Ketenes from cyclic ketones

The first /3 -lactam was produced by addition of a ketene to an imine and there are now many examples of this type of approach. The ketenes are most frequently generated in situ from acid chlorides by dehydrohalogenation, but have also been produced from diazo ketones, by heating of alkoxyacetylenes and in the case of certain cyanoketenes by thermolysis of the cyclic precursors (162) and (163). 

The acyl-alkv biradical obtained by ring-opening of a cyclic ketone is able lo undergo intramolecular disproportionation in one of two ways. A hydrogen atom may be transferred to the acyl radical from the position adjacent to the alkyl group, and this produces an unsaturated aldehyde (4.21). Alternatively, a hydrogen may be transferred to the alkyl radical from the position adjacent to the acyl group, and this results in the formation of a ketene (4.22). Many ketenes are labile, and the use of a nucleophilic solvent or addend. 

The conjugated cyclic ketenes 57-59 are analogous to cyclic ketones 4-6 and their aromatic character was deduced from the calculated dipole moments in a similar way74. The result was that 57 is aromatic but less than 4, while 58 and 59 are not aromatic. 

Fig. 14.29. Preparation of an a-diazoketone (compound E) from a ketone (A) and subsequent Wolff rearrangement of the a-diazoketone. Initially, A is transformed to give the enolate B of its a-formyl derivative. In a Regitz diazo group transfer reaction, this will then be converted into the a-diazoketone E. Ring contraction via Wolff rearrangement occurs and the 10-membered cyclic diazoketone C rearranges in aqueous media to give the nine-membered ring carboxylic acid E via the ketene D.

Similar a,a -annulations were achieved from reaction of oc,/ -unsaturated acid chlorides with cyclic ketone enamines which afforded bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-2,9-diones41,60 65 or bicyclo[4.3.1]decanones66. In this reaction, 7V-acylation of the enamine 109 occurs as the first step giving 110, followed by a [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement to a ketene intermediate (111). Ketene 111 subsequently cyclized via 112 to a bicyclic immonium salt (113) which after hydrolysis gave the corresponding dione 11463. If there is an axially oriented electrophilic substituent at C-4 of the enamine (for example, R = COPh) the enolate anion 115 may cyclize to an adamantane derivative 116 (equation 20). 

Insertion of formaldehyde into MesSil forms MeaSiOCHal. Insertions into C=0 bonds and O transfer from C to P occur in the reactions of PX compounds with ketones, aldehydes, and ketenes e.g., RCOCH2R and RPCI2 give chloroalkylphosphine oxides via reaction with the enol form . The following related reaction with a cyclic ketone was reported in 1978 . ... 

An interesting route to a-carboxy-8-lactones (81) and a-methylenelactones (80), based on hydrolysis of Knoevenagel products (79) of Meldrum s acid with cyclic aliphatic ketones (78), has been developed (Scheme 14). Reduction of 5-methylene derivatives of Meldrum s acid has been performed catalyti-caiiyi30 or by use of LAH. Imidoylation reaction of Meldrum s acid and subsequent solvolysis of the resulting (82) yields -enamino esters (83) in good yields.Flash vacuum pyrolysis of alkylidene derivatives of Meldrum s acid can be used to prepare methylene ketenes (84), a class of compounds difficult to prepare by conventional methods. By this procedure, methylene ketenes are obtained from aromatic aldehydes and ketones and from aliphatic ketones in only two steps. Intramolecular trapping of the methylene ketene obtained from the ketone (85) has been used successfully in the synthesis of the naphthol (86). ... 

Some cyclic ketones undergo a-cleavage followed by intramolecular hydrogen abstraction to form unsaturated aldehydes. Usually abstraction of hydrogen takes place from 5-carbon. In addition to aldehyde, ketene is also formed involving another path in some cyclic ketones. The following examples [9, 10] are illustrative ... 

The thermal intramolecular [2-1-2] cycloaddition of olefin-tethered ketenes affords bi-cyclic ketones. For example, from 155 the cycloadduct 156 is obtained in 70 % yield (mixture of stereoisomers) . 

In this chapter, we discuss the rate coefficients and the mechanisms of oxidation of ketones. The classes covered include alkanones, hydroxyketones, diketones, unsaturated ketones, ketenes, cyclic ketones, ketones derived from biogenic compounds, and halogen-substituted ketones. Photolysis is a major atmospheric process for many ketones, and will be discussed in chapter IX. The major bimolecular reactions removing ketones from the atmosphere are with OH. Although less important than the OH... 

Wolff rearrangements were also observed when most of the same acylsi-lyldiazoalkanes were photolyzed in acetone instead of benzene.21 The ketenes 185 resulting from a 1,3-methyl migration of the silene were detected in addition to the expected ene product 186 derived from the reaction of the silene with acetone (or other enolizable ketones) (Eq. 58). When R = Ad, only the cyclic siloxatene 187 was formed under the same... 

To select between these two alternative structures it was necessary to synthesize a labeled analog. Three hydrogen atoms of the methyl moiety of the ester group were substituted for deuterium. One of the principal pathways of fragmentation of [M N2]+ ions involves the loss of CH3 radical. Since all R substitutes in diazo ketones 4-1 were also methyls it was important to detect what group exactly is eliminated from the [M N2]+ ion. The spectrum of deuterated sample has confirmed that the methyl radical of the ester moiety leaves the parent ion. As a result the cyclic structure 4-2 was selected as the most probable. The ketene structure 4-3 is hardly able to trigger this process, while for heterocyclic ion 4-2 it is highly favorable (Scheme 5.22). 

KETENE, feef-butylcyano-, 55, 32 37, 38 Ketene 1 1-dimethylpropylcyano-, 55, 38 7-KETOESTERS, 58, 79, 81, 82 7-KETOESTERS TO PREPARE CYCLIC DIKETONES, 58, 83 KETONE terf-butyl phenyl, 55, 122 Ketone, methyl ethyl- 55, 25 Ketone, methyl vinyl, 56, 36 KETONES, acetylenic, 55, 52 Ketones, alkylation of, 56, 52 KETONFS aromatic, aromatic hydrocarbons from 55, 7... 

It was suggested that the reaction of sulfur dioxide with sulfenes yields a cyclic intermediate, a 1,2,3-oxadithietane-2,3,3-trioxide that decomposes to a ketone with the loss of disulfur trioxide.An alternative scheme involves the loss of sulfur monoxide from an oxathiirane 1-oxide derived from the sulfene. The reaction of sulfur dioxide with diphenylsulfene may proceed through a 1,2,4-oxadithietane-2,2,4-trioxide.3,3-Bis(trifluoromethyl)-l,2,4-oxadithietane 2,2,4,4-tetraoxide 598 is obtained by thermolysis of 595. It decomposes to 599 on further heating, and it reacts in the presence of bis(trifluoromethyl) ketene to give a six-membered cyclic trisulfone and a thiirane sulfone. ... 

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