Acetals ortho-esters

Pentaerythritol in rosin ester form is used in hot-melt adhesive formulations, especially ethylene—vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers, as a tackifier. Polyethers of pentaerythritol or trim ethyl ol eth an e are also used in EVA and polyurethane adhesives, which exhibit excellent bond strength and water resistance. The adhesives maybe available as EVA melts or dispersions (90,91) or as thixotropic, one-package, curable polyurethanes (92). Pentaerythritol spko ortho esters have been used in epoxy resin adhesives (93). The EVA adhesives are especially suitable for cellulose (paper, etc) bonding. 

Oxygen ortho esters are readily cleaved by mild aqueous acid (TsOH Pyr, H20 NaHS04, 5 1 DME, H2O, 0°, 20 min ) to form esters that are then hydrolyzed with aqueous base to give the acid. Note that a trimethyl ortho ester is readily hydrolyzed in the presence of an acid-sensitive ethoxyethyl acetal. The order of acid stability is... 

Enols of simple ketones can be generated in high concentration as metastable species by special techniques. Vinyl alcohol, the enol of acetaldehyde, can be generated by very careful hydrolysis of any of several ortho ester derivatives in which the group RC02 is acetate acid or a chlorinated acetate acid. ... 

Intermediate 7, a viable precursor of intermediate 6, possesses a y,<5-unsaturated ester, the structural prerequisite, or retron, for the ortho ester Claisen transform.5 In the synthetic direction, the convergent union of intermediates 9 and 10 could give mixed-ketene acetal 8 the intermediacy of 8 should be brief, for it should readily... 

A prominent structural feature of 21 and its precursor 22 is the trans C16-C17 trisubstituted double bond. The particular relationship between the ethoxycarbonyl function and the A16 17 double bond in 22 is significant because it satisfies the structural prerequisite for the Johnson ortho ester Claisen rearrangement transform.2130 Mixed ketene acetal 23 thus emerges as the immediate... 

Note 1. The last two examples contain cyclic ortho ester structures. These compounds are conveniently named as cyclic acetals. 

The alkoxyl group OR is not a leaving group, so these compounds must be converted to the conjugate acids before they can be hydrolyzed. Although 100% sulfuric acid and other concentrated strong acids readily cleave simple ethers, the only acids used preparatively for this purpose are HBr and HI (10-71). However, acetals, ketals, and ortho esters are easily cleaved by dilute acids. These compounds are... 

The hydrolysis of acetals and ortho esters is governed hy the stereoelectronic control factor previously discussed (see A and B on p. 427) though the effect can generally be seen only in systems where conformational mobility is limited, especially in cyclic systems. There is evidence for synplanar stereoselection in the... 

Acetals, " ketals, and ortho esters react with Grignard reagents to give, respectively, ethers and acetals (or ketals). The latter can be hydrolyzed to aldehydes... 

Other leaving groups are sometimes used. Sulfates, sulfonates, and epoxides give the expected products. Acetals can behave as substrates, one OR group being replaced by ZCHZ in a reaction similar to 10-101. Ortho esters behave similarly, but the product loses R OH to give an enol ether. ... 

When acetals or ketals are treated with an alcohol of higher molecular weight than the one already there, it is possible to get a transacetalation (see 10-17). In another type of transacetalation, aldehydes or ketones can be converted to acetals or ketals by treatment with another acetal or ketal or with an ortho ester, in the presence of an acid catalyst (shown for an ortho ester) ... 

Hydrolysis of enol ethers, acetals, or ortho esters... 

Cleavage of acetals or ortho esters with Grignard reagents... 

An entirely different class of poly(ortho esters) has also been described (11). These polymers are prepared by the addition of polyols to diketene acetals. Principally due to the relative ease of... 

Because the ketene acetal-terminated prepolymer is a viscous Liquid at room temperature, therapeutic agents and the triol can be mixed into the prepolymer at room temperature and the mixture crosslink id at temperatures as low as 40°C. This allows incorporation of heat-sensitive therapeutic agents into a solid polymer under very mild conditions of thermal stress. However, because the prepolymer con-tedns reactive ketene acetal groups, any hydroxyl groups present in the therapeutic agent will result in the covalent attachment of the therapeutic agent to the matrix via ortho ester bonds (16). 

Even though poly(ortho esters) contain hydrolytically labile Linkages, they are highly hydrophobic materiads and for this reason are very stable and can be stored without careful exclusion of moisture. However, the ortho ester linkage in the polymer is inherently thermally unstable and at elevated temperatures is believed to dissociate into an alcohol and a ketene acetal (33). A possible mechanism for the thermal degradation is shown below. This thermal degradation is similar to that observed with polyurethanes (34). 

World Health Organization 10th Annual Report, 1981, pp. 62-63. World Health Organization 11th Annual Report, 1982, p. 61. Heller, J., Penhale, D. W. H., and Helwing, R. F., Preparation of poly(ortho esters) by the reaction of ketene acetals and polyols, J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Lett. Ed., 18, 82-83, 1980. 

Heller, J., Ng, S. Y., and Penhale, D. W. H., Preparation of poly(carboxy-ortho esters) by the reaction of diketene acetals and carboxylic acids. In Preparation. 

Again, the Cannizzaro reduction occurs under the condensation conditions. The ortho ester HC(0Et)2 was used as a dehydrating agent in the final acetal format ion. 

As expected, other enol ethers work well in these procedures. For example, Jones and Selenski find that implementation of method F, which occurs by addition of MeMgBr to benzaldehyde 5 in the presence of dihydropyran (DHP) at 78 °C affords a 66% yield of the corresponding tricyclic ketal 59 with better than 50 1 endo diastereoselectivity (Fig. 4.31).27 On the contrary, Lindsey reports use of method H with the benzyl alcohol 35 and diethylketene acetal. The cycloaddition reaction occurs almost instantaneously upon deprotonation of the benzyl alcohol 35 by f-butyl-magnesium bromide in the presence of the ketene acetal and yields the corresponding benzopyran ortho ester 60 in a 67% yield.29... 

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