In organic chemistry, an active ester is an ester functional group that is highly susceptible toward nucleophilic attack. Activation can be imparted by modifications of the acyl or the alkoxy components of a normal ester, say ethyl acetate. Typical modifications call for electronegative substituents. Active esters are employed in both synthetic and biological chemistry.
Active esters are mainly used as acylating agents. They undergo the same reactions as their unactivated analogues but do so more rapidly. They are prone to hydrolysis, for example. Of great interest is the enhanced reactivity of active esters toward amines to give amides. [1]
Thioesters are prominent active esters, as illustrated by the esters of coenzyme A. [2]
In synthetic chemistry, active esters include derivatives of nitrophenols and pentafluorophenol. Active esters are often used in peptide synthesis, e.g., N-hydroxysuccinimide, hydroxybenzotriazole. [1] Active esters of acrylic acid are precursors to polymers with reactive side chains. [3]
The concept of active esters extends to esters of phosphoric and sulfuric acids. One such case is dimethylsulfate, a strong methylating agent.
In organic chemistry, a carboxylic acid is an organic acid that contains a carboxyl group attached to an R-group. The general formula of a carboxylic acid is R−COOH or R−CO2H, with R referring to the alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, or other group. Carboxylic acids occur widely. Important examples include the amino acids and fatty acids. Deprotonation of a carboxylic acid gives a carboxylate anion.
In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an acid in which at least one acidic hydrogen atom of that acid is replaced by an organyl group. An example of an ester formation is the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol (R'OH), forming an ester, where R and R′ denote organyl groups, or H in the case of R. Glycerides are fatty acid esters of glycerol; they are important in biology, being one of the main classes of lipids and comprising the bulk of animal fats and vegetable oils. Esters can be formed from oxoacids, but also from acids that do not contain oxygen.
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms. Study of structure determines their structural formula. Study of properties includes physical and chemical properties, and evaluation of chemical reactivity to understand their behavior. The study of organic reactions includes the chemical synthesis of natural products, drugs, and polymers, and study of individual organic molecules in the laboratory and via theoretical study.
In organic chemistry, thioesters are organosulfur compounds with the molecular structure R−C(=O)−S−R’. They are analogous to carboxylate esters with the sulfur in the thioester replacing oxygen in the carboxylate ester, as implied by the thio- prefix. They are the product of esterification of a carboxylic acid with a thiol. In biochemistry, the best-known thioesters are derivatives of coenzyme A, e.g., acetyl-CoA. The R and R' represent organyl groups, or H in the case of R.
In organic chemistry, peptide synthesis is the production of peptides, compounds where multiple amino acids are linked via amide bonds, also known as peptide bonds. Peptides are chemically synthesized by the condensation reaction of the carboxyl group of one amino acid to the amino group of another. Protecting group strategies are usually necessary to prevent undesirable side reactions with the various amino acid side chains. Chemical peptide synthesis most commonly starts at the carboxyl end of the peptide (C-terminus), and proceeds toward the amino-terminus (N-terminus). Protein biosynthesis in living organisms occurs in the opposite direction.
The Passerini reaction is a chemical reaction involving an isocyanide, an aldehyde, and a carboxylic acid to form a α-acyloxy amide. This addition reaction is one of the oldest isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions (IMCR) and was first described in 1921 by Mario Passerini in Florence, Italy. It is typically carried out in aprotic solvents but can also be performed in ionic liquids such as water or Deep Eutectic solvents (DESs). It is a third order reaction; first order in each of the reactants. The Passerini reaction is often used in combinatorial and medicinal chemistry with recent utility in green chemistry and polymer chemistry. As isocyanides exhibit high functional group tolerance, chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity, the Passerini reaction has a wide range of synthetic applications.
The Hiyama coupling is a palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of organosilanes with organic halides used in organic chemistry to form carbon–carbon bonds. This reaction was discovered in 1988 by Tamejiro Hiyama and Yasuo Hatanaka as a method to form carbon-carbon bonds synthetically with chemo- and regioselectivity. The Hiyama coupling has been applied to the synthesis of various natural products.
In organic chemistry, a carbodiimide is a functional group with the formula RN=C=NR. They are exclusively synthetic. A well known carbodiimide is dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, which is used in peptide synthesis. Dialkylcarbodiimides are stable. Some diaryl derivatives tend to convert to dimers and polymers upon standing at room temperature, though this mostly occurs with low melting point carbodiimides that are liquids at room temperature. Solid diaryl carbodiimides are more stable, but can slowly undergo hydrolysis in the presence of water over time.
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include naturally occurring chemicals, such as in plants and insects, as well as synthetics such as polybutyrate. Natural polyesters and a few synthetic ones are biodegradable, but most synthetic polyesters are not. Synthetic polyesters are used extensively in clothing.
In organic chemistry, umpolung or polarity inversion is the chemical modification of a functional group with the aim of the reversal of polarity of that group. This modification allows secondary reactions of this functional group that would otherwise not be possible. The concept was introduced by D. Seebach and E.J. Corey. Polarity analysis during retrosynthetic analysis tells a chemist when umpolung tactics are required to synthesize a target molecule.
A Grignard reagent or Grignard compound is a chemical compound with the general formula R−Mg−X, where X is a halogen and R is an organic group, normally an alkyl or aryl. Two typical examples are methylmagnesium chloride Cl−Mg−CH3 and phenylmagnesium bromide (C6H5)−Mg−Br. They are a subclass of the organomagnesium compounds.
Organozinc chemistry is the study of the physical properties, synthesis, and reactions of organozinc compounds, which are organometallic compounds that contain carbon (C) to zinc (Zn) chemical bonds.
Chemical ligation is the chemoselective condensation of unprotected peptide segments enabled by the formation of a non-native bond at the ligation site.
Bioconjugation is a chemical strategy to form a stable covalent link between two molecules, at least one of which is a biomolecule.
The Liebeskind–Srogl coupling reaction is an organic reaction forming a new carbon–carbon bond from a thioester and a boronic acid using a metal catalyst. It is a cross-coupling reaction. This reaction was invented by and named after Jiri Srogl from the Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic, and Lanny S. Liebeskind from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. There are three generations of this reaction, with the first generation shown below. The original transformation used catalytic Pd(0), TFP = tris(2-furyl)phosphine as an additional ligand and stoichiometric CuTC = copper(I) thiophene-2-carboxylate as a co-metal catalyst. The overall reaction scheme is shown below.
In organic chemistry, carbonyl reduction is the organic reduction of any carbonyl group by a reducing agent.
Ethyl cyanoacetate is an organic compound that contains a carboxylate ester and a nitrile. It is a colourless liquid with a pleasant odor. This material is useful as a starting material for synthesis due to its variety of functional groups and chemical reactivity.
DMTMM is an organic triazine derivative commonly used for activation of carboxylic acids, particularly for amide synthesis. Amide coupling is one of the most common reactions in organic chemistry and DMTMM is one reagent used for that reaction. The mechanism of DMTMM coupling is similar to other common amide coupling reactions involving activated carboxylic acids. Its precursor, 2-chloro-4,6,-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazine (CDMT), has also been used for amide coupling. DMTMM has also been used to synthesize other carboxylic functional groups such as esters and anhydrides. DMTMM is usually used in the chloride form but the tetrafluoroborate salt is also commercially available.
Tetramethoxymethane is a chemical compound which is formally formed by complete methylation of the hypothetical orthocarbonic acid C(OH)4 (orthocarboxylic acid violates the Erlenmeyer rule and is unstable in free state).
α,β-Unsaturated carbonyl compounds are organic compounds with the general structure (O=CR)−Cα=Cβ-R. Such compounds include enones and enals. In these compounds the carbonyl group is conjugated with an alkene. Unlike the case for carbonyls without a flanking alkene group, α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds are susceptible to attack by nucleophiles at the β-carbon. This pattern of reactivity is called vinylogous. Examples of unsaturated carbonyls are acrolein (propenal), mesityl oxide, acrylic acid, and maleic acid. Unsaturated carbonyls can be prepared in the laboratory in an aldol reaction and in the Perkin reaction.