Free Radical Methods for the Synthesis of Carbonyl Compounds

Up until the end of the 1980s, radical carbonylation chemistry was rarely considered to be a viable synthetic method for the preparation of carbonyl compounds. In recent years, however, a dramatic change has occurred in this picture [3]. Nowadays, carbon monoxide has gained widespread acceptance in free radical chemistry as a valuable Cl synthon [4]. Indeed, many radical methods can allow for the incorporation of carbon monoxide directly into the carbonyl portion of aldehydes, ketones, esters, amides, etc. Radical carboxylation chemistry which relies on iodine atom transfer carbonylation is an even more recent development. In terms of indirect methods, the recent emergence of a series of sulfonyl oxime ethers has provided a new and powerful radical acylation methodology and clearly demonstrates the ongoing vitality of modem free radical methods for the synthesis of carbonyl compounds. 

This chapter is designed to guide readers through the dramatic changes which occurred in just the past decade by showing selected but vivid examples of modem radical methods for the synthesis of carbonyl compounds. Examples are cho- 

4 Modern Free Radical Methods for the Synthesis of Carbonyl Compounds 

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The free-radical acylation approaches appear to be highly useful for the synthesis of a variety of carbonyl compounds and have great synthetic potential because the present methods succeed in complex molecules under mild conditions, where more conventional methods would be inappropriate. 

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