Enolate anions, malonate, reaction with halides

In Chapter 22 (Section 22.7.4), malonate derivatives were easily converted to the corresponding enolate anion, and reaction with alkyl halides or other electrophilic species gave the C3-alkylated product. Indeed, if 102 is treated with sodium metal (or NaH, LDA, etc.), enolate anion 103 is formed it reacts with an alkyl halide such as benzyl bromide (PhCH2Br) to give 104. If 104 is heated with aqueous sodium hydroxide and then treated with aqueous HCI, phthalic acid (35) and the amino acid phenylalanine (57) are formed as the final products. 

There are two classical reaction sequences in organic chemistry that rely on enolate alkylation. One is the malonic ester synthesis.61 jjj synthetic example taken from the Clive and Hisaindee synthesis of brevioxime,62 diethyl malonate was treated with a base such as sodium ethoxide, under thermodynamic control conditions. The resulting enolate anion is treated with the indicated alkyl halide to give the alkylated product 81 (in 72% yield).Saponification of 81 to the dicarboxylic acid (82, in 99% yield), was followed by decarboxylation (sec. 2.9.D) and formation of the substituted acid 83, in 94% yield. ... 

Under ordinary conditions, aryl or alkenyl halides do not react with enolate anions, although reaction can occur with aryl halides bearing strongly electronegative substituents in the ortho and para positions. 2,4-Dinitrochlorobenzene, for example, with ethyl cyanoacetate gives ethyl (2,4-dinitrophenyl)cyanoacetate (90%) by an addition-elimination pathway. Unactivated aryl halides may react with enolates under more vigorous conditions, particularly sodium amide in liquid ammonia. Under these conditions, the reaction of bromobenzene with diethyl-malonate, for example, takes place by an elimination-addition sequence in which benzyne is an intermediate (1.8). 

The reactive species is the corresponding enolate-anion 4 of malonic ester 1. The anion can be obtained by deprotonation with a base it is stabilized by resonance. The alkylation step with an alkyl halide 2 proceeds by a Sn2 reaction ... 

The decarboxylation reaction usually proceeds from the dissociated form of a carboxyl group. As a result, the primary reaction intermediate is more or less a carbanion-like species. In one case, the carbanion is stabilized by the adjacent carbonyl group to form an enolate intermediate as seen in the case of decarboxylation of malonic acid and tropic acid derivatives. In the other case, the anion is stabilized by the aid of the thiazolium ring of TPP. This is the case of transketolases. The formation of carbanion equivalents is essentially important in the synthetic chemistry no matter what methods one takes, i.e., enzymatic or ordinary chemical. They undergo C—C bond-forming reactions with carbonyl compounds as well as a number of reactions with electrophiles, such as protonation, Michael-type addition, substitution with pyrophosphate and halides and so on. In this context,... 

Diethyl malonate can be converted into its enolate anion, which may then be used to participate in an Sn2 reaction with an alkyl halide (see Section 10.7). Ester hydrolysis and mild heating leads to production... 

In both the acetoacetic ester synthesis and the malonic ester synthesis, it is possible to add two different alkyl groups to the a-carbon in sequential steps. First the enolate ion is generated by reaction with sodium ethoxide and alkylated. Then the enolate ion of the alkylated product is generated by reaction with a second equivalent of sodium ethoxide, and that anion is alkylated with another alkyl halide. An example is provided by the following equation ... 

A p-keto ester can be hydrolyzed to a P-keto acid, and heating leads to decarboxylation. Malonic acid derivatives, as well as P-ketone acids decarboxylate upon heating 63,109, 111, 135. Enolate anions react with alkyl halides by an S]v2 reaction to give alkylated carbonyl compounds 65, 67, 70, 84, 108, 116, 127,... 

Malonate anions are convenient sources of ester enolates. They react with halides and a variety of other electrophiles. Acid hydrolysis of the ester followed by decarboxylation gives the mono-acid. An example of this approach used phthalic anhydride 1.178) as a starting material in a reaction with 2-aminoethanol to give 1.179. Conversion of the alcohol moiety in 1.179 to its 0-benzenesulfonate ester... 

---