynylpyrazole-3-carboxylic acid amide under the same conditions is extended to 42 h (Scheme 129) (Table XXVII). The cyclization of l-methyl-4-phenylethynyl-l//-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid amide, in which the acetylene substituent is located in the 7r-electron-rich position of the heterocycle, is the only one complete after 107 h (Scheme 130) (90IZV2089). 

A simple approach for the formation of 2-substituted 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrans, which are useful precursors for natural products such as optically active carbohydrates, is the catalytic enantioselective cycloaddition reaction of a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds with electron-rich alkenes. This is an inverse electron-demand cycloaddition reaction which is controlled by a dominant interaction between the LUMO of the 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene and the HOMO of the alkene (Scheme 4.2, right). This is usually a concerted non-synchronous reaction with retention of the configuration of the die-nophile and results in normally high regioselectivity, which in the presence of Lewis acids is improved and, furthermore, also increases the reaction rate. 

Scheeren et al. reported the first enantioselective metal-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of nitrones with alkenes in 1994 [26]. Their approach involved C,N-diphenylnitrone la and ketene acetals 2, in the presence of the amino acid-derived oxazaborolidinones 3 as the catalyst (Scheme 6.8). This type of boron catalyst has been used successfully for asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions [27, 28]. In this reaction the nitrone is activated, according to the inverse electron-demand, for a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with the electron-rich alkene. The reaction is thus controlled by the LUMO inone-HOMOaikene interaction. They found that coordination of the nitrone to the boron Lewis acid strongly accelerated the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction with ketene acetals. The reactions of la with 2a,b, catalyzed by 20 mol% of oxazaborolidinones such as 3a,b were carried out at -78 °C. In some reactions fair enantioselectivities were induced by the catalysts, thus, 4a was obtained with an optical purity of 74% ee, however, in a low yield. The reaction involving 2b gave the C-3, C-4-cis isomer 4b as the only diastereomer of the product with 62% ee. 

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