Alcohols from lactone hydrogenation

Esters are prepared by reaction of aldonic acids or lactones with an alcohol in the presence of hydrogen chloride 80 the reaction is slower with 1,4-lactones. Amides are readily formed from lactones by reaction with liquid ammonia followed by evaporation of the solvent.81 D-Gluconamide has also been prepared by treatment of D-glucono-1,5-lactone with concentrated ammonium hydroxide and subsequent precipitation with ethanol.82 A-Substituted aldonamides may be obtained by reaction of the aldono-lactones with ethanolamine, diethanolamine, and related species.83... 

Hydrogenation in alcoholic acid converts ketones into ethers Good yields of aldehydes from esters as well as hydroxyaldehydes from lactones can be obtained by reduction with NaAlH4 at low temp. The preparation of aldehydes under mild conditions by cleavage of p-dimethylaminophenlycarbinols with diazotized sul-... 

In an effort to make productive use of the undesired C-13 epimer, 100-/ , a process was developed to convert it into the desired isomer 100. To this end, reaction of the lactone enolate derived from 100-) with phenylselenenyl bromide produces an a-selenated lactone which can subsequently be converted to a,) -unsaturated lactone 148 through oxidative syn elimination (91 % overall yield). Interestingly, when 148 is treated sequentially with lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide and methanol, the double bond of the unsaturated lactone is shifted, the lactone ring is cleaved, and ) ,y-unsaturated methyl ester alcohol 149 is formed in 94% yield. In light of the constitution of compound 149, we were hopeful that a hydroxyl-directed hydrogenation52 of the trisubstituted double bond might proceed diastereoselectively in the desired direction In the event, however, hydrogenation of 149 in the presence of [Ir(COD)(py)P(Cy)3](PF6)53 produces an equimolar mixture of C-13 epimers in 80 % yield. Sequential methyl ester saponification and lactonization reactions then furnish a separable 1 1 mixture of lactones 100 and 100-) (72% overall yield from 149). 

The results of the series of reactions shown in eq. 2 are listed in Table 1 together with our early reported data on the hydrogenation of 2-octanone (Z) [4]. The hydrogenation on all substrates proceeded smoothly and gave the corresponding chiral secondary alcohol. In the case of 3, 4, S, and 6, some amounts of lactone were produced as by-product. From this study, quite interesting stereochemical behavior... 

This oxidative process has been successful with ketones,244 esters,245 and lactones.246 Hydrogen peroxide can also be used as the oxidant, in which case the alcohol is formed directly.247 The mechanisms for the oxidation of enolates by oxygen is a radical chain autoxidation in which the propagation step involves electron transfer from the carbanion to a hydroperoxy radical.248... 

Aldono-1,5-lactones and free aldonic acids react with alcohols in the presence of hydrogen chloride to give the corresponding alkyl aldonates (84). The reaction is slower with 1,4-lactones. Because esterification takes place very slowly in the absence of an acidic catalyst, aldonic acids and their lactones may be recrystallized from boiling alcohols without appreciable esterification (85). However, in some instances, alkyl esters are formed under these conditions. For example, essentially pure ethyl L-mannonate was isolated (6.4% yield) from the mother liquors of crystallization L-man-nono-1,4-lactone, obtained by Kiliani synthesis from L-arabinose (86). Similarly, repeated recrystallization from ethanol of crude 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucono- 1,5-lactone afforded the corresponding ethyl gluconate derivative (87). 

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