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Decarboxylations of β-Keto Acids and Related Compounds

  • Chapter
Transition States of Biochemical Processes

Abstract

The transfer of a proton from one atom to another is one of the most fundamental processes in chemistry and biochemistry. The detailed mechanism of this reaction has been given much attention both for proton transfers to and from carbon and the more electronegative oxygen and nitrogen.(1) An important class of proton transfers involves those reactions in which another bond is made or broken in addition to the proton transfer itself. Two extreme conditions may occur. The two steps of the reaction may be concerted (all bond breaking and making simultaneous) or stepwise (formation or cleavage of one bond leading to a true intermediate, followed by further bond making and/or breaking). We shall use the definition of a “true intermediate” proposed by Bauer,(2) that is, any species with a lifetime of greater than one molecular vibration: in other words a species with restoring forces for all of its vibrational motions.

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  1. Laboratory for Chemical Dynamics, Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Ralph M. Pollack

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, 70803, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

    Richard D. Gandour

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas, 66045, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

    Richard L. Schowen

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Pollack, R.M. (1978). Decarboxylations of β-Keto Acids and Related Compounds. In: Gandour, R.D., Schowen, R.L. (eds) Transition States of Biochemical Processes. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9978-0_12

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