Alcohols groups

They are colourless liquids with characteristic odours, and are prepared by the condensation of ketones with alkyl orthoformates in the presence of alcohols, or by the reaction of acetylenes with alcohols in presence of HgO and BF3. In some cases trichloroethanoic acid is used as the catalyst. They lose alcohol when heated and form vinyl ethers. Exchange of alcohol groups occurs when the ketals of the lower alcohols are boiled with alcohols of greater molecular weight. See acetals. 

Apart from fatty acids, straight-chain molecules containing other hydrophilic end groups have been employed in numerous studies. In order to stabilize LB films chemical entities such as tlie alcohol group and tlie metliyl ester group have been introduced, botli of which are less hydrophilic tlian carboxylic acids and are largely unaffected by tlie pH of tlie subphase. 

When chlorine is passed into boiling ethanol, both chlorination of the methyl group and oxidation of the primary alcohol group to an aldehyde occur, giving trichloro-acetaldehyde or chloral ... 

Certain aliphatic compounds are oxidised by concentrated nitric acid, the carbon atoms being split off in pairs, with the formation of oxalic acid. This disruptive oxidation is shown by many carbohydrates, e.g., cane sugar, where the chains of secondary alcohol groups, -CH(OH)-CH(OH)-CH(OH)CH(OH)-, present in the molecule break down particularly readily to give oxalic acid. 

Fructose (V) under similar conditions gives first the phenylhydrazonc (Va) by the direct condensation of the >C 0 group of carbon atom 2 with one molecule of phenylhydrazine. The second molecule of phenylhydrazine then oxidises the primary alcohol group of carbon atom 1 to the -CHO group by removal of two atoms of hydrogen, which as before serve to reduce the phenyl-hydrazine to aniline and ammonia. The compound (Vb) which is thus produced then undergoes direct condensation with the third molecule of phenylhydrazine, giving the osazone of fructose, or fructosazone (Vc). 

The secondary alcohol group, -CH(OH) in benzoin is readily oxidised to a ketone group, and thus benzil, a diketone, is obtained. 

This olionge involves the oxidation of the alcohol grouping of C or C to carbonyl by the action of a second molecule of phenylhydrazine the latter is reduced to aniline and ammonia. Alternative explanations of this reaction have been advanced, but these cannot be discussed here (see, however. Section 111,139,6). 

By controlhng the relative amounts of, for example, glycerol and phthahc anhydride and the experimental conditions of the reaction, various pol5 mers of different properties are obtained. Under mild conditions (ca. 150°) only the primary alcohol groups are esterified and the secondary alcohol group remains free. The structural unit of the resulting linear polymer is ... 

CO—C H,—CO—0—CHj—CHOH—CHj—OOC—CgH,—CO— These are comparatively soft materials and they are soluble in a number of organic solvents. Under more drastic conditions (200-220°) and with a larger proportion of phthahc anhydride, the secondary alcohol groups are esterified and the simple chains become cross-hnked three dimensional molecules of much higher molecular weight are formed ... 

There is no danger that the tertiary alcohol group will form an ester under these conditions. Ester exchange is described in Norman p. 134-5. 

A catalytic enantio- and diastereoselective dihydroxylation procedure without the assistance of a directing functional group (like the allylic alcohol group in the Sharpless epox-idation) has also been developed by K.B. Sharpless (E.N. Jacobsen, 1988 H.-L. Kwong, 1990 B.M. Kim, 1990 H. Waldmann, 1992). It uses osmium tetroxide as a catalytic oxidant (as little as 20 ppm to date) and two readily available cinchona alkaloid diastereomeis, namely the 4-chlorobenzoate esters or bulky aryl ethers of dihydroquinine and dihydroquinidine (cf. p. 290% as stereosteering reagents (structures of the Os complexes see R.M. Pearlstein, 1990). The transformation lacks the high asymmetric inductions of the Sharpless epoxidation, but it is broadly applicable and insensitive to air and water. Further improvements are to be expected. 

In addition to sp C—H stretching modes there are other stretching vibrations that appear at frequencies above 3000 cm The most important of these is the O—H stretch of alcohols Figure 13 34 shows the IR spectrum of 2 hexanol It contains a broad peak at 3300 cm ascribable to O—H stretching of hydrogen bonded alcohol groups In... 

The alcohol groups of carbohydrates undergo chemical reactions typical of hydroxyl functions They are converted to esters by reaction with acyl chlorides and carboxylic acid anhydrides... 

The cellulose molecule contains three hydroxyl groups which can react and leave the chain backbone intact. These alcohol groups can be esterified with acetic anhydride to form cellulose acetate. This polymer is spun into the fiber acetate rayon. Similarly, the alcohol groups in cellulose react with CS2 in the presence of strong base to produce cellulose xanthates. When extruded into fibers, this material is called viscose rayon, and when extruded into sheets, cellophane. In both the acetate and xanthate formation, some chain degradation also occurs, so the resulting polymer chains are shorter than those in the starting cellulose. 

The addition of alcohols to form the 3-alkoxypropionates is readily carried out with strongly basic catalyst (25). If the alcohol groups are different, ester interchange gives a mixture of products. Anionic polymerization to oligomeric acrylate esters can be obtained with appropriate control of reaction conditions. The 3-aIkoxypropionates can be cleaved in the presence of acid catalysts to generate acrylates (26). Development of transition-metal catalysts for carbonylation of olefins provides routes to both 3-aIkoxypropionates and 3-acryl-oxypropionates (27,28). Hence these are potential intermediates to acrylates from ethylene and carbon monoxide. 

Chemical Properties. Its two functional groups permit a wide variety of chemical reactions for lactic acid. The primary classes of these reactions are oxidation, reduction, condensation, and substitution at the alcohol group. 

Substitution at the Alcohol Group. Acylation of the OH group by acylating agents such as acid chlorides or anhydrides is one of the important high yielding substitution reactions at the OH group of lactic acid and its functional derivatives. AUphatic, aromatic, and other substituted derivatives can be produced. 

In methacrylic ester polymers, the glass-transition temperature, is influenced primarily by the nature of the alcohol group as can be seen in Table 1. Below the the polymers are hard, brittle, and glass-like above the they are relatively soft, flexible, and mbbery. At even higher temperatures, depending on molecular weight, they flow and are tacky. Table 1 also contains typical values for the density, solubiHty parameter, and refractive index for various methacrylic homopolymers. 

Esters of nitro alcohols with primary alcohol groups can be prepared from the nitro alcohol and an organic acid, but nitro alcohols with secondary alcohol groups can be esterified only through the use of an acid chloride or anhydride. The nitrate esters of the nitro alcohols are obtained easily by treatment with nitric acid (qv). The resulting products have explosive properties but are not used commercially. 

In the piepaiation of ioveisol (12) (41), the key intermediate (23) is prepared from the diacid (20) by the action of thionyl chloride followed by 3-amino-l,2-propanediol. The alcohol groups of (23) are protected as the acetates (25), which is then N-acylated with acetoxyacetyl chloride and deprotected in aqueous methanol with sodium hydroxide to yield (26). N-alkylation of (26) produces ioversol (12). 

Reactions with Sahcylaldehydes. Tetraalkyl titanates react in benzene with sahcylaldehyde in a 1 1 or 1 2 molar ratio to give sahcylaldehydotrialkoxy and dialkoxy products, which when heated at reflux seem to undergo a Meewein-Pomidorf reaction to give an aldehyde derived from the alcohol group on the titanate and a reduced titanate complex (37) ... 

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