Mendeleev
Communications
Mendeleev Commun., 2014, 24, 178–179
Reaction of methyl 1-(2-bromo-4-methoxy-1,4-dioxobutyl)-
cyclohexanecarboxylate with zinc and aromatic aldehydes
Nikolay F. Kirillov,*a Pavel A. Slepukhin,b Elena A. Nikiforova,a
Aleksandr N. Vasyanin,a Sergey N. Shurova and Pavel M. Kashkina
a Department of Chemistry, Perm State University, 614990 Perm, Russian Federation.
Fax: +7 342 237 1611; e-mail: kirillov@psu.ru
b I. Ya. Postovsky Institute of Organic Synthesis, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
624090 Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
DOI: 10.1016/j.mencom.2014.04.019
Treatment of methyl 1-(2-bromo-4-methoxy-1,4-dioxobutyl)cyclohexanecarboxylate with zinc followed by aromatic aldehydes affords
methyl 1-(2-aryl-5-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-carbonyl)cyclohexanecarboxylates.
O
The Reformatsky reagents, derived from b-bromo g-oxo esters
Cl
MeO
and zinc, react with aromatic aldehydes to give tetrahydropyran-
2,4-diones.1–4 In continuation of these studies aiming to prepare
O
Br
ZnBr
3
Zn
analogous compounds containing an ester group (see Schemes 1
and 2), we converted methyl 1-(2-bromo-4-methoxy-1,4-dioxo-
butyl)cyclohexanecarboxylate 5 into the corresponding organo-
zinc Reformatsky reagent 6, and coupled the latter with aromatic
aldehydes. Compound 5 was obtained by the Reformatsky
protocol using methyl 1-bromocyclohexanecarboxylate 1 and
methyl 4-chloro-4-oxobutanoate 3 as the reactants followed by
bromination of the intermediate methyl 1-(4-methoxy-1,4-dioxo-
butyl)cyclohexanecarboxylate 4 (Scheme 1).†
– ZnBrCl
CO2Me
CO2Me
1
2
O
O
Br
OMe
O
OMe
Br2
– HBr
CO2Me
CO2Me
O
4
5
In fact, the Reformatsky reagent 6 added to the carbonyl group
of aromatic aldehydes 7a,b giving zinc bromide alkoxides 8a,b.
In the course of the reaction, the latter underwent cyclization into
terahydrofuran derivatives 9a,b upon elimination of zinc bromide
Scheme 1
methoxide. The IR spectra of these compounds have the absorp-
tion bands of the carbonyl groups at 1700, 1735, 1780–1785 cm–1.
Appearance of the carbonyl group absorption band at 1780–1785
cm–1 is typical of five-membered furanone moiety rather than six-
membered pyranone one in 10a,b, whose oscillation should be in
a region of 1735 cm–1 (see ref. 5). The products 9a,b have
structures of methyl 1-(2-aryl-5-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-carbonyl)
cyclohexanecarboxylates (Scheme 2).‡
† The IR spectra of compounds 4, 5 in a thin layer and 9a,b from mulls
in mineral oil were measured on a Spectrum Two PerkinElmer Fourier
spectrometer. The 1H NMR spectra were recorded at 300 MHz on a Varian
Mercury Plus-300 instrument in CDCl3 with TMS as an internal standard.
Quantum-chemical calculations were carried out using the program package
‘Firefly’6 on the PSU-Tesla supercomputer of Scientific-educational
Center of Parallel and Distributive Calculations of Perm State University.
Methyl 1-(4-methoxy-1,4-dioxobutyl)cyclohexanecarboxylate 4. A mix-
ture of methyl 4-chloro-4-oxobutanoate 3 (15 g, 0.1 mol) and methyl
1-bromocyclohexanecarboxylate 1 (24.3 g, 0.11 mol) in anhydrous ethyl
acetate (50 ml) was added dropwise to zinc powder (9.8 g) in anhydrous
ethyl acetate (10 ml). The mixture was refluxed for 1 h, cooled and treated
with water and 10% hydrochloric acid. The organic layer was separated,
the water layer was twice extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined
extracts were washed with water and dried with anhydrous Na2SO4. The
solvent was removed and the product was distilled in vacuo. Yield 14.4 g
(56%), bp 160–163°C (10 Torr), nD20 1.4688, d420 1.1219. IR (n/cm–1):
1739, 1726, 1715 (C=O). 1H NMR, d: 1.20–2.28 [m, 10H, (CH2)5], 2.52
(t, 2H, C3H2, J 6.8 Hz), 2.77 (t, 2H, C2H2, J 6.8 Hz), 3.62 (s, 3H, MeO),
3.69 (s, 3H, MeO). Found (%): C, 61.11; H, 7.74. Calc. for C13H20O5 (%):
C, 60.92; H, 7.87.
Methyl 1-(2-bromo-4-methoxy-1,4-dioxobutyl)cyclohexanecarboxylate
5. Bromine (6.7 g, 2.2 ml, 0.042 mol) was added to a solution of com-
pound 4 (10.3 g, 0.04 mol) in anhydrous acetic acid (30 ml). The mixture
was heated for 1 h, and after removing the solvent and the excess of bromine
the product was distilled in vacuo. Yield 9.0 g (67%), bp 176–179°C
(8 Torr), nD20 1.4944, d420 1.3668. IR (n/cm–1): 1746, 1730, 1721 (C=O).
1H NMR, d: 1.02–2.34 [m, 10H, (CH2)5], 2.61 and 3.05 (2m, 2H, CH2), 3.62
(s, 3H, MeO), 3.69 (s, 3H, MeO), 4.91 (m, 1H, CH). Found (%): C, 46.75;
H, 5.54; Br, 23.59. Calc. for C13H19BrO5 (%): C, 46.58; H, 5.71; Br, 23.84.
‡
Methyl 1-(2-aryl-5-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-carbonyl)cyclohexanecar-
boxylates 9a,b. A mixture of zinc powder (1 g), catalytic amount of
mercuric chloride, methyl 1-(2-bromo-4-methoxy-1,4-dioxobutyl)cyclo-
hexanecarboxylate 5 (3.7 g, 11 mmol), aromatic aldehyde 7 (10 mmol),
anhydrous ethyl acetate (10 ml) and anhydrous benzene (10 ml) was
heated for 2 h, cooled and treated with water and 10% hydrochloric acid.
The organic layer was separated, the water layer was twice extracted with
ethyl acetate. The combined extracts were washed with water and dried
with anhydrous sodium sulfate. Then the solvent was removed and the
product was recrystallized from methanol.
Methyl 1-[2-(4-bromophenyl)-5-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-carbonyl)]cyclo-
hexanecarboxylate 9a. Yield 2.17 g (53%), mp 110–111°C. IR (n/cm–1):
1700, 1735, 1780 (C=O). 1H NMR, d: 1.06–2.23 [m, 10H, (CH2)5], 2.72
(t, 2H, C4H2, J 7.5 Hz), 3.35 (s, 3H, MeO), 3.59 (m, 1H, C3H), 5.51 (d, 1H,
C2H, J 5.0 Hz), 7.07 (d, 2H, HAr, J 8.7 Hz), 7.29 (d, 2H, HAr, J 8.7 Hz).
Found (%): C, 55.93; H, 5.03; Br, 19.38. Calc. for C19H21BrO5 (%): C,
55.76; H, 5.17; Br, 19.52.
Methyl 1-[2-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-carbonyl)]cyclo-
hexanecarboxylate 9b.Yield 1.75 g (48%), mp 90–91°C. IR (n/cm–1): 1700,
1735, 1785 (C=O). 1H NMR, d: 1.02–2.20 [m, 10H, (CH2)5], 2.72 (t, 2H,
C4H2, J 7.5 Hz), 3.34 (s, 3H, MeO), 3.61 (m, 1H, C3H), 5.51 (d, 1H, C2H,
J 5.0 Hz), 7.06 (d, 2H, HAr, J 8.4 Hz), 7.29 (d, 2H, HAr, J 8.4 Hz). Found (%):
C, 62.71; H, 5.87; Cl, 9.61. Calc. for C19H21ClO5 (%): C, 62.55; H, 5.80; Cl, 9.72
.
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