Hydrates alkenes

The catalyst reported by Grotjahn and Lev (11-13) for alkyne hydration (2) is capable of isomerizing alkenes, but veiy slowly. Because we knew that the rate of alkyne hydration was unchanged in the presence of excess phosphine ligand, we thought that like alkyne hydration, alkene isomerization would require loss of acetonitrile ligand (14) and alkene binding. Subsequent deprotonation at an allylic position would make an q -allyl intermediate which when reprotonated at the other... 

Hydrogen donors that function poorly with homogenous catalysts include hydrazine hydrate, alkenes (e.g., cyclohexene), and ascorbic acid. This is somewhat surprising as they can be very effective in heterogeneous transfer hydrogenation. 

In Summary Hydroboration-oxidation constitutes another method for hydrating alkenes. The initial addition is syn and regioselective, the boron shifting to the less hindered carbon. Oxidation of alkyl boranes with basic hydrogen peroxide gives anti-Markovnikov alcohols with retention of configuration of the alkyl group. 

The authors established, by O-tracer experiments and three-dimensional X-ray crystallographic analysis, that the reaction involved an intramolecular cyclization reaction with the exclusive formation of a five-member ring in the chelated products and suggested that [(l,3-propanediamine)2Co(OH)(OH2)] ion could be an effective reagent to hydrate alkenes of this type. 

Addition of a hydroxy group to alkynes to form enol ethers is possible with Pd(II). Enol ether formation and its hydrolysis mean the hydration of alkynes to ketones. The 5-hydroxyalkyne 249 was converted into the cyclic enol ether 250[124], Stereoselective enol ether formation was applied to the synthesis of prostacyclin[131]. Treatment of the 4-alkynol 251 with a stoichiometric amount of PdCl2, followed by hydrogenolysis with formic acid, gives the cyclic enol ether 253. Alkoxypalladation to give 252 is trans addition, because the Z E ratio of the alkene 253 was 33 1. 

Hydration of alkenes by this method however is limited to monosubstituted alkenes and disubstituted alkenes of the type RCH=CHR Disubstituted alkenes of the type R2C=CH2 along with trisubstituted and tetrasubstituted alkenes do not form alkyl hydrogen sulfates under these conditions but instead react m a more complicated way with concentrated sulfuric acid (to be discussed m Section 6 21)... 

Another method for the hydration of alkenes is by reaction with water under conditions of acid catalysis... 

Page 396 of the March 2000 issue of the Journal of Chem ical Education outlines some molecular modeling exercises concerning the regioselectiv ity of alkene hydration... 

Relative Rates of Acid-Catalyzed Hydration of Some Representative Alkenes... 

You may have noticed that the acid catalyzed hydration of an alkene and the acid catalyzed dehydration of an alcohol are the reverse of each other... 

Acid catalyzed hydration converts alkenes to alcohols with regioselectivity according to Markovnikov s rule Frequently however one needs an alcohol having a structure that corresponds to hydration of an alkene with a regioselectivity opposite to that of Markovnikov s rule The conversion of 1 decene to 1 decanol is an example of such a transformation... 

Oxidation of tridecylborane gives 1 decanol The net result is the conversion of an alkene to an alcohol with a regioselectivity opposite to that of acid catalyzed hydration... 

Carbocation intermediates are not involved m hydroboration-oxidation Hydration of double bonds takes place without rearrangement even m alkenes as highly branched as the following... 

The mechanistic complexity of hydroboration-oxidation stands m contrast to the simplicity with which these reactions are carried out experimentally Both the hydrobo ration and oxidation steps are extremely rapid reactions and are performed at room tern perature with conventional laboratory equipment Ease of operation along with the fact that hydroboration-oxidation leads to syn hydration of alkenes and occurs with a regio selectivity opposite to Markovmkov s rule makes this procedure one of great value to the synthetic chemist... 

Although 2 methylpropene undergoes acid catalyzed hydration m dilute sulfuric acid to form tert butyl alcohol (Section 6 10) a different reaction occurs m more concentrated solutions of sulfuric acid Rather than form the expected alkyl hydrogen sulfate (see Sec tion 6 9) 2 methylpropene is converted to a mixture of two isomeric C Hig alkenes... 

Hydroboration-oxidation (Sections 6 11-6 13) This two step sequence achieves hydration of alkenes in a ste reospecific syn manner with a regiose lectivity opposite to Markovnikov s rule An organoborane is formed by electro philic addition of diborane to an alkene Oxidation of the organoborane inter mediate with hydrogen peroxide com pletes the process Rearrangements do not occur... 

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... 

Acid catalyzed hydration of alkenes (Section 6 10) Water adds to the double bond in accordance with Markovnikov s rule... 

Epoxidation of an alkene followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction of the result mg epoxide gives the same alcohol that would be obtained by acid catalyzed hydration (Section 610) of the alkene... 

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