Claisen, retro

The four steps of the /3-oxidation pathway, resulting in the cleavage of an acetyl group from the end of the fatty-acid chain. The key chain-shortening step is a retro-Claisen reaction of a /3-keto thioester. Individual steps are explained in the text. 

Q Nucleophilic addition of coenzyme A to the keto group occurs, followed by a retro-Claisen condensation reaction. The products are acetyl CoA and a chain-shortened fatty acyl CoA. 

Step 4 of Figure 29.3 Chain Cleavage Acetyl CoA is split off from the chain in the final step of /3-oxidation, leaving an acyl CoA that is two carbon atoms shorter than the original. The reaction is catalyzed by /3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase and is mechanistically the reverse of a Claisen condensation reaction (Section 23.7). In the forward direction, a Claisen condensation joins two esters together to form a /3-keto ester product. In the reverse direction, a retro-Claisen reaction splits a /3-keto ester (or /3-keto thioester) apart to form two esters (or two thioesters). 

The retro-Claisen reaction occurs by initial nucleophilic addition of a cysteine -SH group on the enzyme to the keto group of the /3-ketoacyl CoA to yield an alkoxide ion intermediate. Cleavage of the C2-C3 bond then follows, with expulsion of an acetyl CoA enolate ion. Protonation of the enolate ion gives acetyl CoA, and the enzyme-bound acyl group undergoes nucleophilic acyl substitution by reaction with a molecule of coenzyme A. The chain-shortened acyl CoA that results then enters another round of tire /3-oxidation pathway for further degradation. 

It should be noted that the cyano group is lost by a retro-Claisen-type fragmentation 6->7 which gives automatically the pyrrocorphin 7 on the hexahydro oxidation level rather than by a /i-elimination-type process which would give a tetrahydroporphyrin. A similar fragmentation process has been observed in the total syntheses of chlorophyll a (sec Section 1.2.1.) and of a tolyporphin model (see Section 1.3). 

Evidence is the lack of a catalyst, the fact that the reaction is first order in the ether, the absence of crossover products when mixtures are heated, and the presence of the ally lie shift, which is required by this mechanism. A retro-Claisen rearrangement is... 

Grogan G, GA Roberts, D Bougioukou, NJ Turner, SL Flitsch (2001) The desymmetrization of bicyclic P-diketones by an enzymatic retro-claisen reaction. J Biol Chem 276 12565-12572. 

It was unfortunate that we did not detect any product derived from a diketone in the reaction of w-dimethoxybenzene with tetrafluoroben-zyne. We therefore carried out a reaction of tetrafluorobenzyne with 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene. The di-enol ether (80) could not be isolated, and after the removal of unreacted 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene we isolated the phenolic acid (81) in good yield. This compound is undoubtedly formed by the hydrolysis of (80) followed by a retro-Claisen condensation, and aromatisation as shown below. 

Moreover, compounds of type 7-127, which were obtained from 7-125 by reaction with Pb(OAc)4, can undergo a further domino process when treated with potassium carbonate in a mixture of water and methanol [57]. This includes saponification of the acetate moieties in 7-127 to provide 7-129 via the unstable cyclic hemiacetal 7-128 (Scheme 7.35). Retro-Claisen reaction and ring closure with the proposed intermediates 7-130 and 7-131 led to the bridged ring-system 7-132 as a mixture of di-astereomers with preference of the (3-isomer. 

Industry, in fact, has a major interest in these diesters as building blocks for nylon 6,6 and nylon 7,7 in the production of polyesters and polyamides. However, their present synthesis raises an environmental concern. For instance, the oxidation of cyclohexanone by nitric acid (for the preparation of adipic acid), accounts for more than 10% of the total yearly release of N2O, which is among the main gases responsible for the greenhouse effect. The reaction of Scheme 4.14 represents an eco-friendly alternative synthesis of a,(i)-diesters which uses green reagents and, relevantly, has a 100% atom economy. The overall process is mechanistically described as a retro-Claisen condensation. 

Hill, C.L., Verma, C.S. and Grogan, G., Des3mimetrisations of l-alkylbicyclo[3.3.0]octane-2,8-diones by enzymatic retro-Claisen reaction yield optically enriched 2,3-substituted cyclopenta-nones. Adv. Synth. Catal. 2007, 349, 916. 

The recognition of consonant bifunctional relationships in the target molecule allows their disconnection by a retro-Claisen, a retro-aldol or a retro-Mannich condensation or by retro-Michael addition [equivalent, according to Corey s formalisation, to the application of the corresponding transforms (= operators) to the appropriate retrons]. 

Bifunctional systems In the case of bifunctional systems (or molecules) only two alternatives are possible the bifunctional relationships are either "consonant" or "dissonant" (apart from molecules or systems with functional groups of type A to which we have referred to as "assonant"). In the first case, the synthetic problem will have been solved, in principle, in applying the "heuristic principle" HP-2 that is to say, the molecule will be disconnected according to a retro-Claisen, a retro-aldol or a retro-Mannich condensation, or a retro-Michael addition, proceeding if necessary by a prior adjustment of the heteroatom oxidation level (FGI). 

In the particular case in which the carbonyl group belongs to a carboxylic acid derivative, such as an ester (17) or an amide (18) (or other functional groups which may be converted into it by a FGI), then they may be disconnected according to the "orthoacetate-modification" of the retro-Claisen rearrangement (Schemes 7.7 and 7.8) developed mainly by Eschenmoser [7] and Ziegler [8], independently, in the synthesis of alkaloids, and Johnson in a very simple and yet highly stereoselective synthesis of squalene [9]. 

Retro-Claisen reaction, 49 Rigid analogues, 50, 223, 284, 296, 451 Rimantadine, 19 Rimiterol, 278... 

Q ,Q -disubstituted /1-ketoesters like 9, when treated with an alkoxide, can be cleaved into ordinary esters by the reverse of the condensation reaction, the retro-Claisen reaction. However the condensation of esters with only one a-hydrogen is possible in moderate yields by using a strong base, e.g lithium diisopropyl amide (LDA). ... 

Compounds in which two donor atoms are linked by a three-carbon chain undergo C-C bond cleavage readily. Well-known reactions are the retro-aldolization, retro Claisen, retro-Michael, and retro-Mannich reactions. Significant application of such processes to synthesis of complex natural products include approaches to caryophyllene [80], nootkatone [81], trihydroxydecipiadiene [82], hybridalactone [83], and mesembrine [84],... 

It has also been reported that ozonolysis of 6-methyl-8-mcthylcne-m-3-oxabicyclo[4.2.0]octan-2-one in methanol gave methyl 2-(4-methyl-2-oxo-4-tetrahydropyranyl)acetate by retro-Claisen reaction, whereas in dichloromethane 6-methyl-ra-3-oxabicyclo[4.2.0]octane-2,8-dione was isolated in good yield (see Section 5.1.3.).16... 

A cyclobutane with a carbonyl and a vinyl group in a cis-, 2-position readily undergoes a retro-Claisen rearrangement as soon as it is formed at room temperature by oxidation of the corresponding alcohol, e.g. formation of l.183... 

The conversion of the substituted 1,3-dicarbonyl compound into homophthalic acid is remarkably facile loss of the acetyl group by a retro-Claisen condensation and hydrolysis of the ester group are complete in a few minutes in aqueous sodium hydroxide. The overall synthesis of homophthalic acids from o-bromobenzoic acids occurs in high yield and provides an attractive route. 

Retro-Claisen rearrangement The formyl bicyclo[2.2.2]octane 1 when heated with a catalytic amount of HO Ac at 110° rearranges to the vinyl ether 2, probably because of relief of the strain associated with the vic-quatemary carbon centers. This retro-Claisen rearrangement occurs rapidly at 0° in the presence of BF3 0(C2H5)2 (0.1 equiv.).10... 

---