Alcohols ozonolysis, ozone

The second synthetic approach to oidiolactone C (61) is summarized in Scheme 20. This route also commences with the ozonolysis of trans-communic acid 180. Now, when this compound was exposed to ozone in excess, keto aldehyde 187 was obtained in 76% yield. The key step in this approach was the y-lactone closure via chemoselective reduction of the lactone moiety on compound 189 through a SN2 mechanism. Compound 189 could be prepared by saponification of the corresponding methyl ester with sodium propanethiolate. Once the primary alcohol is oxidized, the completion of the synthesis of key lactone 103 only requires the allylic oxidation of the C-17 methyl with concomitant closure of the 8-lactone. This conversion was achieved with Se02 in refluxing acetic acid to give 103 in 51% yield. 

Ozonolysis of cycloalkenes.b Cycloalkenes are converted by ozonation in the presence of an alcohol (usually methanol) into an acyclic product with an aldehyde group and an a-alkoxy hydroperoxide group at the terminal positions. The products are usually difficult to purify, but they can be converted into useful products that retain differentiated terminal functionality. 

Ozonolysis allows the cleavage of alkene double bonds by reaction with ozone. Depending on the work up, different products may be isolated reductive work-up gives either alcohols or carbonyl compounds, while oxidative work-up leads to carboxylic acids or ketones. 

In other cases, the oxidation reaction may not be asymmetric, but stereogenic centers within the substrate are preserved in the product allowing for an asymmetric reaction. An example of this type of reaction is provided by ozonolysis, which is discussed in Chapter 11. The use of ozone also overcomes one of the major problems that has been associated with oxidations at scale—the use of toxic, heavy metals their separation from the reaction product and waste disposal. However, there are still some useful reactions that use metals without chiral ligands and provide stereodifferentiation. An example is provided by the manganese oxide oxidation of ferrocenyl amino alcohols (Scheme 9.2).14... 

Variation in substituents generates a variety of analogues of artemisinin.59 62 Ozonolysis is carried out at low temperatures (-70°C to -80°C) in a reaction solvent chosen to assure compatibility with both ozone and the vinylsilane. Generally, lower alcohols such as methanol, or haloalkanes such as dichloromethane, or a combination of both types of solvent are used. The reaction is carried... 

A study of the intermediate products from the ozonolysis of iso-proplymercuric chloride shows that the rate of build-up of isopropyl alcohol adequately accounts for the rate of acetone formation. The reaction sequence therefore appears to be one of carbon-mercury cleavage, followed by oxidation by ozone. 

Few synthetically useful examples of the oxidation of ethers by oxygen or ozone have been publish-ed.7 96 Q0 In 1978, Ourisson and coworkers reported that ozonization of the natural product cedrane oxide (43) on silica gel at -78 °C led to the formation of the corresponding lactone (44) in 30% yield (equation 32).A small amount of the tertiary alcohol (45) was also produced. Later, in the course of a chiral total synthesis of compactin, Hirama examined the ozonolysis of the alkene (46 equation 33). ° Under carefully controlled conditions, selective ozonolysis of the double bond could be achieved in 88% yield. However, when excess ozone was employed, significant amounts of the benzoate (47) were obtained, even at -78 C. In subsequent studies, benzyl ethers of primary and secondary alcohols,and carbohydrates were oxidized to the corresponding benzoates in excellent yields. Surprisingly, no further synthetic rqrplications of this reaction have been reported. 

Ozone, while somewhat inconvenient to use, is way qiecific in its reactions with alkenes. It is widely employed for selective synthesis, for qualitative and quantitative analysis of unsaturated compounds, and for studying the position of double bonds in macromolecules. The nature of the products obtained from ozonolysis reactions is determitted by the way in which the reaction is carried out Different workup procedures (hydrolytic, reductive or oxidative) can be used to produce alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids or esters. 

In addition to the ozonolysis of alkenes and a few aromatic compounds [93, 104], ozone oxidizes other groups. Thus saturated hydrocarbons containing tertiary hydrogen atoms are converted into tertiary alcohols [105, 106], and some alkenes are transformed into epoxides [107] or a,p-unsat-urated ketones [108], Benzene rings are oxidized to carboxylic groups [109, ethers [110] and aldehyde acetals [111] to esters aldehydes to peroxy acids [772] sulfides to sulfoxides and sulfones [775] phosphines and phosphites to phosphine oxides and phosphates, respectively [775] and organomer-cury compounds to ketones or carboxylic acids [114]. 

In the preparation of aldehydes by ozonolysis of alkenes, it is important to add the correct amount of ozone to the solution because an excess of O3 can lead to side reactions. Ozonolysis in alcoholic solvents traps the carbonyl oxide as a hydroperoxide. Dimethyl sulfide reduces hydroperoxides under very mild conditions and generates the corresponding aldehydes in excellent yields. This workup procedure is recommended when the aldehyde is the desired reaction product. 

When aldehydes are prepared by ozonolysis, exactly the correct amount of ozone must be added, because excess ozone converts aldehydes to acids and peracids. In addition, alcohols, ethers, double bonds, or other functional groups present in the molecule may be attacked. This brings up the problem of determining when to stop the ozonolysis reaction. The theoretical amount of ozone may be added, but several cases are recorded in which more than one molar equivalent of ozone is required to cleave one double bond. One may stop when ozone appears in the effluent gas from the reactor. However, preliminary experiments have shown that at this low temperature ozone begins to overflow very soon after the reaction has started. A more useful method has been to stop the ozonolysis when the reaction mixture no longer shows unsaturation. This may be detected qualitatively by the use of bromine in carbon tetrachloride, tetranitromethane, etc. An infrared method makes it possible to follow quantitatively the rate of disappearance of trans double bonds and to locate the end point more exactly. The method was applied to the ozonolysis of stigmastadienone with good results. 

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