Pyrrole, with trichloroacetyl chloride

Tri-n-butylcarbinol, 52, 22 TRI-tert-BUTYLCYCLOPROPENYL FLUOROBORATE, 54, 97 Trichloroacetyl chloride, with pyrrole to give pyrrol-2-yl trichloromethyl ketone, 51, 100... 

A. Pyrrol-2-yl trichloromethyl ketone. In a 3-1. three-necked round-bottomed flask equipped with a sealed mechanical stirrer, a dropping funnel, and an efficient reflux condenser with a calcium chloride drying tube are placed 225 g. (1.23 moles) of trichloroacetyl chloride and 200 ml. of anhydrous ether. The solution is stirred while 77 g. (1.15 moles) of freshly distilled pyrrole in 640 ml. of anhydrous ether is added over 3 hours (Note 1). The heat of reaction causes the mixture to reflux during the addition. Following the addition, the mixture is stirred for 1 hour, and then 100 g. (0.72 mole) of potassium... 

Some acyl halides are reactive enough to effect Friedel-Crafts acylation on the neutral heterocycles without a catalyst. For pyrrole such reactions are known, for example, with trifluoroacetyl chloride and trichloroacetyl chloride. Indole reacts smoothly in cold ether with oxalyl chloride and on heating with acetic anhydride. Some examples of these types of acylation are collected in Table 10. 

Pyrroles with bulky iV-substituents, for example 1-tips-pyrrole, undergo acylation at the 3-position. Highly reactive acylating agents such as ethyl oxalyl chloride and trichloroacetyl chloride require no catalyst. For other acid chlorides AICI3 is required (Equation (81)) <90JOC6317>. 

Disubstituted pyrroles lacking substituents at the 3- and S-positions are often required in porphyrin synthesis, and these can now be prepared from pyrrole itself. Thus, trichloroacetylation or trifluoroacetylation of pyrrole affords the 2-trihaloacetylpyrrole 8, which can be converted into the corresponding esters 9, carboxylic acids, or amides. The amides have been acetylated, or formylated, at the 4-position specifically, and the resulting acyl pyrroles (10) have been reduced to the alkyl pyrroles (11). This general procedure has now been improved by direct Friedel-Crafts formylation of the trichloroacetylpyrrole (8a) with dichloromethyl methyl ether (aluminium chloride) to the diacylpyrroles... 

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