Carboxylic acids, reaction with hydrogen peroxide

A new way to prepare peroxy acids was discovered by Novo Nordisk, DK (9-11). They showed that some lipases catalyze the conversion of fatty acids with hydrogen peroxide (preferably 60%) to peroxy fatty acids Novozym 435, an immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica on polyacrylic Lewatit, is the most active and stable biocatalyst for this purpose (Scheme 1). Recently we found that Novozym 435 is also capable of catalyzing perhydrolysis (12), i.e., the reaction of carboxylic acid esters with hydrogen peroxide to percarboxylic acids (Scheme 2). 

Triazole has been prepared by the oxidation of substituted 1,2,4-triazoles, by the treatment of urazole with phosphorus pentasulfide, by heating equimolar quantities of formyl-hydrazine and formamide, by removal of the amino function of 4-amino-l,2,4-triazole, by oxidation of l,2,4-triazole-3(5)-thiol with hydrogen peroxide, by decarboxylation of 1,2,4-triazole-3(5)-carboxylic acid, by heating hydrazine salts with form-amide,by rapidly distilling hydrazine hydrate mixed with two molar equivalents of formamide, i by heating N,N -diformyl-hydrazine with excess ammonia in an autoclave at 200° for 24 hours, and by the reaction of 1,3,5-triazine and hydrazine monohydrochloride. ... 

Constitution. When coniine is distilled with zinc dust or heated with silver acetate/ a new base, coiiyrine, CgH N, differing from coniine by six atoms of hydrogen, is formed. This on oxidation yields pyridine-2-carboxylic acid and, since it is not identical with 2-isopropylpyridine, must be 2-propylpyridine (I). When coniine is heated with hydriodic acid at 300° it yields w-octane (II). These and other observations due mainly to A. W. Hofmann, made it clear by 1885 that coniine was probably a-propylpiperidine (III), and this has been amply confirmed by other reactions of the alkaloid and by syntheses. Thus, Wolffenstein showed that on oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, coniine is converted into amino-w-propylvaleraldehyde (IV) ... 

The observation that addition of imidazoles and carboxylic acids significantly improved the epoxidation reaction resulted in the development of Mn-porphyrin complexes containing these groups covalently linked to the porphyrin platform as attached pendant arms (11) [63]. When these catalysts were employed in the epoxidation of simple olefins with hydrogen peroxide, enhanced oxidation rates were obtained in combination with perfect product selectivity (Table 6.6, Entry 3). In contrast with epoxidations catalyzed by other metals, the Mn-porphyrin system yields products with scrambled stereochemistry the epoxidation of cis-stilbene with Mn(TPP)Cl (TPP = tetraphenylporphyrin) and iodosylbenzene, for example, generated cis- and trans-stilbene oxide in a ratio of 35 65. The low stereospecificity was improved by use of heterocyclic additives such as pyridines or imidazoles. The epoxidation system, with hydrogen peroxide as terminal oxidant, was reported to be stereospecific for ris-olefins, whereas trans-olefins are poor substrates with these catalysts. 

The most commonplace substrates in energy-transfer analytical CL methods are aryl oxalates such as to(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate (TCPO) and z s(2,4-dinitrophenyl) oxalate (DNPO), which are oxidized with hydrogen peroxide [7, 8], In this process, which is known as the peroxyoxalate-CL (PO-CL) reaction, the fluorophore analyte is a native or derivatized fluorescent organic substance such as a polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon, dansylamino acid, carboxylic acid, phenothiazine, or catecholamines, for example. The mechanism of the reaction between aryl oxalates and hydrogen peroxide is believed to generate dioxetane-l,2-dione, which may itself decompose to yield an excited-state species. Its interaction with a suitable fluorophore results in energy transfer to the fluorophore, and the subsequent emission can be exploited to develop analytical CL-based determinations. 

While die above reactions will provide carboxylic acid products, each has problems associated with it. The cleavage of olefins to carboxylic acids [reaction (7.1)] can be carried out using potassium permanganate or by ozonolysis at low temperature followed by oxidative workup with hydrogen peroxide. Neither of diese mediods is very useful since only symmetric olefins provide a single carboxylic acid product. Unsymmetrical olefins give a mixture of two acids which must be separated. Furthermore the most useful synthetic processes are those which build up structures, whereas these reactions are degradative in nature. 

Aldoses can be degraded by the following two reactions. First the aldehyde is oxidized with bromine water to form a carboxylic acid. Next the carboxylic acid is decarboxy-lated with hydrogen peroxide and ferric sulfate leaving an aldehyde. The new aldose is one carbon shorter. When glucose is degraded in this manner, and the product is oxidized by dilute nitric acid, an optically active compound is formed. 

A convenient single-step method for the preparation of diaryl tellurium dicarboxylates in 82 to 92% yields involves the reactions of the diaryl tellurium with hydrogen peroxide and carboxylic acids2,3. The reaction probably proceeds via diaryl tellurium oxides as intermediates. Carboxylic acid anhydrides can be used instead of the carboxylic acids. 

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