In the previous post we discussed the alkylation reactions of enolates, which are one of the most important transformations in carbonyl chemistry. Enolates are typically formed from carbonyl compounds, but they are not limited to aldehydes and ketones. Similar enolate-type reactivity can also be generated from other functional groups that have acidic α-protons, such as nitro compounds and nitriles. In these cases, deprotonation next to the electron-withdrawing group gives stabilized anions that can behave in a similar way to enolates in reactions such as alkylation and conjugate addition.
Here are some practice problems to master the concept of alkylating a variety of enolates.
