ABSTRACT
Previously, we have studied the trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)-catalyzed rearrangements of unsubstituted and alkoxy-substituted ortho-(pivaloylaminomethyl)benzaldehydes and revealed the formation of rearranged, regioisomeric aldehydes along with dimer-like products ("TFA dimers"). In the present study, related reactions of ortho-(pivaloylaminomethyl)benzaldehydes are described with the difference that boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BF3·OEt2) is used as the catalyst. Although in these reactions the formation of the same "TFA dimers" can be observed after a couple of hours reaction time, during further stirring these are transformed into a new dimer-like keto compound ("BF3 dimer") that gradually becomes the main product. Apart from this, an oxoindene-type by-product is also formed. The new products are characterized by detailed NMR studies and two of them also by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. DFT calculations support the mechanism proposed for the transformations and explain the differences observed in the product distribution.
ABSTRACT
Treatment of alkoxy-substituted o-(pivaloylaminomethyl)benzaldehydes under acidic conditions resulted in the formation of the regioisomeric aldehydes and/or dimer-like products. Detailed NMR studies and single-crystal X-ray measurements supported the structure elucidation of the compounds. DFT calculations were also carried out to clarify the reaction mechanism, and to explain the observed product distributions and structural variances in the dimer-like products. Studies on the transformation of unsubstituted o-(pivaloylaminomethyl)benzaldehyde under similar conditions were presented as well.
