Hydrazines from acyl azides

A closely related reaction of general applicability is the Curtius rearrangement222 of acyl azides. The rearranging species in the Schmidt reaction (see p. 898) is in fact also a protonated acyl azide these azides are readily prepared by the action of nitrous acid on acyl hydrazides which are themselves formed from esters and hydrazine (Section 9.6.17, p. 1269). On heating in aprotic solvents the acyl azides decompose to yield the corresponding isocyanates in good yield. 

As described earlier (Section 4.4.1.1), the intermediates of the Curtius reaction are acyl azides, which themially rearrange to isocyanates. One of the classical procedures for the preparation of acyl azides consists of the formation of hydrazides from esters and hydrazine, followed by treatment of the hydrazides with nitrous acid, generated from sodium nitrite and acetic, hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. Acyl azides are commonly used in the crude state or in solution since they are thermally unstable and potentially explosive. 

The bicyclic meso-ionic 3-oxo-l,2,4-triazolo[4,5-a]pyridines (206) have been prepared by the following methods (i) the reaction of the hydrazines (207, X = H) with phosgene, (ii) heating the amide (207, X = CONH2) or the carbamate (207, X = COjEt), and (iii) alkylation or acylation of 3-oxo-l,2,4-triazolo[4,5-a]pyridine (208). The isomeric meso-ionic 2-oxo-l,3,4-triazolo[4,5-a]pyridines (209) are formed from the carbamoyl chlorides (210) and sodium azide. ... 

Organic azides can be prepared from hydrazines and nitrous acid (Section 24-7A) and by the reaction of sodium azide with acyl halides or with alkyl halides having good SN2 reactivity ... 

The conversion of an acid to an amine of one less carbon may be conveniently accomplished by way of the azide and rearrangement to the isocyanate. The azide may be obtained either from the acyl chloride and sodium azide or from an ester by treatment with hydrazine and subsequent diazotization. An excellent review including scope and limitations of the reactions, selection of experimental conditions and procedures, and a tabulation of compounds prepared thereby has been presented. ... 

Yields and analysis results are summarized in Table V. IR spectra of the various intermediary reaction products are given in Figure 6. Formation of the organic azide by the wet method from the acyl chloride was superior to "dry" formation but hydrazin-olysis of the methyl ester followed by HNO2-treatment worked satisfactorily as well. 

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