Water and ammonia/amines are "soft" nucleophiles that will add to an enone in a 1,4-fashion.
If you have a carboxylic acid derivative (i.e. acid chloride or acid anhydride), you may have competition between the carbonyl carbon (2 position) and the C=C double bond (4 position).
I would presume that the carbonyl carbon is more reactive because:
- the EWG nature of the C-Cl (poor 2p-3p orbital overlap) and C-O (extensive delocalization over the π system) bonds via inductive effects and, to a lesser extent, resonance effects
- the relative energies of the LUMO (C-O π* vs. C-C π*) and the energy of the HOMO on the nucleophile
- the thermodynamics of breaking that C-Cl and C-O bond and forming the C-Nu bond as opposed to breaking the C=C bond and forming both a C-C and C-Nu bond will probably favor the carbonyl carbon reacting, though I don't have exact numbers in front of me
Does this help?
Hi
I've seen that H2O or RNH2 usually give conjugated addition with ester/amide/ketone,in a michael addition
But if I have an acyl chloride group or an aldehydic group what should I get when I add water or an amine?
A direct addition
Or a conjugated addition?
I.e.:
Acyl chloride α-β insaturated + RNH2 ---> direct addition
Enone +RNH2 --> conjugated addition
Enal + RNH2 ---> direct or conjugated addition ??
Thanks