Knorr pyrrole

To meet the needs of the advanced students, preparations have now been included to illustrate, for example, reduction by lithium aluminium hydride and by the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley method, oxidation by selenium dioxide and by periodate, the Michael, Hoesch, Leuckart and Doebner-Miller Reactions, the Knorr pyrrole and the Hantzsch collidine syntheses, various Free Radical reactions, the Pinacol-Pinacolone, Beckmann and Arbusov Rearrangements, and the Bart and the Meyer Reactions, together with many others. 

Knoevenagel reaction Knorr pyrrole synthesis. Kolbe>Schmitt reaction Leuckart reaction Mannich reaction... 

The exploration of the chemistry of azirines has led to the discovery of several pyrrole syntheses. From a mechanistic viewpoint the simplest is based upon their ability to behave as a-amino ketone equivalents in reactions analogous to the Knorr pyrrole synthesis cf. Section 3.03.3.2.2), as illustrated in Schemes 91a and 91b for reactions with carbanions. Parallel reactions with enamines or a-keto phosphorus ylides can be effected with electron-deficient 2//-azirines (Scheme 91c). Conversely, electron-rich azirines react with electron deficient alkynes (Scheme 91d). 

PAAL - KNORR Pyrrole Synthesis Pyrrole synthesis from 1,4-butanedlone and amines. 

The Knorr pyrrole synthesis involves the reaction between an a-amino ketone 1 and a second carbonyl compound 2, having a reactive a-methylene group, to give a pyrrole 3. The amine 1 is often generated in situ by reduction of an oximino group. 

The Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis is the condensation of a primary amine 4 (or ammonia) with a 1,4-diketone 5 (or 1,4-dialdehyde) to give a pyrrole 6. ... 

Knorr discovered that treatment of ethyl a-oximinoacetoacetate (7) and ethyl acetoacetate (8) with zinc and acetic acid affords 2,4-dicarboethoxy-3,5-dimethylpyrrole (9). Extensive modifications of this reaction over the past 100 years have elevated the Knorr pyrrole synthesis to one of exceptional generality and versatility. 

Paal and Knorr independently discovered the straightforward reaction of primary amines (or ammonia) with 1,4-diketones to give pyrroles following loss of water7 Like the Knorr pyrrole synthesis, the PK method is a powerful and widely used method of constructing pyrroles (vide infra). 

The mechanism of the original Knorr pyrrole synthesis entails in situ reduction of the oxime moiety to an amine, condensation with the second carbonyl compound, and cyclization with loss of a second molecule of water to give a pyrrole for example, 10 + 11 to 12. Several studies have demonstrated that different pathways and pyrrole products obtain depending on the substrates. 

The major development in the Knorr pyrrole synthesis has been access to the amine component. For example, use of preformed diethyl aminomalonate with 1,3-diketones affords much higher yields of pyrroles 14. Reaction of 6-dicarbonyl compounds with hydroxylamine 0-sulfonic acid gives pyrroles 15 in one step. Weinreb a-aminoamides have found use in the Knorr pyrrole synthesis of a wide variety of pyrroles 16. °... 

A zinc-free alternative to the Knorr pyrrole synthesis employs catalytic hydrogenation, as for 17 + 18 to 19. Oximes such as 17 are readily prepared by nitrosation (NaNOa, HO Ac) of the active methylene group. 

The major application of the Knorr pyrrole synthesis is in the construction of porphyrins, and many examples exist,particularly from the work of Lash, who also demonstrated the formation of novel pyrroles, such as Cyanopyrroles are available... 

An important extension of the Knorr pyrrole synthesis developed by Cushman utilizes ketone enolates and BOC-protected a-amino aldehydes and ketones. Two examples (37, 38) are shown. 

Separately, Paal and Knorr described the initial examples of condensation reactions between 1,4-diketones and primary amines, which became known as the Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis. Paal also developed a furan synthesis in related studies. The central theme of these reactions involves cyclizations of 1,4-diketones, either in the presence of a primary amine (Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis), in the presence of a sulfur(II) source (Paal thiophene synthesis), or by dehydration of the diketone itself (Paal furan synthesis). 

By a condensation reaction of an a-aminoketone 1 with a ketone 2, a pyrrole 3 can be obtained. This reaction is known as the Knorr pyrrole synthesis. 

Mainly C-substituted pyrroles have been synthesized by application of the Knorr pyrrole synthesis however N-substituted pyrroles can also be prepared, when starting with secondary aminoketones, e.g. bearing an N-methyl or N-phenyl substituent. 

In a process related to the Knorr pyrrole synthesis, condensation of p-amino alcohols 10 with p-dicarbonyl compounds 11 affords p-hydroxy enamines 12 which are then oxidized to the pyrroles 13 <96TL9203>. 

The large scale preparation of orthogonally protected pyrrole tricarboxylic acid derivatives (i.e., 92) was reported. A key step was the selective a-chlorination of a 2,4-dimethylpyrrole intermediate that was derived from the Knorr pyrrole synthesis. 

Scheme 6.182 Sila-Stetter/Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis.

In analogy to the Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis described by Taddei and coworkers [342] (Scheme 6.181), similar reaction conditions were used by these authors to cyclize 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds to give furans (Scheme 6.190). Thus, heating a solution of a 1,4-dicarbonyl compound in ethanol/water in the presence of a catalytic amount of hydrochloric acid at 140 °C for 3 min provided an excellent yield of the corresponding trisubstituted furan derivative. 

Reaction of hydrazine or substituted hydrazine with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to provide the pyrazole or pyrazolone ring system. Cf. Paal-Knorr pyrrole synthesis (page 333). 

Gribble, G. W. Knorr and Paal—Knorr Pyrrole Syntheses In Name Reactions in Heterocyclic Chemistry, Eds, Li, J. J. Corey, E. J. Wiley Sons Hoboken, NJ, 2005, 79-88. (Review). 

The first step is formation of a pyrrole ring system from two identical aminoketones. It is actually a Knorr pyrrole synthesis, but we do not need to identify it as such, just approach it logically. In fact, if we look back at the Knorr pyrrole synthesis, we shall see that, under chemical conditions, the reagents used here are not sufficiently reactive for the pyrrole synthesis we need a more activated compound, like ethyl acetoacetate. Furthermore, we could not possibly proceed without masking the carboxyls as esters. This underlines how a biosynthetic sequence might differ somewhat from a purely chemical synthesis. 

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