Ketones in nature

Ethylene glycol in the presence of an acid catalyst readily reacts with aldehydes and ketones to form cyclic acetals and ketals (60). 1,3-Dioxolane [646-06-0] is the product of condensing formaldehyde and ethylene glycol. Applications for 1,3-dioxolane are as a solvent replacement for methylene chloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and methyl ethyl ketone as a solvent for polymers as an inhibitor in 1,1,1-trichloroethane as a polymer or matrix interaction product for metal working and electroplating in lithium batteries and in the electronics industry (61). 1,3-Dioxolane can also be used in the formation of polyacetals, both for homopolymerization and as a comonomer with formaldehyde. Cyclic acetals and ketals are used as protecting groups for reaction-sensitive aldehydes and ketones in natural product synthesis and pharmaceuticals (62). 

The mechanism in the frame shows the enol of acetyl CoA attacking the reactive ketone. In nature the enolization is catalysed by a basic carboxylate group (Asp) and an acidic histidine, both part of the enzyme, so that even this easy reaction goes faster. 

It is used invariably for the separation of aldehydes and ketones in natural medicinal products. 

The products of photolysis of hydroperoxides, alkoxy and hydroxy radicals, react further to yield a range of products, the most significant of which are ketonic in nature. As the photo-oxidation progresses, a third phase of the mechanism evolves in which the predominant chromophores are ketones, which have higher extinction coefficients than hydroperoxides. Further, as a result of a photophysical process of energy transfer, excited ketones can induce decomposition of hydroperoxides. 

The simple sugars or monosaccharides are polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones, and belong to Solubility Group II. They are termed tetroses, pentoses, hexoses. etc. according to the number of carbon atoms in the long chain constituting the molecule, and aldoses or ketoses if they are aldehydes or ketones. Most of the monosaccharides that occur in nature are pentoses and hexoses. 

The structural features especially the very polar nature of the carbonyl group point clearly to the kind of chemistry we will see for aldehydes and ketones in this chapter The partially positive carbon of C=0 has carbocation character and is electrophilic The planar arrangement of its bonds make this carbon relatively uncrowded and susceptible to attack by nucleophiles Oxygen is partially negative and weakly basic... 

Many cycHc ketones occur in natural oils. Jasmone [488-10-8] (3-meth5l-2-(2-pentyl)-2-cyclopenten-l-one) (4) is an odoriferous component of the oil obtained from jasmine flowers. /-Menthone [14073-97-3] (5) is the most frequently occurring of four optically active isomers, and is a colorless Hquid with a minty odor obtained from Mentha species of plants. Muscone [541-91-3] (6) and civetone [542-46-1] (7) are expensive animal products. 

Acetophenone. Acetophenone [98-86-2] (methyl phenyl ketone) is a colorless Hquid that forms laminar crystals at low temperature (mp 20°C). It has a characteristic sweet orange blossom odor, and is soluble in alcohols and ethers. It is found in nature in oil of casatoreum, obtained from beavers oil of labdanum, recovered from plants and in buds of balsam poplar. It can be prepared by the Friedel-Crafts reaction (qv) of acetyl chloride with benzene in the presence of aluminum chloride however, this route is of Htde commercial significance. 

Cleavage of silyloxiranes (e.g. 55) by methanol, leading to aldehydes or ketones (e.g. 56 Scheme 48), has found use in natural products synthesis (8UA1831, 80JA5004). 

The acetylation of isotripiperideine by means of a ketone in nonpolar media affords a compound which decomposes in acidic media to piperideine and a monoacety.l derivative of the enamine form of tetrahydro-anabasine (195). This monoacetyl derivative is identical with the alkaloid amodendrine (312). A similar acylation with cinnamoylchloride affords the alkaloid orensine (196) (313), the optically active form of which is the natural alkaloid adenocarpine (314). The hydrolysis of alkaloid santiaguine gives a-truxilic acid (314). 

The condensation reaction of a CH-acidic compound—e.g. a ketone 3—with formaldehyde 1 and ammonia 2 is called the Mannich reaction, the reaction products 4 are called Mannich bases. The latter are versatile building blocks in organic synthesis, and of particular importance in natural products synthesis. 

Sack has recently isolated a ketone from natural civet. The civet was boiled for some hours with alcoholic potash, the alcohol evaporated and the residue extracted, with ether. The residue left on evaporating the ether was distilled with steam to remove skatole, again extracted with ether, the ether evaporated and the residue dissolved in alcohol. The alcohol was evaporated, and the residual ketone purified by conversion into its semi-carbazone, from which it was regenerated. It has the formula CjjHggO, and its characters are as follows —... 

Alcohols are among the most versatile of all organic compounds. They occur widely in nature, are important industrial 7, and have an unusually rich chemistry. The most widely used methods of alcohol synthesis start with carbonyl compounds. Aldehydes, ketones, esters, and carboxylic acids are reduced by reaction with LiAlH4. Aldehydes, esters, and carboxylic acids yield primary alcohols (RCH2OH) on reduction ketones yield secondary alcohols (R2CHOH). 

Carbonyl condensation reactions are widely used in synthesis. One example of their versatility is the Robinson anuulation reaction, which leads to the formation of an substituted cyclohexenone. Treatment of a /3-diketone or /3-keto ester with an a,/3-unsaturated ketone leads first to a Michael addition, which is followed by intramolecular aldol cyclization. Condensation reactions are also used widely in nature for the biosynthesis of such molecules as fats and steroids. 

In this chapter, we have examined the use of cells and enzymes to chemically transform lipids. We have had to be selective and have predominantly focused attention on the transformation of sterols and steroids. We first explained why these compounds were commercially important and why they only occur in low concentrations in natural systems. We pointed out that a very large number of reaction types are possible, but those which have found greatest use include stereospedfic hydroxylations, alcohol/ketone interconversion, hydrolysis, conjugation and isomerisation. 

The Pictet-Spengler reaction has mainly been investigated as a potential source of polycyclic heterocycles for combinatorial apphcations or in natural product synthesis [149]. Tryptophan or differently substituted tryptamines are the preferred substrates in a cyclocondensation that involves also aldehydes or activated ketones in the presence of an acid catalyst. Several versions of microwave-assisted Pictet-Spengler reactions have been reported in the hter-ature. Microwave irradiation allowed the use of mild Lewis acid catalysts such as Sc(OTf)3 in the reaction of tryptophan methyl esters 234 with different substituted aldehydes (aliphatic or aromatic) [150]. Under these conditions the reaction was carried out in a one-pot process without initial formation of the imine (Scheme 86). 

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