Cannizzaro Carbon

Sodium hydroxide solution cannot be used at this stage since it may produce benzoic acid by the Cannizzaro reaction (Section IV,123) from any unchanged benzaldehyde. If, however, the reaction mixture is diluted with 3-4 volumes of water, steam distilled to remove the unreacted benzaldehyde, the residue may then be rendered alkaline with sodium hydroxide solution. A few grams of decolourising carbon are added, the mixture boiled for several minutes, and filtered through a fluted filter paper. Upon acidifying carefully with concentrated hydrochloric acid, cinnamic acid is precipitated. This is collected, washed and purified as above. 

Pentaerythritol is produced by reaction of formaldehyde [50-00-0] and acetaldehyde [75-07-0] in the presence of a basic catalyst, generally an alkah or alkaline-earth hydroxide. Reaction proceeds by aldol addition to the carbon adjacent to the hydroxyl on the acetaldehyde. The pentaerythrose [3818-32-4] so produced is converted to pentaerythritol by a crossed Cannizzaro reaction using formaldehyde. All reaction steps are reversible except the last, which allows completion of the reaction and high yield industrial production. 

Formaldehyde is readily reduced to methanol by hydrogen over many metal and metal oxide catalysts. It is oxidized to formic acid or carbon dioxide and water. The Cannizzaro reaction gives formic acid and methanol. Similarly, a vapor-phase Tischenko reaction is catalyzed by copper (34) and boric acid (38) to produce methyl formate ... 

Aldehydes that possess H atoms on the carbon atom adjacent to the CHO group (the a-carbon atom) do not undergo the Cannizzaro reaction with base, as they undergo the aldol reaction (p. 224) very much faster. 

This reaction of aromatic aldehydes, ArCHO, resembles the Cannizzaro reaction in that the initial attack [rapid and reversible—step (1)] is by an anion—this time eCN—on the carbonyl carbon atom of one molecule, the donor (125) but instead of hydride transfer (cf. Cannizzaro, p. 216) it is now carbanion addition by (127) to the carbonyl carbon atom of the second molecule of ArCHO, the acceptor (128), that occurs. This, in common with cyanohydrin formation (p. 212) was one of the earliest reactions to have its pathway established— correctly —in 1903. The rate law commonly observed is, as might be expected,... 

Several cases of spontaneous ignition after exposure to air of fine coke particles removed from filter strainers on a petroleum refinery furfural extraction unit have been noted. This has been associated with the use of sodium hydrogen carbonate (bicarbonate) injected into the plant for pH control, which produced a pH of 10.5 locally. This would tend to resinify the aldehyde, but there is also the possibility of a Cannizzaro reaction causing conversion of the aldehyde to furfuryl alcohol and furoic acid. The latter, together with other acidic products of autoxidation of the aldehyde, would tend to resinily the furfuryl alcohol. Pyrolysis GLC showed the presence of a significant proportion of furfuryl alcohol-derived resins in the coke. The latter is now discarded into drums of water, immediately after discharge from the strainers, to prevent further incidents. 

Unlike the starting material, the product of this reduction contains an asymmetric carbon atom and it was found to be optically active. Since in the case of ketones a Cannizzaro reaction cannot take place, this mechanism for alcohol formation is out of the question. Consideration of the reduction of ketones thus clearly shows that an actual biohydrogenation is involved. 

The lower reactivity of benzaldehyde with respect to acetaldehyde was found also in the vapour phase aldolisation over lithium phosphate [390]. Over the same catalyst, the reactivity order in the self-condensations of aldehydes could be estimated as CH3CHO > CH3CH2CHO (CH3)2-CHCHO. The reactivity of isobutyraldehyde in the self-condensation was almost undetectable, probably due to steric hindrance on the a-carbon, but this substance was able to react as a hydrogen acceptor with cyclohexanone. With propionaldehyde over a calcium hydroxide catalyst, a Cannizzaro-type reaction occurred to some extent simultaneously with the aldolisation [390]. This unexpected result was also recorded by other authors [391], who established that the tendency to aldolisation decreased, and the tendency to the Cannizzaro reaction increased, with... 

The carbonyl reactivity of pyrrole-, furan-, thiophene- and selenophene-2- and -3-carbaldehydes is very similar to that of benzaldehyde. A quantitative study of the reaction of Af-methylpyrrole-2-carbaldehyde, furan-2-carbaldehyde and thiophene-2-carbaldehyde with hydroxide ions showed that the difference in reactivity between furan- and thiophene-2-carbaldehydes was small but that both of these aldehydes were considerably more reactive to hydroxide addition at the carbonyl carbon than A-methylpyrrole-2-carbaldehyde (76JOC1952). Pyrrole-2-aldehydes fail to undergo Cannizzaro and benzoin reactions, which is attributed to mesomerism involving the ring nitrogen (see 366). They yield 2-hydroxymethylpyrroles (by NaBH4 reduction) and 2-methylpyrroles (Wolff-Kishner reduction). The IR spectrum of the hydrochloride of 2-formylpyrrole indicates that protonation occurs mainly at the carbonyl oxygen atom and only to a limited extent at C-5. 

Stanislao Cannizzaros main research interests were in the chemistry of carbon compounds found in living organisms. Cannizzaro did much to dispel the then widely held belief that the laws governing those chemicals were different from the laws governing chemicals not found in living organisms. 

The presence of the double bond (carbonyl group C 0) markedly determines the. chemical behavior of the aldehydes. The hydrogen atom connected directly to the carbonyl group is not easily displaced. The chemical properties of the aldehy des may be summarized by (1) they react with alcohols, with elimination of H2O, to form ace t i (2) they combine readily with HCN to form cyanohydrins, (3) they react with hydroxylamine to yield aldoximes (4) they react with hydrazine to form hydrazones (5) they can be oxidized lulu fatty acids, which contain die same [lumber of carbons as in the initial aldehyde 5) they can be reduced readily to form primary alcohols. When bcnzaldchydc is reduced with sodium amalgam and HjO, benzyl alcohol C,f l - -C f I Of I is obtained. The latter compound also may be obtained by treating benzaldehyde with a solution of cold KOH in which benzyl alcohol and potassium benzoate are produced. The latter reaction is known as Cannizzaro s reaction. 

This dismutation or disproportionation reaction is known as the Cannizzaro reaction. The mechanism of the reaction involves the production of the anion (1) which may transfer a hydride ion to a carbonyl carbon atom in another aldehyde molecule. The reaction sequence is completed by a proton transfer to yield the carboxylate anion and the alcohol. 

One obvious candidate for an electrophilic but non-enolisable compound is formaldehyde CH2=0 but it is simply too electrophilic to be well controlled. A trivial example is its reaction with acetaldehyde and hydroxide ion. The first aldol gives the expected product 43 but a second gives 44 and a third follows. Now hydroxide adds to another molecule of formaldehyde and delivers a hydride ion 45 in the Cannizzaro reaction (the other product is formate ion HCO2-) to give pentaerythritol 46, a useful compound in polymer chemistry for cross-linking but not much use to us. We need to moderate the unruly behaviour of this useful one-carbon electrophile. 

The Cannizzaro reaction is characteristic of aldehydes which have no hydrogen on the a-carbon atom, such as aromatic and many heterocyclic aldehydes, properly substituted aliphatic aldehydes, and formalde-... 

The readiness with which higher aldehydes undergo the Cannizzaro reaction and the extent of the reaction vary with the nature of the groups present on the a-carbon atom. For example, hydroxypivalalde-hyde, HOCH2C(CH3)2CHO, upon treatment with -50% aqueous potassium hydroxide at room temperature is converted quantitatively into... 

Certain aliphatic aldehydes which have no hydrogen atoms on the a-carbon atom undergo cleavage under the influence of alkali. The conversion of a trihaloacetaldehyde to the haloform and the alkali formate is the best-known example. Triphenylacetaldehyde undergoes a similar cleavage, yielding triphenylmethane and the alkali formate.38 Aldehydes in which the a-carbon atom is part of an ethylenic or acetylenic system do not give the normal Cannizzaro reaction their behavior is discussed on p. 102. 

The only useful Cannizzaro reactions involving the use of aldehydes having one or two a-hydrogen atoms are those already described, in which the aldehyde first undergoes an aldol condensation. The direct dismutation of aldehydes of these types has been carried out successfully only by means of enzyme systems or catalytic metals (p. 95). Such reactions do not represent the true Cannizzaro reaction and as yet have found little practical use. The smooth and practically quantitative dismutation of straight-chain aliphatic aldehydes of four to seven carbon atoms under the influence of the enzymes of hog-liver mash 6 suggests that practical applications of this method may be found. 

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