Carboxylic Acid Derivatives

Addition/Elimination

 

 

 

Definition : a compound which upon hydrolysis (bond breaking with water) yields a carboxylic acid, i.e.

 

1  Nomenclature

IUPAC priority:  acid > anhydride > ester > acid halide > amide > nitrile > aldehyde > ketone > alcohol > amine > alkene > alkyne > halide

¥ priority increases with increasing oxidation state, acids always highest priority

 

1.1  Acid Halide Nomenclature

¥ derived from corresponding acid

¥ suffix "-oyl halide"

¥ you will not have to know acid halide nomenclature for a test

1.2  Anhydride Nomenclature

¥ 2 types of anhydrides....

1. simple anhydrides : symmetrical:  named from corresponding acids from which they are derived

 


2. mixed anhydrides : unsymmetrical:  named from corresponding acids

¥ you will not have to know anhydride nomenclature for a test

1.3  Ester Nomenclature

¥ named from the acids and alcohols from which they are derived

 

¥ "alcohol" part named using rules for complex substituents (stereochemistry ignored here)

 

1.4  Amide Nomenclature

¥ named from the acids from which they are derived

 

 

1.5  Nitrile Nomenclature

¥ name the alkane, add "nitrile"!!    (stereochemistry ignored here)

 

¥ you will not have to know nitrile nomenclature for a test


 

1.6  Some Common Names for Acid Derivatives

 

* you need to know maleic anhydride (see previously) and these POLAR APROTIC SOLVENTS

 

2  Reactivity Order for Acid Derivatives

trends in reactivity order determined by:

¥ increasing donating strength of the group attached to the C=O, stabilizes the carbonyl carbon towards nucleophilic attack, decreases reactivity

¥ decreasing leaving group ability, decreases reactivity

 

 

Example of reactivity differences...

 

¥ acid halides - spontaneous reaction with water - requires no catalyst

 

 

¥ amides - requires boiling H2O and acid catalysis

¥ same reactivity order for acid derivatives in all reactions


 

 

3  Interconversion of Acid Derivatives : Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution

 

¥ can convert more reactive derivatives into less reactive derivatives, not the other way around!!

 

3.1  Formation of Anhydrides

¥ From an acid chloride using an acid via SUBSTITUTION

¥ The chloride anion is a GOOD LEAVING GROUP, HOWEVER, the carbon atom we are substituting is sp2 hybridized, can't do SN1 or SN2

 

¥ You DON"T HAVE TO MEMORIZE that the reaction uses a CARBOXYLIC ACID to do the substitution, you WORK IT OUT by looking at the molecular fragment that does the substituting, and then add a hydrogen atom

¥ the reaction is SUBSTITUTION of -Cl by -CCOCH3, we need to break the C-Cl bond and make the C-O bond

¥ breaking the C-Cl bond is difficult because the C is sp2 hybridized, ClÐ is a good leaving group from an sp3 hybridized carbon atom, hence the ADDITION/ELIMINATION mechanism

 

Mechanism : Return to addition/eliminationÉ.

 

 

¥ It is easier to break the C-Cl bond when the carbon is SP3 hybridized, the ClÐ anion is a good leaving group from an sp3 hybridized carbon atom, not from an sp2 hybridized carbon

 

3.2  Formation of Esters

¥ an ester can be formed from either the more reactive acid chloride or from the more reactive anhydride using an alcohol


 

Mechanism of formation starting with an acid chloride: addition/elimination as above!!

 

¥ You DON"T HAVE TO MEMORIZE that the reaction uses AN ALCOHOL to do the substitution, you WORK IT OUT by looking at the molecular fragment that does the substituting, and then add a hydrogen atom

¥ again, this reaction is substitution, but we can't break the C-Cl bond when the carbon is sp2 hybridized, the bond is too strong. But it is easier to break the bond when the carbon is SP3 hybridized

¥ the best leaving group is eliminated from the sp3 hybridized tetrahedral intermediate, in this case ClÐ

 

Mechanism of formation starting with an anhydride: addition/elimination again!

 

 

¥ IDENTICAL addition/elimination mechanism to the one above

¥ again, this reaction is substitution, but we can't break the C-O bond when the carbon is sp2 hybridized, the bond is too strong. But it is easier to break the bond when the carbon is SP3 hybridized

¥ the best leaving group is eliminated from the sp3 tetrahedral intermediate, in this case a carboxylate anion

 

3.3  Formation of Amides

¥ from an acid chloride or anhydride using an amine

¥ in principle could also be formed from an ester but nobody does this, the acid chlorides and anhydride routes are much more important because they are much more reactive

 

Mechanism of formation starting with an acid chloride: addition/elimination again

¥ AGAIN, you DON"T HAVE TO MEMORIZE that the reaction uses AN AMINE to do the substitution, you WORK IT OUT by looking at the molecular fragment that does the substituting, and then add a hydrogen atom

 

Mechanism of formation starting with an anhydride: addition/elimination again

 

 

 


 

¥ as discussed above, we can make all of the derivatives from an acid chloride, therefore........

 

 

Example

¥ recognizing the amine that is required to react with the acid chloride is easy, it is the nitrogen of the amide and everything attached to it PLUS a hydrogen atom

¥ the example above shows how what we are learning now links the chemistry of carboxylic acids through to amines, where we are going next

 

4  Hydrolysis Reactions of Acid Derivatives

 

4.1  Acid Chlorides and Anhydrides

¥ Hydrolysis: using water to break bonds

¥ Hydrolysis is spontaneous in water for acid chlorides and anhydrides, which means that no catalyst required, they just react directly with water alone

¥ No catalyst is required because both acid chlorides an anhydrides have good leaving groups

 

 

¥ note that the deprotonation occurs to WATER (not the chloride anion leaving group) due to its overwhelming concentration, not the chloride anion, and that hydronium and chloride are formed overall, since HCl does not exist as a covalent compound in water

 

 

¥ the products for anhydride hydrolysis are two carboxylic acids, the extent to which they are deprotonated in water will depend upon their specific structures.

¥ note that the deprotonation and protonation processes at the end involve water because it is present in by far the highest concentration, hydronium and hydroxide are formed that will then equilibrate with water as usual

 

4.2  Esters Require Acid or Base Catalysis

¥ The ÐOR leaving group involved in ester hydrolysis is not as good a leaving group, ester hydrolysis thus requires either acid catalysis or the use of hydroxide base


 

Acid catalyzed mechanism : This is the reverse of the Fischer esterification reaction (see carboxylic acids notes)

 

 

 

Ester Hydrolysis using Base

¥ There is no acid in this case, thus, protonation can NOT BE the first step

¥ However, the C=O does not need to be protonated because now we have a STRONG LB/Nucleophile in the form of -OH to react with is

 

¥ normally oxygen anions are POOR leaving groups, however, -OR' can be a leaving group from the tetrahedral intermediate because we are starting with an anion (the hydroxide base), i.e. we start with high energy high chemical potential energy electrons

¥ the reaction makes a carboxylate anion in the end because the carboxylic acid deprotonates to the base catalyst

¥ Because the carboxylate anion is formed, the base is not technically a catalyst in this case

¥ saponification reaction (soap-making reaction), carboxylates of fatty acids are soaps

¥ In general, do NOT have any positively charged species in a mechanism under base catalyzed conditions!

 

4.3  Amides Require Forcing Conditions

¥ amide bonds are difficult to hydrolyze, which is good since they form the peptide linkage in proteins!

¥ the problem is that a nitrogen anion is a VERY POOR leaving group

¥ forcing conditions usually means boiling water, or extended reaction times or high concentrations of acid or base

 

Acid catalyzed mechanism

¥ this mechanism, summarized below, was covered in the carboxylic acids notes in the section acid synthesis by hydrolysis of nitriles, nitrile hydrolysis proceeds via an amide which is further hydrolyzed under acidic conditions to a carboxylic acid

¥ It is identical to the ester acid catalyzed mechanism (except that the resonance contributors are not shown in the mechanism below)

¥ An amine is generated as a leaving group, amines are bases and will be protonated under the reaction conditions

 

 

Amide Hydrolysis using Base

¥ as usual,. The mechanism with base is considerably shorter than the acid catalyzed mechanism

 

¥ ÐNH2 is a VERY POOR leaving group, most of the time the tetrahedral intermediate will eliminate HYDROXIDE instead, which will regenerate the starting materials, as shown above, HOWEVER, eventually a ÐNH2 will leave, and when that happens the carboxylic acid will deprotonate which will help to make this overall slow reaction irreversible

¥ Because the carboxylate anion is formed, the base is not technically a catalyst in this case

 

¥ One more detail about hydrolysis of amides under basic conditionsÉÉÉ


 

4.4  Nitriles Also Require Forcing Conditions

¥ complete hydrolysis consists of water addition to form an amide which further hydrolyzes

¥ forcing conditions usually means boiling water, or extended reaction times

 

Acid catalyzed mechanism

¥ this mechanism was covered in the carboxylic acids notes in the section acid synthesis by hydrolysis of nitriles

¥ nitrile hydrolysis proceeds via an amide which is further hydrolyzed under acidic conditions to a carboxylic acid

 

Hydrolysis reaction and mechanism under basic conditions

 

¥ under basic conditions the carboxylate conjugate base anion of the acid will be formed

¥ the hydrolysis mechanism will also proceed via an amide as an intermediate, once the amide is formed hydrolysis will be as shown above

 

 

¥ the first steps in the mechanism are straightforward, the strong LB/Nuc hydroxide attacks that carbon of the nitrile that has a partial positive charge, followed by protonation, at this point we have now broken on one the C-N bonds and made a C-O bond, so this is good progress

¥ the next steps look a little odd (circled above), we are tempted to have hydroxide attack the C=N carbon again, BUT, remember that the reaction proceeds via an AMIDE, and the circled steps form the amide via a mechanism that we have SEEN BEFORE

¥ this is the SAME as enol to ketone tautomerization with base, this part of the reaction proceeds via the same mechanism and for the same reason!
¥ a weaker C=N bond is converted into a stronger C=O bond by deprotonation followed by reprotonation

¥ so we see that we are starting to se chemistry and principles that we already know again, which is a good thing, although nobody can pretend that it is easy to see the tautomerization reaction in this new context!

 

5  Reduction of Acid Derivatives Using LiAlH4

Seen Previously: Reduction of aldehydes/ketones using LiAlH4 - addition

                            Reduction of ESTERS using LiAlH4 - ADDITION/ELIMINATION

BY ANALOGY: Reduction of acid chlorides by addition/elimination

 

¥ We have SEEN the ADDITION/ELIMINATION mechanism when we learned about LiAlH4 reduction of esters

¥ with esters the leaving group is -OR, with acid chlorides the leaving group is -Cl

¥ the mechanism starts with the expected addition/elimination to a carbonyl that has a leaving group, ester and acid halide (recall Grignard reactions with acid halides and esters), via the usual sp3 hybridized tetrahedral intermediate

 

Amides are different, why? because ÐNH2 is such a poor leaving group!

 

 

 

Nitriles are ALSO different, why? because they don't HAVE a leaving group!

 

 

¥ these examples how that the synthesis of amides and nitriles is connected to the synthesis of amines, which we need to know for the next section of the notes, AND, therefore, is also connected to the synthesis of carboxylic acids

 

 

6  Synthesis Using Acid Derivatives

¥ we will see that the strategy is quite straightforward, the acid derivative will almost always come from the corresponding acid chloride, which comes from a carboxylic acid using SoCl2

¥ the problem will usually be one of how to make the carboxylic acid, fortunately we have several ways of doing that

 

Example Problem

 

 

 

¥ The strategy: make the derivative (an amide in this case) form the acid chloride, make the acid chloride from a carboxylic acid, then the problem simply becomes how to make the carboxylic acid

¥ to identify what is required to react with the acid chloride to make the amide, recognize that this is simply the nitrogen and everything that is attached to it PLUS a H atom, no other reagents are required except an amine

¥ no carbon atoms need to be added here, therefore make the carboxylic acid by oxidizing a primary alcohol

¥ don't get confused by the simple SN2 reaction in the first step that converts the bromide into the alcohol!

 


 

Example Problem 2

 

¥ strategy: make the derivative (an anhydride in this case) form the acid chloride, make the acid chloride from a carboxylic acid, then the problem simply becomes how to make the carboxylic acid

¥ to identify what is required to react with the acid chloride to make the anhydride, recognize that this is simply the oxyen and everything that is attached to it PLUS a H atom, no other reagents are required

¥ no carbon atoms need to be added here, therefore make the carboxylic acid by hydrolyzing the ester

 

Example Problem 3

 

¥ strategy: make the derivative (an ester in this case) form the acid chloride, make the acid chloride from a carboxylic acid, then the problem simply becomes how to make the carboxylic acid

¥ to identify what is required to react with the acid chloride to make the anhydride, recognize that this is simply the oxygen and everything that is attached to it PLUS a H atom, no other reagents, just methanol in this case

¥ TWO carbon atoms need to be added here, however, a malonic ester synthesis will not work because we would need to do an SN2 reaction at an sp2 hybridized carbon atom

¥ we need to back to our earlier C-C bond forming reactions, a Grignard with an epoxide works well here

 

Example Problem 4

 

¥ strategy: make the derivative (an amide in this case) form the acid chloride, make the acid chloride from a carboxylic acid, then the problem simply becomes how to make the carboxylic acid

¥ ONE carbon atom needs to be added in this synthesis, the nitrile method cannot be used to make the carboxylic acid here because it would require doing an SN2 reaction at a tertiary carbon atom

 

7  Summary of Acid Derivative Reactions

Do NOT start studying by trying to memorize the reactions here!

Work as many problems as you can, with this list of reactions in front of you if necessary, so that you can get through as many problems as you can without getting stuck on the reagents/conditions, and so that you can learn and practice solving reaction problems. Use this list AFTER you have worked all of the problems, and just before an exam. By then you will have learned a lot of the reagents/conditions just by using them and you will only have to memorize what you haven't learned yet.  Then do the following:

¥ Cover the entire page of reagents/conditions with a long vertical strip of paper, see if you can write down the reagents/conditions for each reaction, check to see which you get correct, if COMPLETELY correct, circle Y, if incorrect or even slightly incorrect, circle N. In this way you keep track of what you know and what you don't know.

¥ Keep coming back to this list and so the same thing only for those reactions you circled N, until all are circled Y.

 

Knowing the reagents/conditions on this page is INSUFFICIENT to do well on an exam since you will ALSO need to recognize how to use and solve reaction problems in different contexts, this page ONLY helps you to learn the reagents/conditions that you have not YET learned by working problems.

 

You have seen several of these reactions in earlier sections!