Wolff rearrangement, Arndt-Eistert homologation

The Wolff rearrangement and the Arndt-Eistert homologation sequence are very useful in organic synthesis. One of the most popular applications involves amino acids. An interesting example has been described as a key reaction in the synthesis of a 14C-labeled amino acid used for deciphering the biosynthesis of penicillin N from glutamic acid (Scheme 3.2).9 This rearrangement proceeds without racemization and can thus be applied in peptide synthesis. 

The Wolff rearrangement is the third step of the Arndt-Eistert homologation of carboxylic acids. Figure 11.25 picks up an example that was discussed in Section 7.2, that is, the homologation of trifluoroacetic acid to trifluoropropionic acid. The first step of the Arndt-Eistert synthesis consists of the activation of the carboxylic acid via the acid chloride. The Q elongation to an a-diazoketone occurs in the second step. 

In the first step of the reaction sequence a methyl ester is formed via a Wolff rearrangement. The Wolff rearrangem ent provides acids, esters or amides from a-diazo ketones and is often used in a ring contractive way to form strained ring systems, which are not accessible by other sequences.It also occurs as the key step in the Arndt-Eistert homologation of carboxylic acids. ... 

The well-known Arndt-Eistert homologation" of an acyl halide to a carboxylic acid also involves the migration of an R group (with its electron pair) to an electron-deficient acyl carbene (presumably through a hypercarbon species) [Eq. (6.132)]. This rearrangement is also known as the Wolff rearrangement. 

The Arndt-Eistert Synthesis allows the formation of homologated carboxylic acids or their derivatives by reaction of the activated carboxylic acids with diazomethane and subsequent Wolff-Rearrangement of the intermediate diazoketones in the presence of nucleophiles such as water, alcohols, or amines. 

The Wolff rearrangement of a-diazocarbonyl compounds (8.58, R = H, alkyl, aryl, OR) has great synthetic importance because in most cases the ketenes formed react smoothly with water, alcohols, and amines (Scheme 8-34). An early application that still has considerable importance is the homologization of carboxylic acids (Arndt-Eistert reaction Arndt and Eistert, 1935). As shown in Scheme 8-34, the reaction starts from the chloride of the acid RCOOH, which leads to an a-diazo ketone with diazomethane (R = H), followed by the Wolff rearrangement and the hydrolysis of the ketene intermediate to give the homologous carboxylic acid (8.59, R =H). In alcohols and amines esters (8.60) and amides (8.61, R = H), respectively. 

When working on the acylation of diazomethane, Arndt and Eistert (1935) found the method for homologization of carboxylic acids in which acylation of the diazo ketone with the acid chloride is followed by a Wolff rearrangement (see discussion in Sect. 8.6). 

Wolff rearrangement in organic synthesis are the homologation of carboxylic acids (Arndt-Eistert reaction), the one-carbon ring contraction of cyclic a-diazoketones, and, more generally, the in situ production of ketenes and a-oxo-ketenes as reactive intermediates under additive-free and coproduct-free conditions (except for the inert N2 gas). 

The Wolff rearrangement is the key step of the Arndt-Eistert synthesis, which is a method for homologation or chain elongation of carboxylic acids. The multistep sequence may be summarized as follows ... 

This section includes carboalkoxy- and ketocarbenes. The Wolff rearrangement is common to both keto- and carboalkoxycarbenes. This intramolecular reaction is of special significance in the Arndt-Eistert synthesis of homologous acids and esters as well as in the synthesis of strained small rings. 

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