Alcohol Grignard reactions

Type of reaction C-C bond formation Reaction condition solid-state Keywords ketone, Grignard reaction, alcohol... 

This preparation is an example of the use of di-M-butyl ether as a solvent in the Grignard reaction. The advantages are it is comparatively inexpensive, it can be handled without excessive loss due to evaporation, simple distillation gives an ether free from moisture and alcohol, and the vapour does not form explosive mixtures with air. n-Butyl ether cannot, of course, be employed when the boiling point of the neutral reaction product is close to 140°. 

Barbier reported (1) in 1899 that a mixture of methyl iodide, a methyl ketone, and magnesium metal in diethyl ether produced a tertiary alcohol. Detailed studies by his student Victor Grignard are documented in his now classical doctoral thesis, presented in 1901. Grignard estabUshed (2) that the reaction observed by Barbier could be separated into three distinct steps Grignard reagent formation, Grignard reaction, and hydrolysis. 

All lation. Thiophenes can be alkylated in the 2-position using alkyl halides, alcohols, and olefins. Choice of catalyst is important the weaker Friedel-Crafts catalysts, eg, ZnCl2 and SnCl, are preferred. It is often preferable to use the more readily accompHshed acylation reactions of thiophene to give the required alkyl derivatives on reduction. Alternatively, metalation or Grignard reactions, on halothiophenes or halomethylthiophenes, can be utilized. 

Figure 17.9 Use of a IMS-protected alcohol during a Grignard reaction.

To now solve the problem posed at the beginning of this section, it s possible to use a halo alcohol in a Grignard reaction by employing a protection sequence. For example, we can add 3-bromo-l-propanol to acetaldehyde by the route shown in Figure 17.9. 

Formation of an Alcohol The simplest reaction of a tetrahedral alkoxide intermediate is protonation to yield an alcohol. We ve already seen two examples of this kind of process during reduction of aldehydes and ketones with hydride reagents such as NaBH4 and LiAlH4 (Section 17.4) and during Grignard reactions (Section 17.5). During a reduction, the nucleophile that adds to the carbonyl... 

Mechanism of the Grignard reaction. Nucleophilic addition of a carbanion to an aldehyde or ketone, followed by protonation of the alkoxide intermediate, yields an alcohol. 

The mechanism of this Grignard reaction is similar to that of L1AIH4 reduction. The first equivalent of Grignard reagent adds to the acid chloride, loss of (T from the tetrahedral intermediate yields a ketone, and a second equivalent of Grignard reagent immediately adds to the ketone to produce an alcohol. 

Conversion of Esters into Alcohols Grignard Reaction Esters and lactones react with 2 equivalents of a Grignard reagent to yield a tertiary alcohol in which two of the substituents are identical (Section 17.5). The reaction occurs by the usual nucleophilic substitution mechanism to give an intermediate ketone, which reacts further with the Grignard reagent to yield a tertiary alcohol. 

The most common reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives are substitution by water (hydrolysis) to yield an acid, by an alcohol (alcoholysis) to yield an ester, by an amine (aminolysis) to yield an amide, by hydride ion to yield an alcohol (reduction), and by an organometallic reagent to yield an alcohol (Grignard reaction). 

Halo-l-benzothiepins 4 can be synthesized by the treatment of 7a-halobenzo[fe]cyclopropa-[e]thiopyran-7-ols 2 with hydrogen bromide and subsequent hydrogen bromide elimination from the 2,4-dihalo-2,3-dihydro-l-benzothiepins 3 by l,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene (DBN).9 The alcohols 2 are prepared by Grignard reaction of the corresponding 7a-halobenzo[ft]cyclopropa[c]thiopyran-7-ones l18 and are used for the synthesis without purification. The intermediate dihalodihydro-l-benzothiepins 3 are not isolated due to their thermal lability related and more stable compounds are described in Section 2.1.2.1. 

Finally, the necessity arose for the synthesis of pentulose 21, labeled with, 3C on the central carbons, C-2 and C-3, for an independent biosynthetic study, which is reported in Section III.5.27 The doubly labeled ester 34 (Scheme 14) is readily available by a Wittig- Homer condensation of benzyloxyacetaldehyde with commercially available triethylphosphono-(l,2-l3C2)acetate. Chirality was introduced by the reduction of ester 34 to the allylic alcohol, which produced the chiral epoxide 35 by the Sharpless epoxidation procedure. This was converted into the tetrose 36, and thence, into the protected pentulose 37 by the usual sequence of Grignard reaction and oxidation. 

Example As part of a programme to screen for new perfumery compounds, alcohol (17) was wanted. This has two branchpoints ( in 17) and disconnection between them simplifies the problem a great deal. Ketone (IS) is an available natural product (thujaketone) and halide (19) can be made via a Grignard reaction. 

However, none of these compounds can be easily resolved except TM (16) Itself. Me prefer to resolve as early as possible, (page T 94), so It is better to carry out the Diels-Alder reaction with acrylic acid and resolve acid (19) before adding the phenyl group by a Grignard reaction. The benzylic alcohol group in (20) can be taken out by metal-anunonia reduction. Syrithesis ... 

EXERCISE 12.37 Show how you would use a Grignard reaction to prepare the following alcohol ... 

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