Acetates, from aldehyde diacetates

One of the first practical methods for the manufacture of cinnamyl alcohol involved reduction of cinnamic aldehyde diacetate with iron filings in acetic acid. This approach suffered from low yields and Hberation of a significant amount of the starting aldehyde. 

The dimethyl acetal (94) is readily prepared from the 22-aldehyde (93) by direct reaction with methanol in the presence of hydrogen chloride. Ena-mines (95) are formed without a catalyst even with the poorly reactive piperidine and morpholine.Enol acetates (96) are prepared by refluxing with acetic anhydride-sodium acetate or by exchange with isopropenyl acetate in pyridine.Reaction with acetic anhydride catalyzed by boron trifluoride-etherate or perchloric acid gives the aldehyde diacetate. 

The electrochemical oxidation is often more sensitive to the reaction conditions than to the substituents. Platinum electrodes are recommended for methoxylation and the equivalent acetoxylation procedures.290 In acetonitrile buffered by hydrogen carbonate ion, 3,4-diethylfuran affords the 2,5-dihydroxy-2,5-dihydro derivative (84%) and Jones oxidation readily leads to diethylmaleic anhydride in what is claimed to be the best general method for such conversions.291 In unbuffered methanol and under current density control, the oxidation of 2-methylfuran appears to eliminate the methyl group since the product is the acetal-ester 111 also obtained from methyl 2-furoate.292 If sodium acetate buffer is used, however, the methyl group is retained but oxidized in part to the aldehyde diacetate 112 in a... 

Nitriles (Table 11)" The oxidative decyanation of nitriles can be efficient and experimentally convenient. In particular, good yields of ketones are obtained from secondary nitriles the reaction is most efficient with the more acidic compounds. Primary nitriles are converted into the corresponding acids, probably via the aldehydes. In the presence of acetic anhydride the reaction stops at the aldehyde diacetate stage. 

Several procedures for the synthesis of aromatic aldehydes are available which involve the selective oxidation of a methyl group attached to an aromatic ring. A useful general reagent is a solution of chromium trioxide in acetic anhydride and acetic acid. The aldehyde is converted into the gem-diacetate as it is formed and is thus protected from further oxidation. The aldehyde is liberated from the diacetate by hydrolysis under acid conditions the yields, however, are frequently only moderate (e.g. p-nitrobenzaldehyde, Expt 6.117). 

Nafion-H has been used as a catalyst for the preparation of 1,1-diacetates from aldehydes and acetic anhydride. High yields were obtained in short reaction times at room temperature. Acetals of aromatic aldehydes may be prepared under non-acidic conditions by treatment of aldazines with phenyliodosyl diacetate in alcoholic solution. When [Ayrfrojcy- Hlmethanol is used as solvent, deuterium is incorporated at the aldehydic position. a-Monobromoacetalization may be carried out conveniently using phenyltrimethylammonium tribromide in ethylene glycol and tetrahydrofuran. ... 

Unsaturated aldehydes undergo a similar reaction in the presence of strongly acid ion-exchange resins to produce alkenyUdene diacetates. Thus acrolein [107-02-8] or methacrolein [78-85-3] react with equimolar amounts of anhydride at —10°C to give high yields of the -diacetates from acetic anhydride, useful for soap fragrances. 

The mechanism of the Perkin condensation involving benzal acetate has been revised.17 It has been demonstrated that the enolate of the gem-diacetate derived from the aromatic aldehyde and acetic anhydride-rather than the enolate of acetic anhydride itself-adds to the aldehyde in the key step. The deprotonation of the diacetate to the enolate appeared to be assisted electrophilically by the neighbouring acetate group. 

In this review, the term acetal will be used to connote a cyclic compound (I) formed, together with one mole of water, by the condensation of an aldehyde with an equimolecular proportion of a glycol, and not, as is more usual, an acyclic compound derived from one mole of an aldehyde and two moles of a monohydric alcohol. A compound which contains more than one such ring system will be termed a diacetal, triacetal, etc. In an analogous fashion, cyclic condensation products (II) obtained from ketones will be called ketals. ... 

Three monoacetals, o-,70 wi-97 and p-nitrobenzylidene-dulcitol,97 have been described, the first being formulated, without proof, as the 3,4-derivative. The only triacetal of dulcitol of which we are aware is a tri-(o-nitrobenzylidene)-dulcitol prepared from the aldehyde and the hexitol using as the condensing agent phosphorus pentoxide,70 instead of 75% sulfuric acid which gives the diacetal already mentioned.48 6 Photochemical transformations of o-nitrobenzylidene acetals are discussed on page 148. 

In the BASF process the 1,2-diacetate is the substrate for the hydroformylation step. It can be prepared either directly via oxidative acetoxylation of butadiene using a selenium catalyst or via PtCl4-catalyzed isomerization of the 1,4-diacetate (see above). The latter reaction affords the 1,2-diacetate in 95% yield. The hydroformylation step is carried out with a rhodium catalyst without phosphine ligands since the branched aldehyde is the desired product (phosphine ligands promote the formation of linear aldehydes). Relatively high pressures and temperatures are used and the desired branched aldehyde predominates. The product mixture is then treated with sodium acetate in acetic acid to effect selective elimination of acetic acid from the branched aldehyde, giving the desired C5 aldehyde. 

Benzaldehyde is prepared by the hydrolysis of (dichloromethyl)benzene (benzal chloride) in either aqueous acid or aqueous alkali and by the oxidation of toluene with chromium trioxide in acetic anhydride (Scheme 6.3). In the latter synthesis, as the benzaldehyde is formed, it is converted into its diacetate by the acetic anhydride, so preventing further oxidation subsequent hydrolysis generates the aldehyde group. The benzaldehyde has thus been protected from oxidation. Benzyl alcohol can... 

The conformational flexibility postulated for the 2,4 3,5-diacetals of mannitol would disappear in acetals prepared from higher aldehydes and therefore possessing substituents at the acetal carbon atoms, but the status of such acetals is at present obscure., Two isomers of l,6-dichloro-l,6-dideoxy-2,3,4,5-di-O-ethylidene-D-mannitol are known, but the structures have not been determined. Two stereoisomers with the 2,4 3,5-structure and related to the H-inside and 0-inside conformations LVI and LVII, respectively, are clearly possible, but the structures 2,3 4,5 and 2,5 3,4 must also be considered. There is considerable scope for more work on 2,3,4,5-diacetals of mannitol, and confirmation of the structure XLVII advanced by Ness, Hann and Hudson for their mono-O-benzylidene-mono-O-methylene derivative is a necessary step in the assessment of the relative stability of the different structural types. 

In the presence of acetic anhydride, acetic acid, and sulfuric acid, chromic acid (chromium trioxide) converts o-nitrotoluene and p-nitro-toluene into the corresponding nitrobenzaldehyde diacetates, from which the aldehydes are obtained on hydrolysis (equation 174) [547, 548, 549. ... 

---