Haloformic acids, from

The haloform reaction is sometimes used for the preparation of carboxylic acids from methyl ketones... 

Apparently the only previous case of the isolation of a chlorinated acid from a haloform reaction is that reported by Arnold et al. [8], who acidified the reaction mixture before decomposition of the excess hypochlorite. (Even though we decomposed the excess hypochlorite before acidification, the unchlorinated acid was not obtained.) These authors [8] also obtained an ester as the product of the haloform reaction. It seems likely that conditions for performing the haloform reaction can be found which will make the one-step conversion of a methyl ketone to the ester of the corresponding acid a general reaction. ... 

Because the haloform reaction is fast, in some cases it can be used to prepare unsaturated acids from unsaturated ketones without serious complications caused by addition of halogen to the double bond ... 

Despite its age, the Haloform reaction remains a unique and powerful transformation of methyl ketones to carboxylic acids. The range of substrates is truly enormous. In addition to the examples shown below, the Haloform reaction has been employed to synthesize these carboxylic acids (from the corresponding methyl ketones) 3-... 

Alkali cleaves, a ,a>trihalomethyl ketones to trihalomethanes and carboxylic acids. This haloform reaction 714 also occurs directly if alkaline hypohalite solution is allowed to react with a methyl ketone and has preparative importance as a method of obtaining carboxylic acids from methyl ketones. 

Scheme 8.48. A representation of the pathway for the formation of chloroform and a carboxylic acid from the treatment of a methyl ketone with basic hypochlorite solution (the haloform reaction).

Potassium hydroxide a,/ -Ethylenesulfonic acids from sulfinic acids and haloforms Ramherg-Baddund rearrangement... 

Haloform reactions are generally performed with halogens in the presence of hydroxide [251] or directly with hypohalites [252]. Alternative methods affording carboxylic acids from methyl ketones (or other enolizable substrates) include the aerobic oxidation in the presence of a catalytic amount of dinitrobenzene [253] with a base in a dipolar aprotic solvent such as DMF [254] or HMPT (hexamethylphospho-ric triamide) [255, 256] and the use of stoichiometric quantities of hypervalent iodide derivatives [95, 257] or nitrosylpentacyanoferrate [258]. Furthermore, metal catalysts can be used, and systems such as tert-butyl hydroperoxide in the presence of rhenium oxide [259], oxygen in combination with a copper complex [260], heteropolyacids [261] and Mn"/Co" systems [262] were found to be applicable. Finally, aryl ketones are selectively oxidized to aliphatic carboxylic acids by treatment with periodate [81] in the presence of ruthenium trichloride [263]. 

Potassium hydroxide a-Alkoxycarboxylic acids from aldehydes and haloforms... 

Fluorine cannot be used, although trifluoroketones can be cleaved into carboxylate and trifluoromethane. The haloform reaction can be conducted under mild conditions—at temperatures ranging from 0-10 °C—in good yields even a sensitive starting material like methylvinylketone can be converted into acrylic acid in good yield. 

An overview of the reactions involving trihalomethanes (haloforms) CHXYZ, where X, Y, and Z are halogen atoms, has been given in the context of ozone depletion (Hayman and Derwent 1997). Interest in the formation of trichloroacetaldehyde formed from trichloroethane and tetrachloroethene is heightened by the phytotoxicity of trichloroacetic acid (Frank et al. 1994), and by its occurrence in rainwater that seems to be a major source of this contaminant (Muller et al. 1996). The situation in Japan seems, however, to underscore the possible significance of other sources including chlorinated wastewater (Hashimoto et al. 1998). Whereas there is no doubt about the occurrence of trichloroacetic acid in rainwater (Stidson et al. 2004), its major source is unresolved since questions remain on the rate of hydrolysis of trichloroacetaldehyde (Jordan et al. 1999). 

Figure 11-9 illustrates the mechanism for the haloform reaction. The mechanism involves a repeated series of base attacks (removal of an a-hydrogen) followed by the reaction with the halogen until all three a-hydrogen atoms are replaced. Then the base attacks the carbonyl carbon to induce the loss of a carbanion Q.CXf. The highly reactive carbanion quickly attacks and removes the hydrogen from the carboxylic acid group. 

Problem 16.8 (a) Why isn t 2-naphthoic acid made from 2-chloronaphthalene (f>) How is 2-naphthoic acid prepared in a haloform reaction M... 

The synthesis of a pyrrole segment common to netropsin and distamycin is shown in Scheme 2ji°l Friedel-Crafts acylation of 1-methylpyrrole (1) followed by nitration at C4 provides 3 in 54% yield. After a haloform reaction, hydrogenolysis, N-protection with B0C2O, and saponification, the pyrrolecarboxylic derivative acid 7 was obtained in 30% overall yield from 3. This monomer is readily chain-extended to the pyrrole-imidazole derivative 9 (Scheme 3)J10 Furthermore, solid-phase synthesis with this and related pyrrole-containing building blocks leads to polyamides that have recently been used in the recognition of a 16 base-pair sequence in the minor groove of DNA.1" ... 

To retain a side-chain substituent, selective methods of oxidation are required. For example, 4-methylbenzoic acid can be prepared from l-(4-methylphenyl)-ethanone by the haloform reaction (Section 17-2B) ... 

The use of the haloform reaction for the conversion of methyl ketones into carboxylic acids (Sections 5.11.1, p. 667) is also applicable in the aromatic field. The conditions may be readily adapted from those described for the conversion of aliphatic methyl ketones into carboxylic acids (Expt 5.124). 

Base-catalysed H/D exchange experiments for a series of haloforms [80] (Table 4.10) demonstrate that carbanion formation is stabilised by halogen in the order 1 > Br > Cl > F. When these results are combined with acidity measurements which show that CF3H (pKa 31) is little more acidic than methane (pKa 40) [81], we can conclude that, in these systems, fluorine attached to a carbanion centre is stabilising with respect to hydrogen but destabilising compared with the effects of other halogens. Similar conclusions can be drawn from pKa measurements of a number of halobis(trifluoromethyl) methanes [82]. 

Attempts to apply the thermal decarboxylation reaction in the liquid phase to aromatic halofor-mic acid esters have shown that their reaction is different from that ol the aliphatic haloformates. It was found that evolution of carbon dioxide occurs, but only high boiling products could be isolated.136 On heating in the presence of aromatics and Lewis acids, aryl chloroformates do not react to give chlorinated aromatics with concomitant decarboxylation, but undergo a Friedel-Crafts reaction to give phenyl benzoates.137 Under similar conditions phenyl fluoroformate undergoes only polymerization and carbonate formation.137... 

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