INTERMEDIATES IN THE PAAL-KNORR SYNTHESIS OF FURANS

New experimental evidence for the mechanism of the Paal-Knorr reaction involving the acid-catalyzed cyclization of a 1,4-diketone to form a furan is reported. In aqueous or alcoholic solutions containing hydrochloric acid and in chloroform containing boron trifluoride-etherate d,l- and meso-3,4-diethyl-2,5-hexanediones (2r and 2m) cyclize at unequal rates; the stereochemical configuration of the unchanged done is preserved during the reaction. This disagrees with the commonly accepted mechanism involving the ring closure of the rapidly formed monoenol (11b) followed by loss of water. A pathway involving the rapid protonation of one of the carbonyls followed by the electrophilic attack on the protonated carbonyl by the enol being formed at the other carbonyl group (10c) is proposed to account for the difference in reaction rates between the diastereomers of 3,4-disubstituted 2,5-hexanediones (1-3). The following results also seem to support the intermediacy of 10c. The presence of two isopropyl groups in 3,4-diisopropyl-2,5-hexanedione (3) considerably reduces the rate of cyclization, The catalytic constants k(H)(+) for the cyclization of 2r and 2m are larger than the constants for enolization of methyl ketones. The diastereomers of 2,3-dimethyl-and 2,3-diethyl-1,4-diphenyl-1,4-butanediones (4 and 5), which could enolize only toward the center of the molecule, also react at different rates. The d,l and meso dideuterio analogs (d(2)-4r and d(2)-4m) exhibit a primary isotope effect during cyclization. The order of cyclization of 1,4-diphenyl-1,4-butanedione (6) and its analogs (7-9) reveals that the presence of electron-donating groups facilitate the reaction.