Ketene acetal ring-opening

Anionic polymerization is induced by sodium or alkali or alkaline earth hydroxides which form lactam anions in situ. The lactam anion attacks the coinitiator, which can be, for example, a lactam derivative with an electron attracting substitutent on the N atom. This coinitiator can also be formed in situ for example, by addition of acetic anhydride or a ketene. The ring opens and an A -substituted lactam is formed. This lactam reacts very rapidly with a lactam molecule by proton exchange. A new propagation step follows this... 

Other isocyanates undergo [2 + 2] cycloaddition, but only with very electron rich alkenes. Thus phenyl isocyanate gives /3-lactams with ketene acetals and tetramethoxyethylene. With enamines, unstable /3-lactams are formed if the enamine has a /3-H atom, ring opened amides are produced 2 1 adducts are also found. Photochemical addition of cis- and traH5-stilbene to phenyl isocyanate has also been reported (72CC362). 

Stansbury and Bailey. A review by Colombam on addition-fragmentation processes is also relevant. Monomers used in ring-opening are typically vinyl (e.g. vinylcyclopropane - Scheme 4.20 Section 4.4.2.1) or methylene substituted cyclic compounds (e.g. ketene acetals - Section 4.4.2.2) where addition to the double bond is followed by p-scission. 

The ring-opening polymerization of ketene acetals (45, X=0) provides a novel route to polyesters and many examples have now been reported (Scheme 4.27). " "7 A disadvantage of these systems is the marked acid sensitivity of the monomers which makes them relatively difficult to handle and complicates characterization. This area is covered by a series of reviews by Bailey ct a/.177 228 ... 

In a search for other cyclic acetals that would undergo quantitative ring opening even at room temperature we prepared the seven-membered ketene acetal, 2-methylene-l,3-dioxepane (V), which underwent essentially complete ring opening at room temperature. 

Related work had shown that the nitrogen analogs of the cyclic ketene acetals were readily synthesized and would polymerize with essentially 100% ring opening. For this reason their copolymerization with a variety of monomers was undertaken (6). 

This indicates the possibility of making addition polymers biodegradable by the introduction of ester linkages in to the backbone. Since the free radical ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ketene acetals, such as 2-methylene-1,3-dioxepane (1, Scheme I), made possible the introduction of ester groups into the backbone of addition polymers, this appeared to be an attractive method for the synthesis of biodegradable addition polymers. 

Aliphatic polyesters occupy a key position in the field of polymer science because they exhibit the remarkable properties of biodegradability and biocompatibihty, which opens up a wide range of applications as environmentally friendly thermoplastics and biomaterials. Three different mechanisms of polymerization can be implemented to synthesize aliphatic polyesters (1) the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic ketene acetals, (2) the step-growth polymerization of lactones, and (3) the ROP of lactones (Fig. 1). 

The first route relies on the ROP of cyclic ketene acetals [1-3]. The electron-rich double bond is prone to react with radicals and electrophiles. Therefore, this class of monomers undergoes cationic and radical polymerization. For example, radical initiators react with the double bond to provide a new tertiary radical (Fig. 2). Two distinct mechanisms of polymerization can then take place direct vinyl polymerization or indirect ring opening of the cycle accompanied by the formation of a new radical, which is the propagating species (Fig. 2). The ester function is formed... 

Agarwal S (2010) Chemistry, chances and limitations of the radical ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ketene acetals for the synthesis of degradable polyesters. Polym Chem 1 953-954... 

Junjappa and co-workers (9) reported the cycloaddition of sodium azide to the polarized ketene-(5,5)-acetal 33 to give the tiiazole 35 they also reported an intermolecular cycloaddition of tosyl azide 37 with the enamine 36 to give an unstable triazoline intermediate 38. Ring opening 38 followed by a Dimroth rearrangement afforded the triazole 41 (Scheme 9.9). 

This method has successfully been applied for the addition of chloro(l-chloro-2,2-dimethylvinyl)carbene — formed from 1,1,2-trichlo o-3,3-dimethylcyclopro-pane by dehydrochlorination and subsequent ring-opening — onto ketene methyl silyl acetals, the products of which are transformed to interesting allenic esters when treated with tetrabutylammonium fluoride [149]. 

Free radical polymerization of cyclic ketene acetals has been used for the synthesis of polyfy-butyrolactone), which cannot be prepared by the usual lactone route due to the stability of the five-membered ring. The polymerization of 2-methylene-l,3-dioxalane at high temperatures (above 120 °C) gave a high molecular mass polyester [59,79]. Only 50% of the rings opened when the polymerization was carried out at 60 °C, and this led to the formation of a random copolymer. The presence of methyl substituents at the 4- or 5-position facilitated the reaction. The free radical initiators generally used in such polymerizations are ferf-butyl hydroperoxide, ferf-butyl peroxide, or cumene hydroperoxide. The various steps involved are described in Scheme 5 [59]. 

Scheme 5. Ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ketene acetal...

Reactions of trimethylsilyl enol ethers with diazo ketones give cyclopropanes contaminated by ring opened compounds 60,61). Use of the more stable tert-BuMe2Si-derivatives or of Rh2 (0Ac)4 as a catalyst might eventually improve the situation. O-Silylated ketene acetals and O.S-ketene acetals, respectively, did not provide products with cyclopropane structure 61 ... 

Ketene Ikioacetals. The oxidation of a-hydroxy thioacetals with 1 equiv. of lead tetraacetate in some cases results in clean fragmentation to a ketene thioacetal. The reaction proceeds particularly well when the reacting center is part of a strained ring system, as in examples formulated in equations (I) and (II). The oxidation of one open-chain substrate also proceeded cleanly. In general, the reaction tends to be slow and capricious (7,186-187), but can be a useful approach to ketene acetals with an unprotected carbonyl group. 

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