Henry reaction carbonyl component

More recently, the use of high pressure with tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride as catalyst allowed these reactions to be accomplished with cyclic ketones. Thus, the Henry reaction of nitroalkanes with 3- and 4-methylcyclohexanones in THF at 30 C and 9 kbar (1 bar = 100 kPa) afforded fair to high yields (60-90% after 4 d) of the corresponding nitro alcohols, while with 2-methyIcyclohexanones it was possible to obtain addition products, although in moderate yields. These facts explain the modest utility of the Henry reaction as a chain-lengthening reaction when the carbonyl component is a ketone, but also show the difference in reactivity of aldehyde and ketone C==0 groups with respect to nitromethane, primary and secondary nitroalkanes in the presence of a base as catalyst. Such a difference in reactivity can be considered as the most evident chemoselectivity of this reaction. 

The utilization of carbanions stabilized by various electron-withdrawing groups to effect carbon-carbon bond formation occupies a central position in organic synthesis. This chapter focuses on the reactions of nitro-stabilized carbanions (nitronate anions or their equivalents) with aldehydes and ketones. This route for the coupling of a carbonyl and a nitroalkane component, leading to vicinal nitro alcohols, was discovered in 1895 by Henry and is currently known as the Henry or nitroaldol reaction. 

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