Wolff rearrangement, esters

The Arndt-Eistert reaction (Scheme 2.1) which involves the Wolff rearrangement of diazoketones 13 (prepared from the corresponding commercially available N-protected-a-amino acids 12 by reaction of their mixed anhydrides with diazomethane a cautionary note is warranted here the generation and handling of diazomethane require special precautions) has been used extensively by Seebach and coworkers for the preparation of N-protected /9 -amino acids 14 and /9 -amino acid esters 15 and 16. 

The main synthetic application of the Wolff rearrangement is for the one-carbon homologation of carboxylic acids.242 In this procedure, a diazomethyl ketone is synthesized from an acyl chloride. The rearrangement is then carried out in a nucleophilic solvent that traps the ketene to form a carboxylic acid (in water) or an ester (in alcohols). Silver oxide is often used as a catalyst, since it seems to promote the rearrangement over carbene formation.243... 

Thermolysis of 58a in butanol affords, together with 17% of 60a (R = C4H9) which evidences the intermediacy of the thiophosphene 59 a, a variety of partly atypical products which seriously impede the desired rearrangement38. Photolysis of 58b in methanol is also found to give only 18 % 1,2-P/C shift to form the heterocumulene 59b, from which the thiophosphinic rater 60b (R = CH3) results 39). As already mentioned in connection with the photolysis of diazo compounds of type 36 (see Sect. 2.2), Wolff rearrangement (9%) and O/H insertion (6%) once again compete with thiophosphinic ester formation. Moreover, solvolysis of the P(S)/C(N2) bond 391 prevents a greater contribution of carbene products to the overall yield. 

No S-ylide derived product at all was obtained from the Rh2(0Ac)4-catalyzed decomposition of diazomalonic ester amide 362 rather, a compound was isolated to which the structure of the Wolff rearrangement product 363 was tentatively assigned344. The desired C/S insertion product 364 was accessible, however, by photochemical decomposition of 362. 

Wolff rearrangement of a-diazoketones to give ketenes or subsequent products is an often used synthetic procedure the scope and limitations of which are well established 13 390), so that only a few new features of this reaction need to be considered here. Concerning its catalytic version, one knows that copper, rhodium and palladium catalysts tend to suppress the rearrangement390). A recent case to the contrary is provided by the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl -2-diazo-3-oxopent-4-enoates 404 from which the p,y-unsaturated esters 405 are ultimately obtained via a Wolff rearrangement 236). The Z-5-aryl-2-diazo-3-oxopent-4-enoates undergo intramolecular insertion into an aromatic C—H bond instead (see Sect. 4.1). 

Figure 5.29 pNPDP reacts with amine-containing compounds by its p-nitrophenyl ester group to form amide bonds. After photoactivation of the diazo derivative with UV light, a Wolff rearrangement occurs to a highly reactive ketene intermediate. This group can couple to nucleophiles such as amines. 

Deep UV exposure in air produces photoproducts similar to those produced by near UV exposure (Figure 11). One slight difference is that absorption at 1680 cm-1 is a little stronger after UV exposure in air. After deep UV exposure in vacuum, the resist exhibited a new absorption shoulder at 1730 cm-1, which appears to be a characteristic ester absorption. These peaks can probably be assigned to the products of a Wolff rearrangement. 

FORMATION AND PHOTOCHEMICAL WOLFF REARRANGEMENT OF CYCLIC a-DIAZO KETONES D-NORANDROST-5-EN-3 -0L-16-CARB0XYLIC ACIDS, 52, 53 FORMIC ACID, AZIDO—, tert-BUTYL ESTER, 50, 9 Formylation, with acetic formic anhydride, 50, 2 p-FORMYLBENZENESULFONAMIDE, ... 

The rearrangement of a-diazoketones to carboxylic acids or esters shown in Equation 9 is known as the Wolff rearrangement. 

Hopkinson in 1973175 investigated the Wolff rearrangement of diazo-ketones and a-diazo-esters to form ketens. In particular, an MBS was used to investigate the equilibrium [equation (11)]11 between the parent oxiren (7) and the isomer formyl-... 

Dirhodium(II)-catalysed reaction of a 3-indolyl a-diazo-/5-keto ester in the presence of hexanamide results in competing metal carbene N-H insertion and Wolff rearrangement (Scheme 85).128... 

Ketenes are highly reactive electrophiles but not nearly so indiscriminate as carbenes. When the properties of diazoacetyl photoaffinity reagents were evaluated the Wolff rearrangement was found to be a major problem accounting for 30 to 60% of the products arising from O-esters and 100% of the products fromS-esters. For instance, diazoacetyl-chymotrypsin gave rise to O-carboxymethyl serine formed by the attack of water on the ketene (Shafer et al., 1966) (Fig. 3.10). 

Since ketene is probably the intermediate of the Wolff rearrangement, the choice of solvents dictates the nature of the product. Indeed, water gave carboxylic acids, whereas alcohols or amines led to esters and amides, respectively. These combinations have been applied to the synthesis of more complex molecules. For example, the total synthesis of carbonolide B, a 16-membered macrolide antibiotic, relied on Amdt-Eistert homologation. In this sequence, a protected furanuronic acid was transformed to the corresponding a-diazoketone, which was then converted to its homologous carboxylic ester. The reaction was achieved using catalytic amounts of silver benzoate and excess of triethylamine in methanol (Scheme 3.4).11... 

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