Ureas rearrangement

Urea (the diamide of carbonic acid) can be prepared by the historic method of Wohler. When an aqueous solution of ammonium cyanate is allowed to stand, the cyanate undergoes molecular rearrangement to urea, and an equilibrium mixture containing about 93% of urea is thus formed. Urea is... 

When the potassium cyanate used in the above preparation is replaced by potassium thiocyanate (or sulphocyanide), the ammonium thiocyanate formed undergoes partial rearrangement to thiourea (or sulpho-urea). Even above... 

Mono-substituted and unsymmetrical di-substituted ureas may be prepared by a modification of Wohler s urea synthesis, salts of primary or secondary amines being used instead of the ammonium salt for interaction with potassium cyanate. Thus when an aqueous solution containing both aniline hydrochloride and potassium cyanate is heated, aniline cyanate is first formed, and then C,HjNH,HCl -h KCNO = C,H6NHj,HCNO -h KCl C,HsNH HCNO = C.H NHCONH, by the usual molecular rearrangement is converted into monophenyburea. 

These substances, having the formula CjHjNHCONH, and OC(NHCjH6)j respectively, are both formed when an aqueous solution of urea and aniline hydrochloride is heated. Their subsequent separation is based on the fact that diphenylurca is insoluble in boiling water, whereas monophenylurea is readily soluble. The formation of these compounds can be explained as follows. When urea is dissolved in water, a small proportion of it undergoes molecular rearrangement back to ammonium cyanate, an equilibrium thus being formed. 

Preparation from Nitrene Intermediates. A convenient, small-scale method for the conversion of carboxyhc acid derivatives into isocyanates involves electron sextet rearrangements, such as the ones described by Hofmann and Curtius (12). For example, treatment of ben2amide [55-21-0] with halogens leads to an A/-haloamide (2) which, in the presence of base, forms a nitrene intermediate (3). The nitrene intermediate undergoes rapid rearrangement to yield an isocyanate. Ureas can also be formed in the process if water is present (18,19). 

Sulfation by sulfamic acid has been used ia the preparation of detergents from dodecyl, oleyl, and other higher alcohols. It is also used ia sulfating phenols and phenol—ethylene oxide condensation products. Secondary alcohols react ia the presence of an amide catalyst, eg, acetamide or urea (24). Pyridine has also been used. Tertiary alcohols do not react. Reactions with phenols yield phenyl ammonium sulfates. These reactions iaclude those of naphthols, cresol, anisole, anethole, pyrocatechol, and hydroquinone. Ammonium aryl sulfates are formed as iatermediates and sulfonates are formed by subsequent rearrangement (25,26). 

Rearrangement of 0-acyi hydroxarrac acxl derivatives with base or heat to amines or urea derivatives (via isocyanates) or rearrangement of carboxylic acids via their hydroxamic acxis to amines... 

Beckmann rearrangement of amidoximes to urea derivatives in the presence ol acids (benaene suMonyl chloride). 

Ammonium cyanate, NTUNCO, in water rearranges to produce urea, a common fertilizer, (NH2)2CO ... 

Rate measurements were also carried out81 in the presence of added urea in an attempt to remove the free nitrite species formed and so prevent N-nitrosation (the reverse of de-nitrosation). The observed rate coefficient was now found to be the sum of the rate coefficients for rearrangement (kr) and de-nitrosation (ka)... 

Moreau and co-workers have also prepared (ll ,2K)-l,2-diaminocyclo-hexane amino-urea and thiourea derivatives [43]. Diphenylethylenediamine-substituted monothioureas are more stable than the cyclohexyldiamine counterpart, but they can also rearrange to guanidine derivatives, especially at high temperature or in the presence of metal [43]. Under the same conditions, thioureas also rearrange to guanidines in the presence of amines. Selective formation of substituted guanidines from thiourea derivatives of diaminocy-clohexane or diphenylethylenediamine were also reported in a recent paper from Ishikawa [44]. 

Even if organocatalysis is a common activation process in biological transformations, this concept has only recently been developed for chemical applications. During the last decade, achiral ureas and thioureas have been used in allylation reactions [146], the Bayhs-Hillman reaction [147] and the Claisen rearrangement [148]. Chiral organocatalysis can be achieved with optically active ureas and thioureas for asymmetric C - C bond-forming reactions such as the Strecker reaction (Sect. 5.1), Mannich reactions (Sect. 5.2), phosphorylation reactions (Sect. 5.3), Michael reactions (Sect. 5.4) and Diels-Alder cyclisations (Sect. 5.6). Finally, deprotonated chiral thioureas were used as chiral bases (Sect. 5.7). 

Other non-traditional preparations of 1,2,3-triazoles have been reported. The rearrangement in dioxane/water of (Z)-arylhydrazones of 5-amino-3-benzoyl-l,2,4-oxadiazole into (2-aryl-5-phenyl-27/-l,2,3-triazol-4-yl)ureas was investigated mechanistically in terms of substituents on different pathways <06JOC5616>. A general and efficient method for the preparation of 2,4-diary 1-1,2,3-triazoles 140 from a-hydroxyacetophenones 139 and arylhydrazines is reported <06SC2461>. 5-Alkylamino-] //-], 2,3-triazoles were obtained by base-mediated cleavage of cycloadducts of azides to cyclic ketene acetals <06S1943>. Oxidation of N-... 

Chemat et al. have reported several microwave reactors, including systems that can be used in tandem with other techniques such as sonication [68], and ultraviolet radiation [69]. With the microwave-ultrasound reactor, the esterification of acetic acid with n-propanol was studied along with the pyrolysis of urea. Improved results were claimed compared with those from conventional and microwave heating [68]. The efficacy of the microwave-UV reactor was demonstrated through the rearrangement of 2-benzoyloxyacetophenone to l-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-3-phenylpropan-l,3-dione [69]. 

Enol ether additives were used to probe the protonation of 3-cyclopen-tenylidene (127). Treatment of A-nitroso-A-(2-vinylcyclopropyl)urea (124) with sodium methoxide generates 2-vinylcyclopropylidene (126) by way of the labile diazo compound 125 (Scheme 25). For simplicity, products derived directly from 126 (allene, ether, cycloadduct) are not shown in Scheme 25. The Skat-tebpl rearrangement of 126 generates 127 whose protonation leads to the 3-cyclopentenyl cation (128). In the presence of methanol, cyclopentadiene (130) and 3-methoxycyclopentene (132) were obtained.53 With an equimolar mixture of methyl vinyl ether and methanol, cycloaddition of 127 (—> 131)... 

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