Reduction reaction carboxylic acid derivatives

The aldehyde intermediate can be isolated if 1 equivalent of diisobutvl-aluminum hydride (D1BAH) is used as the reducing agent instead of LiAlH4. The reaction has to be carried out at -78 °C to avoid further reduction to the alcohol. Such partial reductions of carboxylic acid derivatives to aldehydes also occur in numerous biological pathways, although the substrate is either a thioester or acyl phosphate rather than an ester. 

The Reimer-Tiemann reaction is not an effective route to formyl-pyrroles or -indoles (see Section 3.05.1.6) and the oxidation of alkyl and hydroxyalkyl derivatives of the heterocycles and the reduction of carboxylic acid derivatives are discussed in Sections 3.05.2.2 and 3.05.2.4, respectively. 

In summary, reductions of carboxylic acid derivatives to primary alcohols are usually accomplished by reaction of esters or acids with lithium aluminum hydride. The following equations provide several examples ... 

A third method of aldehyde synthesis is one that we ll mention here just briefly and then return to in Section 21.6. Certain carboxylic acid derivatives can be partially reduced to yield aldehydes. The partial reduction of an ester by dhsobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAH), for instance, is an important laboratory-scale method of aldehyde synthesis, and mechanistically related processes also occur in biological pathways. The reaction is normally carried out at —78 °C (dry-ice temperature) in toluene solution. 

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. 

Conversion of Amides into Amines Reduction Like other carboxylic acid derivatives, amides can be reduced by LiAlH.4. The product of the reduction, however, is an amine rather than an alcohol. The net effect of an amide reduction reaction is thus the conversion of the amide carbonyl group into a methylene group (C=0 —> CTbV This kind of reaction is specific for amides and does not occur with other carboxylic acid derivatives. 

The most common reactions of carboxylic acid derivatives are substitution by water (hydrolysis) to yield an acid, by an alcohol (alcoholysis) to yield an ester, by an amine (aminolysis) to yield an amide, by hydride ion to yield an alcohol (reduction), and by an organometallic reagent to yield an alcohol (Grignard reaction). 

Carbon dioxide instead of aldehydes can be involved in Ni(0)-promoted reductive coupling reactions (Equations (76) and (77) Scheme 90).434,434a 434c A stoichiometric amount of Ni(COD)2/DBU reacts with C02 and dienes, alkynes, or allenes to afford a metallacycle intermediate. This metallacycle reacts with organozinc compounds or aldehydes in one-pot to give carboxylic acid derivatives. As shown in Scheme 90, double carboxylation occurs in the presence of dimethylzinc, where the stereochemical outcome is opposite to that of the reaction with diphenylzinc. 

The retrosynthesis involves the following transformations i) isomerisation of the endocyclic doble bond to the exo position ii) substitution of the terminal methylene group by a more stable carbonyl group (retro-Wittig reaction) iii) nucleophilic retro-Michael addition iv) reductive allylic rearrangement v) dealkylation of tertiary alcohol vi) homolytic cleavage and functionalisation vii) dehydroiodination viii) conversion of ethynyl ketone to carboxylic acid derivative ix) homolytic cleavage and functionalisation x) 3-bromo-debutylation xi) conversion of vinyl trimethylstannane to methyl 2-oxocyclopentanecarboxylate (67). 

Amides behave differently towards LAH than the other carboxylic acid derivatives, and the overall reaction observed is reduction of the carhonyl to a methylene group, with retention of the amino group. 

A problem inherent in metallation reactions with Grignard reagents is the poor chemos-electivity of the reactions. The most common side-reactions are the competing nucleophile addition and the reduction of the carbonyl compounds. An interesting alternative would be to use the high electrophilicity of the Mg + cation and its tendency to form a multicoordinate complex. The preformation of a Mg(II) complex with a carbonyl compound or a carboxylic acid derivative enhances the acidity of the substrate to the point where a relatively mild base can be used. 

Amides are the least reactive of the carboxylic acid derivatives, and undergo acid or base hydrolysis to produce the parent carboxylic acids, and reduction to appropriate amines (see Section 4.3.10). They can also be dehydrated to nitriles, most commonly with boiling acetic anhydride, (AcO)20, sulphonyl chloride (SOCI2) or phosphoms oxychloride (POCI3) (see Section 4.3.18). Amines (with one less carbon) are prepared from amides by the treatment of halides (Br2 or CI2) in aqueous NaOH or KOH. This reaction is known as Hofmann rearrangement (see Section 4.3.10). 

If the reaction mixture also contains a nucleophile, then the acyl-palladium complex might undergo displacement of the metal, which usually leads to the formation of a carboxylic acid derivative. The side product in this process is a palladium(II) complex that undergoes reductive elimination to regenerate the catalytically active palladium(O) complex. 

A practicable strategy to provide access to chiral pyrazolidine-3-carboxylic acid (16) makes use of asymmetric dipolar cycloaddition of diazoalkanes to u,p-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives. For this purpose a chiral auxiliary of the alkene component is used, e.g. Op-polzer s1166 1671 (lf )-2,10-camphorsultam.t164l As shown in Scheme 7, by reaction of (tri-methylsilyl)diazomethane (41) with /V-( aery I oy I )cam p h ors u 11 am (42), the AL(4,5-dihy-dropyrazoline-5-carbonyl)camphorsultam (43) is obtained. Reduction of 44 with sodium cyanoborohydride leads to A-(pyrazolidine-3-carbonyl)camphorsultam (45) as the 35-dia-stereoisomer (ee 9 1) in 65 to 80% yields.[164] The camphorsultam 45 is then converted into the methyl ester 46 by reaction with magnesium methylate without racemizationj1641... 

An important example of this type of reaction is the formation of esters, which was discussed previously in connection with the reactions of alcohols in Section 15-4D. Similar addition-elimination mechanisms occur in many reactions at the carbonyl groups of acid derivatives. A less obvious example of addition to carboxyl groups involves hydride ion (H 0) and takes place in lithium aluminum hydride reduction of carboxylic acids (Sections 16-4E and 18-3C). 

Carboxy terminal amino acid or peptide thiols are prepared from various p-amino alcohols by conversion into a thioacetate (R2NHCHR1CH2SAc) via a tosylate followed by saponification.Several methods have been used to prepare N-terminal peptide thiols, the most common procedure is the coupling of (acetylsulfanyl)- or (benzoylsulfanyl)alkanoic acids or add chlorides with a-amino esters or peptide esters, followed by deprotection of the sulfanyl and carboxy groups. 8 16 Other synthetic methods include deprotection of (trit-ylsulfanyl)alkanoyl peptides, 1718 alkaline treatment of the thiolactones from protected a-sulfanyl acids, 19 and preparation of P-sulfanylamides (HSCH2CHR1NHCOR2, retro-thior-phan derivatives) from N-protected amino acids by reaction of P-amine disulfides with carboxylic acid derivatives, followed by reduction. 20,21 In many cases, the amino acid or peptide thiols are synthesized as the disulfides and reduced to the corresponding thiols by the addition of dithiothreitol prior to use. 

Such substitutions in saturated compounds can be carried out by a variety of strategics involving different nucleophiles and leaving groups, but the oxidation states remain the same. Acyl substitutions are analogous. For this reason carboxylic acid derivatives are treated as a common family of compounds. All have the same oxidation level and all can be converted from one to another by substitution reactions not requiring oxidation or reduction. 

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