Carboxylic acids, conversion esterification

The most appar ent chemical property of car boxylic acids, then- acidity, has already been examined in earlier sections of this chapter. Three reactions of carboxylic acids—conversion to acyl chlorides, reduction, and esterification—have been encountered in previous chapters and are reviewed in Table 19.5. Acid-catalyzed esterification of carboxylic acids is one of the fundfflnental reactions of organic chemistry, and this portion of the chapter begins with an exanination of the mechanism by which it occurs. Later, in Sections 19.16 and 19.17, two new reactions of carboxylic acids that are of synthetic value will be described. 

For most cases, common fluoroacyl derivatives are sufficiently reactive and selective Thus conversion of perfluoroglutaric dichloride to a monomethyl ester by methanol proceeds smoothly under the appropriate reaction conditions [17] (equation 9) Perfluorosuccinic acid monoester fluoride, on the other hand, is prepared most conveniently from perfluorobutyrolacetone [IS] (equation 10) Owing to the strong acidity of a fluonnated carboxylic acids, Fischer esterification with most aliphatic alcohols proceeds autocatalytically [79 20]... 

Although it is seldom used, esterification of pyrimidinecarboxylic acids proceeds normally. Conditions are illustrated by the conversion of pyrimidine-4-carboxylic acid (181 R = H) into its methyl ester (181 R = Me) by methanol/sulfuric acid (47%), methanol/hydrogen chloride (80%), or by diazomethane (ca. 100%) (60MI21300). The isomeric methyl pyrimidine-2-carboxylate is formed by treatment of the silver salt of the acid with methyl iodide. Higher esters, e.g. (182 R = Bu), are usually made by warming the acid (182 R = H) with the appropriate alcohol and sulfuric acid (60JOC1950). 

Orotic acid undergoes 5-nitration, 5-bromination in hydrobromic acid with peroxide, 5,5-dibromination following decarboxylation in bromine water, esterification, methylation (rather complicated), conversion into its acid chloride (containing some anhydride) by treatment with thionyl chloride, and conversion into 2,6-dichloropyrimidine-4-carboxylic acid by phosphoryl chloride (62HC(16)422). 

Although the ability of microwaves (MW) to heat water and other polar materials has been known for half a century or more, it was not until 1986 that two groups of researchers independently reported the application of MW heating to organic synthesis. Gedye et al. [1] found that several organic reactions in polar solvents could be performed rapidly and conveniently in closed Teflon vessels in a domestic MW oven. These reactions included the hydrolysis of amides and esters to carboxylic acids, esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols, oxidation of alkyl benzenes to aromatic carboxylic acids and the conversion of alkyl halides to ethers. 

Various combinations of reactant(s) and process conditions are potentially available to synthesize polyesters [Fakirov, 2002 Goodman, 1988], Polyesters can be produced by direct esterification of a diacid with a diol (Eq. 2-120) or self-condensation of a hydroxy carboxylic acid (Eq. 2-119). Since polyesterification, like many step polymerizations, is an equilibrium reaction, water must be continuously removed to achieve high conversions and high molecular weights. Control of the reaction temperature is important to minimize side reactions such as dehydration of the diol to form diethylene glycol... 

Lipases are enzymes that catalyze the in vivo hydrolysis of lipids such as triacylglycerols. Lipases are not used in biological systems for ester synthesis, presumably because the large amounts of water present preclude ester formation due to the law of mass action which favors hydrolysis. A different pathway (using the coenzyme A thioester of a carboxylic acid and the enzyme synthase [Blei and Odian, 2000]) is present in biological systems for ester formation. However, lipases do catalyze the in vitro esterification reaction and have been used to synthesize polyesters. The reaction between alcohols and carboxylic acids occurs in organic solvents where the absence of water favors esterification. However, water is a by-product and must be removed efficiently to maximize conversions and molecular weights. 

Enzymes such as pig liver esterase have been successfully applied in enantioselective hydrolysis of allenyl esters on a scale of 2 mmoles131. This provides the enantiomerically enriched allene-carboxylic acid as well as the ester of opposite configuration, by what is in fact a catalytic kinetic resolution (6-90% oy). Conversely, partial enantioselective esterification of /1-hydroxy-allenes (3-72% oy) employing lipases has been reported132,133. 

The most important reactions of carboxylic acids are the conversions to various carboxylic acid derivatives, e.g. acid chlorides, acid anhydrides and esters. Esters are prepared by the reaction of carboxylic acids and alcohols. The reaction is acid catalysed and is known as Fischer esterification (see Section 5.5.5). Acid chlorides are obtained from carboxylic acids by the treatment of thionyl chloride (SOCI2) or oxalyl chloride [(COCl)2], and acid anhydrides are produced from two carboxylic acids. A summary of the conversion of carboxylic acid is presented here. All these conversions involve nucleophilic acyl substitutions (see Section 5.5.5). 

From Boron Halides. Using boron halides is not economically desirable because boron halides are made from boric acid. However, this method does provide a convenient laboratory synthesis of boric acid esters. The esterification of boron halides with alcohol is analogous to the classical conversion of carboxylic acid halides to carboxylic esters. Simple mixing of the reactants at room temperature or below in a solvent such as methylene chloride, chloroform, pentane, etc, yields hydrogen halide and the borate in high yield. 

The gas chromatographic separation of acids present in plasticizers, apart from identifying volatile aliphatic carboxylic acids up to Ce, deals mainly with methyl esters. Carboxylic acids, present either as free acids or as alkali salts after saponification of the plasticizers, must be esterified. Conversion with methanol in presence of boron trifluoride (2) is recommended. But even better suited for plasticizer analysis is direct re-esterification of the plasticizers writh methanolic hydrochloric acid (2). 

Hydrogels prepared via homogeneous esterification of dextran with unsaturated carboxylic acids are advanced polysaccharide-based products useful for drug delivery systems and protective encapsulants, e.g. of viruses used in gene therapy [173]. Very promising in this regard is the dextran maleic acid monoester [174], which can be obtained by conversion of dextran in DMF/LiCl with the maleic anhydride in the presence of TEA. The DS of the products can be easily controlled with the amount of anhydride applied but... 

The conversion is generally carried out as a one-pot reaction in two stages. First, the acid is transformed with the CDI to give the imidazolide. The conversion of the alcohol in the first step is also possible for the esterification but yields undesired cross-linking via carbonate formation in case of a polyol (Fig. 29). The imidazolide of the carboxylic acid should always be firstly synthesised. Model reactions and NMR spectroscopy (Fig. 30) with acetic acid confirm that during a treatment at room temperature CDI is consumed completely within 6 h. Thereby, the tendency of cross-linking initiated by unreacted CDI, which would lead to insoluble products, is avoided. 

A key intermediate of the esterification in Figure 9.16 is the iminium ion F. It is identical to the iminium ion B in Figure 6.11, which represents the activated carboxylic acid in the DMF-catalyzed conversion of carboxylic acids into acid chlorides. Thus, the iminium ion F in Figure 9.16 is a potent acylating agent. As such, it reacts with the methoxide ion, a stoichiometric by-product of its formation reaction, via the tetrahedral intermediate C to furnish the corresponding carboxylic acid methyl ester and DMF. 

As any organic chemist will tell you, the conversion of an amino acid to the corresponding ester also requires more than one equivalent of a Bronsted acid. This is because an amino acid is a zwitterion and, in order to undergo acid catalysed esterification, the carboxylate anion needs to be protonated with one equivalent of acid. However, it was shown [38] that amino acids undergo esterification in the presence of a catalytic amount of zeolite H-USY, the very same catalyst that is used in naphtha cracking, thus affording a salt-free route to amino acid esters (Fig. 1.11). This is a truly remarkable reaction in that a basic compound (the amino ester) is formed in the presence of an acid catalyst. Esterification of optically active amino acids under these conditions (MeOH, 100 °C) un-... 

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