Elimination—addition dehydration

The reaction of diketosulfides with 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds other than glyoxal is often not efficient for the direct preparation of thiophenes. For example, the reaction of diketothiophene 24 and benzil or biacetyl reportedly gave only glycols as products. The elimination of water from the P-hydroxy ketones was not as efficient as in the case of the glyoxal series. Fortunately, the mixture of diastereomers of compounds 25 and 26 could be converted to their corresponding thiophenes by an additional dehydration step with thionyl chloride and pyridine. 

OH—on the adjacent (/ -) carbon atom. The possibility of such an elimination may displace the equilibrium over to the right in a number of simple aldol additions, where it would otherwise lie far over to the left. It is important to remember, however, that the overall process aldol addition + dehydration is reversible, i.e. (88) 4= (96), and that a -unsaturaled carbonyl compounds are thus cleaved by base under suitable conditions. It is also pertinent that (96) is still an aldehyde and can undergo further carbanion addition, followed by dehydration, and so on. This is how low molecular weight polymers are produced on heating simple aliphatic aldehydes with aqueous NaOH to stop at the aldol, the best catalysts are basic ion-exchange resins. 

Extending the carbon chain of vinylidenes by one or three carbons provides linear cumulenated ligands, LwM=(C=C)w=CR2 (n = 1,2). These compounds have been studied in considerable detail, especially allenyl-idenes (n = 1) and arise in most cases from the rearrangement and dehydration (often spontaneous) of hydroxyalkyl alkynes or diynes (Figure 5.51). Various intermediates (Figure 4.18) may be envisaged (and occasionally isolated) which are related by elimination/addition of H+ or hydroxide, e.g. y-hydroxyalkynyl complexes have been isolated and subsequently dehydroxylated with Lewis or Bronsted acids. 

MSA does not contain any chiral carbon centers. Before the aromatization of the six-membered ring occurs, two prochiral carbons (C-2 and C-4 in the six-carbon intermediate) evolve, each of which loses a hydrogen in the process of the dehydratization/aromatization steps. In addition, C-3 of the six-carbon intermediate forms a chiral center when the ketone is reduced to a hydroxyl by a ketoreductase activity (Fig. 5). The chirality of this hydroxyl carbon is unclear since the intermediate has not been isolated. It is also unknown if this carbon retains its chirality in an eight-carbon intermediate or whether the hydroxyl is eliminated by dehydration prior to the third condensation reaction. The stereospecificity at the prochiral C-2 and C-4 carbons in the reaction intermediates was addressed using chemically synthesized (] )- and (S)-[1- C, 2- H]malonate precursors which were enzymatically converted into CoA derivatives via succinyl CoA transferase [127,128]. Thus, the prochiral methylene in malonyl CoA was replaced by chiral, double-labeled (S)- or (J )-[1- C, 2- H]malonyl CoA substrates in the reaction mixture with 6-MSAS. The condensation is expected to occur with inversion of configuration and the intact methylene... 

The generic equations representing the different types of organic reactions you have learned—substitution, elimination, addition, oxidation-reduction, and condensation—can be used to predict the products of other organic reactions of the same types. For example, suppose you were asked to predict the product of an elimination reaction in which 1-butanol is a reactant. You know that a common elimination reaction involving an alcohol is a dehydration reaction. 

Plan We discussed substitution reactions (including addition-elimination and dehydration-condensation) and hydrolysis. In (a), a carboxylic acid and an alcohol react, so the reaction must be a substitution to form an ester and water. In (b), an amide reacts with OH, so it is hydrolyzed to an amine and a sodium carboxylate. 

Tryptophan synthase (EC 4.1.2.20) normally catalyzes the synthesis of tryptophan from serine by the oc,p elimination-addition reaction outlined in Scheme 5 where X = OH and Z = indole. The B protein of the oligomeric enzyme will catalyze the dehydration of serine, and in the presence of PLP and mercaptoethanol, the intermediate 15 will form adduct 25. This will then react as in Scheme 9 to yield the ketoacid 26 and pyridoxamine-phosphate 6. The net transamination has been shown to involve protonation at the 4 -Si face in yielding PMP (30). When the apoenzyme of tryptophan synthase is reconstituted with the unnatural substrates (4 / )- or (4 S)-[4- H,]pyridox-amine-phosphate and indole-3-pyruvic acid, an unnatural transamination... 

The point was made earlier (Section 5 9) that alcohols require acid catalysis in order to undergo dehydration to alkenes Thus it may seem strange that aldol addition products can be dehydrated in base This is another example of the way in which the enhanced acidity of protons at the a carbon atom affects the reactions of carbonyl com pounds Elimination may take place in a concerted E2 fashion or it may be stepwise and proceed through an enolate ion... 

Addition and elimination processes are the reverse of one another in a formal sense. There is also a close mechanistic relationship between the two reactions, and in many systems reaction can occur in either direction. For example, hydration of alkenes and dehydration of alcohols are both familiar reactions that are related as an addition-elimination pair. 

Aldehydes and ketones undergo reversible addition reactions with alcohols. The product of addition of one mole of alcohol to an aldehyde or ketone is referred to as a hemiacetal or hemiketal, respectively. Dehydration followed by addition of a second molecule of alcohol gives an acetal or ketal. This second phase of the process can be catalyzed only by acids, since a necessary step is elimination of hydroxide (as water) from the tetrahedral intermediate. There is no low-energy mechanism for base assistance of this... 

The pharmacological versatility of this general substitution strategy is further illustrated by diazonium coupling of 14 with 2-nitrobenzenediazonium chloride to produce biarylal-dehyde 18. Formation of the oxime with hydroxylamine is followed by dehydration to the nitrile. Reaction with anhydrous methanolic hydrogen chloride leads to imino ether and addition-elimination of ammonia leads to the antidepressant amid-ine, nitrafudam (20). ... 

An elimination reaction is, in a sense, the reverse of an addition reaction. It involves the elimination of two groups from adjacent carbon atoms, converting a saturated molecule into one that is unsaturated. An example is the dehydration of ethanol, which occurs when it is heated with sulfuric acid ... 

In addition to the synthetic applications related to the stereoselective or stereospecific syntheses of various systems, especially natural products, described in the previous subsection, a number of general synthetic uses of the reversible [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic sulfoxides are presented below. Several investigators110-113 have employed the allylic sulfenate-to-sulfoxide equilibrium in combination with the syn elimination of the latter as a method for the synthesis of conjugated dienes. For example, Reich and coworkers110,111 have reported a detailed study on the conversion of allylic alcohols to 1,3-dienes by sequential sulfenate sulfoxide rearrangement and syn elimination of the sulfoxide. This method of mild and efficient 1,4-dehydration of allylic alcohols has also been shown to proceed with overall cis stereochemistry in cyclic systems, as illustrated by equation 25. The reaction of trans-46 proceeds almost instantaneously at room temperature, while that of the cis-alcohol is much slower. This method has been subsequently applied for the synthesis of several natural products, such as the stereoselective transformation of the allylic alcohol 48 into the sex pheromone of the Red Bollworm Moth (49)112 and the conversion of isocodeine (50) into 6-demethoxythebaine (51)113. 

The use of the triphenylphosphine-carbon tetrachloride adduct for dehydration reactions appears to be a very simple way of synthesizing nitriles from amides, carbodi-imides from ureas, and isocyanides from monosubstituted formamides. All of these reactions involve the simultaneous addition of triphenylphosphine, carbon tetrachloride, and tri-ethylamine to the compound to be dehydrated. The elimination of the elements of water is stepwise. An adduct, e.g. (46), is first formed, chloroform being eliminated, which decomposes to produce hydrogen chloride and the dehydrated product. 

Several variations of the Peterson reaction have been developed for synthesis of alkenylsilanes.80 -P-Arylvinylsilanes can be obtained by dehydration of (3-silyloxy alkoxides formed by addition of lithiomethyl trimethylsilane to aromatic aldehydes. Specific Lewis acids have been found to be advantageous for the elimination step.81... 

Fixation by formaldehyde virtually eliminates enzymatic activity in a process that is sometimes reversible (vide infra). Dehydration and embedding significantly reduces the reversibility of this process, suggesting that dehydration and embedding facilitate additional chemical reactions that are not observed in aqueous solution. 

Conjugate addition.1 This base undergoes efficient 1,4-addition to a,(i-un-saturated esters to give the enolate of a (3-amino ester, which can be trapped by an alkyl halide to give a-alkyl-(3-amino esters (2) as a mixture of syn- and antiisomers (about 1 1). These esters can be converted into 3-lactams (3) by hydrolysis and dehydration (11, 449) or into a-alkyl-a,3-unsaturated esters (4) by N-quater-nization and 3-elimination on silica gel ( 75% yield). 

For an organism to eliminate a lipophilic, chemically inert xenobiotic, it is usually hrst necessary to oxidize it to a more polar form. In addition, many biosynthetic pathways that produce steroid hormones, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, etc. involve oxidative steps. Organisms have evolved many enzymes to carry out these oxidations. Oxidation can occur by addition of oxygen (without addition of hydrogen which would represent hydration), removal of hydrogen atoms (without removal of oxygen which would represent dehydration), or simply removal of electrons. 

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