Nitro compounds, enolates

Class Ai. Compounds insoluble in water and in dilute sodium bicarbonate, but soluble in dilute sodium hydroxide solution. Weakly acidic compounds belong in this class. Weakly acidic properties are usually exhibited by oximes, imides, amino acids, sulfonamides of primary amines, primary and secondary nitro compounds, enols and phenols. Certain mercaptans also are weak acids. 

Dilute sodium hydroxide solution. Carboxylic acids (RCOOH), sulphonic acids (RSO3H), phenols (ArOH), thiophenols (ArSH), mer-captans (RSH), imides (RCONHCOR), aryl sulphonamides (AxSOjNHj), arylsulphonyl derivatives of primary amines (AxSOjNHR), oximes (RCH=NOH), primary and secondary nitro compounds (RCH=NOOH and RjC=NOOH-oci forms), and some enols (e.g., of 1 3-diketones... 

Chemoselective C-alkylation of the highly acidic and enolic triacetic acid lactone 104 (pAl, = 4.94) and tetronic acid (pA, = 3.76) is possible by use of DBU[68]. No 0-alkylation takes place. The same compound 105 is obtained by the regioslective allylation of copper-protected methyl 3,5-dioxohexano-ate[69]. It is known that base-catalyzed alkylation of nitro compounds affords 0-alkylation products, and the smooth Pd-catalyzed C-allylation of nitroalkanes[38.39], nitroacetate[70], and phenylstilfonylnitromethane[71] is possible. Chemoselective C-allylation of nitroethane (106) or the nitroacetate 107 has been applied to the synthesis of the skeleton of the ergoline alkaloid 108[70]. 

Enolates of aldehydes, ketones, and esters and the carbanions of nitriles and nitro compounds, as well as phosphorus- and sulfur-stabilized carbanions and ylides, undergo the reaction. The synthetic applications of this group of reactions will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2 of Part B. In this section, we will discuss the fundamental mechanistic aspects of the reaction of ketone enolates with aldehydes md ketones. 

So do anhydrides and many compounds that enolize easily (e.g., malonic ester and aliphatic nitro compounds). The mechanism is usually regarded as proceeding through the enol as in 12-4. If chlorosulfuric acid (CISO2OH) is used as a catalyst, carboxylic acids can be ot-iodinated, as well as chlorinated or brominated. N-Bromosuccinimide in a mixture of sulfuric acid-trifluoroacetic acid can mono-brominate simple carboxylic acids. ... 

These oxidants are generally too feeble to attack monofunctional compounds except thiols, carbonyl- and nitro-compounds in their enolic forms, phenols and aromatic amines. However, ferric rWj-o-phenanthroline readily oxidises cyclohexanone. 

Nitro groups attached to a primary and secondary alkyl group in a highly basic (pH > 13) medium exist as the nitronate (enolate) anions. These anions must be very difficult to reduce by electron transfer and are surely much more difficult to reduce than water. Since the electrohydrogenation of such nitro compounds to the corresponding amines is veiy efficient at Raney metal cathodes in 0.1 to 0.15 M KOH (or NaOH) aqueous alcohol (pH > 13) (12), as... 

Many of the compounds that undergo ready base-catalysed keto i enol prototropic changes, e.g. / -keto esters, l,3-(/ -) diketones, aliphatic nitro compounds, etc., form relatively stable carbanions, e.g. (25), that can often be isolated. Thus it is possible to obtain carbanions from the keto forms of the /J-keto ester (23a) and nitromethane (24a) and, under suitable conditions, to protonate them so as to obtain the pure enol forms (23b) and (24i>), respectively. It thus seems extremely probable that their interconversion follows the intermolecular pathway (a). The more acidic the substrate, i.e. the more stable the carbanion to which it gives rise, the greater the chance that prototropic interconversion will involve the carbanion as an intermediate. 

Giomi s group developed a domino process for the synthesis of spiro tricyclic nitroso acetals using a, 3-unsaturated nitro compounds 4-163 and ethyl vinyl ether to give the nitrone 4-164, which underwent a second 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with the enol ether (Scheme 4.35) [56]. The diastereomeric cycloadducts formed, 4-165 and 4-166 can be isolated in high yield. However, if R is hydrogen, an elimination process follows to give the acetals 4-167 in 56% yield. 

Acylation of the nitronate 9-71 leads to the iminium ion 9-72 which, by the addition of an isocyanide, forms the cation 9-73. Following two acyl group migrations, the compound 9-75 is obtained via 9-74. The best results were obtained when allylic nitro derivatives were used, as these can form the corresponding enolate in the presence of NEt3. Aliphatic nitro compounds could also be employed, but in these cases it was necessary to use the more basic DBU. 

Lewis acids are also effective to induce the nucleophilic substitution of allylic nitro compounds. These compounds react with allyltrimethylsilane,28 silyl enolates,28 or cy-anotrimethylsilane29 in the presence of SnCl4 to give substitution products, respectively (see Eqs. 7.24-7.26). 

The combination of silyl enol ethers and fluoride ion provides more reactive anions to give alkylated nitro compounds in good yields after oxidation with DDQ, as shown in Eq. 9.22.36 This process provides a new method for synthesis of indoles and oxyindoles (see Chapter 10, Synthesis of Heterocyclic Compounds). 

In respect of their properties, conditions of rearrangement, and reactions, we simply refer to what was said about the keto-enol change. Here, also, the bromine method enables the points of equilibrium to be determined quantitatively. The oldest and most important example of desmotropy in nitro-compounds was found in phenylnitromethane,... 

The mechanism of the coupling reaction has been very exhaustively studied. Summarising first what has already been mentioned, it must be noted that the reaction is not confined to the aromatic series, for diazo-compounds condense also with enols and with the very closely related aliphatic aci-nitro-compounds. The final products of these reactions are not azo-compounds, but the isomeric hydrazones formed from them by rearrangement. 

The anion formed by removal of the 3-H is analogous to the enolate anion of Eq. 13-6 and has a strong structural similarity to the readily formed anions of organic nitro compounds. The nitronate anions may, perhaps, be regarded as transition state inhibitors. 

Similar changes take place in the acidification of the enol salt of a carbonyl compound, the principal difference being the much longer life of the acf-nitro compound compared to that of an enol of a simple ketone (see Section 17-IB), Primary and secondary nitro compounds undergo aldol additions and Michael additions with suitable carbonyl compounds and basic catalysts ... 

Similarly, the addition of triethylborane to lithium enolates allowed ready reaction with allyl nitro compounds catalyzed by palladium(O) complexes.108109... 

The use of chiral crown ethers as asymmetric phase-transfer catalysts is largely due to the studies of Bako and Toke [6], as discussed below. Interestingly, chiral crown ethers have not been widely used for the synthesis of amino acid derivatives, but have been shown to be effective catalysts for asymmetric Michael additions of nitro-alkane enolates, for Darzens condensations, and for asymmetric epoxidations of a,P-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. 

Alkoxypropyl ketones and even 3-acyloxypropyl ketones, however, do generally not cyclize, and can be cleanly metalated and alkylated intermolecularly with an electrophile [485]. Similarly, chloroalkyl enolates with more than two atoms between the nucleophilic and electrophilic carbon atoms do not cyclize readily. Examples of chloroalkyl ketones and nitro compounds, which can be deprotonated and alkylated without undergoing cyclization are shown in Scheme 5.65. 

Unsaturated nitro compound and nitriles do not usually suffer nucleophilic attack by enols or enolates and both are good at conjugate addition. The addition of the morpholine enamine 57 of cyclohexanone to 58 demonstrates that the nitro group is more effective than the ester at promoting conjugate addition.7... 

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