A novel decarbonylation of heterocyclic pyruvic acid derivatives using sodium perborate

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0040-4039(96)00148-7

Decarbonylation of imidazo-2-yl and pyrid-2-ylpyruvic acids giving the corresponding acetic acids has been achieved using aqueous sodium perborate at room temperature. It is proposed that intramolecular hydrogen bonding, which inhibits conventional decarbonylation, facilitates epoxidation and subsequent decarboxylation of the enol tautomers.