Nucleophilicity of carboxylates

The dianion becomes a much more stable carboxylate monoanion, and a second molecule of aldehyde has been reduced to an alcohol. This is the Cannizzaro reaction in this case it takes the form of a disproportionation of two molecules of aldehyde to one HO as nucleophile of carboxylate and one of alcohol. 

Dissociation of the carboxylate onium salt, in effect, enhances the nucleophilicity of carboxyl group which leads to rapid esterification of the epoxy moiety. And an ion pair is formed as shown in reaction (4). This ion padr reacts with carboxyl group attached to the polymer backbone, giving the carboxylate onium salt again. 

Perhaps the most extensively studied catalytic reaction in acpreous solutions is the metal-ion catalysed hydrolysis of carboxylate esters, phosphate esters , phosphate diesters, amides and nittiles". Inspired by hydrolytic metalloenzymes, a multitude of different metal-ion complexes have been prepared and analysed with respect to their hydrolytic activity. Unfortunately, the exact mechanism by which these complexes operate is not completely clarified. The most important role of the catalyst is coordination of a hydroxide ion that is acting as a nucleophile. The extent of activation of tire substrate througji coordination to the Lewis-acidic metal centre is still unclear and probably varies from one substrate to another. For monodentate substrates this interaction is not very efficient. Only a few quantitative studies have been published. Chan et al. reported an equilibrium constant for coordination of the amide carbonyl group of... 

Epoxides provide another useful a -synthon. Nucleophilic ring opening with dianions of carboxylic acids (P.L. Creger, 1972) leads to y-hydroxy carboxylic acids or y-lactones. Addition of imidoester anions to epoxides yields y-hydroxyaldehyde derivatives after reduction (H.W. Adickes, 1969). 

Formation of carboxylic acids ami their derivatives. Aryl and alkenyl halides undergo Pd-catalyzed carbonylation under mild conditions, offering useful synthetic methods for carbonyl compounds. The facile CO insertion into aryl- or alkenylpalladium complexes, followed by the nucleophilic attack of alcohol or water affords esters or carboxylic acids. Aromatic and a,/ -unsaturated carboxylic acids or esters are prepared by the carbonylation of aryl and alkenyl halides in water or alcohols[30l-305]. 

Although the present chapter includes the usual collection of topics designed to acquaint us with a particular class of compounds its central theme is a fundamental reaction type nucleophilic addition to carbonyl groups The principles of nucleophilic addition to aide hydes and ketones developed here will be seen to have broad applicability m later chap ters when transformations of various derivatives of carboxylic acids are discussed... 

Esterification of carboxylic acids involves nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group as a key step In this respect the carbonyl group of a carboxylic acid resembles that of an aldehyde or a ketone Do carboxylic acids resemble aldehydes and ketones m other ways Do they for example form enols and can they be halogenated at their a carbon atom via an enol m the way that aldehydes and ketones can ... 

What structural features are responsible for the reactivity order of carboxylic acid derivatives Like the other carbonyl containing compounds that we ve studied they all have a planar arrangement of bonds to the carbonyl group Thus all are about the same in offering relatively unhindered access to the approach of a nucleophile They differ m the degree to which the atom attached to the carbonyl group can stabilize the carbonyl group by electron donation... 

The order of reactivity of carboxylic acid derivatives toward nucleophilic acyl sub stitution can be explained on the basis of the electron donating properties of sub stituent X The greater the electron donating powers of X the slower the rate... 

The first stage of the mechanism is exactly the same as for nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone Many of the same nucleophiles that add to aldehydes and ketones—water (Section 17 6) alcohols (Section 17 8) amines (Sections 17 10-17 11)—add to the carbonyl groups of carboxylic acid derivatives... 

Diethyl malonate has uses other than m the synthesis of carboxylic acids One particu larly valuable application lies m the preparation of barbituric acid by nucleophilic acyl substitution with urea... 

Acylium ion (Section 12 7) The cation R—C=0 Acyl transfer (Section 20 3) A nucleophilic acyl substitution A reaction in which one type of carboxylic acid derivative IS converted to another... 

Some 4,5-disubstituted pyridazines exhibit ring-chain isomerism involving heterospiro compounds. For example, 5-(o-aminophenylcarbamoyl)pyridazine-4-carboxylic acid exists in a zwitterionic form in the solid state, but in a solution of DMSO it is almost exclusively 3, 4 -dihydro-3 -oxospiro[pyridazine-5(2//),2 (l //)-quinoxaline]-4-carboxylic acid (134). The equilibrium is strongly influenced by the nature of the solvent, the substituents on the pyridazine ring and the nucleophilicity of the group attached to the phenyl ring (Scheme 48) <80JCS(P2)1339). 

Alkyl radicals produced by oxidative decarboxylation of carboxylic acids are nucleophilic and attack protonated azoles at the most electron-deficient sites. Thus imidazole and 1-alkylimidazoles are alkylated exclusively at the 2-position (80AHC(27)241). Similarly, thiazoles are attacked in acidic media by methyl and propyl radicals to give 2-substituted derivatives in moderate yields, with smaller amounts of 5-substitution. These reactions have been reviewed (74AHC(i6)123) the mechanism involves an intermediate cr-complex. 

Nucleophilic substitution by ammonia on a-halo acids (Section 19.16) The a-halo acids obtained by halogenation of carboxylic acids under conditions of the Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky reaction are reactive substrates in nucleophilic substitution processes. A standard method for the preparation of a-amino acids is displacement of halide from a-halo acids by nucleophilic substitution using excess aqueous ammonia. 

When a Br nsted base functions catalytically by sharing an electron pair with a proton, it is acting as a general base catalyst, but when it shares the electron with an atom other than the proton it is (by definition) acting as a nucleophile. This other atom (electrophilic site) is usually carbon, but in organic chemistry it might also be, for example, phosphorus or silicon, whereas in inorganic chemistry it could be the central metal ion in a coordination complex. Here we consider nucleophilic reactions at unsaturated carbon, primarily at carbonyl carbon. Nucleophilic reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives have been well studied. These acyl transfer reactions can be represented by... 

The least squares value for the p constant obtained by this procedure is +6.2 it wiU be obviously subject to change as more meta and epi substituents become available. Only the cata-NO group was excluded from the above plot because it causes a strongly enhanced resonance effect in nucleophilic substitution (Section IV,C, l,a) and an anomalous effect of uncertain origin in the dissociation of carboxylic acids. It can be assumed that the reaction constant for 4-chloro-... 

Quatemization of the isoxazole nitrogen atom makes the ring particularly susceptible toward nucleophilic attack there is a certain analogy here with pyridine. The cleavage of the ring proceeds extremely readily in quaternary salts of isoxazole, even occurring by the action of such weak nucleophilic agents as the anions of carboxylic acids. 

A variety of nucleophiles can be employed—e.g. carboxylic acids, phenols, imides, thiols, thioamides, and even /3-ketoesters as carbon nucleophiles. Of major importance however is the esterification as outlined above, and its use for the clean inversion of configuration of a chiral alcohol. 

Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution Reactions of Carboxylic Acid Derivatives (Chapter21)... 

As a general rule, nucleophilic addition reactions are characteristic only of aldehydes and ketones, not of carboxylic acid derivatives. The reason for the difference is structural. As discussed previously in A Preview of Carbonyl Compounds and shown in Figure 19.14, the tetrahedral intermediate produced by addition of a nucleophile to a carboxylic acid derivative can eliminate a leaving group, leading to a net nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction. The tetrahedral intermediate... 

Methods of synthesis for carboxylic acids include (1) oxidation of alkyl-benzenes, (2) oxidative cleavage of alkenes, (3) oxidation of primary alcohols or aldehydes, (4) hydrolysis of nitriles, and (5) reaction of Grignard reagents with CO2 (carboxylation). General reactions of carboxylic acids include (1) loss of the acidic proton, (2) nucleophilic acyl substitution at the carbonyl group, (3) substitution on the a carbon, and (4) reduction. 

In studying the chemistry of carboxylic acid derivatives in the next few sections, we ll be concerned largely with the reactions of just a few nucleophiles and will see that the same kinds of reactions keep occurring (Figure 21.3). 

---