Ring strain lactones

Ring strain (lactones) moves the absorption to the left. 

The chemical properties of cycHc ketones also vary with ring size. Lower members (addition reactions, than corresponding acycHc ketones. The Cg—C 2 ketones are unreactive, reflecting the strain and high enol content of medium-sized ring systems. Lactones are prepared from cycHc ketones by the Bayer-ViUiger oxidation reaction with peracids. S-Caprolactone is manufactured from cyclohexane by this process ... 

Intramolecular cycloadditions of substrates with a cleavable tether have also been realized. Thus esters (37a-37d) provided the structurally interesting tricyclic lactones (38-43). It is interesting to note that the cyclododecenyl system (w = 7) proceeded at room temperature whereas all others required refluxing dioxane. In each case, the stereoselectivity with respect to the tether was excellent. As expected, the cyclohexenyl (n=l) and cycloheptenyl (n = 2) gave the syn adducts (38) and (39) almost exclusively. On the other hand, the cyclooctenyl (n = 3) and cyclododecenyl (n = 7) systems favored the anti adducts (41) and (42) instead. The formation of the endocyclic isomer (39, n=l) in the cyclohexenyl case can be explained by the isomerization of the initial adduct (44), which can not cyclize due to ring-strain, to the other 7t-allyl-Pd intermediate (45) which then ring-closes to (39) (Scheme 2.13) [20]. While the yields may not be spectacular, it is still remarkable that these reactions proceeded as well as they did since the substrates do contain another allylic ester moiety which is known to undergo ionization in the presence of the same palladium catalyst. 

Cyclobutanones were found to be much more reactive under these conditions, presumably due to relief of ring strain (131). Racemic cyclobutanone (192) is oxidized under the conditions described above to provide lactones 193 and 194 in a ratio of 55 45, Eq. 111. The expected lactone product 193 is formed in 67% ee while the abnormal product 194 is formed in 92% ee. The major enantiomers of the two products are complementary, resulting from enantiomeric ketones. 

Since then, the process has been extended to a wide variety of lactones of different size and to several lipases, as recently reviewed [93-96]. Interestingly, large-membered lactones, which are very difficult to polymerize by usual anionic and coordination polymerizations due to the low ring strain, are successfully polymerized by enzymes. Among the different lipases available, that fi om Candida antarctica (lipase CA, CALB or Novozym 435) is the most widely used due to its high activity. An alcohol can purposely be added to the reaction medium to initiate the polymerization instead of water. The polymerization can be carried out in bulk, in organic solvents, in water, and in ionic liquids. Interestingly, Kobayashi and coworkers reported in 2001 the ROP of lactones by lipase CA in supercritical CO2... 

Enzymes are very efficient catalysts for the polymerization of large-size lactones, which are particularly difficult to polymerize by usual chemical catalysts and initiators owing to the low ring strain... 

Box 3.3 Effect of Ring Strain on the Carbonyl Stretching Frequencies of Lactones (Cyclic Esters) and Lactams (Cyclic Amides)... 

The text-book Walden-style cycle which interconverts the stereochemical configurations of chlorosuccinate (3) and malate (5) involves a /3-lactone intermediate (2) in preference to an a-lactone intermediate (4) (Scheme 2) because the OnUc-C-Cl angle in the transition structure for the former (174°) is more favourable than that for the latter (139°), as determined by PCM(e = 78.4)/B3LYP/6-31+G calculations the smaller ring-strain energy of the /3-lactone contributes little to the reactivity difference.2 (V,A-Dimethylethanolamine esterified hexanoic acid about 10-fold faster than did hexanol as a consequence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding a seven-membered transition state (6) was proposed.3... 

The carbonyl carbon of these moieties is electrophilic, and therefore nucleophilic reactions are likely to occur via nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl carbon. In highly aqueous systems, the nucleophile is usually water. In the case of lactones, the smaller the lactone ring, the higher the ring strain, and therefore the more susceptible to hydrolysis (rate of hydrolysis of (3 > y > 5). For a more thorough discussion of acid/base hydrolysis, see Stewart and Tucker (2) and March (5). Esters and lactones are not particularly susceptible to oxidation. 

PL, unlike other lactones, undergoes polymerization with weakly nucleophilic initiators such as metal carboxylates, tertiary amines, phosphines, and a variety of other initiators [81-83]. This is primarily due to the high ring-strain in the four-membered ring. Pyridine and other tertiary amines initiate the anionic polymerization via a betaine that rapidly transforms into a pyridinium salt of acrylic acid. In order to minimize the chain transfer reactions, the polymerization is performed at a temperature between 0 and 10 °C (Scheme 9). 

Lactones and Lactams Unstrained lactones (cyclic esters) and lactams (cyclic amides) absorb at typical frequencies for esters and amides. Ring strain raises the carbonyl absorption frequency, however. Recall that cyclic ketones with five-membered or smaller rings show a similar increase in carbonyl stretching frequency (Section 18-5A). Figure 21-5 shows the effect of ring strain on the C=0 stretching frequencies of lactones and lactams. 

Ring strain in a lactone or lactam increases the carbonyl stretching frequency. 

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