The Amdt-Eistert reaction

An ethereal solution of diazomethane free from alcohol may be prepared as follows such a solution is required, for example, in the Amdt-Eistert reaction with acid chlorides (compare Section VI,17). In a 100 ml. longnecked distilling flask provided with a dropping funnel and an efficient downward condenser, place a solution of 6 g. of potassium hydroxide in... 

The use of copper as a catalyst in carbenoid transfer has its roots in the Amdt-Eistert reaction, Eq. 1 (3). Although the original 1935 paper describes the Wolff rearrangement of a-diazo ketones to homologous carboxylic acids using silver, the authors mention that copper may be substituted in this reaction. In 1952, Yates (4) demonstrated that copper bronze induces insertion of diazo compounds into the X-H bond of alcohols, amines, and phenols without rearrangement, Eq. 2. Yates proposal of a distinct metal carbenoid intermediate formed the basis of the currently accepted mechanistic construct for the cyclopropanation reaction using diazo compounds. 

Acid chlorides were converted into the esters of higher acids by the Amdt-Eistert reaction ... 

Method 3. An ethereal solution of diazomethane free from ethanol may be prepared by this method such a solution is required, for example, in the Amdt-Eistert reaction with acid chlorides (compare Expt 5.130). In a 100-ml distilling flask provided with a dropping funnel and an efficient downward condenser, place a solution of 6 g of potassium hydroxide in 10 ml of water, 35 ml of carbitol (diethyleneglycol monoethyl ether) and 10 ml of water connect the condenser to two conical flasks in series containing 10 and 35 ml of ether respectively and cooled in an ice-salt bath (see Method 1). Heat the mixture on a water bath at 70-75 °C in a beaker of water placed upon a hot-plate incorporating a magnetic... 

One important application of this reaction is the chain extension of acyl chlorides to their homologous esters, known as the Amdt-Eistert reaction. Notice that the starting material for the Wolff rearrangement is easily made from RCO2H by reaction of the acyl chloride with diazomethane the product is RCH2CO2H—the carboxylic acid with one more carbon atom in the chain. A CH2 group, marked in black, comes from diazomethane and is inserted into the C-C bond between R and the carbonyl group. 

Can the organie ehemists assoeiated with so-ealled Named Reaetions make the same claim as supermodel Heidi Klum Many scholars of chemistiy do not hesitate to point out that the names associated with name reactions are often not the actual inventors. For instance, the Amdt-Eistert reaction has nothing to do with either Arndt or Eistert, Pummerer did not discover the Pummerer rearrangement, and even the famous Birch reduction owes its initial discovery to someone named Charles Wooster (first reported in a DuPont patent). The list goes on and on... 

One-carbon Homologation of Carboxylic Acids. l-[(Tri-methylsilyl)methyl]benzotriazole converts benzoyl chlorides to the corresponding (benzotriazol-l-yl)methyl aryl ketones in high yields (see eq 1). Treatment with triflic anhydride and 2,6-lutidine in CH2CI2 converts these ketones into their enolate triflates in 83-95% yields (eq 4). In the subsequent steps, the triflates are treated with sodium methoxide and then with ethanolic HCl to afford ethyl esters of the corresponding arylacetic acids in 89-98% yields (eq 5). The proposed reaction mechanism involves elimination of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid with sodium methoxide and final alcoholysis of the obtained l-(arylethynyl)benzotriazole intermediates with ethanolic HCl. A comparable classical method for one-carbon homologation of carboxylic acids, the Amdt-Eistert reaction, involves difficult to handle diazomethane and Q -diazoketones. ... 

At the laboratory scale, the a-bromoketone was prepared by an Amdt-Eistert reaction which gives the good isomer in a univocal way (eqn. 2). 

The reaction between acyl halides and diazomethane is of wide scope and is the best way to prepare diazo ketones. Diazomethane must be present in excess or the HX produced will react with the diazo ketone (10-74). This reaction is the first step of the Amdt-Eistert synthesis (18-8). Diazo ketones can also be prepared directly from a carboxylic acid and diazomethane or diazoethane in the presence of dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide. ... 

The equivalence of sulfur and oxygen in this ring system carries over to NSAIDs as well. Preparation of the sulfur analogue of isoxepac (6-4) starts with the alkylation of thiophenol (27-1) with benzyl chloride (26-1). Cyclization of the intermediate thioether (27-2) then affords the homothioxanthone (27-3). The carboxyl side chain is then extended by means of the Amdt-Eistert homologation reaction. The acid is thus hrst converted to its acid chloride by means of thionyl chloride. Reaction with excess diazomethane leads to the diazoketone (27-4). Treatment of that intermediate with silver benzoate and triethylamine leads the ketone to rearrange to an acetic acid. There is thus obtained tiopinac (27-5) [28]. 

The key step of the Amdt-Eistert Homologation is the Wolff-Rearrangement of the diazoketones to ketenes, which can be accomplished thermally (over the range between r.t. and 750°C, photochemically or by silver(I) catalysis. The reaction is conducted in the presence of nucleophiles such as water (to yield carboxylic acids), alcohols (to give alcohols) or amines (to give amides), to capture the ketene intermediate and avoid the competing formation of diketenes. 

This extension, known as the Amdt-Eistert procedure,1 is useful if the relationship between functional groups is unhelpful in the TM but becomes helpful if the chain is retrosynthetically shortened. Other methods, such as cyanide displacement, also increase the chain length by one carbon and we saw a chain extension by two carbon atoms in the last chapter. The disconnections are strange both C-C bonds between R and CO are made in the reaction so we must disconnect both 5a. You might like to think of this as a reconnection strategy (chapter 26) or as an extrusion of a CH2 group. 

This chapter follows on from chapter 12 where we introduced some basic ideas on stereocontrol. Since then we have met many stereospecific reactions such as pericyclic reactions including Diels-Alder (chapter 17), 2 + 2 photochemical cycloadditions (chapter 32), thermal (chapter 33) cycloadditions, and electrocyclic reactions (chapter 35). Then we have seen rearrangements where migration occurs with retention at the migrating group such as the Baeyer-Villiger (chapters 27 and 33), the Amdt-Eistert (chapter 31) and the pinacol (chapter 31). 

The acid chlorides have served as useful synthetic intermediates leading to ketones via the malonic acid synthesis and Friedel-Crafts reaction, thiadiazole acetic acid derivatives and halo ketones via the Amdt-Eistert synthesis and carbinols by hydride reduction (68AHC(9)107). The dialkylcadmium conversion of acid chlorides into ketones fails in the... 

The 3-amino acid homoproline can be synthesized via an Amdt-Eistert reaction from (S)-proline. ... 

One of the more commonly applied chain extension reactions for carboxylic acids utilizes die unique reactivity of diazoalkanes. This sequence, generally referred to as the Amdt-Eistert synthesis, is a two-step process which, in the first step, involves the formation of an a-diazo ketone by reaction of the corresponding acyl chloride with an excess of diazoalkane (Scheme In the second stage of the... 

The oligomers of 3-amino acids, as opposed to a-peptides, show a remarkable ability to fold into well-defined secondary structures in solution as well as in the solid state. The 3-amino acid building blocks were synthesized from a-amino acids using the Amdt-Eistert homologation reaction in the laboratory of D. Seebach... 

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