Pinacol is a branched

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

which finds use in organic syntheses. It is a

diol A diol is a chemical compound containing two hydroxyl groups ( groups). An aliphatic diol may also be called a glycol. This pairing of functional groups is pervasive, and many subcategories have been identified. They are used as protecting gro ...

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 ...

on vicinal carbon atoms. A white solid that melts just above room temperature, pinacol is notable for undergoing the

pinacol rearrangement The pinacol–pinacolone rearrangement is a method for converting a diol, 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 rearra ...

in the presence of

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

and for being the namesake of 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 dio ...

Preparation

It may be produced by the

from

acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly Volatile organic compound, volatile, and flammable liquid with a charact ...

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 with a slight peppermint or camphor odor. It is a precursor to triazolylpinacolone in the synthesis of the fungicide triadimefon and in sy ...

by the

, e.g., by heating with

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

Pinacol can be used with borane and boron trichloride to produce useful synthetic intermediates such as

pinacolborane Pinacolborane is the borane with the formula (CH3)4C2O2BH. Often pinacolborane is abbreviated HBpin. It features a boron hydride functional group incorporated in a five-membered C2O2B ring. Like related boron alkoxides, pinacolborane is monomeric. ...

bis(pinacolato)diboron Bis(pinacolato)diboron is a covalent compound containing two boron atoms and two pinacolato ligands. It has the formula CH3)4C2O2Bsub>2; the pinacol groups are sometimes abbreviated as "pin", so the structure is sometimes represented as B2pin2. I ...

,{{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.

References

Alkanediols Vicinal diols

Preparation

Reactions

See also

References