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Lookup NU author(s): Melanie Uguen, Professor Mike Waring
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.4-Oxobutenoic acids are useful as biologically active species and as versatile intermediates for further derivatisation. Currently, routes to their synthesis can be problematic and lack generality. Reaction conditions for the synthesis of 4-oxo-2-butenoic acid by microwave-assisted aldol-condensation between methyl ketone derivatives and glyoxylic acid have been developed. They provide the desired products in moderate to excellent yields for a wide range of substrates, by applying a simple procedure to accessible starting materials. The investigation revealed different conditions are required depending on the nature of the methylketone substituent, with aryl derivatives proceeding best using tosic acid and aliphatic substrates reacting best with pyrrolidine and acetic acid. This substituent effect is rationalised by frontier orbital calculations. Overall, this work provides methods for synthesis of 4-oxo-butenoic acids across a broad range of substrates.
Author(s): Uguen M, Gai C, Sprenger LJ, Liu H, Leach AG, Waring MJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: RSC Advances
Year: 2021
Volume: 11
Issue: 48
Pages: 30229-30236
Online publication date: 05/10/2021
Acceptance date: 01/09/2021
Date deposited: 01/11/2021
ISSN (electronic): 2046-2069
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
URL: https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ra05539a
DOI: 10.1039/d1ra05539a
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