Enolates de l'acetylacetate d'ethyle. Structure et reactivite du sel de potassium en presence d'ether couronne et de cryptand

It is shown that, through the addition of 18-crown-6 or cryptand (2.2.2) to potassium ethyl acetoacetate enolate solutions in tetrahydrofuran, 1:1 complexes are formed. A single crystal of the 1:1 potassium énolate-18-crown-6 complex has been obtained. Its structure has been determined by X-ray diffraction. The crystal includes entities formed from an enolate anion chelating a potassium cation externally complexed by the crown-ether. The vibrational spectrometry shows that the structure of the entity is kept in solution. In the species formed through the addition of cryptand (2.2.2), the enolate anion has a structure (IR spectroscopy) and a reactivity very close to that of the free anion, observed in a dissociating solvent (DMSO, HMPA). When crown ether is added, a contact ion pair is formed, in which the cation is externally solvated by the crown. On the other hand, the cation encapsulation by the cryptand leads to a released anion with an “ S-trans” or “W” structure. The reactivity and the orientation of the alkylation reactions of these entities have been measured in THF solutions. They are discussed in relation to the structure of the species present in the reaction medium.