The Carbonyl Group

The frequency of this carbonyl stretching vibration is dependent on various factors  

The physical state of the sample. In the solid phase, the frequency of the vibration is slightly decreased compared with that in dilute nonpolar solutions.The presence of hydrogen bonding is an important contributing factor to this decrease in frequency. 

In cases where more than one of these influences is present, the net shift in the position of the band due to the C=0 stretching vibration appears to be the result of an approximately additive process, although this does not always hold in cases where hydrogen bonding to the C=0 group is present. 

On the other hand, an electron-accepting group tends, through the inductive effect, to increase the double-bond character and hence increases the frequency of the vibration  

for a particular group, these two opposite effects determine the frequency of the vibration and it is therefore possible, in general, to give an approximate order for the C=0 bond stretching vibration frequency for different groups  

To best understand the reactions of aldehydes, ketones, and other carbonyl compounds, we must first appreciate the structure and properties of the carbonyl group. 

Oxygen is much more electronegative than carbon. Therefore, the electrons in the C=0 bond are attracted to the oxygen, producing a highly polarized bond. This effect is especially pronounced for the pi electrons and can be expressed in the following ways  

C=0 bonds are quite different, then, from C=C bonds, which are not polarized and where attack at carbon is usually by an electrophile (Sec. 3.9). 

In addition to its effect on reactivity, polarization of the C=0 bond influences the physical properties of carbonyl compounds. For example, carbonyl compounds boil at higher temperatures than hydrocarbons, but at lower temperatures than alcohols of comparable molecular weight. 

Why is this so Unlike hydrocarbon molecules, which can be temporarily polarized, molecules of carbonyl compounds have permanently polar C=0 bonds and thus have a stronger tendency to associate. The positive part of one molecule is attracted to the negative part of another molecule. These intermolecular forces of attraction, called dipole-dipole interactions, are generally stronger than van der Waals attractions (Sec. 2.7) but not as strong as hydrogen bonds (Sec. 7.4). Carbonyl compounds such 

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They are stable compounds and are not decomposed by dilute acids or alkalis. They are frequently employed in synthetic organic chemistry for protecting the carbonyl group. 

Figure C2.3.9. Product distribution of dissymmetrical ketone photolysis as influenced by cefyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) micelles. The initial ketone, A(CO)B is photolysed to lose the carbonyl group and to produce tliree products, AA, AB and BB. These data are for benzyl (A) 4-methylbenzyl (B) ketone. Product AA is 1,2-diphenylethane, product BB is 1,2-ditolylethane and product AB is l-phenyl-2-tolyl-ethane. At low CTAC concentration, in the absence of micelles, a random distribution of products is obtained. In the presence of micelles, however, the AB product is heavily favoured. Adapted with pennission from 1571.

Hydroxylamine condenses with the carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone to form an oxime ... 

Hydrazine and its alkylated derivatives are used as rocket fuels in organic chemistry, substituted phenylhydrazines are important in the characterisation of sugars and other compounds, for example aldehydes and ketones containing the carbonyl group C=0. 

When camphor (I) is heated with selenium dioxide in acetic acid, the methylene group next to the carbonyl group is oxidised also to a carbonyl group, to form camphorquinone (II). Note that the compound (II) is not a true quinone but a 1,2-diketone ... 

The mechanism of the reduction remains uncertain. The work of E. D. Williams, K. A. Krieger and A. R. Day (1953) using deuterium-labelled aluminium isopropoxide, shows that hydrogen atoms are transferred predominantly from the central carbon atom of an isopropoxide group to the carbon atom of the carbonyl group undergoing reduction, the process probably involving a cyclic complex ... 

The role of the base is apparently primarily that of a proton remover from the reactive methylene group thus if B represents the base, reaction (i) gives the carbanion, which then combines with the positive carbon of the carbonyl group (reaction ii) the product regains a proton from the piperidinium ion, and then by loss of water followed by mono-decarboxylation of the malonic acid residue gives the final acid. 

The following reactions are characteristic of aliphatic aldehydes those which are shared by ketones, due to the presence of the carbonyl group, are given under Aliphatic Ketones (Section 111,74). 

Most of the characteristic reactions of ketones (RR CO) depend upon condensation with substituted amines. The reactions occur between the carbonyl group and the —NHj group of the substituted amine, and hence are also shared by aldehydes RHCO ... 

By treatment of an amide with sodium hypobromite or sodium hypochlorite solution (or with the halogen and alkali), the amine of one less carbon atom is produced, the net result being the elimination of the carbonyl group. An example is ... 

With concentrated alkali, fission occurs at the position adjacent to the carbonyl group to give acetic acid and a mono-substituted acetic acid the process is termed acid hydrolysis. 

It should be noted that the Friedel-Crafts acylation differs from the Friedel-Crafts alkylation (compare Sections IV,3-4 and discussion preceding Section IV,1) in one important respect. The alkylation requires catal3d.ic quantities of aluminium chloride, but for acylation a molecular equivalent of aluminium chloride is necessary for each carbonyl group present in the acylating agent. This is because aluminium chloride is capable of forming rather stable complexes with the carbonyl group these complexes probably possess an oxonium... 

Lithium aluminium hydride LiAlH is a useful and conveuient reagent for the selective reduction of the carbonyl group and of various other polar functional groups. It is obtained by treatment of finely powdered lithium hydride with an ethereal solution of anhydrous aluminium chloride ... 

Ketones or aldehydes possessing a —CH—, —CHj—, or —CHj group adjacent to the carbonyl group. 

This compound permits the introduction (in moderate yield) of a four carbon atom chain at the site of the carbonyl group by the use of the Reformatsky reaction (compare Section VI,8) ... 

Both aldehydes and ketones contain the carbonyl group, hence a general test for carbonyl compounds will Immediately characterise both classes of compounds. The preferred reagent is 2 4-dinilrophenylhydrazine, which gives sparingly soluble phenylhydrazones with carbonyl compounds ... 

The oxidation may proceed through the hydrated form of the carbonyl group... 

Finally, if there could be a way in which in water selective ri Jt-coordination to the carbonyl group of an a,P-imsatLirated ketone can be achieved, this would be a breakthrough, since it would subject monodentate reactants to catalysis by hard Lewis acids ". ... 

The rate of the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction in water has been compared to that in other solvents. The results demonstrate that the expected beneficial effect of water on the Lewis-acid catalysed reaction is indeed present. However, the water-induced acceleration of the Lewis-add catalysed reaction is not as pronounced as the corresponding effect on the uncatalysed reaction. The two effects that underlie the beneficial influence of water on the uncatalysed Diels-Alder reaction, enforced hydrophobic interactions and enhanced hydrogen bonding of water to the carbonyl moiety of 1 in the activated complex, are likely to be diminished in the Lewis-acid catalysed process. Upon coordination of the Lewis-acid catalyst to the carbonyl group of the dienophile, the catalyst takes over from the hydrogen bonds an important part of the activating influence. Also the influence of enforced hydrophobic interactions is expected to be significantly reduced in the Lewis-acid catalysed Diels-Alder reaction. Obviously, the presence of the hydrophilic Lewis-acid diminished the nonpolar character of 1 in the initial state. 

Chemistry of the Carbonyl Group, A Programmed Approach to Organic Reaction Mechanisms , Stuart Warren, Wiley 1974. This programme leads up to the present one. 

Wc can t protect the carbonyl group without stopping the reaetion, so we activate one position by adding a COiEt group and using the ester A below, the synthetic equivalent of acetone, instead of acetone itself Here is the reaction draw a mechanism for it. 

When a molecule contains two functional groups, the best discoimection uses the two together. So if you consider TM 84 as an alcohol, and use the carbonyl group to guide your disconnection, what do you get ... 

The one-carbon fragment is ethyl formate. This reaction is important as a method of control since it occurs only on one side of the carbonyl group that is it is regioselective. The reason is that this product can itself enohse in... 

So far in this section we have combined enolate anions with other carbonyl compounds by direct attack at the carbonyl group. We can expand the scope of this reaction by using a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds as the electrophiles. This is the Michael reaction. Remind yourself of tliis by writing out the mechanism of a Michael reaction such as ... 

The most important point in analysing the synthesis of a hydrocarbon is where to put the carbonyl group, and this can depend on features other than common atoms. What strategies might you use in the synthesis of TM 377 ... 

Alkyl halides and sulfonates are the most frequently used alkylating acceptor synthons. The carbonyl group is used as the classical a -synthon. O-Silylated hemithioacetals (T.H. Chan, 1976) and fomic acid orthoesters are examples for less common a -synthons. In most synthetic reactions carbon atoms with a partial positive charge (= positively polarized carbon) are involved. More reactive, "free carbocations as occurring in Friedel-Crafts type alkylations and acylations are of comparably limited synthetic value, because they tend to react non-selectively. 

An interesting case are the a,/i-unsaturated ketones, which form carbanions, in which the negative charge is delocalized in a 5-centre-6-electron system. Alkylation, however, only occurs at the central, most nucleophilic position. This regioselectivity has been utilized by Woodward (R.B. Woodward, 1957 B.F. Mundy, 1972) in the synthesis of 4-dialkylated steroids. This reaction has been carried out at high temperature in a protic solvent. Therefore it yields the product, which is formed from the most stable anion (thermodynamic control). In conjugated enones a proton adjacent to the carbonyl group, however, is removed much faster than a y-proton. If the same alkylation, therefore, is carried out in an aprotic solvent, which does not catalyze tautomerizations, and if the temperature is kept low, the steroid is mono- or dimethylated at C-2 in comparable yield (L. Nedelec, 1974). 

Olefin synthesis starts usually from carbonyl compounds and carbanions with relatively electropositive, redox-active substituents mostly containing phosphorus, sulfur, or silicon. The carbanions add to the carbonyl group and the oxy anion attacks the oxidizable atom Y in-tramolecularly. The oxide Y—O" is then eliminated and a new C—C bond is formed. Such reactions take place because the formation of a Y—0 bond is thermodynamically favored and because Y is able to expand its coordination sphere and to raise its oxidation number. 

The selective intermolecular addition of two different ketones or aldehydes can sometimes be achieved without protection of the enol, because different carbonyl compounds behave differently. For example, attempts to condense acetaldehyde with benzophenone fail. Only self-condensation of acetaldehyde is observed, because the carbonyl group of benzophenone is not sufficiently electrophilic. With acetone instead of benzophenone only fi-hydroxyketones are formed in good yield, if the aldehyde is slowly added to the basic ketone solution. Aldols are not produced. This result can be generalized in the following way aldehydes have more reactive carbonyl groups than ketones, but enolates from ketones have a more nucleophilic carbon atom than enolates from aldehydes (G. Wittig, 1968). 

The synthesis of spiro compounds from ketones and methoxyethynyl propenyl ketone exemplifies some regioselectivities of the Michael addition. The electrophilic triple bond is attacked first, next comes the 1-propenyl group. The conjugated keto group is usually least reactive. The ethynyl starting material has been obtained from the addition of the methoxyethynyl anion to the carbonyl group of crotonaldehyde (G. Stork, 1962 B, 1964A). 

Synthetically useful stereoselective reductions have been possible with cyclic carbonyl compounds of rigid conformation. Reduction of substituted cyclohexanone and cyclopentan-one rings by hydrides of moderate activity, e.g. NaBH (J.-L. Luche, 1978), leads to alcohols via hydride addition to the less hindered side of the carbonyl group. Hydrides with bulky substituents 3IQ especially useful for such regio- and stereoselective reductions, e.g. lithium hydrotri-t-butoxyaluminate (C.H. Kuo, 1968) and lithium or potassium tri-sec-butylhydro-borates or hydrotri-sec-isoamylborates (=L-, K-, LS- and KS-Selectrides ) (H.C. Brown, 1972 B C.A. Brown, 1973 S. Krishnamurthy, 1976). 

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