Amide nucleophilic acyl substitution

IS general for nucleophilic acyl substitution and well worth remembering The range of reactivities is quite large a factor of about 10 m relative rate separates acyl chlorides from amides... 

Conversions of acid anhydrides to other carboxylic acid derivatives are illustrated m Table 20 2 Because a more highly stabilized carbonyl group must result m order for nucleophilic acyl substitution to be effective acid anhydrides are readily converted to carboxylic acids esters and amides but not to acyl chlorides... 

Amides are the least reactive caiboxyhc acid deiivative and the only nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction they undeigo is hydrolysis Amides are fanly stable m water but the amide bond is cleaved on heating m the presence of strong acids 01 bases Nomi nally this cleavage produces an amine and a caiboxyhc acid... 

The characteristic reaction of acyl chlorides acid anhydrides esters and amides is nucleophilic acyl substitution Addition of a nucleophilic reagent Nu—H to the carbonyl group leads to a tetrahedral mtermedi ate that dissociates to give the product of substitution... 

Section 20 4 Acyl chlorides are converted to acid anhydrides esters and amides by nucleophilic acyl substitution... 

Section 20 6 Acid anhydrides are less reactive toward nucleophilic acyl substitution than acyl chlorides but are useful reagents for preparing esters and amides... 

Hydrazine cleaves amide bonds to form acylhydrazides according to the general mechanism of nucleophilic acyl substitution discussed in Chapter 20... 

FIGURE 28 12 Translation of mRNA to an ammo acid sequence of a protein starts at an mRNA codon for methionine Nucleophilic acyl substitution transfers the N formylmethionme residue from Its tRNA to the ammo group of the next ammo acid (shown here as alanine) The process converts an ester to an amide... 

The first example in Table 20.2 introduces a new aspect of nucleophilic acyl substitution that applies not only to acid anhydrides but also to acyl chlorides, thioesters, esters, and amides. Nucleophilic acyl substitutions can be catalyzed by acids. 

Acid halides are among the most reactive of carboxylic acid derivatives and can be converted into many other kinds of compounds by nucleophilic acyl substitution mechanisms. The halogen can be replaced by -OH to yield an acid, by —OCOR to yield an anhydride, by -OR to yield an ester, or by -NH2 to yield an amide. In addition, the reduction of an acid halide yields a primary alcohol, and reaction with a Grignard reagent yields a tertiary alcohol. Although the reactions we ll be discussing in this section are illustrated only for acid chlorides, similar processes take place with other acid halides. 

Amides, like esters, are abundant in all living organisms—proteins, nucleic acids, and many pharmaceuticals have amide functional groups. The reason for this abundance of amides, of course, is that they are stable to the conditions found in living organisms. Amides are the least reactive of the common acid derivatives and undergo relatively few nucleophilic acyl substitution reactions. 

Amide hydrolysis is common in biological chemistry. Just as the hydrolysis of esters is the initial step in the digestion of dietary fats, the hydrolysis of amides is the initial step in the digestion of dietary proteins. The reaction is catalyzed by protease enzymes and occurs by a mechanism almost identical to that we just saw for fat hydrolysis. That is, an initial nucleophilic acyl substitution of an alcohol group in the enzyme on an amide linkage in the protein gives an acyl enzyme intermediate that then undergoes hydrolysis. 

Electrostatic potential maps of a typical amide (acetamide) and an acyl azide (acetyl azide) are shown. Which of the two do you think is more reactive in nucleophilic acyl substitution reactions Explain. 

We ve already studied the two most general reactions of amines—alkylation and acylation. As we saw earlier in this chapter, primary, secondary, and tertiary amines can be alkylated by reaction with a primary alkyl halide. Alkylations of primary and secondary amines are difficult to control and often give mixtures of products, but tertiary amines are cleanly alkylated to give quaternary ammonium salts. Primary and secondary (but not tertiary) amines can also be acylated by nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction with an acid chloride or an acid anhydride to yield an amide (Sections 21.4 and 21.5). Note that overacylation of the nitrogen does not occur because the amide product is much less nucleophilic and less reactive than the starting amine. 

Amino groups are often protected as their tert-butoxycarbonvl amide, or Boc, derivatives. The Boc protecting group is introduced by reaction of the amino acid with di-fert-butyl dicarbonate in a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction and is removed by brief treatment with a strong organic acid such as trifluoro-acetic acid, CF3C02H. 

From a chemical point of view, amide and ester bonds have comparable structural and spectroscopic features and are hydrolyzed by the same general mechanism, i.e., a nucleophilic acyl substitution involving an addition-elimination sequence (see Chapt. 3). However, in a given structure, the amide... 

The barbiturates were widely used as sedative-hypnotic drugs. Barbital was introduced as a drug in 1903. The method of synthesis for thousands of its analogs has undergone little change. Urea reacts with various derivatives of malonic acid, usually a diethyl ester of a dialkyl substituted malonic acid. This is a classic example of a nucleophilic acyl substitution. A derivative of ammonia reacts with esters to form an amide, only in this case a cyclization to a strainless six-membered ring results because of the proximity of the bifunctionality. 

Primary (RNH2) and secondary (R2NH) amines undergo nucleophilic acyl substitution with acid chlorides and anhydrides in pyridine or EtsN to give 2° and 3° amides (see Section 5.5.5). Primary amines (RNH2) react with... 

Acid chlorides are the most reactive carboxylic acid derivatives, and easily converted to acid anhydrides, esters and amides via nucleophilic acyl substitutions (see Section 5.5.5). Acid chlorides are sufficiently reactive with H2O, and quite readily hydrolysed to carboxylic acid (see Section 5.6.1). 

Preparation of amides Ammonia, 1° and 2° amines react with carboxylic acids to produce, respectively, 1°, 2° and 3° amides, through a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction. The reaction of ammonia and a carhoxylic acid initially forms a carhoxylate anion and an ammonium cation. Normally the... 

In the second major method of peptide synthesis the carboxyl group is activated by converting it to an active ester, usually a p-nitrophenyl ester. Recall from Section 20.12 that esters react with ammonia and amines to give amides. p-Nitrophenyl esters are much more reactive than methyl and ethyl esters in these reactions because p-nitrophenoxide is a better (less basic) leaving group than methoxide and ethoxide. Simply allowing the active ester and a C-protected amino acid to stand in a suitable solvent is sufficient to bring about peptide bond formation by nucleophilic acyl substitution. 

In addition to illustrating the mechanics of translation, Figure 28.12 is important in that it shows the mechanism of peptide bond formation as a straightforward nucleophilic acyl substitution. Both methionine and alanine are attached to their respective tRNAs as esters. The amino group of alanine attacks the methionine carbonyl, displacing methionine from its tRNA and converting the carbonyl group of methionine from an ester to an amide function. 

The starting material is a lactone, a cyclic ester. The ester function is converted to an amide by nucleophilic acyl substitution. 

Primary and secondary amines react with acid halides to form amides. This reaction is a nucleophilic acyl substitution the replacement of a leaving group on a carbonyl carbon by a nucleophile. We will study nucleophilic acyl substitution in detail in Chapters 20 and 21. In this case, the amine replaces chloride ion. 

Acid derivatives differ in the nature of the nucleophile bonded to the acyl carbon —OH in the acid, —Cl in the acid chloride, —OR in the ester, and —NH2 (or an amine) in the amide. Nucleophilic acyl substitution is the most common method for interconverting these derivatives. We will see many examples of nucleophilic acyl substitution in this chapter and in Chapter 21 ( Carboxylic Acid Derivatives ). The specific mechanisms depend on the reagents and conditions, but we can group them generally according to whether they take place under acidic or basic conditions. 

Ammonia and amines react with acid chlorides to give amides, also through the addition-elimination mechanism of nucleophilic acyl substitution. A carboxylic acid is efficiently converted to an amide by forming the acid chloride, which reacts with an amine to give the amide. A base such as pyridine or NaOH is often added to prevent HC1 from protonating the amine. 

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