Understanding Organic Synthesis: Nucleophilic Reactions and Strategies, Exams of Organic Chemistry

Download Understanding Organic Synthesis: Nucleophilic Reactions and Strategies and more Exams Organic Chemistry in PDF only on Docsity! Students frequently get overwhelmed by the increasingly large number of organic reactions and mechanisms they must learn. This task is made particularly difficult by the perception that it is just “busy work,” and that it serves no purpose other than to meet an academic requirement. It is true that a lot of organic reactions seem to lack meaning in and of themselves, but obviously they are not useless. Unfortunately students do not get exposed to the contexts in which this information comes to life until later, or sometimes never. The context of most immediate relevance from the point of view of the organic chemistry student is in the application of these reactions in synthesis. A synthesis is a series of two or more reactions designed to obtain a specific final product. A synthetic step (not to be confused with a mechanistic step, which is something entirely different) is a single reaction that must be conducted separately from the others in a synthesis. Therefore the number of steps in a synthetic sequence is the same as the number of reactions that must be conducted separately, that is to say, the number of reactions that make up the sequence. The concept of synthetic strategy refers to the design of the most efficient combination of reactions that will yield the desired final product. This concept is widely used in R&D departments in the pharmaceutical industry to obtain synthetic drugs of many kinds. This type of research brings together widely different fields of science such as biochemistry, organic chemistry, biology, and even computer science into a single integrated task: the task of drug discovery. Another context in which organic reactions acquire meaning is in biochemistry. Many of the reaction types discussed in introductory organic chemistry, such as nucleophilic substitutions, eliminations, and oxidations and reductions actually take place in biological systems. There are some differences in the way these reactions happen in biological systems as opposed to the organic chemistry lab. For example most biological reactions take place in water as the medium, not in organic solvents like methylene chloride. Another difference is in the catalysis. In the vast majority of biological systems reactions are catalyzed by enzymes, which are organic macromolecules that have a high degree of specificity and precision. For example, at the stereochemical level they are capable of distinguishing one enantiomer from another. They can catalyze the formation of a specific stereoisomer with 100% efficiency. By way of contrast, one can use many catalysts in the organic chemistry lab that could not possibly be used in biological systems. However, it is surprising that the same mechanistic principles studied in organic chemistry courses, such as the rules of proton transfers, nucleophilic attacks, and steric interactions actually apply in almost the same form in bioorganic mechanisms. Thus, an understanding of the physiology of an organism at the molecular level requires a solid understanding of organic mechanisms and reaction types. With that in mind, we now turn to the task of learning a few basic synthetic sequences that a beginning organic chemistry student can use to get started in the art of synthetic design. A typical synthetic problem requires the design of a specific molecule or functional group from simple starting materials that can be obtained commercially, or which are readily available in the lab. It is then up to the synthetic chemist to choose from a variety of organic reactions those that will accomplish the task most effectively. Needless to say, this is an art as much as it is a science, and only experience can bring about improved synthetic skills. COMMON SYNTHETIC SEQUENCES FOR OCHEM I 1. STARTING WITH AN ALKANE, PROVIDE A SYNTHESIS FOR A MOLECULE THAT HAS A FUNCTIONAL GROUP Z, WHERE Z IS A NUCLEOPHILE. First thing to remember is that in nucleophilic reactions, the nucleophile replaces the leaving group unchanged only if it originally carried a negative charge. A neutral nucleophile, typically water or an alcohol, will lose a proton in the process of replacing the leaving group. Therefore, it is the conjugate base of such nucleophile that actually replaces the leaving group. Sn2 reaction with a negatively charged nucleophile CH3CH2O + Br OCH2CH3 Sn1 reaction with a neutral nucleophile (most frequently H2O or ROH) CH3CH2OH + Br OCH2CH3 + HBr At this level we are acquainted with only one major type of leaving groups, which are the halogens (Cl, Br, and I). So if we’re supposed to start the synthesis from an alkane, we must first fit it with a good leaving group, namely a halogen. Once we have a leaving group in place we can bring in a number of different nucleophiles to replace it, depending on which functional group we’re trying to obtain at the end. EXAMPLE 1. From propane, make 2-propanol (isopropanol). In other words, how can the following transformation be accomplished? OH ? Obviously we don’t have the tools to do this in one step. So we’ll need at least two steps to do it. A retrosynthetic analysis starts from the target product and works backwards step by step until it arrives at the desired starting material. In a retrosynthesis we start from the end and worry only about the step we’re working on, momentarily forgetting the rest of the requirements. In this case, we notice that the target product is an alcohol, and alcohols contain the OH group, which can be a nucleophile. To use a nucleophile we must first have a molecule with a good leaving group (halogen). Therefore the last step in the synthesis can look something like this: OHBr OH Sn2 or OHBr Sn1 H2O No problemo. By now I’m a whiz of organic synthesis. so here is the quick solution. CH3OH CH3O Cl Cl2 light remember that the conjugate bases of alcohols are considered strong, and they are frequently used with the parent alcohol as the solvent. synthetic step 2 synthetic step 1 EXAMPLE 4. From n-butane, prepare 2-butene. Again, no problem. A retrosynthetic analysis yields the following solution. ? Br2 light Br O OH E2 step 1 step 2 The only thing to note in this approach is that the last step above would yield a mixture of cis and trans isomers, since in this particular case, that step would not involve a stereospecific reaction. 3. PREPARE A SUBSTITUTED ACETYLENE. A monosubstituted acetylene can be prepared from acetylene by a combination of acid-base reaction followed by an Sn2 displacement. A disubstituted acetylene can be prepared from a monosubstituted acetylene by a similar reaction sequence. Before proceeding, make sure you understand this nomenclature by consulting the relevant section in the chapter on alkynes. C C HH C C HR C C RR acetylene monosubstituted acetylene disubstituted acetylene EXAMPLE 5. From acetylene prepare methylacetylene. My first task is to remove the acidic proton from acetylene to convert it into its conjugate base. I can then use this conjugate base as a nucleophile in an Sn2 reaction with the relevant alkyl halide to yield the desired product. C C HH ? C C CH3H C C HH NaNH2 liquid NH3 (solvent) C CH CH3Br Sn2 C C CH3H Something to note here: NaNH2 is an ionic salt. The actual base is NH2 – (amide ion). Sodium remains a spectator ion and as such does not directly participate in the process. Second thing to note is that to perform the first step efficiently, a base whose pKa is higher than the pKa of acetylene must be used. Otherwise equilibrium would not be favorable to formation of the conjugate base. In this case, acetylene has a pKa of 25, and NH2 – has a pKa of about 38 (as measured by the pKa of its conjugate acid, ammonia). Because 38 is greater than 25, NH2 – can be effectively used to deprotonate acetylene. Disubstituted acetylenes follow a similar reaction sequence, but the deprotonation steps must be conducted separately. Trying to remove both protons from acetylene simultaneously would not work very well because the potential energy of the resulting species is too high. That is to say, it’s not very stable. C C HH strong base C C Possible but impractical. This species is high energy, therefore very unstable. EXAMPLE 6. From acetylene prepare methylethylacetylene. C C HH NaNH2 liquid NH3 (solvent) C CH CH3Br Sn2 C C CH3H NaNH2 C C CH3 CH3CH2Br CH3CH2 C C CH3 The synthetic sequence has four steps total. 4. SPECIFICALLY PREPARE PRIMARY, SECONDARY, OR TERTIARY ALCOHOLS USING CARBON NUCLEOPHILES SUCH AS ALKYNIDE IONS AND GRIGNARD REAGENTS.. These sequences are extensively discussed in the notes and in the Wade textbook (5th ed.). Please refer to the following sections and exercises from the textbook to illustrate this type of synthetic problem. Chapter 9: Section 9–7B. See solved problem 9–2, and problem 9–8. Chapter 10: Section 10–9. See solved problem 10–2, and problems 10–13 through 10–15. In addition, work as many related problems as possible from the end of the chapters, such as problem 10–39.