Polymer ethyl pyruvate

Amino-5-hydrazinopyrazole dihydrochloride 300 is a good source for the synthesis of this type of heterocyclic compound [78JCS(P1)885] and it was prepared by reaction of malononitrile with two equivalents of hydrazine. Reaction of 300 with ethyl pyruvate afforded 301. Unstable hydra-zone 302 formed when 300 was boiled with diacetyl rapidly cyclized to 303. Reaction of 300 with benzil gave 304 directly, which gave an acetyl derivative and resisted reductive deamination. On the other hand, a polymer was isolated from the reaction of 300 with glyoxal (Scheme 65). 

Kohler, J.U. and Bradley, J.S., A kinetic probe of the effect of a stabilizing polymer on a colloidal catalyst accelerated enantio selective hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate catalyzed by poly(vinylpyrroli-done)-stabilized platinum colloids, Langmuir, 14, 2730,1998. 

It has also been possible to confirm the presence of the reduction product of a Schiff base on the polymer by proton magnetic resonance. For this purpose we have used unmodified poly(ethylenimine), since it too catalyzes the decarboxylation of oxalacetate to its product, pyruvate. Unmodified polyethylenimine was mixed with oxalacetate-4-ethyl ester. One-half of this solution was treated with NaBH4 the second half was exposed to a similar environment but no NaBH4 was added. The borohydride-treated polymer exhibited a strong triplet in the nmr spectrum centered at 3.4 ppm upfield from the HOD resonance. This new feature would be expected from the terminal methyl protons of the oxalacetate ester attached to the polymer. Only a very weak triplet was found in the control sample not treated with borohydride. These observations are strong evidence for the formation of Schiff bases with the polymer primary amine groups. Evidently the mechanistic pathway for decarboxylation by the polymer catalyst is similar to that used enzymatically. 

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