title: On Five- vs Six-membered Diacetal Formation from Threitol and the Intermediacy of Unusually Stable Protonated Species(1).
abstract: The long known, but hitherto poorly understood, thermodynamically controlled diacetalation of rac-threitol with alkylaldehydes provided bicyclic, cis-tetraoxadecalin (TOD) ("66") and bi(dioxolanyl) (BDO) ("55") products, shown to be formed in acid-concentration and temperature-dependent ratio. The configurational and conformational isomeric diacetals obtained in four such reactions of substituted aldehydes (RCHO, R = CH(3), CH(2)Cl, CH(2)Br, CO(2)CH(3)) with rac-threitol were isolated and characterized. A variable acid-concentration analysis of the equilibrium mixture of products in one such case (R = CH(2)Br) was performed and provided equilibrium constants and, hence, free-energy differences among these products and their relatively stable protonated intermediates. The latter were rationalized by the unusually high proton-affinity calculated for the cis-TOD ("66") form.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry (Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences), Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, 69978 Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grabarnik
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Lemcoff
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abramson
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weinman
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fuchs