Enols, 60 Alcohols

The concept of a group is especially important in organic chemistry. A functional group represents a set of atoms that is closely linked with chemical reactivity and defined classes of substances. For instance, the functional group hydroxyl, -OH, is characteristic of the classes alcohol, phenol and enol. Alcohols are often represented by the general formula R-OH, in which R- represents a hydrocarbon group typical of aliphatic and alicyclic substances. 

The reaction behavior of enol alcohol 8, derived from bicyclic dienone 7, depends on the reaction conditions. Tricyclic dione 11 results from the use of more than 1.5 equivalents of potassium hydride in tetrahydrofuran bicyclic enedione 12 is obtained by the use of potassium hydroxide in methanol1106. 

For the production of glycinamide ribonucleotide, an acyl phosphate (anhydride) intermediate is formed by reaction of ATP -with a carboxylic acid of an amino acid (glycine), whereas in the production of guanylate (GMP) a phosphoryl ester intermediate is formed by reaction of ATP with an enol alcohol on the purine ring of the nucleotide. 

In liquid ammonia, the enolate (194) is stable and undergoes no further reduction, so that the end product is the saturated ketone corresponding to (194). However, when an acid of strength comparable to that of the enol (alcohols in Birch reduction) is present in the reaction medium, an equilibrium is set up between the enolate (194) and the saturated ketone and the latter is reduced further to the saturated alcohol. 

The former exhibits absorption tjrpical of an isolated keto group, whereas the latter shows a high intensity -band associated with the conjugated system HO—C=C—C=0. The proportions of the two forms under various conditions are readily determined from the ultraviolet spectra. The ultraviolet spectra in various solvents are shown in Fig. A, 7, 2. Since the absorption of the keto form is negligible, the percentage of enol present is 100(em/e ), where e is the observed extinction at 245 mp. and that of the pure enol. It was shown that in alcoholic solution is 1900 and the percentage of enol is 12. Thus e is ca. 16000, and use of this value permits the approximate evaluation of the enol content in different solvents. The results are collected in Table XII. 

The formation of the above anions ("enolate type) depend on equilibria between the carbon compounds, the base, and the solvent. To ensure a substantial concentration of the anionic synthons in solution the pA" of both the conjugated acid of the base and of the solvent must be higher than the pAT -value of the carbon compound. Alkali hydroxides in water (p/T, 16), alkoxides in the corresponding alcohols (pAT, 20), sodium amide in liquid ammonia (pATj 35), dimsyl sodium in dimethyl sulfoxide (pAT, = 35), sodium hydride, lithium amides, or lithium alkyls in ether or hydrocarbon solvents (pAT, > 40) are common combinations used in synthesis. Sometimes the bases (e.g. methoxides, amides, lithium alkyls) react as nucleophiles, in other words they do not abstract a proton, but their anion undergoes addition and substitution reactions with the carbon compound. If such is the case, sterically hindered bases are employed. A few examples are given below (H.O. House, 1972 I. Kuwajima, 1976). 

The ketone is added to a large excess of a strong base at low temperature, usually LDA in THF at -78 °C. The more acidic and less sterically hindered proton is removed in a kineti-cally controlled reaction. The equilibrium with a thermodynamically more stable enolate (generally the one which is more stabilized by substituents) is only reached very slowly (H.O. House, 1977), and the kinetic enolates may be trapped and isolated as silyl enol ethers (J.K. Rasmussen, 1977 H.O. House, 1969). If, on the other hand, a weak acid is added to the solution, e.g. an excess of the non-ionized ketone or a non-nucleophilic alcohol such as cert-butanol, then the tautomeric enolate is preferentially formed (stabilized mostly by hyperconjugation effects). The rate of approach to equilibrium is particularly slow with lithium as the counterion and much faster with potassium or sodium. 

Hydrogenation of olefins, enols, or enamines with chiral tVilkinson type catalysts, e.g., Noyort hydrogenation. Hydroboration of olefins with chiral boranes. Sharpless epoxi-dation of allylic alcohols. 

The hydrogenolyaia of cyclopropane rings (C—C bond cleavage) has been described on p, 105. In syntheses of complex molecules reductive cleavage of alcohols, epoxides, and enol ethers of 5-keto esters are the most important examples, and some selectivity rules will be given. Primary alcohols are converted into tosylates much faster than secondary alcohols. The tosylate group is substituted by hydrogen upon treatment with LiAlH (W. Zorbach, 1961). Epoxides are also easily opened by LiAlH. The hydride ion attacks the less hindered carbon atom of the epoxide (H.B. Henhest, 1956). The reduction of sterically hindered enol ethers of 9-keto esters with lithium in ammonia leads to the a,/S-unsaturated ester and subsequently to the saturated ester in reasonable yields (R.M. Coates, 1970). Tributyltin hydride reduces halides to hydrocarbons stereoselectively in a free-radical chain reaction (L.W. Menapace, 1964) and reacts only slowly with C 0 and C—C double bonds (W.T. Brady, 1970 H.G. Kuivila, 1968). 

In all cases examined the ( )-isomers of the allylic alcohols reacted satisfactorily in the asymmetric epoxidation step, whereas the epoxidations of the (Z)-isomers were intolerably slow or nonstereoselective. The eryfhro-isomers obtained from the ( )-allylic alcohols may, however, be epimerized in 95% yield to the more stable tlireo-isomers by treatment of the acetonides with potassium carbonate (6a). The competitive -elimination is suppressed by the acetonide protecting group because it maintains orthogonality between the enolate 7i-system and the 8-alkoxy group (cf the Baldwin rules, p. 316). 

Unique chemistry is associated with the cyclopentenone all five carbon atoms can be functionalized, and the endo-methyl groups of the acetonide assure clean stereoselective addition of the alkenylcopper reagent from the convex side. The use of the acetonide group to control enolate regioselectivity and to mask alcohols should be generally applicable. 

The 7, i5-unsaturated alcohol 99 is cyclized to 2-vinyl-5-phenyltetrahydro-furan (100) by exo cyclization in aqueous alcohol[124]. On the other hand, the dihydropyran 101 is formed by endo cyclization from a 7, (5-unsaturated alcohol substituted by two methyl groups at the i5-position. The direction of elimination of /3-hydrogen to give either enol ethers or allylic ethers can be controlled by using DMSO as a solvent and utilized in the synthesis of the tetronomycin precursor 102[125], The oxidation of the optically active 3-alkene-l,2-diol 103 affords the 2,5-dihydrofuran 104 in high ee. It should be noted that /3-OH is eliminated rather than /3-H at the end of the reac-tion[126]. 

The carbonyiation of o-diiodobenzene with a primary amine affords the phthalimide 501 [355,356]. Carbonyiation of iodobenzene in the presence of (9-diaminobenzene (502) and DBU or 2,6-lutidine affords 2-phenylbenzimida-zole (503)[357, The carbonyiation of aryl iodides in the presence of pentaflnor-oaniline affords 2-arylbenzoxazoles directly, 2-Arylbenzoxazole is prepared indirectly by the carbonyiation of (9-aminophenol[358j. The optically active aryl or alkenyl oxazolinc 505 is prepared by the carbonyiation of the aryl or enol triflates in the presence of the opticaly active amino alcohol 504, followed by treatment with thionyl chloride[359]. 

The key step in the total synthesis of rhizobitoxine is the Pd-catalyzed exchange reaction of the methyl alkenyl ether moiety in 4 with the functionalized alcohol, although the yield is low[3]. The enol pyruvate 6 (a-ethoxyacrylic acid) is prepared by the reaction of methyl a-methoxyacrylate or a-methoxy-acrylic acid (5) with ethanol catalyzed by PdCl2(PhCN)2 at room temperature in the presence of CuCli and NaH2P04[4],... 

By analogy to the hydration of alkenes hydration of an alkyne is expected to yield an alcohol The kind of alcohol however would be of a special kind one m which the hydroxyl group is a substituent on a carbon-carbon double bond This type of alcohol IS called an enol (the double bond suffix ene plus the alcohol suffix ol) An important property of enols is their rapid isomerization to aldehydes or ketones under the condi tions of their formation... 

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... 

The Hydrate and Enol Form. In aqueous solutions, acetaldehyde exists in equihbrium with the acetaldehyde hydrate [4433-56-17, (CH2CH(0H)2). The degree of hydration can be computed from an equation derived by BeU and Clunie (31). Hydration, the mean heat of which is —21.34 kJ/mol (—89.29 kcal/mol), has been attributed to hyperconjugation (32). The enol form, vinyl alcohol [557-75-5] (CH2=CHOH) exists in equihbrium with acetaldehyde to the extent of approximately 1 molecule per 30,000. Acetaldehyde enol has been acetylated with ketene [463-51-4] to form vinyl acetate [108-05-4] (33). 

Study of the mechanism of this complex reduction-Hquefaction suggests that part of the mechanism involves formate production from carbonate, dehydration of the vicinal hydroxyl groups in the ceUulosic feed to carbonyl compounds via enols, reduction of the carbonyl group to an alcohol by formate and water, and regeneration of formate (46). In view of the complex nature of the reactants and products, it is likely that a complete understanding of all of the chemical reactions that occur will not be developed. However, the Hquefaction mechanism probably involves catalytic hydrogenation because carbon monoxide would be expected to form at least some hydrogen by the water-gas shift reaction. 

Primary and secondary alcohols are readily oxidi2ed to aldehydes and ketones under alkaline conditions. Aldehydes, both aUphatic and aromatic, are converted into the corresponding carboxyUc acids. Ketones are generally oxidation resistant unless sufficient alkaU is present to effect enolization. The enol can be oxidatively cleaved. 

Hydroperoxides have been obtained from the autoxidation of alkanes, aralkanes, alkenes, ketones, enols, hydrazones, aromatic amines, amides, ethers, acetals, alcohols, and organomineral compounds, eg, Grignard reagents (10,45). In autoxidations involving hydrazones, double-bond migration occurs with the formation of hydroperoxy—azo compounds via free-radical chain processes (10,59) (eq. 20). 

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