Reaction of Esters with Ammonia and Amines

Esters react with ammonia to form amides. 

Ammonia is more nucleophilic than water, making it possible to carry out this reaction using aqueous ammonia. 

Methyl 2-methylpropenoate Ammonia 2-Methylpropenamide Methyl alcohol 

Chapter 19 Carboxylic Acid Derivatives Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution 

Ethyl fluoroacetate Cyclohexylamine A -Cyclohexyl- Ethyl alcohol 

Steps 2 and 4 are proton-transfer reactions and are very fast. Nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group has a higher activation energy than dissociation of the tetrahedral intermediate step 1 is rate-determining. 

Amines, which are substituted derivatives of ammonia, react similarly O O 

The amine must be primary (RNH2) or secondary (R2NH). Tertiary amines (R3N) cannot form amides, because they have no proton on nitrogen that can be replaced by an acyl group. 

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The usual acid derivatives of 5-oxo-2-pyrazolin-3- and 4-carboxylic acids are known. Amides are prepared by reaction of esters and ammonia,1339 by the reaction of urea with 2-pyrazolin-5-ones, and by the reaction of azides with ammonia and amines. Hydrolysis of nitriles... 

The reactions of enolized keto carboxylic esters with ammonia and amines are described on page 507, and those of a-amino alcohols, cyanohydrins, and a-hydroxy sulfonic acids on pages 516-520. 

Table 1.2. Reaction of P-keto esters with ammonia and amines.

Aluminum chloride [7446-70-0] is a useful catalyst in the reaction of aromatic amines with ethyleneknine (76). SoHd catalysts promote the reaction of ethyleneknine with ammonia in the gas phase to give ethylenediamine (77). Not only ammonia and amines, but also hydrazine [302-01-2] (78), hydrazoic acid [7782-79-8] (79—82), alkyl azidoformates (83), and acid amides, eg, sulfonamides (84) or 2,4-dioxopyrimidines (85), have been used as ring-opening reagents for ethyleneknine with nitrogen being the nucleophilic center (1). The 2-oxopiperazine skeleton has been synthesized from a-amino acid esters and ethyleneknine (86—89). 

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 fflnides. 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. 

Conversion of Acid Halides into Amides Aminolysis Acid chlorides react rapidly with ammonia and amines to give amides. As with the acid chloride plus alcohol method for preparing esters, this reaction of acid chlorides with amines is the most commonly used laboratory method for preparing amides. Both monosubstituted and disubstituted amines can be used, but not trisubstituted amines (R3N). 

Conversion of Esters into Amides Aminolysis Esters react with ammonia and amines to yield amides. The reaction is not often used, however, because it s usually easier to start with an acid chloride (Section 21.4). 

Although, the enzymatic reaction of esters with amines or ammonia have been well documented, the corresponding aminolysis with carboxylic acids are rarer, because of the tendency of the reactants to form unreactive salts. For this reason some different strategies have been used to avoid this problem. Normally, this reaction has been used for the preparation of amides of industrial interest, for instance, one of the most important amides used in the polymer industry like oleamide has been produced by enzymatic amidation of oleic acid with ammonia and CALB in different organic solvents [10]. 

The esters of carbamic acid, the urethanes, which are formed by combination of alcohols with compounds of the cyanic acid series, are stable substances. The reaction by which they are formed is, likewise, capable of undergoing many variations. It may be recalled that a second method of synthesising them consists in acting on the esters of chloroformic acid with ammonia and amines. 

Reactions of 5f/-2-methyl-l,2,4-triazepino[2,3- ]benzimidazol-4-one 71, prepared by reaction of 1,2-diaminobenz-imidazole 72 with acetoacetic ester 73, with different reagents was described, in the search of new heterocycles with biological activity <2002CHE598>. When lactam 71 was treated with aromatic aldehydes in boiling 1-BuOH with addition of piperidine 74, 577-3-arylidene-2-methyl-l,2,4-triazepino[2,3- ]benzimidazol-4-ones 75a-c were obtained (Scheme 7). Coupling lactam 71 with phenyldiazonium chloride 76 in dioxane afforded the 3-phenylazo-substituted tricycle 77. When 71 was treated with phosphorus pentasulfide 78 in boiling dioxane or pyridine, its thio analog 79 was obtained. The reaction proceeded most efficiently when lactam 71 was refluxed with twofold excess of 78 in dry dioxane. These thiones 79 react with ammonia and amines by nucleophilic substitution. When 79 was refluxed with ammonia, benzylamine, piperidine, or morpholine, the 4-amino-substituted tricycles 80a-d were obtained. All the described compounds were identified by NMR, mass spectrometry, and IR spectroscopy. 

Dioiganotin dihalides are moderately strong Lewis acids and form stable complexes with ammonia and amines. The commercially important diorganotin compounds are most frequently the oxides, carboxylates, and mercaptocarboxylic acid esters. The oxides are amorphous or polycrystalline, highly polymeric, infusible, and insoluble solids. They are moderately strong bases and react readily with a wide variety of strongly and weakly acidic compounds. Their insolubility in all nonreactive solvents makes the choice of proper reaction conditions for such a neutralization reaction an important consideration for optimum yields. 

However, most nucleophiles attack 5-oxazolones at the carbonyl group and the products are derivatives of a-amino acids formed by acyl-oxygen fission. Thus the action of alcohols, thiols, ammonia and amines leads, respectively, to esters, thioesters and amides orthophosphate anion gives acyl phosphates (Scheme 18). The use of a-amino acids in this reaction results in the establishment of a peptide link. Cysteine is acylated at the nitrogen atom in preference to the sulfur atom. Enzymes, e.g. a-chymotrypsin and papain, also readily combine with both saturated and unsaturated azlactones. A useful reagent for the introduction of an a-methylalanine residue is compound (202). Both the trifluoroacetamido and ester groups in the product are hydrolyzed by alkali to give a dipeptide. The alkaline hydrolyzate may be converted into the benzyloxycarbonyl derivative, which forms a new oxazolone on dehydration. Reaction with an ester of an amino acid then yields a protected tripeptide (equation 45). 

Summary of Reaction of Acid Chlorides, Anhydrides, Esters, and Amides with Ammonia and Amines ... 

In Section 21.12 you learned that carboxylic acids react with alcohols to form esters and with ammonia and amines to form amides. In each reaction, a molecule of water is split out in a condensation reaction. Polymer chemists use these same reactions to form polyesters and polyamides. However, to form the polymer chain by repeated condensation reactions, you must use a t/tcarboxylic acid (two carboxyl groups), such as terephthalic acid, and a t/talcohol (two hydroxyl groups), such as ethylene glycol, as shown here. 

The reaction of ammonia and amines with esters follows the same general mech anistic course as other nucleophilic acyl substitution reactions (Figure 20 6) A tetrahe dral intermediate is formed m the first stage of the process and dissociates m the second stage... 

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