Mechanochemical Pd-Catalyzed Amino- and Oxycarbonylations using FeBr₂(CO)₄ as a CO Source

Carboxylic acids react with diazomethane in an ether solvent via alkylation at the carboxylate oxygen atom to give methyl esters of the corresponding acid with excellent yields.

Carboxylic acids react with alcohols to yield esters via an acid-catalyzed condensation reaction called Fischer esterification. This is a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction that proceeds via a tetrahedral intermediate, where a water molecule is eliminated as the leaving group.

The carbonyl carbon in an aldehyde or ketone is the site of a nucleophilic attack due to its electron-deficient nature. Depending on the strength of the incoming nucleophile, the reaction occurs via different mechanistic pathways.
A stronger nucleophile can directly attack the electrophilic center, the carbonyl carbon. The HOMO orbital of the nucleophile interacts with the LUMO (π* antibonding) orbital present on the carbonyl carbon. This interaction breaks the π bond and shifts the...

The radical dimerization of ketones or aldehydes gives vicinal diols through a pinacol coupling reaction. However, the behavior of titanium metals used for the reaction as a source of electrons is unusual. When the reaction is carried out in the presence of titanium, diols can be isolated at low temperatures. Else titanium further reacts with diols, forming alkenes through the McMurry reaction.

Oxymercuration–reduction of alkenes is one of the major reactions converting alkenes to alcohols. It involves the hydration of alkenes with mercuric acetate in a mixture of tetrahydrofuran and water, forming an organomercury adduct. This is followed by a demercuration step in which the adduct is reduced to an alcohol using sodium borohydride.

Some cycloaddition reactions are activated by heat, while others are initiated by light. For example, a [2 + 2] cycloaddition between two ethylene molecules occurs only in the presence of light. It is photochemically allowed but thermally forbidden.