{{Unreferenced, date=November 2021
A crotyl group is an
organic
Organic may refer to:
* Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity
* Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ
Chemistry
* Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
functional group
In organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the rest ...
with the formula RCH2CH=CHCH3. Systematically, it is called a but-2-en-1-yl group and exhibits
geometric isomerism
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ca ...
, being either ''cis'' (''Z'') or ''trans'' (''E''). There are many simple compounds in which the crotyl group forms base carbon chain:
crotyl alcohol
Crotyl alcohol, or crotonyl alcohol, is an unsaturated alcohol. It is a colourless liquid that is moderately soluble in water and miscible with most organic solvents. Two isomers of this alcohol exist, cis and trans.
It can be synthesized by th ...
,
crotonaldehyde
Crotonaldehyde is a chemical compound with the formula CH3CH=CHCHO. The compound is usually sold as a mixture of the ''E''- and ''Z''-isomers, which differ with respect to the relative position of the methyl and formyl groups. The ''E''-isomer ...
,
crotonic acid
Crotonic acid ((2''E'')-but-2-enoic acid) is a short-chain unsaturated carboxylic acid, described by the formula CH3CH=CHCO2H. It is called crotonic acid because it was erroneously thought to be a saponification product of croton oil. It crysta ...
2-butene
But-2-ene is an acyclic alkene with four carbon atoms. It is the simplest alkene exhibiting ''cis''/''trans''-isomerism (also known as (''E''/''Z'')-isomerism); that is, it exists as two geometric isomers ''cis''-but-2-ene ((''Z'')-but-2-ene) and ...
(either isomer): this reaction must be performed in the presence of
organometallic reagent
Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...
alkyl
In organic chemistry, an alkyl group is an alkane missing one hydrogen.
The term ''alkyl'' is intentionally unspecific to include many possible substitutions.
An acyclic alkyl has the general formula of . A cycloalkyl is derived from a cycloalk ...
lithium
Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
, or any
alkylate
An alkylation unit (alky) is one of the conversion processes used in petroleum refineries. It is used to convert isobutane and low-molecular-weight alkenes (primarily a mixture of propene and butene) into alkylate, a high octane gasoline component ...
THF
Tetrahydrofuran (THF), or oxolane, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2)4O. The compound is classified as heterocyclic compound, specifically a cyclic ether. It is a colorless, water- miscible organic liquid with low viscosity. It is ...
, and at low temperatures, generally below -20 °C. The negative charge is delocalised over three of the carbon atoms of the crotylate group and there is resonance between the two possible delocalised forms (one for each terminal carbon).
Crotylation reactions
Crotylation readily occurs with
alkoxy
In chemistry, the alkoxy group is an alkyl group which is singularly bonded to oxygen; thus . The range of alkoxy groups is vast, the simplest being methoxy (). An ethoxy group () is found in the organic compound ethyl phenyl ether (, also kn ...
boronates to form crotylboronates.
Crotylboronates are useful reagents in the formation of crotyl alcohols. They react with the acidic protons of
aldehydes
In organic chemistry, an aldehyde () is an organic compound containing a functional group with the structure . The functional group itself (without the "R" side chain) can be referred to as an aldehyde but can also be classified as a formyl group ...
to form alcohols. The mechanism involves a six-membered ring involving the carbonyl oxygen and boron in a chair-like structure. Such reactions are highly
diastereoselective
In stereochemistry, diastereomers (sometimes called diastereoisomers) are a type of stereoisomer. Diastereomers are defined as non-mirror image, non-identical stereoisomers. Hence, they occur when two or more stereoisomers of a compound have dif ...