Tertiary alcohols, esterification

Miller and Kirchner [9] and Mathis and Ourisson [1] have both already demonstrated that esterification at the start can be employed to distinguish primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols. Tertiary alcohols react much more slowly... 

Substitution as a preceding reaction. In addition to the well known determination of primary and secondary alcohols via esterification with acetic anhydride in pyridine at about 98° C, esterification is possible at room temperature in ethyl acetate with perchloric acid117 or 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulphonic acid118 as a catalyst. However, as tertiary alcohols preferably split off their hydroxy group, they can be adequately determined by OH-substitution with HBr in glacial acetic acid according to... 

For steric reasons the order of alcohol reactivity m the Fischer esterification is CH3OH > primary > secondary > tertiary... 

Olefins add anhydrous acetic acid to give esters, usually of secondary or tertiary alcohols propjiene [115-07-1] yields isopropyl acetate [108-21-4], isobutjiene [115-11-7] gives tert-huty acetate [540-88-5]. Minute amounts of water inhibit the reaction. Unsaturated esters can be prepared by a combined oxidative esterification over a platinum group metal catalyst. Eor example, ethylene-air-acetic acid passed over a palladium—Hthium acetate catalyst yields vinyl acetate. 

Rea.ctlons, As with other tertiary alcohols, esterification with carboxyUc acids is difficult and esters are prepared with anhydrides (181), acid chlorides (182), or ketene (183). Carbamic esters may be prepared by treatment with an isocyanate (184) or with phosgene followed by ammonia or an amine (185). 

Formic acid forms esters with primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols. The high acidity of formic acid makes use of the usual mineral acid catalysts unnecessary in simple esterifications (17). Formic acid reacts with most amines to form formylamino compounds. With certain diamines imida2ole formation occurs, a reaction that has synthetic utiHty (18) ... 

However, this method is appHed only when esterification cannot be effected by the usual acid—alcohol reaction because of the higher cost of the anhydrides. The production of cellulose acetate (see Fibers, cellulose esters), phenyl acetate (used in acetaminophen production), and aspirin (acetylsahcyhc acid) (see Salicylic acid) are examples of the large-scale use of acetic anhydride. The speed of acylation is greatiy increased by the use of catalysts (68) such as sulfuric acid, perchloric acid, trifluoroacetic acid, phosphoms pentoxide, 2inc chloride, ferric chloride, sodium acetate, and tertiary amines, eg, 4-dimethylaminopyridine. 

The acid chlorides are generally more reactive than the corresponding acid anhydrides. In fact, the alcoholysis of acid chlorides is probably the best laboratory method for preparing esters. Frequentiy, basic materials are added during the course of the reaction to neutralize by-product hydrochloric acid. When the basic material is aqueous caustic, the procedure is referred to as the Schotten-Baumann procedure (73). Esterification of tertiary alcohols by acid chlorides is described in Reference 74. Esters of tertiary alcohols can also be formed through an intermediate /-butyl thioate group (75) ... 

AC2O, AcCl, Pyr, DMAP, 24-80°, 1-40 h, 72-95% yield. The use of DMAP increases the rate of acylation by a factor of 10. These conditions will acylate most alcohols, including tertiary alcohols. The use of DMAP (4-N,N-dimethylaminopyridine) as a catalyst to improve the rate of esterification is quite general and works for other esters as well. 

Esterification. The esterification of rosin provides important commercial products for the adhesive industry. Rosin esters are formed by the reaction of rosins with alcohols at elevated temperatures. Because the carboxyl group of the resin acids is hindered by attachment to a tertiary carbon, esterification with an alcohol can only be accomplished at elevated temperatures. This hindrance is in turn responsible for the high resistance of the resin acid ester linkage to cleavage by water, acid and alkali. 

Normal Fischer esterification of tertiary alcohols is unsatisfactory because the acid catalyst required causes dehydration or rearrangement of the tertiary substrate. Moreover, reactions with acid chlorides or anhydrides are also of limited value for similar reasons. However, treatment of acetic anhydride with calcium carbide (or calcium hydride) followed by addition of the dry tertiary alcohol gives the desired acetate in good yield. 

Linalol is a tertiary alcohol of the formula Cj HjgO, which, with its acetic ester (and traces of other esters) forms the basis of the perfume,of bergamot and lavender oils. By dehydration linalol is converted into terpenes of which the principal are limonene and dipentene, and by esterification into its acetic ester. The examination of the essential oil at different periods of the development of the bergamot fruit has led Charabot and Laloue to the following conclusions. As the fruit matures the essential oil undergoes the following modifications —... 

Esterification of tertiary alcohols poses several problems and expensive catalysts, like dimethylamino pyridine, are recommended. While esterification/transesterification/hydrolysis involving primary and secondary alcohols has been reported both with chemocatalysts and biocatalysts, terf-alcohol based esters have not found success. Recent work of Yeo et al. (1998) reports successful results for /er/-butyl octonoate using a new strain of lipase. This is a significant finding as the production of esters based on fert-alcohols (and reciprocally with hindered acids) may well be possible with biocatalysts, avoiding expensive catalysts and allowing easier separation. 

As has been mentioned, preparation of esters of the C-17 hydroxyl group of selected progestins affords compounds with prolonged action. Similar chemical treatment of a corticoid would almost certainly lead to an ester of the sterically more accessible primary alcohol at C-21. In an interesting method for achieving esterification of the more hindered and less reactive tertiary 17-hydroxyl, prednisolone... 

Tanaka and Kakiuchi (6) proposed catalyst activation via a hydrogen donor such as an alcohol as a refinement to the mechanism discussed by Fischer (7) for anhydride cured epoxies in the presence of a tertiary amine. The basic catalyst eliminates esterification reactions (8). Shechter and Wynstra ( ) further observed that at reaction conditions BDMA does not produce a homopolymerization of oxiranes. 

The next step is not immediately obvious. The generation of an ethyl ester from a lactone can be accommodated by transesterification (we might alternatively consider esterification of the free hydroxyacid). The incorporation of chlorine where we effectively had the alcohol part of the lactone leads us to nucleophilic substitution. That it can be SnI is a consequence of the tertiary site. Cyclopropane ring formation from an Sn2 reaction in which an enolate anion displaces a halide should be deducible from the structural relationships and basic conditions. 

Protection of an alcohol function by esterification sometimes offers advantages over use of acetal or ether groups. Generally, ester groups are stable under acidic conditions. Esters are especially useful in protection during oxidations. Acetates and benzoates are the most commonly used ester derivatives. They can be conveniently prepared by reaction of unhindered alcohols with acetic anhydride or benzoyl chloride, respectively, in the presence of pyridine or other tertiary amines. 4-Dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) is often used as a catalyst. The use of A-acylimidazolides (see Section 3.4.1) allows the... 

The present procedure4 is an especially effective method for the synthesis of esters of aromatic acids and hindered tertiary alcohols or of acid-labile alcohols such as 2,2-diphenylethanol. The yields are excellent, and the reaction procedure is simple. The method is illustrated by the preparation of /-butyl p-toluate, a compound that could not be prepared by a conventional method0 of esterification involving the acid chloride and /-butanol in the presence of dimothylaniline. Examples of esters prepared by this method are illustrated in Table I. 

Glucocorticoids are available in a wide range of preparations, so that they can be administered parenterally, orally, topically, or by inhalation. Obviously the oral route is preferred for prolonged therapy. However, parenteral administration is required in certain circumstances. Intramuscular injection of a water-soluble ester (phosphate or succinate) formed by esterification of the C21 steroid alcohol produces peak plasma steroid levels within 1 hour. Such preparations are useful in emergencies. By contrast, acetate and tertiary butylacetate esters must be injected locally as suspensions and are slowly absorbed from the injection site, which prolongs their effectiveness to approximately 8 hours. 

Esterification of linalool requires special reaction conditions since it tends to undergo dehydration and cyclization because it is an unsaturated tertiary alcohol. These reactions can be avoided as follows esterification with ketene in the presence of an acidic esterification catalyst below 30 °C results in formation of linalyl acetate without any byproducts [71]. Esterification can be achieved in good yield, with boiling acetic anhydride, whereby the acetic acid is distilled off as it is formed a large excess of acetic anhydride must be maintained by continuous addition of anhydride to the still vessel [34]. Highly pure linalyl acetate can be obtained by transesterification of tert-butyl acetate with linalool in the presence of sodium methylate and by continuous removal of the tert-butanol formed in the process [72]. 

---