Ketene, decomposition

Vanpee and Grard133 made a quantitative study of the formation of saturates (mainly ethane) in the photolysis of CH2CO with added methane (ratios CH4/CH2CO = 1 to 7) at 28 to 250 °C. and found that the results could be explained by a mechanism involving competition between CH4 and CH2CO for methylene by reactions of the first order in methylene. The rate of reaction of CH2 with CH4 was found to be 0.183 that of the reaction with ketene. Decomposition of excited ethane by the reaction... 

An added complication in the interpretation of long-wavelength ketene photolysis is demonstrated by Cundall s discovery of ketene sensitized cis-trans isomerization of the 2-butenes.33 As the pressure of olefin increases, the rate of ketene decomposition decreases and the rate of olefin isomerization increases. At high olefin concentrations part of the apparent nonstereospecificity of cyclopropane formation can thus result from stereospecific singlet addition to already isomerized olefin. 

Gibson and Iredale, Trans. Faraday Soc., 32, 571 (1936). Ketene decomposition. CH2CO = (C2H4+CO). 

It seems to be well-established that methane and ketene are formed in the main reaction, while carbon monoxide, ethylene and other products, produced in trace amounts, are probably the result of the ketene decomposition. Ethane and acetonyl acetone are chain termination products (see later), while the precursor of acetyl acetone is probably the radical formed in the reaction of the acetonyl radical and the ketene. 

Decomposition Reactions. Minute traces of acetic anhydride are formed when very dry acetic acid is distilled. Without a catalyst, equiUbrium is reached after about 7 h of boiling, but a trace of acid catalyst produces equiUbrium in 20 min. At equiUbrium, about 4.2 mmol of anhydride is present per bter of acetic acid, even at temperatures as low as 80°C (17). Thermolysis of acetic acid occurs at 442°C and 101.3 kPa (1 atm), leading by parallel pathways to methane [72-82-8] and carbon dioxide [124-38-9] and to ketene [463-51-4] and water (18). Both reactions have great industrial significance. 

Cmde diketene obtained from the dimeriza tion of ketene is dark brown and contains up to 10% higher ketene oligomers but can be used without further purification. In the cmde form, however, diketene has only limited stabHity. Therefore, especiaHy if it has to be stored for some time, the cmde diketene is distiHed to > 99.5% purity (124). The tarry distiHation residue, containing trike ten e (5) and other oligomers, tends to undergo violent Spontaneous decomposition and is neutralized immediately with water or a low alcohol. Ultrapure diketene (99.99%) can be obtained by crystallization (125,126). Diketene can be stabHized to some extent with agents such as alcohols and even smaH quantities of water [7732-18-5] (127), phenols, boron oxides, sulfur [7704-34-9] (128) and sulfate salts, eg, anhydrous copper sulfate [7758-98-7]. 

Thermal Stability. The saturated C —C 2 ketones are thermally stable up to pyrolysis temperatures (500—700°C). At these high temperatures, decomposition can be controlled to produce useful ketene derivatives. Ketene itself is produced commercially by pyrolysis of acetone at temperatures just below 550°C (see Ketenes, ketene dil rs, and related substances). 

More definitive evidence for the formation of an oxirene intermediate or transition state was presented recently by Cormier 80TL2021), in an extension of his earlier work on diazo ketones 77TL2231). This approach was based on the realization that, in principle, the oxirene (87) could be generated from the diazo ketones (88) or (89) via the oxocarbenes 90 or 91) or from the alkyne (92 Scheme 91). If the carbenes (90) (from 88) and (91) (from 89) equilibrate through the oxirene (87), and if (87) is also the initial product of epoxidation of (92), then essentially the same mixture of products (hexenones and ketene-derived products) should be formed on decomposition of the diazo ketones and on oxidation of the alkyne this was the case. 

The photolytic decomposition of a-diazoketones, accompanied by rearrangement to ketene (photolytic Wolff rearrangement), has been used successfully in the preparation of A-nor- and C-norsteroids. The method is reviewed in chapter 15 by R. M. Scribner. ... 

The reaction between an aldehydic enamine with no (3 hydrogens and ketene yields a cyclobutanone adduct which is not thermally stable (Rj and R4 H, Ri = R2 = H) (67,70,72). Thermal decomposition gives just one... 

In context with the formation of peraminosubstituted 1,4,5,8-tetraazaful-valenes of type 85 it must be mentioned that the bis-vinylogous compounds 94 can be easily prepared by reaction of acetamidine with bisimidoylchlo-rides derived from oxalic acid (96S1302). In the course of a complex reaction a cyclic ketene aminal was produced it immediately underwent an oxidative dimerization to yield deeply colored TAFs. Tlieir high chemical stability can be compared with that of indigoid dyes and manifests itself, for example, by the fact that they are soluble in hot concentrated sulfuric acid without decomposition. Tire same type of fulvalene is also available by cy-... 

The diazo ketone 3, when treated with silver oxide as catalyst, decomposes into ketocarbene 5 and dinitrogen Na. This decomposition reaction can also be achieved by heating or by irradiation with uv-light. The ketocarbene undergoes a Wolff rearrangement to give a ketene 6 ... 

An a-diazo ketone 1 can decompose to give a ketocarbene, which further reacts by migration of a group R to yield a ketene 2. Reaction of ketene 2 with water results in formation of a carboxylic acid 3. The Woljf re arrangement is one step of the Arndt-Eistert reaction. Decomposition of diazo ketone 1 can be accomplished thermally, photochemically or catalytically as catalyst amorphous silver oxide is commonly used ... 

Several stable Group 6 metal-ketene complexes are known [14], and photo-driven insertion of CO into a tungsten-carbyne-carbon triple bond has been demonstrated [15]. In addition, thermal decomposition of the nonheteroatom-stabilized carbene complexes (CO)5M=CPh2 (M=Cr, W) produces diphenylke-tene [16]. Thus, the intermediacy of transient metal-ketene complexes in the photodriven reactions of Group 6 Fischer carbenes seems at least possible. 

Photodriven reactions of Fischer carbenes with alcohols produces esters, the expected product from nucleophilic addition to ketenes. Hydroxycarbene complexes, generated in situ by protonation of the corresponding ate complex, produced a-hydroxyesters in modest yield (Table 15) [103]. Ketals,presumably formed by thermal decomposition of the carbenes, were major by-products. The discovery that amides were readily converted to aminocarbene complexes [104] resulted in an efficient approach to a-amino acids by photodriven reaction of these aminocarbenes with alcohols (Table 16) [105,106]. a-Alkylation of the (methyl)(dibenzylamino)carbene complex followed by photolysis produced a range of racemic alanine derivatives (Eq. 26). With chiral oxazolidine carbene complexes optically active amino acid derivatives were available (Eq. 27). Since both enantiomers of the optically active chromium aminocarbene are equally available, both the natural S and unnatural R amino acid derivatives are equally... 

In Entry 13, the dioxinone ring undergoes thermal decomposition to an acyl ketene that is trapped by the solvent methanol. The resulting (3-keto-y,8-enoate ester then undergoes stereoselective cyclization. The stereoselectivity is controlled by the preference for pseudoequatorial conformations of the C(6) and C(9) substituents. 

The second reaction pathway investigated was a o-QM decomposition initiated by a ring-opening process, generating a conjugated ketenes as intermediate, as shown in Scheme 2.18. 

Functionalized silacyclobutanes 16 result from photochemical decomposition of [azido-, isocya-nato- and isothiocyanato-bis(tert-butyl)silyl]diazoacetates 15. They undergo a remarkably facile ring-expansion reaction to cyclic O-silyl ketene acetals 17 even at 60°C. 

Thermal decomposition of l,2-dihydro-477-pyrrolo[2,l-r-][l,4]benzoxazine-l,2,4-triones 425 yielded 7-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)-8-[(2,4,6-trimethylphenoxycarbonyl)-6,10-dihydropyrido[2,l-r-][l,4]benzoxazine-6,10-dione by [4+2] cycloaddition of the initially formed ketene 426 and the subsequent rearrangement of 6,8,9,10-tetrahydropyrido[2,l-c][l,4]benzoxazine-6,8,10-trione 427 (Scheme 36) <1999RCB2131>. 

Whereas metal-catalyzed decomposition of simple diazoketones in the presence of ketene acetals yields dihydrofurans 121,124,134), cyclopropanes usually result from reaction with enol ethers, enol acetates and silyl enol ethers, just as with unactivated alkenes 13). l-Acyl-2-alkoxycyclopropanes were thus obtained by copper-catalyzed reactions between diazoacetone and enol ethers 79 105,135), enol acetates 79,135 and... 

Considering the above-mentioned facts, according to which simple diazoketones yield dihydrofurans with ketene acetals but cyclopropanes with enol ethers, one exports an interlink between these clear-cut alternatives to exist, i.e. substrates from which both cyclopropanes and dihydrofurans result. In fact, providing an enol ether with a cation-stabilizing substituent in the a-position creates such a situation The Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed decomposition of -diazoacetophenone in the presence of ethyl vinyl ether produces mainly cyclopropane 82 (R=H), but a small amount of dihydro-... 

Wolff rearrangement of a-diazoketones to give ketenes or subsequent products is an often used synthetic procedure the scope and limitations of which are well established 13 390), so that only a few new features of this reaction need to be considered here. Concerning its catalytic version, one knows that copper, rhodium and palladium catalysts tend to suppress the rearrangement390). A recent case to the contrary is provided by the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl -2-diazo-3-oxopent-4-enoates 404 from which the p,y-unsaturated esters 405 are ultimately obtained via a Wolff rearrangement 236). The Z-5-aryl-2-diazo-3-oxopent-4-enoates undergo intramolecular insertion into an aromatic C—H bond instead (see Sect. 4.1). 

In 2001, Linder and Podlech studied the microwave-assisted decomposition of diazoketones derived from a-amino acids [340]. In the presence of imines, the initially formed ketene intermediates reacted spontaneously by [2+2] cydoaddition to form /3-lactams with a trans substitution pattern at positions C-3 and C-4 (Scheme 6.179) [340], In order to avoid the use of the high-boiling solvent 1,2-dichlorobenzene, most transformations were carried out in 1,2-dimethoxyethane under sealed-vessel conditions. Solvent-free protocols, in which the substrates were adsorbed onto an inorganic alumina support, led only to the corresponding homologated /3-amino acids. Evidently, traces of water present on the support trapped the intermediate ketene. 

Diazomethane when heated with copper powder gives nitrogen and an insoluble polymethylene, indicating that one of its reactions is the decomposition into methylene radicals. The methylene radical can also be formed in the gas phase and detected by a mirror experiment.81 The pyrolysis of ketene in the gas phase gives carbon monoxide and methylene radical. The methylene radical both reacts with itself to give ethylene and removes tellurium mirrors, forming tellurform-aldehyde.82 Thus the methylene diradical(P) behaves as expected. 

An example of a reacting system with a network involving reactions in series is the decomposition of acetone (series with respect to ketene) (C)... 

By thermal decomposition on the surface of a glowing platinum wire, acetic anhydride loses water and is converted into ketene, the unimolecular anhydride of acetic acid (Wilsmore) ... 

In practice ketene is prepared by the thermal decomposition of acetone (Schmidlin) ... 

The Cj - and 54-symmetric tetraesters of tricyclo[3.3.0.0 ]octane (430 and 431) have been prepared by oxidation of diene 429 To access the parent hydrocarbon (435), acid chloride 432 was transformed to the derived ketene which undergoes intramolecular [2+2] cycloaddition The resulting cyclobutanone (433) serves as precursor to perester 434 whose thermal decomposition proceeds with chain transfer in competition with cleavage The unique arrangement of the carbon atoms in 435 is such that the smallest rings are all five-membered. The highly symmetric structure may be viewed as a constrained cisoid bicyclo[3.3.0]octane (as well as the symbol of NATO). 

The title phosphonate and related substances undergo thermal decomposition to B-acyl ketenes at temperatures in excess of 50°C. Thus thermolysis in the presence of alcohols, amines, a-hydroxy esters, and a-amino esters affords the corresponding g-keto esters and amides the latter two classes can be cyclized upon subsequent base treatment to unsaturated tetronic and tetramic acids and the related phosphonate reagents. ... 

---