Aldehydes, reaction with silver oxide

Oxidation of one molar proportion with sodium pieriodate produces two equivalents of formic acid, in accordance with the existence of hydroxyl groups attached to four contiguous carbon atoms. This oxidation (and also that carried out with lead tetraacetate) gives an aldehyde, whose semicar-bazone has an analysis corresponding to that of the semicarbazone of an ethyl formyl-methyl-furoate (XII). By oxidation of aldehyde XII with silver oxide in alkaline solution, 2-methyl-3,4-furandicarboxylic acid (XIV) was obtained this was identical with the compound described by Alder and Rickert.20 The identity was confirmed by preparation of the respective dianilides. The acid XIV has also been prepared by the reaction between the sodium salt of ethyl acetoacetate and ethyl bromopyruvate.9... 

Further studies on the photochemistry of friedelin have led to the isolation of the unsaturated aldehyde (130).105 Silver oxide oxidation of (130) gave the known putranjivic acid. Irradiation of friedelin in the presence of acetone afforded the hydroxy-ketone (131).106 Photochemically initiated reaction of 7/3-hydroxyfriedelane and 3/3,7/3-dihydroxyfriedelane with lead tetra-acetate-iodine... 

To identify the specific aldehyde that is actually involved in the light-emitting reaction of living luminous bacteria, Shimomura et al. (1974a) extracted and purified the aldehyde from 40 g each of the bacterial cells of P. phosphoreum, Achromobacter (Vibrio or Photobacterium) fischeri, and an aldehydeless mutant of A. fischeri. The aldehyde fractions were purified, and then oxidized with Tollens reagent (silver oxide dissolved in ammonia) to convert the CHO group into the COOH group. Then the acids obtained were analyzed by mass spectrometry. The results indicated that P. phosphoreum had contained a mixture of aldehydes dodecanal (5%), tetradecanal (63%) and hexadecanal (30%), as shown in Table 2.2. Thus, tetradecanal was clearly predominant in... 

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