Enolates basicity

It is also useful, if one is careful, to compare the ambident basicity of enamines with that of enolates (equation 6). A wide range of structural effects on enolate basicity is now available relevant data for some simple enolates are listed in Table 6. In making these comparisons we will keep two caveats in mind the charge type of equations 6 is... 

Enol acidity can be increased (or enolate basicity lowered) by increasing the conjugation of the resulting enolate. Interestingly, the enol of pentane-2,4-dione (48 ) was found to... 

Under equilibrium conditions (thermodynamic control), the allylic source adds to the polarized multiple bond (path AdN). However, the allylic source can also serve as a base and may deprotonate the sink, creating a mixture of sources and sinks and thus a messy statistical mixture of products. Clean products result if the source is just the deprotonated sink or if the sink has no acidic protons. With ketones, the equilibrium of the attack step favors the starting materials, and therefore the reaction goes to completion only if driven by a following elimination. In the next Adisj2 example, the source is the deprotonated sink. The product is an aldehyde-alcohol, or aldol, a name now used for the general process of an enol (acidic media) or enolate (basic) reacting with an aldehyde or ketone. 

Asymmetric protonation of a metal enolate basically proceeds catalytically if a coexisting achiral acid A-H reacts with the deprotonated chiral acid A -M faster than with the metal enolate, a concept first described by Fehr et al. [44]. A hypothesis for the catalytic cycle is illustrated in Scheme 2. Reaction of the metal enolate with the chiral acid A -H produces (R)- or (S)-ketone and the deprotonated chiral acid A -M. The chiral acid A -H is then reproduced by proton transfer from the achiral acid A-H to A -M. Higher reactivity of A -M toward A-H than that of the metal enolate makes the catalytic cycle possible. When the achiral acid A-H protonates the enolate rapidly at low temperature, selective deprotonation of one enantiomer of the resulting ketone by the metallated chiral acid A -M is seen as an alternative possible mechanism. 

The Claisen condensation is initiated by deprotonation of an ester molecule by sodium ethanolate to give a carbanion that is stabilized, mostly by resonance, as an enolate. This carbanion makes a nucleophilic attack at the partially positively charged carbon atom of the e.ster group, leading to the formation of a C-C bond and the elimination ofan ethanolate ion, This Claisen condensation only proceeds in strongly basic conditions with a pH of about 14. 

Reagents with carbonyl type groupings exhibit a or (if n. S-unsaturated) a properties. In the presence of acidic or basic catalysts they may react as enol type electron donors (d or d reagents). This reactivity pattern is considered as normal . It allows, for example, syntheses of 1,3- and 1,5-difunctionaI systems via aldol type (a -H d or Michael type (a + d additions. 

The selective intermolecular addition of two different ketones or aldehydes can sometimes be achieved without protection of the enol, because different carbonyl compounds behave differently. For example, attempts to condense acetaldehyde with benzophenone fail. Only self-condensation of acetaldehyde is observed, because the carbonyl group of benzophenone is not sufficiently electrophilic. With acetone instead of benzophenone only fi-hydroxyketones are formed in good yield, if the aldehyde is slowly added to the basic ketone solution. Aldols are not produced. This result can be generalized in the following way aldehydes have more reactive carbonyl groups than ketones, but enolates from ketones have a more nucleophilic carbon atom than enolates from aldehydes (G. Wittig, 1968). 

Step 1 The aldehyde and its enolate are m equilibrium with each other m basic solution The enolate acts as a nucleophile and adds to the carbonyl group of the aldehyde ... 

Enolization (Sections 18 4 through 18 6) Aldehydes and ke tones having at least one a hydro gen exist in equilibrium with their enol forms The rate at which equilibrium is achieved is in creased by acidic or basic cata lysts The enol content of simple aldehydes and ketones is quite small p diketones however are extensively enolized... 

Trimethylsilyl enol ethers can be used to protect ketones, but in general are not used for this purpose because they are reactive under both acidic and basic conditions. More highly hindered silyl enol ethers are much less susceptible to acid and base. A less hindered silyl enol can be hydrolyzed in the presence of a more hindered one. ... 

The idea of kinetic versus thermodynamic control can be illustrated by discussing briefly the case of formation of enolate anions from unsymmetrical ketones. This is a very important matter for synthesis and will be discussed more fully in Chapter 1 of Part B. Most ketones, highly symmetric ones being the exception, can give rise to more than one enolate. Many studies have shown tiiat the ratio among the possible enolates that are formed depends on the reaction conditions. This can be illustrated for the case of 3-methyl-2-butanone. If the base chosen is a strong, sterically hindered one and the solvent is aptotic, the major enolate formed is 3. If a protic solvent is used or if a weaker base (one comparable in basicity to the ketone enolate) is used, the dominant enolate is 2. Enolate 3 is the kinetic enolate whereas 2 is the thermodynamically favored enolate. 

Chapters 1 and 2. Most C—H bonds are very weakly acidic and have no tendency to ionize spontaneously to form carbanions. Reactions that involve carbanion intermediates are therefore usually carried out in the presence of a base which can generate the reactive carbanion intermediate. Base-catalyzed condensation reactions of carbonyl compounds provide many examples of this type of reaction. The reaction between acetophenone and benzaldehyde, which was considered in Section 4.2, for example, requires a basic catalyst to proceed, and the kinetics of the reaction show that the rate is proportional to the catalyst concentration. This is because the neutral acetophenone molecule is not nucleophihc and does not react with benzaldehyde. The much more nucleophilic enolate (carbanion) formed by deprotonation is the reactive nucleophile. 

The accessibility of enols and enolates, respectively, in acidic and basic solutions of carbonyl compounds makes possible a wide range of reactions that depend on the nucleophilicity of these species. The reactions will be discussed in Chapter 8 and in Chapters 1 and 2 of Part B. 

If the equilibrium were established rapidly, reduction of the free ketone as it formed would result in a substantial loss of product. Lithium enolates are more covalent in character than are those of sodium and potassium and consequently are the least basic of the group. This lower thermodynamic basicity appears to be paralleled by a lower kinetic basicity several workers have shown that lithium enolates are weaker bases in the kinetic sense than are those of sodium and potassium." As noted earlier, conjugated enones... 

Stork and his colleagues, working with nonsteroidal compounds, have shown that only lithium enolates may be alkylated successfully in ammonia or tetrahydrofuran. The more basic sodium and potassium enolates undergo... 

It has been suggested that in basic mixtures the reaction occurs by hydrogenation of the initially formed enolate anion, e.g. (13) which is irreversibly adsorbed on the catalyst surface (14). 

Addition of hydride ion from the catalyst gives the adsorbed dianion (15). The reaction is completed and product stereochemistry determined by protonation of these species from the solution prior to or concurrent with desorption. With the heteroannular enolate, (13a), both cis and trans adsorption can occur with nearly equal facility. When an angular methyl group is present trans adsorption (14b) predominates. Protonation of the latter species from the solution gives the cis product. Since the heteroannular enolate is formed by the reaction of A" -3-keto steroids with strong base " this mechanism satisfactorily accounts for the almost exclusive formation of the isomer on hydrogenation of these steroids in basic media. The optimum concentration of hydroxide ion in this reaction is about two to three times that of the substrate. 

Generally, isolated olefinic bonds will not escape attack by these reagents. However, in certain cases where the rate of hydroxyl oxidation is relatively fast, as with allylic alcohols, an isolated double bond will survive. Thepresence of other nucleophilic centers in the molecule, such as primary and secondary amines, sulfides, enol ethers and activated aromatic systems, will generate undesirable side reactions, but aldehydes, esters, ethers, ketals and acetals are generally stable under neutral or basic conditions. Halogenation of the product ketone can become but is not always a problem when base is not included in the reaction mixture. The generated acid can promote formation of an enol which in turn may compete favorably with the alcohol for the oxidant. 

A commonly used alternative to the direct bromination of ketones is the halogenation of enol acetates. This can be carried out under basic conditions if necessary. Sodium acetate, pyridine or an epoxide is usually added to buffer the reaction mixture. The direction of enolization is again dependent upon considerations of thermodynamic and kinetic control therefore, the proportion of enol acetates formed can vary markedly with the reaction conditions. Furthermore, halogenation via enol acetates does not necessarily give the same products as direct halogenation of ketones 3. 23... 

Eliminations of this type occur very easily under both acidic and basic conditions because of the activation possible through the enol or enolate anion. 

Mazur " obtained 2a-alkyl-5a-H (3) or 4 -alkyl-5 -H products (6) by direct alkylation of either 5a-H (1) or 5 -H-3-keto steroids (4) with alkyl halides under basic conditions. In general, formation and alkylation of the more stable enolate ion is observed in this procedure. 

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