Ketones, halogenated, Chapter

Reactions 11-22-11-26 involve the introduction of a CH2Z group, where Z is halogen, hydroxyl, amino, or alkylthio. They are all FriedeI-Crafts reactions of aldehydes and ketones and, with respect to the carbonyl compound, additions to the C=0 double bond. They follow mechanisms discussed in Chapter 16. 

Like aldehydes and ketones, the a-hydrogens of acid and acid derivatives are acidic and can be abstracted with base to generate the carban-ions, which can then react with various electrophiles such as halogens, aldehydes, ketones, unsaturated carbonyl compounds, and imines, to give the corresponding products. Many of these reactions can be performed in aqueous conditions. These have been covered in related chapters. 

Types of compounds are arranged according to the following system hydrocarbons and basic heterocycles hydroxy compounds and their ethers mercapto compounds, sulfides, disulfides, sulfoxides and sulfones, sulfenic, sulfinic and sulfonic acids and their derivatives amines, hydroxylamines, hydrazines, hydrazo and azo compounds carbonyl compounds and their functional derivatives carboxylic acids and their functional derivatives and organometallics. In each chapter, halogen, nitroso, nitro, diazo and azido compounds follow the parent compounds as their substitution derivatives. More detail is indicated in the table of contents. In polyfunctional derivatives reduction of a particular function is mentioned in the place of the highest functionality. Reduction of acrylic acid, for example, is described in the chapter on acids rather than functionalized ethylene, and reduction of ethyl acetoacetate is discussed in the chapter on esters rather than in the chapter on ketones. 

Acylpalladium intermediates can be involved in intramolecular processes leading to the formation of carbo- or heterocycles. In this chapter we discuss the cyclizations via the attack of acylpalladium intemediates at carbon centers and formation of new G-G bonds. The basic scheme (Scheme 7) of such processes includes the oxidative addition of Pd(0) to G(j )-X bonds (X = halogen or triflate), migratory insertion of GO, and subsequent intramolecular addition of acylpalladium intermediate to double or triple bonds to yield cyclic ketones. 

The halogen of an a-halo aldehyde or an a-halo ketone is exceptionally unreactive in SN1-displacement reactions, but is exceptionally reactive in Sn2 displacements, compared with the halogen of alkyl halides having comparable potential steric effects. Similar behavior is observed with a-halo carboxylic acids and is discussed further in Chapter 18. 

The halogenation of ketones must be carried out in acid solution to avoid polyhalogenation.1 So the synthesis of reagent 22, used to make derivatives of carboxylic acids in chapter 6, is simple providing that we notice the directing effects of the two groups on the benzene ring in 23 and disconnect with Friedel-Crafts in mind. 

Organic halogen compounds have been used as synthetic precursors in electrochemical synthesis. They can be converted into aldehydes, ketones, alcohols and may be coupled with C—C bond formation in each case. Since this area is the subject of another chapter in the present volume (by Casanova and Prakash Reddy) the coverage here entails a brief description of synthetically useful coupling reactions that have been reported recently. 

So far, most of the reactions presented in the book that are useful in synthesis have made C-O, C-N, or C-halogen bonds and only a few (Wittig, Friedel-Crafts, and reactions of cyanides and alkynes) make C-C bonds. This limitation has severely restricted the syntheses that we can discuss in this chapter. This is by design as we wanted to establish the idea of synthesis before coming to more complicated chemistry. The next four chapters introduce the main C-C bond-forming reactions in the chemistry of enols and enolates. You met these valuable intermediates in Chapter 21 but now you are about to see how they can be alkylated and acylated and how they add directly to aldehydes and ketones and how they do conjugate addition to unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Then in Chapter 30 we return to a more general discussion of synthesis and develop a new approach in the style of the last synthesis in this chapter. 

The most obvious way is a halogenation in add solution (Chapter 21) on the more substituted side of the ketone and elimination of HX in base. The double bond uhll prefer to go inside the ring and there is no argument about its stereoehcmistn. Typical bases would he tertiary amines o hindered alkoxides (c.g. t-RuO ). 

The mechanistic outline of carbenoid/carbonyl reactivity follows the paradigm illustrated at the outset of this chapter (Scheme 1 X = halogen). The nucleophilic lithium species adds to the carbonyl compound and suffers elimination to provide the epoxide. Competition from molecular rearrangements emanating from the intermediate halohydrin or the product epoxides is sometimes a problem, particularly with cyclic ketones. Also, the initial adduct frequently fails to cyclize when the reaction is quenched at low temperature, but it is usually a simple matter to effect ring closure by treatment of the halohydrin with mild base in a separate step. 

We can consider disconnection to this synthon to be a two-group disconnection because the a halocarbonyl equivalents are easily made by halogenation of a ketone, ester, or carboxylic acid (see Chapter 21) and the carbonyl group adjacent to the halide makes them extremely reactive electrophiles (Chapter 17). 

In future chapters we will discuss families of organic molecules containing oxygen atoms (alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, ethers, and esters), nitrogen atoms (amides and amines), sulfur atoms, and halogen atoms. 

The halogenation of ketones (Chapter 7) provides another example. 

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