Protective groups carbonyl compounds

The reagent (138), for photolabile carbonyl group protection, oxidized carbonyl compounds R COR (alcohols, ethers, and esters) under mild acidic or neutral conditions to the photosensitive acetals (139). The oxidation was presumably via hydride abstraction by the tritylium ion generated from (138) under acidic conditions. The primary and secondary alcohols showed unexpected similarities in reactivity, which had been rationalized by proposing slightly different mechanisms. High protection/de-protection efficiencies and remarkable dark stability of the acetals has been reported. ... 

Acetals and ketals are important functional groups that find use in the preparation of novel heterocyclic compounds, in polymers, and in the protection of carbonyl compounds or alcohols. Acetals and ketals are stable under basic conditions but hydrolyze easily under acidic conditions to the starting carbonyl compound and alcohol. 

They are stable compounds and are not decomposed by dilute acids or alkalis. They are frequently employed in synthetic organic chemistry for protecting the carbonyl group. 

The selective intermolecular addition of two different ketones or aldehydes can sometimes be achieved without protection of the enol, because different carbonyl compounds behave differently. For example, attempts to condense acetaldehyde with benzophenone fail. Only self-condensation of acetaldehyde is observed, because the carbonyl group of benzophenone is not sufficiently electrophilic. With acetone instead of benzophenone only fi-hydroxyketones are formed in good yield, if the aldehyde is slowly added to the basic ketone solution. Aldols are not produced. This result can be generalized in the following way aldehydes have more reactive carbonyl groups than ketones, but enolates from ketones have a more nucleophilic carbon atom than enolates from aldehydes (G. Wittig, 1968). 

The most commonly used protected derivatives of aldehydes and ketones are 1,3-dioxolanes and 1,3-oxathiolanes. They are obtained from the carbonyl compounds and 1,2-ethanediol or 2-mercaptoethanol, respectively, in aprotic solvents and in the presence of catalysts, e.g. BF, (L.F. Fieser, 1954 G.E. Wilson, Jr., 1968), and water scavengers, e.g. orthoesters (P. Doyle. 1965). Acid-catalyzed exchange dioxolanation with dioxolanes of low boiling ketones, e.g. acetone, which are distilled during the reaction, can also be applied (H. J. Dauben, Jr., 1954). Selective monoketalization of diketones is often used with good success (C. Mercier, 1973). Even from diketones with two keto groups of very similar reactivity monoketals may be obtained by repeated acid-catalyzed equilibration (W.S. Johnson, 1962 A.G. Hortmann, 1969). Most aldehydes are easily converted into acetals. The ketalization of ketones is more difficult for sterical reasons and often requires long reaction times at elevated temperatures. a, -Unsaturated ketones react more slowly than saturated ketones. 2-Mercaptoethanol is more reactive than 1,2-ethanediol (J. Romo, 1951 C. Djerassi, 1952 G.E. Wilson, Jr., 1968). 

The carbonyl group forms a number of other very stable derivatives. They are less used as protective groups because of the greater difficulty involved in their removal. Such derivatives include cyanohydrins, hydrazones, imines, oximes, and semicarbazones. Enol ethers are used to protect one carbonyl group in a 1,2- or 1,3-dicarbonyl compound. 

Derivatives of carbonyl compounds that have been used as protective groups in synthetic schemes are described in this chapter some of the more important protective groups are listed in Reactivity Chart 5. ... 

A carbonyl group can be protected as a sulfur derivative—for example, a dithio acetal or ketal, 1,3-dithiane, or 1,3-dithiolane—by reaction of the carbonyl compound in the presence of an acid catalyst with a thiol or dithiol. The derivatives are in general cleaved by reaction with Hg(II) salts or oxidation acidic hydrolysis is unsatisfactory. The acyclic derivatives are formed and hydrolyzed much more readily than their cyclic counterparts. Representative examples of formation and cleavage are shown below. 

In a prostaglandin synthesis a carbonyl group was protected as an oxime in which the hydroxyl group was protected against Collins oxidation by the phenylthiome-thyl-group. The phenylthiomethyl group is readily removed to give an oxime that is then cleaved to the carbonyl compound. ... 

When only one carbonyl or hydroxyl group is to be blocked in a multifunctional compound, the choice of the protecting group will be determined by the ease with which the group can be introduced selectively into the parent molecule. 

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