Enolization base catalysed

The main example of a category I indole synthesis is the Hemetsberger procedure for preparation of indole-2-carboxylate esters from ot-azidocinna-mates[l]. The procedure involves condensation of an aromatic aldehyde with an azidoacetate ester, followed by thermolysis of the resulting a-azidocinna-mate. The conditions used for the base-catalysed condensation are critical since the azidoacetate enolate can decompose by elimination of nitrogen. Conditions developed by Moody usually give good yields[2]. This involves slow addition of the aldehyde and 3-5 equiv. of the azide to a cold solution of sodium ethoxide. While the thermolysis might be viewed as a nitrene insertion reaction, it has been demonstrated that azirine intermediates can be isolated at intermediate temperatures[3]. 

A system of parallel reactions as shown in Fig. 5.3-9 was studied by Paul et at. (1992). The reactions are an acid-base neutralization and a base-catalysed hydrolysis of product (C). The labile compound (Q is in solution in an organic solvent, and aqueous NaOH is added to raise the pH from 2 to 7. Enolization occurs under basic conditions and is accompanied by irreversible decomposition (ring opening), which is not shown in the figure. The system was studied in the laboratory using the 6-Iitre reactor shown in Fig. 5.3-10. 

Many of the compounds that undergo ready base-catalysed keto i enol prototropic changes, e.g. / -keto esters, l,3-(/ -) diketones, aliphatic nitro compounds, etc., form relatively stable carbanions, e.g. (25), that can often be isolated. Thus it is possible to obtain carbanions from the keto forms of the /J-keto ester (23a) and nitromethane (24a) and, under suitable conditions, to protonate them so as to obtain the pure enol forms (23b) and (24i>), respectively. It thus seems extremely probable that their interconversion follows the intermolecular pathway (a). The more acidic the substrate, i.e. the more stable the carbanion to which it gives rise, the greater the chance that prototropic interconversion will involve the carbanion as an intermediate. 

Titanium tetrachloride-catalysed Michael additions of trimethylsilyl enol ethers to artemisitene afforded a neat route to 14-substituted artemisinin derivatives of type 125 (eg. R = allyl) and to 9-epiartemisinin derivatives 126 some of these compounds were more active against Plasmodium falciparum than artemisinin <00BMCL1601>. A series of 11-azaartemisinins also have better activity than artemisinin <00BMC1111>. On the other hand, epiartemisinin, prepared by base-catalysed epimerisation of artemisinin, has been shown to have poor antimalarial activity <00HCA1239>. 

Not unexpectedly, alkylation of the double carbonylated complex proceeds via a base-catalysed interfacial enolization step, but it is significant that the initial double carbonylation step also involves an interfacial reaction, as it has been shown that no pyruvic acid derivatives are obtained at low stirring rates. Further evidence comes from observations of the cobalt-catalysed carbonylation of secondary benzyl halides [8], where the overall reaction is more complex than that indicated by Scheme 8.3. In addition to the expected formation of the phenylacetic and phenylpyruvic acids, the reaction with 1-bromo-l-phenylethane also produces 3-phenylpropionic acid, 2,3-diphenylbutane, ethylbenzene and styrene (Scheme 8.4). The absence of secondary carbonylation of the phenylpropionylcobalt tetracarbonyl complex is consistent with the less favourable enolization of the phenylpropionyl group, compared with the phenylacetyl group. 

Camell and co-workers have recently applied lipase-catalysed resolution to formally desymmetrize prochiral ketones that would not normally be considered as candidates for enzyme resolution, through enantioselective hydrolysis of the chemically prepared racemic enol acetate. " For example, an NK-2 antagonist was formally desymmetrized by this approach using Pseudomonas fluorescens hpase (PFL) (Scheme 1.40). By recychng the prochiral ketone product, up to 82 % yields of the desired (5)-enol acetate (99 % ee) could be realized. This method offers a mild alternative to methodologies such as base-catalysed asymmetric deprotonation, which requires low temperature, and biocatalytic Baeyer-Villiger oxidation, which is difficult to scale up. 

Concerted acid-base catalysed enolizations of a range of simple aldehydes and ketones have been measured in water at 25 °C, using a range of substituted acetic acid-acetate buffers.The buffer plots yield rate constants for acid (A a) and base ( b) catalytic terms in the normal way at low buffer concentrations. Extension up to higher concentrations (as far as [total buffer] = 2 m, typically) yields the third-order term ( ab) via upward curvature of the plots. While ab does not have a simple correlation with either k or b, it does correlate with their product, i.e. 

Silyl enol ethers have been prepared via a Brook rearrangement from the reaction of phenyldimethylsilyllithium with a-silyloxy ketones (see Scheme 68). The comparison of the rate of the base-catalysed Brook rearrangement in -substituted... 

The intermediacy of enols or enolate anions may be demonstrated by hydrogen exchange reactions (see Section 4.11.2). Both acid-catalysed and base-catalysed tautomerism mechanisms involve removal... 

Two mechanisms are shown above. The base-catalysed mechanism proceeds through the enolate anion. The acid-catalysed process would be formulated as involving an enol intermediate. Note that the terminal hydrogens in pentan-3-one are not exchanged, since they do not participate in the... 

Aldehydes and ketones nndergo acid- and base-catalysed halogenation in the a position. This is also dependent on enolization or the formation of enolate anions. 

The base-catalysed racemization of the alkaloid (-)-hy oscy amine to ( )-hyoscyamine (atropine) is an example of enolate anion participation. Alkaloids are normally extracted from plants by using base, thus liberating the free alkaloid bases from salt combinations. (—)-Hyoscyamine is found in belladonna Atropa belladonna) and stramonium Datura stramonium) and is used medicinally as an anticholinergic. It competes with acetylcholine for the muscarinic site of the parasympathetic nervous system, thus preventing the passage of nerve impulses. However, with careless extraction using too much base the product isolated is atropine, which has only half the biological activity of (—)-hyoscyamine, since the enantiomer (+)-hyoscyamine is essentially inactive. 

Mechanistically, we can consider it as attack of an enolate anion equivalent from acetyl-CoA on to the ketone group of oxaloacetate. However, if we think carefully, we come to the conclusion that this is not what we would really predict. Of the two substrates, oxaloacetate is the more acidic reagent, in that two carbonyl groups flank a methylene. According to the enolate anion chemistry we studied in Chapter 10, we would predict that oxaloacetate should provide the enolate anion, and that this might then attack acetyl-CoA in a Claisen reaction (see Box 10.4). The product expected in a typical base-catalysed reaction would, therefore, be an acetyl derivative of oxaloacetate. 

The aldol reaction is easily rationalized, with acetyl-CoA providing an enolate anion nucleophile that adds to the carbonyl of oxaloacetate - easily rationalized, but surprising. Oxaloacetate is more acidic than acetyl-CoA, in that there are two carbonyl groups flanking the methylene. If one were to consider a potential base-catalysed reaction between these two susbstrates, then logic suggests that oxaloacetate would be preferentially converted into... 

A detailed examination of OSO4 reactions with A -steroids has been reported." The A-ring conformation of the reactant or derived complex is important in determining the stereoselectivity of these reactions, and the major role of the proximate substituents is to anchor the appropriate conformation favouring a- or /3-attack. Studies on the stereochemistry of electrophilic attack on cholest-5-en-3-one continue." As with bromine chloride," appreciable /3-attack occurs and the 5/3,6j8-epoxide was isolated along with the previously reported 5a,6a-epoxide and the Baeyer-Villiger product, the A-homo-enol lactone (58). Base-catalysed... 

Base-catalysed cyclization of proximate diacetyl aromatics [e.g. o-diaccty I benzene (36)] gives the corresponding enone (37). Relative rates, activation parameters, and isotope effects are reported for (36), and also for 1,8-diacetylnaphthalene, 4,5-diacetylphenanthrene, and 2,2/-diacetylbiphenyl, in aqueous DMSO.61 Reaction proceeds via enolate formation (rate determining for the latter three substrates), followed by intramolecular nucleophilic attack [rate determining for (36)], and finally dehydration. 

Ah initio methods have been used to compare enzyme-catalysed enolization mechanisms.130 Acid- and base-catalysed stepwise mechanisms have been compared with the concerted reaction the latter is favoured by several hydrogen-bonding interactions. 

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