Ketenes hydration

Alternatively one can make use of No Barrier Theory (NBT), which allows calculation of the free energy of activation for such reactions with no need for an empirical intrinsic barrier. This approach treats a real chemical reaction as a result of several simple processes for each of which the energy would be a quadratic function of a suitable reaction coordinate. This allows interpolation of the reaction hypersurface a search for the lowest saddle point gives the free energy of activation. This method has been applied to enolate formation, ketene hydration, carbonyl hydration, decarboxylation, and the addition of water to carbocations. ... 

This compound is called ketene hydrate by Barra et al. (1992), but carboxylic acid enol by Andraos et al. (1993). 

The methods agree except in the case of the uncatalysed hydration of ketene, where the multi-dimensional method predicts to be lower for addition to C=0, whereas the No Barrier results favour C=C addition. A calculation of keo for ketene hydration agrees with preliminary experimental results. 

Fast-reaction techniques, employing laser flash excitation followed by UV monitoring of the reaction, show that photolysis of diazo-oxides derived from benzene and naphthalene" follows the course illustrated in Scheme 6 for the benzene series. In aqueous solution, only the ketene and the ketene hydrate are observed as short-lived intermediates. Rates of the intermediate reactions have been followed over a large pH range and show the expected profiles due to acid-base catalysis. Photol) is within a film of Novolak-resin shows evidence for the short-lived carbene intermediate, and it has been proposed that this species is stabilized as the oxirene form. However, photolysis of the C-labeled naphthalene derivatives cannot involve an oxirene intermediate 7 as no scrambling of the C label is observed in the products. ... 

The ketene hydration reaction has been examined recently by time-resolved spectroscopic tech-niques. ° Intermediate enols have been directly observed in solution, although this is not generally the case because ketene hydration is usually slower than enol tautomerization. The hydration rate constants of representative groups of ketenes " " in aqueous solutions have been obtained and their reactivities rationalized. 

The Hydrate and Enol Form. In aqueous solutions, acetaldehyde exists in equihbrium with the acetaldehyde hydrate [4433-56-17, (CH2CH(0H)2). The degree of hydration can be computed from an equation derived by BeU and Clunie (31). Hydration, the mean heat of which is —21.34 kJ/mol (—89.29 kcal/mol), has been attributed to hyperconjugation (32). The enol form, vinyl alcohol [557-75-5] (CH2=CHOH) exists in equihbrium with acetaldehyde to the extent of approximately 1 molecule per 30,000. Acetaldehyde enol has been acetylated with ketene [463-51-4] to form vinyl acetate [108-05-4] (33). 

Internal Sizing. The most widely used internal sizes are alkyl ketene dimers (AKD), alkenylsuccinic anhydrides (ASA), and rosin-based sizes that are used with papermaker s alum (aluminum sulfate with 14 waters of hydration), polyaluminum chloride (PAG), or polyaluminum siUcosulfate (PAS) (61). The rosin-based sizes are used under acidic conditions. Since the mid 1980 s there has been a steady conversion from acid to alkaline paper production, resulting in static to declining demand for the rosin-based sizing systems. Rosin is a complex mixture of compounds and consists primarily of monocarboxyhc acids with alkylated hydrophenan threne stmctures (62). A main constituent of wood rosin, gum rosin and taH-oil rosin is abietic acid. 

The methyl ester (100, R = CH3), derived from this A-nor acid by treatment with diazomethane, is different from the ester (102) obtained either by Favorskii rearrangement of 2a-bromo-5a-cholestan-3-one (101) or by the action of cyanogen azide on 3-methoxy-5a-cholest-2-ene (103) followed by hydrolysis on alumina. The ketene intermediate involved in photolysis of (99) is expected to be hydrated from the less hindered a-side of the molecule to give the 2j -carboxylic acid. The reactions which afford (102) would be expected to afford the 2a-epimer. These configurational assignments are confirmed by deuteriochloroform-benzene solvent shifts in the NMR spectra of esters (100) and (102). ... 

Montmorillonite K10 was also used for aldol the reaction in water.280 Hydrates of aldehydes such as glyoxylic acid can be used directly. Thermal treatment of K10 increased the catalytic activity. The catalytic activity is attributed to the structural features of K10 and its inherent Bronsted acidity. The aldol reactions of more reactive ketene silyl acetals with reactive aldehydes proceed smoothly in water to afford the corresponding aldol products in good yields (Eq. 8.104).281... 

Ketene dithioacetal 130 reacts with 3-amino-2-pyrazolin-5-one 129 to give the highly functionalized pyrazolopyridine 131, which is converted into the bispyrazolopyridine 132 by reaction with hydrazine hydrate (Scheme 9) <1997JCM256>. 

The hydration of simple ketenes (RCH=C=0—> RCH2COOH) also shows relatively constant values of oh w which are quite low (100-1000) (Tidwell, 1990 Allen et al., 1992), implying p/fj = 11 to 12 for the transition state for water attack. Corresponding to this, the Leffler index and the /3nuc are both about 0.25. Whether these low values really indicate an early transition state or arise because water and hydroxide ion react quite differently is not yet clear. However, it appears possible that water attack proceeds through a cyclic mechanism involving two (or more) water molecules (Allen et al., 1992) whereas hydroxide ion probably attacks conventionally as a nucleophile (Tidwell, 1990). Of course, any mechanism for the water reaction which is superior to simple nucleophilic attack will elevate kw and necessarily lead to low kOH/kw ratios. 

Amination of ketene has been studied by ab initio methods.Reactions of ammonia, its dimer, and its (mono)hydrate with ketene have been calculated and compared with earlier smdies of ammonia (at lower levels of theory), of water, and of water dimer. In general, the results favour initial addition of ammonia to the C=0 bond (giving the enol amide), as against addition to the C=C bond (which gives the amide directly). Amide formation is compared with the corresponding hydration reaction where enol acid and acid are the alternative immediate products. Most of the reactions, i.e. both additions and tautomerizations, are suggested to involve cyclic six-membered transition states. 

Hemiorthoesters may also be detected in the hydration of ketene acetals under favourable circumstances. Although there had been several kinetic investigations of these reactions, hemiorthoesters were not detected as intermediates until 1981 when Capon and Ghosh (1981) showed that the hemiorthoesters [92] and [94] could be detected in the hydration of 2-methylene-... 

Similar experiments were also carried out with dichloroketene diethyl and dimethyl acetals but no intermediate could be detected. This is readily explained since the cyclic ketene acetals undergo acid-catalysed hydration about 30 times more rapidly than the corresponding acyclic ones (Straub, 1970 Chiang et al., 1974 Kresge and Straub, 1983) whereas cyclic hemi-orthoesters undergo acid-catalysed breakdown 50-60 times more slowly than the corresponding acyclic ones do (see p. 70). Therefore the ratio of rate constants favourable for the detection of the cyclic hemiorthoesters becomes unfavourable with the acyclic hemiorthoesters. 

Pyrolysis of the ethylene acetal of bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-4,7-diene-2,3-dione yields a-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-y-butyrolactonc 11 a mechanism involving a phenyl ketene acetal is proposed. Tartrate reacts with methanediol (formaldehyde hydrate) in alkaline solution to give an acetal-type species (9) 12 the formation constant was measured as ca 0.15 by H-NMR. Hydroxyacetal (10a) exists mainly in a boat-chair conformation (boat cycloheptanol ling), whereas the methyl derivative (10b) is chair-boat,13 as shown by 1 H-NMR, supported by molecular mechanics calculations. 

A versatile synthesis of cyclopropanones and closely related derivatives is provided by the diazoalkane-ketene reaction as shown in Scheme 2. Using this method, the parent ketone 2>3> and alkyl-substituted cyclopropanones 1()) have been prepared in yields of 60—90% based upon the concentration of diazoalkaneb) (Table 2). The reaction is rapid at Dry Ice-acetone temperatures and is accompanied by evolution of nitrogen. Although most cyclopropanones are not isolable, dilute solutions of 3 (0.5—0.8 M) may be stored at — 78 °C for several days or at room temperature in the presence of suitable stabilizing agents.15) The hydrate and hemiketal derivatives are readily prepared by the addition of water or alcohols to the solutions of. .2>8>5)... 

The polymerization of cyclopropanone is initiated °) by traces of water and is inhibited 15> by moisture scavengers such as acetyl chloride. The terminal groups are apparently hemiketal units since a,co-diacetoxy-poly(oxycyclopropylidenes) 85 are isolated from a mixture of cyclopropanone hydrate, diazomethane and excess ketene. 80>... 

Cyclopropanone hemiacetals and hydrate react with ketene to form acetoxy derivatives, e.g. 86 and 87, respectively. 5 15>80) As shown in Scheme 14, the diacetoxy compound 87 may also be obtained from the reaction of cyclopropanone with acetic acid and excess ketene. 83>... 

Presumably, 1-acetoxycyclopropanol (88) is the intermediate in this reaction as well as that between the hydrate and ketene. 80> Although 88 has not been isolated in the above cases, it may be prepared from acetic acid and cyclopropanone and reacts with ketene to give 87. 5>15>... 

Fig. 16 Mechanistic possibilities for hydration of ketene. Based on Figure 4 of ref.139 2008 Canadian Science Publishing or its licensors. Reproduced with permission.

In aqueous solutions, acetaldehyde exists in equilibrium with the acetaldehyde hydrate [CH3CH(OH)2], The enol form, vinyl alcohol (CH2=CHOH) exists in equilibrium with acetaldehyde to the extent of 0.003% (1 molecule in approximately 30,000) and can be acetylated with ketene (CH2=C=0) to form vinyl acetate (CH2=CHOCOCH3). 

General acid catalysis is also clearly observable [47] in the hydration of cyanoketene dimethylacetal and other ketene acetals (24), viz. 

---