Sciencemadness Discussion Board

MITSUNOBU REACTION WITH PRIMARY AMIDES

Aarnav - 16-11-2016 at 09:19

Can we do MITSUNOBU reaction of a primary aliphatic amide and an alcohol
Ex:n-butylamide

clearly_not_atara - 16-11-2016 at 17:28

The Mitsunobu reaction depends on the triphenylphosphine/diazo complex deprotonating the target nucleophile; I doubt that n-butylamide will be deprotonated. If you use an amide instead it probably will not attack the alkoxyphosphonium intermediate.

CuReUS - 17-11-2016 at 02:45

according to wiki,for the mitsunobu reaction to work,the nucleophile must have a pKa less than 15.For comparison,the pKa of acetamide is 16.5.
this paper might help you get what you want-https://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0033-1340142




Aarnav - 17-11-2016 at 09:04

Thanks