Synthetic Studies of Amino Acids by the Use of Copper Complex. II. The Condensation Reaction of N-Pyruvylideneglycinatocopper(II) Complexes with various Aldehydes

An investigation of the mechanism of the reaction which involves the base-catalyzed condensation of bis(glycinato)copper(II) with aldehydes was carried out with the purpose of improving it so that it can proceed even with lower molar equivalent ratios of aldehydes to the complex and under milder conditions. On the basis of the results reported in the literature and those of this investigation, the reaction has been carried out as expected and has been newly shown to be applicable to p-tolualdehyde and p-chlorobenzaldehyde, and, moreover, to such aldehydo sugar derivatives as 2,3-O-isopropylidene-d-glyceraldehyde by the use of N-pyruvylideneglycinatocopper(II) complexes in the reaction in place of bis(glycinato)copper(II). An attempt at further improvement will also be described in the present communication.