Benzoins, oxidation

Benzoin.—Benzile, by reduction in dilute alcoholic sodium hydroxide and in alcoholic sulphuric acid, according to James,2 can inversely be converted into benzoin. Oxidation of benzoin in alkaline and sulphuric-acid solution gives a poor yield of benzoic acid. In alcoholic hydrochloric acid, especially at a high current density, benzile is formed. 

It was first described in 1608 when it was sublimed out of gum benzoin. It also occurs in many other natural resins. Benzoic acid is manufactured by the air oxidation of toluene in the liquid phase at 150°C and 4-6 atm. in the presence of a cobalt catalyst by the partial decarboxylation of phthalic anhydride in either the liquid or vapour phase in the presence of water by the hydrolysis of benzotrichloride (from the chlorination of toluene) in the presence of zinc chloride at 100°C. 

Oxidation of benzoin with concentrated nitric acid or by catalytic amounts of cupric salts in acetic acid solution, which are regenerated continuously by ammonium nitrate, yields the diketone benzil ... 

Method 1. Place 20 g. of crude benzoin (preceding Section) and 100 ml. of concentrated nitric acid in a 250 ml. round-bottomed flask. Heat on a boiling water bath (in the fume cupboard) with occasional shaking until the evolution of oxides of nitrogen has ceased (about 1 -5 hours). Pour the reaction mixture into 300-400 ml. of cold water contained in a beaker, stir well until the oil crystallises completely as a yellow solid. Filter the crude benzil at the pump, and wash it thoroughly with water to remove the nitric acid. RecrystaUise from alcohol or methylated spirit (about 2-5 ml. per gram). The yield of pure benzil, m.p. 94-96°, is 19 g. 

Poly(acrylic acid) and Poly(methacrylic acid). Poly(acryHc acid) (8) (PAA) may be prepared by polymerization of the monomer with conventional free-radical initiators using the monomer either undiluted (36) (with cross-linker for superadsorber appHcations) or in aqueous solution. Photochemical polymerization (sensitized by benzoin) of methyl acrylate in ethanol solution at —78° C provides a syndiotactic form (37) that can be hydrolyzed to syndiotactic PAA. From academic studies, alkaline hydrolysis of the methyl ester requires a lower time than acid hydrolysis of the polymeric ester, and can lead to oxidative degradation of the polymer (38). Po1y(meth acrylic acid) (PMAA) (9) is prepared only by the direct polymerization of the acid monomer it is not readily obtained by the hydrolysis of methyl methacrylate. 

Benzoic acid [65-85-0] C H COOH, the simplest member of the aromatic carboxyHc acid family, was first described in 1618 by a French physician, but it was not until 1832 that its stmcture was deterrnined by Wn b1er and Liebig. In the nineteenth century benzoic acid was used extensively as a medicinal substance and was prepared from gum benzoin. Benzoic acid was first produced synthetically by the hydrolysis of benzotrichloride. Various other processes such as the nitric acid oxidation of toluene were used until the 1930s when the decarboxylation of phthaUc acid became the dominant commercial process. During World War II in Germany the batchwise Hquid-phase air oxidation of toluene became an important process. 

The copper sulfate-pyridine mixture is readily reoxIdized by passing a current of air through it for thirty-six hours (Note 4). To this resulting solution is now added 200 g. of pyridine and it is then used for oxidizing another batch of 1696 g. of benzoin. 

In other words, by the nitric acid oxidation it is difficult to obtain a product completely free from benzoin. The yields by the nitric acid method are generally about 95-96 per cent, whereas with the copper sulfate-pyridine method the yield drops to approximately 86 per cent. 

These are discussed in Org. Syn. 1, 26. The foregoing method is based on the observation of E. Fischer that benzoin reduces Fehling s solution in the cold. Pyridine was selected as it prevents the precipitation of cuprous oxide, is not so volatile as ammonia, and acts as a partial solvent for the benzoin. 

Mohler has just shown that copper, pyridine and air oxidize benzoin to benzoic acid. Also, the same oxidation takes place in the absence of copper. 

Reaction.—. dA Fehling s solution to benzoin dissolved in alcohol. Benzil is formed and cuprous oxide precipitated. Benzil is also formed on oxidation with nitric acid. 

By the oxidative catalytic dehydration of benzoin. Zetzsche and Zala, Helvetica Chim. Acta 9, 288 (1926). 

The acyl phosphonates, acyl phosphine oxides and related compounds (e.g. 81. 82) absorb strongly in the near UV (350-400 nm) and generally decompose by rescission in a manner analogous to the benzoin derivatives.381"285 Quantum yields vary from 0.3 to 1.0 depending on structure. The phosphinyl radicals are highly reactive towards unsaturated substrates and appear to have a high specificity for addition v.v abstraction (see 3.4.3.2). 

Phenacyl radicals are produced by photodecomposition of initiators containing the phenone moiety (Scheme 3.74). These initiators include benzoin derivatives and acylphosphine oxides (see 3.3.4.1.1). Acyl radicals can be formed by... 

An illustrative example of the Michael reaction is that of the thiirene dioxide 19b with either hydroxylamine or hydrazine to give desoxybenzoin oxime (87) and desoxybenzoin azine (88), respectively, in good yields6 (see equation 29). The results were interpreted in terms of an initial nucleophilic addition to the a, j8-unsaturated sulfone system, followed by loss of sulfur dioxide and tautomerization. Interestingly, the treatment of the corresponding thiirene oxide (18a) with hydroxylamine also afforded 86 (as well as the dioxime of benzoin), albeit in a lower yield, but apparently via the same mechanistic pathway6. 

Oxidation of chalcones with TTN has been studied in detail (95, 96), and it has been shown that the products obtained depend on the amount of reagent and the solvent employed. Oxidation with 1 equivalent of TTN in methanol, methanol-chloroform, or methanol-boron trifluoride leads to acetals of the type (XXXIV) (see also Scheme 21) in yields of 20-80%. When 3 equivalents of TTN are employed, however, and aqueous glyme containing a little perchloric acid used as solvent, the products are benzils. This remarkable transformation, which proceeds in yields varying from moderate to good (40-80%), involves three distinct oxidations by TTN, and these are outlined in Scheme 22. Each individual step in this reaction sequence has been investigated in detail, with the result that useful procedures have been developed for the oxidation of both deoxybenzoins and benzoins to benzils with TTN (96). 

These conclusions were supported by the results obtained in a study of the reactions of various types of acetylenes with TTN (94). Hydration of the C=C bond was found to occur to a very minor extent, if at all, with almost all of the compounds studied, and the nature of the products formed was dependent on the structure of the acetylene and the solvent employed. Oxidation of diarylacetylenes with two equivalents of TTN in either aqueous acidic glyme or methanol as solvent resulted in smooth high yield conversion into the corresponding benzils (Scheme 23). The mechanism of this oxidation in aqueous medium most probably involves oxythallation of the acetylene, ketonization of the initially formed adduct (XXXV) to give the monoalkylthallium(III) derivative (XXXVI), and conversion of this intermediate into a benzoin (XXXVII) by a Type 1 process. Oxidation of (XXXVII) to the benzil (XXXVIII) by the second equivalent of reagent would then proceed in exactly the same manner as described for the oxidation of chalcones, deoxybenzoins, and benzoins to benzils by TTN. The mechanism of oxidation in methanol solution is somewhat more complex and has not yet been fully elucidated. 

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