Carboxylic acids From oxidative cleavage reactions

Alkynes, like alkenes, can be cleaved by reaction with powerful oxidizing agents such as ozone or KMnC, although the reaction is of little value and we mention it only for completeness. A triple bond is generally less reactive than a double bond and yields of cleavage products are sometimes low. The products obtained from cleavage of an internal alkyne are carboxylic acids from a terminal alkyne, CO2 is formed as one product. 

Ketones are inert to most oxidizing agents but undergo a slow cleavage reaction when treated with hot alkaline KMnO The C-C bond next to the carbonyl group is broken, and carboxylic acids are produced. The reaction is useful primarily for symmetrical ketones such as cyclohexanone because product mixtures are formed from unsymmetrical ketones. 

Attempts to achieve selective oxidations of hydrocarbons or other compounds when the desired site of attack is remote from an activating functional group are faced with several difficulties. With powerful transition-metal oxidants, the initial oxidation products are almost always more susceptible to oxidation than the starting material. When a hydrocarbon is oxidized, it is likely to be oxidized to a carboxylic acid, with chain cleavage by successive oxidation of alcohol and carbonyl intermediates. There are a few circumstances under which oxidations of hydrocarbons can be synthetically useful processes. One group involves catalytic industrial processes. Much effort has been expended on the development of selective catalytic oxidation processes and several have economic importance. We focus on several reactions that are used on a laboratory scale. 

From oxidative cleavage of 1,2-diols and 1,2-amino alcohols Dibutyltin oxide, 95 By reaction of alkyl halides with sulfur-stabilized carbanions Methylthiomethyl p-tolyl sulfone, 192 From reduction of carboxylic acids Vilsmeier reagent, 341 From terminal alkenes by addition reactions... 

Deprotection of Derivatives of Carboxylic Acids.—Methyl esters are demethylated with anhydrous trifluoroacetic acid, in yields ranging from quantitative to 2%. Triarylamine radical cations react with benzyl esters in an oxidative cleavage reaction to give carboxylic acids yields are best with p-methoxybenzyl esters. ... 

A cursory inspection of key intermediate 8 (see Scheme 1) reveals that it possesses both vicinal and remote stereochemical relationships. To cope with the stereochemical challenge posed by this intermediate and to enhance overall efficiency, a convergent approach featuring the union of optically active intermediates 18 and 19 was adopted. Scheme 5a illustrates the synthesis of intermediate 18. Thus, oxidative cleavage of the trisubstituted olefin of (/ )-citronellic acid benzyl ester (28) with ozone, followed by oxidative workup with Jones reagent, affords a carboxylic acid which can be oxidatively decarboxylated to 29 with lead tetraacetate and copper(n) acetate. Saponification of the benzyl ester in 29 with potassium hydroxide provides an unsaturated carboxylic acid which undergoes smooth conversion to trans iodolactone 30 on treatment with iodine in acetonitrile at -15 °C (89% yield from 29).24 The diastereoselectivity of the thermodynamically controlled iodolacto-nization reaction is approximately 20 1 in favor of the more stable trans iodolactone 30. 

Such a cleavage and formation of bonds occur in oxidation reactions. These are also known as dehydrogenation reactions as these involve loss of dihydrogen from an alcohol molecule. Depending on the oxidising agent used, a primary alcohol is oxidised to an aldehyde which in turn is oxidised to a carboxylic acid. 

NOC1 and an alcohol 9-9 From ozonides 9-10 Oxidative cleavage of enol ethers 9-13 Reaction between carboxylic acids and lead tetraacetate 9-18 Oxidation of ethers 9-22 Oxidation of primary alcohols or aldehydes... 

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