The reduction of 1,3-diketones and β-hydroxyketones with NaBH(4) in aqueous acetonitrile is highly stereoselective in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of bovine or human albumin, giving anti 1,3-diols with d.e. up to 96%. The same reaction, without albumin, gives syn and anti 1,3-diols in approximately 1:1 ratio. The presence of an aromatic carbonyl group is essential for diastereoselecti...

An enzymatic strategy for the preparation of optically pure α-alkyl-α,β-dihydroxyketones is reported. Homo- and cross-coupling reactions of α-diketones catalyzed by acetylacetoin synthase (AAS) produce a set of α-alkyl-α-hydroxy-β-diketones (30-60%, ee 67-90%), which in turn are reduced regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectively to the corresponding chiral α-alkyl-α,β-dihydroxyketones (60-70%, ...

We report the experimental determination of the intramolecular enol-enol tautomerization rate of an unsymmetric β-diketone, benzoylacetone, with femtosecond transient absorption in the ultraviolet. Initially, there is an equilibrium of two possible enolic structures in solution, which is disturbed upon UV excitation by exciting a disproportionate fraction of one enolic form. Comparison to symme...

Aldolase antibodies that operate via an enamine mechanism were developed by in vitro selection. Antibody Fab phage display libraries were created where the catalytic active site residues of aldolase antibodies 38C2 and 33F12 were combined with a naive human antibody V gene repertoire. Selection from these libraries with 1,3-diketones covalently trapped the amino groups of reactive lysine residu...

The reaction of P-diketones 1 with phenyl hydrazine afforded 5-aryl-3-(1- methyl-5-nitro-2-imidazoly1)-1-phenylpyrazole (2) and 3-aryl-5-(1-methyl-5- nitro-2-imidazoly1) -1-phenylpyrazole (3). The reaction of diketones (1) with urea in the presence of p-toluenesulfonic acid gave 4-(or 6-)aryl-6-(or 4-)(1-methyl- 5-nitro-2-imidazolyl)-1-(lH)pyrimidones (4). The structures of all compounds w...

Iron-catalyzed cross-aldol reactions of ortho-diketones and methyl ketones were developed and the thus formed aldol products were efficiently transformed into cyclohepta-2,4,6-trienone derivatives (tropones) under thermal conditions via ring-expansion.

2,2-Disubstituted cyclic 1,3-diketones containing a tethered electron-deficient alkene undergo chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed desymmetrizing Michael cyclizations to give bridged bicyclic products in high enantioselectivities. Both bicyclo[3.2.1]octanes and bicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes are accessible using this methodology.

the beta0diketone derivatives of nitroimidazole were synthesized from the reaction of magnesium salt of beta-ketoaccids 3 with imidazolide 4. the raction of beta-diketones with hydroxylamine hydrochloride afforded either the isoxazoles or the 5-hydroxyl-2-isoxazolines.

The oxidation of β-hydroxyketones to β-diketones was systematically investigated. o-Iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX) was found to be efficient, operationally easy, and superior to other common oxidants. The reaction is suitable for milligram- to gram-scale oxidations.