Carroll rearrangement

The Carroll rearrangement is a rearrangement reaction in organic chemistry and involves the transformation of a β-keto allyl ester into a α-allyl-β-ketocarboxylic acid.[1] This organic reaction is accompanied by decarboxylation and the final product is a γ,δ-allylketone. The Carroll rearrangement is an adaptation of the Claisen rearrangement and effectively a decarboxylative allylation.

The Carroll rearrangement (1940) in the presence of base and with high reaction temperature (path A) takes place through an intermediate enol which then rearranges in a sigmatropic Claisen rearrangement. The follow-up is a decarboxylation. This rearrangement is used in the conversion of linalool to geranylacetone.[2]

Conversion of linalool to geranylacetone via Carroll rearrangement
  1. ^ Carroll, M. F. "131. Addition of α,β-unsaturated alcohols to the active methylene group. Part I. The action of ethyl acetoacetate on linalool and geraniol". Journal of the Chemical Society 1940, 704–706. doi:10.1039/JR9400000704
  2. ^ Charles S. Sell (2013), "Terpenoids", in Arza Seidel; et al. (eds.), Kirk-Othmer Chemical Technology of Cosmetics, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 247–374, ISBN 978-1-118-40692-2