Summary of rearrangement and fragmentation reactions

The migration can be either intramolecular or intermolecular, and these can be distinguished by cross-over experiments. Aryl groups tend to migrate more easily than alkyl groups. 

In the pinacol-pinacolone rearrangement a 1,2-diol rearranges to give a carbonyl group that is adjacent to a quaternary carbon. There are many variations of this reaction for example, the semipinacol rearrangement, in which a (P-amino alcohol is treated with nitrous acid. This reaction may be modified so that a ring expansion takes place, in which case it is called the Tiffeneu-Demyanov ring expansion. 

In the benzil-benzilic acid rearrangement, an a-diketone is treated with a base to give the sodium salt of an a-hydroxy carboxylic acid. In the Favorskii rearrangement, an a-halogenoketone is treated with an alkoxide anion to give the a-alkyl ester. This reaction may also be used to effect a ring contraction. 

A carbon chain may be extended by one unit by using the Arndt-Eistert synthesis. In the first step, an acyl halide is treated with diazomethane to form the a-diazo ketone. This is then treated with water and silver oxide. The resultant product is the free acid. If an alcohol is used instead of water, then the related ester is formed. This is the best way of extending a chain by one unit if the carboxylic acid is available. The process of extension in this manner is called homologation. 

In the Beckmann rearrangement, an oxime is classically treated with PC15 in concentrated 

---