Pinacol is a white solid organic compound. It is a
diol that has
hydroxyl groups
In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical formula and composed of one oxygen atom covalently bonded to one hydrogen atom. In organic chemistry, alcohols and carboxylic acids contain one or more hydroxy ...
(-OH) on
vicinal carbon atoms.
Preparation
It may be produced by the
pinacol coupling reaction A pinacol coupling reaction is an organic reaction in which a carbon–carbon bond is formed between the carbonyl groups of an aldehyde or a ketone in presence of an electron donor in a free radical process. The reaction product is a vicinal diol. ...
from
acetone
Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone), is an organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly volatile and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odour.
Acetone is miscib ...
:
Reactions
As a
vicinal-diol, it can rearrange to
pinacolone
Pinacolone (3,3-dimethyl-2-butanone) is an important ketone in organic chemistry. It is a colorless liquid and has a slight peppermint- or camphor- odor. It is a precursor to triazolylpinacolone in the synthesis of the fungicide triadimefon and ...
by the
pinacol rearrangement
The pinacol–pinacolone rearrangement is a method for converting a 1,2-diol to a carbonyl compound in organic chemistry. The 1,2-rearrangement takes place under acidic conditions. The name of the rearrangement reaction comes from the rearrangemen ...
, e.g. by heating with
sulfuric acid:
Pinacol can be used with borane and boron trichloride to produce useful synthetic intermediates such as
pinacolborane
Pinacolborane is the borane
Trihydridoboron, also known as borane or borine, is an unstable and highly reactive molecule with the chemical formula . The preparation of borane carbonyl, BH3(CO), played an important role in exploring the chemist ...
,
bis(pinacolato)diboron,
[{{OrgSynth , collvol = 10 , collvolpages = 115 , year = 2004 , prep = v77p0176 , title = Bis(pinacolato)diboron , author1 = Tatsuo Ishiyama, author2= Miki Murata, author3=Taka-aki Ahiko, author4-link= Norio Miyaura, author4=Norio Miyaura] and
pinacolchloroborane.
See also
*
Semipinacol rearrangement The semipinacol rearrangement is a rearrangement reaction in organic chemistry involving a heterosubstituted alcohol of the type R1R2(HO)C–C(X)R3R4. The hetero substituent can be a halogen (Cl, Br, I), a tosylate, a mesylate or a thiol group. Th ...
References
Alkanediols
Vicinal diols