Acid-Catalyzed Enolization

The usual base or acid catalyzed aldol addition or ester condensation reactions can only be applied as a useful synthetic reaction, if both carbonyl components are identical. Otherwise complicated mixtures of products are formed. If two different aldehydes or esters are to be combined, it is essential that one of the components is transformed quantitatively into an enol whereas the other component remains as a carbonyl compound in the reaction mixture. 

In an intramolecular aldol condensation of a diketone many products are conceivable, since four different ends can be made. Five- and six-membered rings, however, wUl be formed preferentially. Kinetic or thermodynamic control or different acid-base catalysts may also induce selectivity. In the Lewis acid-catalyzed aldol condensation given below, the more substituted enol is formed preferentially (E.J. Corey, 1963 B, 1965B). 

The following acid-catalyzed cyclizations leading to steroid hormone precursors exemplify some important facts an acetylenic bond is less nucleophilic than an olelinic bond acetylenic bonds tend to form cyclopentane rather than cyclohexane derivatives, if there is a choice in proton-catalyzed olefin cyclizations the thermodynamically most stable Irons connection of cyclohexane rings is obtained selectively electroneutral nucleophilic agents such as ethylene carbonate can be used to terminate the cationic cyclization process forming stable enol derivatives which can be hydrolyzed to carbonyl compounds without this nucleophile and with trifluoroacetic acid the corresponding enol ester may be obtained (M.B. Gravestock, 1978, A,B P.E. Peterson, 1969). 

In general ketones are more stable than their enol precursors and are the products actually isolated when alkynes undergo acid catalyzed hydration The standard method for alkyne hydration employs aqueous sulfuric acid as the reaction medium and mer cury(II) sulfate or mercury(II) oxide as a catalyst... 

Acid catalyzed hydration (Section 9 12) Water adds to the triple bond of alkynes to yield ketones by way of an unstable enol intermediate The enol arises by Markovnikov hydration of the alkyne Enol formation is followed by rapid isomerization of the enol to a ketone... 

The mechanism of enolization involves two separate proton transfer steps rather than a one step process m which a proton jumps from carbon to oxygen It is relatively slow m neutral media The rate of enolization is catalyzed by acids as shown by the mechanism m Figure 18 1 In aqueous acid a hydronium ion transfers a proton to the carbonyl oxygen m step 1 and a water molecule acts as a Brpnsted base to remove a proton from the a car bon atom m step 2 The second step is slower than the first The first step involves proton transfer between oxygens and the second is a proton transfer from carbon to oxygen... 

FIGURE 18 1 Mechanism of acid catalyzed enolization of an aldehyde or ketone in aqueous solution... 

The proton transfer equilibrium that interconverts a carbonyl compound and its enol can be catalyzed by bases as well as by acids Figure 18 3 illustrates the roles of hydroxide ion and water m a base catalyzed enolization As m acid catalyzed enolization protons are transferred sequentially rather than m a single step First (step 1) the base abstracts a proton from the a carbon atom to yield an anion This anion is a resonance stabilized species Its negative charge is shared by the a carbon atom and the carbonyl oxygen... 

As m the acid catalyzed halogenation of aldehydes and ketones the reaction rate is mde pendent of the concentration of the halogen chlorination brommation and lodmation all occur at the same rate Formation of the enolate is rate determining and once formed the enolate ion reacts rapidly with the halogen... 

L-Sorhose to 2-KGA Fermentation. In China, a variant of the Reichstein-Grbssner synthesis has been developed on an industrial scale (see Fig. 5). L-Sorbose is oxidized direcdy to 2-ketogulonic acid (2-KGA) (24) in a mixed culture fermentation step (48). Acid-catalyzed lactonization and enolization of 2-KGA produces L-ascorbic acid (1). 

The course of the acid catalyzed dehydration of 1,4-diketones to furans, known as the Paal-Knorr method (1884CB2756), entails the formal addition of the enol of one carbonyl group to the other carbonyl. Examples which illustrate some of the routes used to make the necessary 1,4-diketones are shown in Scheme 13. Few examples are known of the preparation of the other heterocycles by this general approach using isolated intermediates, although some of the ring closures discussed in Section 3.03.3.1.1 are mechanistically equivalent. One example of the preparation of a hydroxypyrrole is included in Scheme 13 <59AC(R)2075). 

A number of studies of the acid-catalyzed mechanism of enolization have been done. The case of cyclohexanone is illustrative. The reaction is catalyzed by various carboxylic acids and substituted ammonium ions. The effectiveness of these proton donors as catalysts correlates with their pK values. When plotted according to the Bronsted catalysis law (Section 4.8), the value of the slope a is 0.74. When deuterium or tritium is introduced in the a position, there is a marked decrease in the rate of acid-catalyzed enolization h/ d 5. This kinetic isotope effect indicates that the C—H bond cleavage is part of the rate-determining step. The generally accepted mechanism for acid-catalyzed enolization pictures the rate-determining step as deprotonation of the protonated ketone ... 

Table 7.11. Relative Rates of Acid-Catalyzed Enolization for Some Ketones"...

There has been little study of the stereoselectivity of the reaction under acidic conditions. In the absence of a coordinating Lewis acid, there is no preference for a cyclic transition state. When regioisomeric enols are possible, acid-catalyzed reactions tend to proceed through the more substituted of the enols. This reflects the predominance of this enol. (See Section 7.2.)... 

Symmetrical labile ethers such as cycloalkenyl ethers (15) or mixed acetals (16) can also be prepared from the 3-hydroxyl group by acid-catalyzed exchange etherification or by acid-catalyzed addition to cyclohexanone methyl enol ether. 

However, 17a,21-acetonides (103), as well as acetals of other ketones or aldehydes, can be easily prepared by acid-catalyzed exchange reaction with dimethoxypropane or other alkyl acetals in dimethylformamide or benzene. Enol etherification of the A -S-ketone also occurs with the former procedure. 

In the acid-catalyzed process, the enol 6 reacts with the protonated carbonyl group of another aldehyde molecule 2 ... 

Figure 22.1 MECHANISM Mechanism of acid-catalyzed enol formation. The protonated intermediate can lose H+, either from the oxygen atom to regenerate the kelo tautomer or from the a carbon atom to yield an enol.

Q Acid-catalyzed enol formation occurs by the usual mechanism. 

Acid-catalyzed formation of an enol is followed by deuteronalion of the enol double bond and dedeuteronation of oxygen. 

The acid-catalyzed reaction of enol ethers 2 (X = OR) and enamines 2 (X = NR2) to form y-lactol derivatives proceeds with great ease even on silica gel chromatography. Vinyl sulfides 2 (X = SR) or vinyl chlorides 2 (X = Cl) are difficult to hydrolyze. 

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