Electrophilicity, of carboxylic acid derivatives

Relative Reactivities (as Electrophiles) of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives... 

A classical way to achieve regioselectivity in an (a -i- d -reaction is to start with a-carbanions of carboxylic acid derivatives and electrophilic ketones. Most successful are condensations with 1,3-dicarbonyl carbanions, e.g. with malonic acid derivatives, since they can be produced at low pH, where ketones do not enolize. Succinic acid derivatives can also be de-protonated and added to ketones (Stobbe condensation). In the first example given below a Dieckmann condensation on a nitrile follows a Stobbe condensation, and selectivity is dictated by the tricyclic educt neither the nitrile group nor the ketone is enolizable (W.S. Johnson, 1945, 1947). 

When a Br nsted base functions catalytically by sharing an electron pair with a proton, it is acting as a general base catalyst, but when it shares the electron with an atom other than the proton it is (by definition) acting as a nucleophile. This other atom (electrophilic site) is usually carbon, but in organic chemistry it might also be, for example, phosphorus or silicon, whereas in inorganic chemistry it could be the central metal ion in a coordination complex. Here we consider nucleophilic reactions at unsaturated carbon, primarily at carbonyl carbon. Nucleophilic reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives have been well studied. These acyl transfer reactions can be represented by... 

Figure 3.23. Intramolecular electrophilic cleavage of carboxylic acid derivatives from polymeric supports. X leaving group Y NR, O.

Among the enolates of carboxylic acid derivatives, esters are the most widely used. Ester enolates cannot be used in crossed aldols with aldehydes because the aldehyde is both more enolizable and more electrophilic than the ester. It will just condense with itself and ignore the ester. The same is true for ketones. A specific enol equivalent for the ester will therefore be needed for a successful ester aldol reaction. 

At oxidation level 3, acid chlorides occupy a key position, since they may serve as a nearly universal substrate for an isohypsic transformation into any kind of carboxylic acid derivative. Acid halides are electrophiles that are synthetically equivalent to acyl cations (RCO ). In this capacity they are used for the synthesis of such important compounds as esters, amides (and hence, nitriles), thioesters, etc. (see Scheme 2.57), and for the formation of C-C bonds in the Friedel-Crafts reaction (see above). Acid chlorides may readily lose HCl upon treatment with triethylamine. This isohypsic conversion leads to ketenes, important reagents widely employed in [2 + 2] cycloadditions, as we will see later. 

A third possibility of chemical modification is conversion into an acylsilane which reduces the oxidation potential of the corresponding ketone by approximately 1 V. A peak potential of 1.45 V (relative to Ag/AgCl) for the oxidation of undecanoyltrimethylsilane has been reported. Preparative electrochemical oxidations of acylsilanes proceed in methanol to give the corresponding methyl esters. A two-step oxidation process must be assumed because of the reaction stoichiometry —oxidation of the acylsilane results in the carbonyl radical cation which is meso-lytically cleaved to give the silyl cation and the acyl radical, which is subsequently oxidized to give the acyl cation as ultimate electrophile which reacts with the solvent. A variety of other nucleophiles have been used and a series of carboxylic acid derivatives are available via this pathway (Scheme 49) [198]. 

Kwart, H., Scaizi, F. V. Observations regarding the mechanism and steric course of the a-bromination of carboxylic acid derivatives. An electrophilic substitution reaction in nonpolar media. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1964, 86, 5496-5503. 

Section 17.20 Synthesis of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives 711 A cyclic ether can also be prepared by an intramolecular electrophilic addition reaction. 

Carboxylic acid derivatives, introduced in Chapter 16 (Section 16.7), are categorized by the nature of the group that replaces OH in 1 to form 2 OR for esters. Cl for an acid chloride, O2CR for anhydrides, and NR2 for amides. There are two fundamental reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives. Acid derivatives (2 X = OR, Cl, O2CR, NR2) react with an acid such as sulfuric acid, HCl, or p-toluenesulfonic acid to form an oxocarbeniiun ion, 3. The electrophilic carbon... 

A limitation of the methylenation of carboxylic acid derivatives with Tebbe-type reagents such as 3 and 11 is that highly electrophilic acid anhydrides and acid halides cannot be transformed to the corresponding enol esters or alkenyl halides. The reaction of titanocene-methylidene generated from 11 with add chlorides results in the formation of acylation products via titanium enolates 12 [44] rather than methylenation. Since the titanium enolates 12 are stable and do not isomerize to the more highly substituted enolates, they are useful for regioselective aldol reactions (Scheme 4.11) [44a]. Although similar titanium enolates are also produced... 

II. Nucleophilic—reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives (attack of a base on an electrophilic carbon atom)... 

The reaction of lithio derivatives with appropriate electrophiles has been utilized in the preparation of alkyl, aryl, acyl and carboxylic acid derivatives. Representative examples of these conversions are given in Scheme 79. Noteworthy is the two-step method of alkylation involving reaction with trialkylborane followed by treatment with iodine (78JOC4684). 

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