Nitroalkanes acidity

The numerical values of the forward and reverse Bronsted coefficients in a simple proton transfer should sum to unity. Neither a nor p should exceed unity or be less than zero. Bordwell and his co-workers [29] discovered that in the nitroalkane acid-base system (Eqn. 36) the introduction of electron-donating substituents into R lowered the rate constant for reaction but increased the overall equilibrium constant. 

The lower nitroalkanes (sometimes refered to as nitroparaffins) are easily reduced by a multitude of systems, but by far the easiest, and also the highest yielding, is the Iron/Hydrochloric acid system. The reaction is ... 

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]. 

Simple ketones and esters are inert. On the other hand, nitroalkanes react smoothly in r-butyl alcohol as a solvent with butadiene, and their acidic hydrogens are displaced with the octadienyl group. From nitromethane, three products, 64, 65, and 66, are formed, accompanied by 3-substituted 1,7-octadiene as a minor product. Hydrogenation of 65 affords a fatty amine 67 which has a primary amino function at the center of the long linear chain[46,61]. 

Nitroparaffias (or nitroaLkanes) are derivatives of the alkanes ia which one hydrogen or more is replaced by the electronegative nitro group, which is attached to carbon through nitrogen. The nitroparaffins are isomeric with alkyl nitrites, RONO, which are esters of nitrous acid. The nitro group ia a nitroparaffin has been shown to be symmetrical about the R—N bond axis, and may be represented as a resonance hybrid ... 

A number of disinfectants apparentiy owe their activity to formaldehyde, although there is argument on whether some of them function by other mechanisms. In this category, the dmg with the longest history is hexamethylenetetramine (hexamine, urotropin) [100-97-0] which is a condensation product of formaldehyde and ammonia that breaks down by acid hydrolysis to produce formaldehyde. Hexamine was first used for urinary tract antisepsis. Other antimicrobials that are adducts of formaldehyde and amines have been made others are based on methylolate derivations of nitroalkanes. The apphcations of these compounds are widespread, including inactivation of bacterial endotoxin preservation of cosmetics, metal working fluids, and latex paint and use in spin finishes, textile impregnation, and secondary oil recovery (117). 

Nitroalkanes show a related relationship between kinetic acidity and thermodynamic acidity. Additional alkyl substituents on nitromethane retard the rate of proton removal although the equilibrium is more favorable for the more highly substituted derivatives. The alkyl groups have a strong stabilizing effect on the nitronate ion, but unfavorable steric effects are dominant at the transition state for proton removal. As a result, kinetic and thermodynamic acidity show opposite responses to alkyl substitution. 

The thioimidates obtained from peifluorinated nitnles and methylmercaptan can be transformed into thiohydroxyimidates on treatment with hydroxylamine [64] CH-acidic compounds, such as methylketones [63, 66], nitroalkanes [67], and enamines [d jradd to peifluorinated nitnles in the same way (equation 6). 

Hydroxylamine can be prepared by a variety of reactions involving the reduction of nitrites, nitric acid or NO, or by the acid hydrolysis of nitroalkanes. In the conventional Raschig synthesis, an aqueous solution of NH4NO2 is reduced with HS04 /S02 at 0° to give the hydroxylamido-A ,A -disulfate anion which is then hydrolysed stepwise to hydroxylammonium sulfate ... 

Nitronates derived from primary nitroalkanes can be regarded as a synthetic equivalent of nitrile oxides since the elimination of an alcohol molecule from nitronates adds one higher oxidation level leading to nitrile oxides. This direct / -elimination of nitronates is known to be facilitated in the presence of a Lewis acid or a base catalyst [66, 72, 73]. On the other hand, cycloaddition reactions of nitronates to alkene dipolarophiles produce N-alkoxy-substituted isoxazolidines as cycloadducts. Under acid-catalyzed conditions, these isoxazolidines can be transformed into 2-isoxazolines through a ready / -elimination, and 2-isoxazolines correspond to the cycloadducts of nitrile oxide cycloadditions to alkenes [74]. 

Condensadon of glyoxalic acid, nitroalkanes, and amines provides a simple method for fi-nitro-ct-airino acids fEq 4 116 ... 

Because the anioas of nitroalkanes are stable, retro-acyladoc smoothly In the presence of a base catalyst. This type of reacdo organic synthesis." Nucleophilic attack of water or alcohol to ct-the ring cleavage v/ith the formadon of Oj-nitro acids and Oj-niti... 

Wade and coworkers have found that ct-nitro siilfones are useful reagents in organic synthesis because they are converted into nitroalkanes, nitnles, or carboxylic acids fsee Eq 5 52 ... 

Barton and co workers have explored the aryladon of various nucleophiles inclndmg nitroalkanes using bismuth reagents Reacdon of 2-nitropropane v/ith triphenylbismnth carbonate gives 2-nitro-2-phenylpropane in 80% yield Recently, this aryladon has been used for the synthesis of unusual amino acids Aryladon of ct-nitro esters v/ith triphenylbismnth dichloride followed by redncdon gives unique ct-amino acids fEq 5 68 ... 

TheNef reaction of primary nitro compounds gives iildehydes or carboxylic acids, depending on the reaction conditions. Each transformation provides an important tool in organic synthesis. Primary nitro compotmds are converted into carboxylic acids vrith concentrated mineriil acids. Because such harsh conditions iilso lead to side reactions, a milder method is required inorganic synthesis. Basic phosphate-buffered KMnO rapidly converts primary nitroalkanes into carboxylic acids in 90-99% yield fEq. 6.13. "... 

To a stirred mixture of 0.2 mol of the nitroalkane, 7.8 mL of EtOH and 0.39 mL of 10 N aq sodium hydroxide is added 0.2 mol of the freshly distilled aldehyde, with the temperature being maintained at 30 35 C. After approximately two thirds of the aldehyde has been added, an additional 0.39 mL of 10 N aq sodium hydroxide and 1.5 mL of water are added, then the aldehyde addition is continued. The mixture is stirred at 38 C for 65 h and is then treated with ca. 4 mL of 2 N aq hydrochloric acid to pH 7. It is extracted with hexane and the combined extract is washed with three 50-mL portions of water and sat. aq NaCl, dried over MgSOj and evaporated to give the crude nitroaldol which is purified by bulb-to-bulb distillation. 

Other compounds with reactive methylene and methyl groups are completely analogous to the nitroalkanes. Compounds with ketonic carbonyl groups are the most important. Their simplest representatives, formaldehyde and acetone, were considered for many decades to be unreactive with diazonium ions until Allan and Podstata (1960) demonstrated that acetone does react. Its reactivity is much lower, however, than that of 2-nitropropane, as seen from the extremely low enolization equilibrium constant of acetone ( E = 0.9 x 10-7, Guthrie and Cullimore, 1979 Guthrie, 1979) and its low CH acidity (pK = 19.1 0.5, Guthrie et al., 1982). ... 

The photochemical cyclisation of p.y-unsaturated ketoximes to 2-isoxazolines, e.g., 16—>17, has been reported <95RTC514>. 2-Isoxazolines are obtained from alkenes and primary nitroalkanes in the presence of ammonium cerium nitrate and formic acid <95MI399>. Treatment of certain 1,3-diketones with a nitrating mixture generates acyl nitrile oxides, which can be trapped in situ as dipolar cycloadducts (see Scheme 3) <96SC3401>. 

The condensation of nitro compounds and imines, the so-called aza-Henry or nitro-Mannich reaction, has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-diamines through the intermediate /3-amino nitro compounds. The method is based on the addition of a nitronate ion (a-nitro carbanion), generated from nitroalkanes, to an imine. The addition of a nitronate ion to an imine is thermodynamically disfavored, so that the presence of a protic species or a Lewis acid is required, to activate the imine and/or to quench the adduct. The acidic medium is compatible with the existence of the nitronate anion, as acetic acid and nitromethane have comparable acidities. Moreover, the products are often unstable, either for the reversibility of the addition or for the possible /3-elimination of the nitro group, and the crude products are generally reduced, avoiding purification to give the desired 1,2-diamines. Hence, the nitronate ion is an equivalent of an a-amino carbanion. 

As previously described, in basic conditions the proUne-derived a-sulfonyl amide 141 generates the imine function, which afterwards undergoes addition by a nucleophile, e.g., a nitronate ion see the diastereoselective synthesis of the diamino nitroalkane derivative 172, which is the precursor of the piperazine-2-carboxyUc acid 173, through a Nef reaction [45]. Similarly, the addition of the Uthium enolate of ethyl acetateto the a-sulfonyl amide 174 gave the diamino ester derivative 175, wich was then converted to (-)-l-aminopyrrolizidine 176 (Scheme 27). 

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