Carboxylic acids synthesis from alkenes

Choi and Sakakura et al. reported that iron(III) triflate, in situ formed from FeCls and triflic acid, efficiently catalyzes the intermolecular addition of carboxylic acids to various alkenes to yield carboxylic esters. The reaction is applicable to the synthesis of unstable esters, such as acrylates (Scheme 40) [50]. 

The addition of Grignard reagents to aldehydes, ketones, and esters is the basis for the synthesis of a wide variety of alcohols, and several examples are given in Scheme 7.3. Primary alcohols can be made from formaldehyde (Entry 1) or, with addition of two carbons, from ethylene oxide (Entry 2). Secondary alcohols are obtained from aldehydes (Entries 3 to 6) or formate esters (Entry 7). Tertiary alcohols can be made from esters (Entries 8 and 9) or ketones (Entry 10). Lactones give diols (Entry 11). Aldehydes can be prepared from trialkyl orthoformate esters (Entries 12 and 13). Ketones can be made from nitriles (Entries 14 and 15), pyridine-2-thiol esters (Entry 16), N-methoxy-A-methyl carboxamides (Entries 17 and 18), or anhydrides (Entry 19). Carboxylic acids are available by reaction with C02 (Entries 20 to 22). Amines can be prepared from imines (Entry 23). Two-step procedures that involve formation and dehydration of alcohols provide routes to certain alkenes (Entries 24 and 25). 

Applications of the cross-metathesis reaction in more diverse areas of organic chemistry are beginning to appear in the literature. For example, the use of alkene metathesis in solution-phase combinatorial synthesis was recently reported by Boger and co-workers [45]. They assembled a chemical library of 600 compounds 27 (including cisttrans isomers) in which the final reaction was the metathesis of a mixture of 24 oo-alkene carboxamides 26 (prepared from six ami-nodiacetamides, with differing amide groups, each functionalised with four to-alkene carboxylic acids) (Eq.27). 

The formation of 1,2,3-trioxolanes from an alkene and ozone is the first step in the ozonolysis reaction, which is widely used in synthesis to convert alkenes to aldehydes or carboxylic acids. No instances of double bond migration during ozonolysis are known (since the first step is a cyclo-... 

Diene synthesis.6 /3-Acetoxy carboxylic acids undergo loss of CH,COOH and C02 when refluxed in T1IF or DMSO in the presence of triethylamine (1 equivalent) and catalytic amounts of Pd(0). This fragmentation is highly stereoselective the (F.)-alkene is formed predominately, irrespective of the stereochemistry of the substrate. The method is particularly useful for stereocontrolled synthesis of 1,3-dicnes from stereoisomeric mixtures. 

The electrochemical oxyselenenylation-deselenenylation of alkenes was demonstrated by a one-step 92% synthesis of ( )-dihydroactinidiolide (187) from the carboxylic acid (186) (81JA4606). 

On the pages which follow, general methods are illustrated for the synthesis of a wide variety of classes of organic compounds including acyl isocyanates (from amides and oxalyl chloride p. 16), epoxides (from reductive coupling of aromatic aldehydes by hexamethylphosphorous triamide p. 31), a-fluoro acids (from 1-alkenes p. 37), 0-lactams (from olefins and chlorosulfonyl isocyanate p. 51), 1 y3,5-triketones (from dianions of 1,3-diketones and esters p. 57), sulfinate esters (from disulfides, alcohols, and lead tetraacetate p. 62), carboxylic acids (from carbonylation of alcohols or olefins via carbonium-ion intermediates p. 72), sulfoxides (from sulfides and sodium periodate p. 78), carbazoles... 

Halides are second only to carboxylic acids in their versatility in organic synthesis. Functional group transformations into alkenes, alkynes, amines, aldehydes, alcohols, ethers, hydrocarbons, ketones and other groups may be performed with ease in high yield. However, the major synthetic importance of halides arises from the ease by which compounds that contain this functionality may be used in carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions and in the preparation of heterocyclic compounds. 

The epoxide can be prepared from an alkene and the amide from a carboxylic acid. The new target. 2-ethyl-2-hexenoic acid, has a CC double bond in conjugation with the carbonyl group of the carboxylic acid. Whenever a compound with an ,/3-unsaturated carbonyl group is encountered, it is worthwhile to consider the possibility of using an aldol condensation (see Section 20.5) or a related reaction to prepare it. To examine this possibility, the aldehyde that will provide the carboxylic acid upon oxidation is disconnected at the double bond. Because both fragments produced by this disconnection are the same, it is apparent that an aldol condensation of butanal can be employed to prepare this compound. The synthesis was accomplished as shown in Figure 23.5. 

Ozone, while somewhat inconvenient to use, is way qiecific in its reactions with alkenes. It is widely employed for selective synthesis, for qualitative and quantitative analysis of unsaturated compounds, and for studying the position of double bonds in macromolecules. The nature of the products obtained from ozonolysis reactions is determitted by the way in which the reaction is carried out Different workup procedures (hydrolytic, reductive or oxidative) can be used to produce alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids or esters. 

The oxidative decarboxylation of aliphatic carboxylic acids is best achieved by treatment of the acid with LTA in benzene, in the presence of a catalytic amount of copper(II) acetate. The latter serves to trap the radical intermediate and so bring about elimination, possibly through a six-membered transition state. Primary carboxylic acids lead to terminal alkenes, indicating that carbocations are probably not involved. The reaction has been reviewed. The synthesis of an optically pure derivative of L-vinylglycine from L-aspartic acid (equation 14) is illustrative. The same transformation has also been effected with sodium persulfate and catalytic quantities of silver nitrate and copper(II) sulfate, and with the combination of iodosylbenzene diacetate and copper(II) acetate. ... 

Three highly useful synthetic transformations are presented in this section the synthesis of isoflavones from chalcones, the synthesis of a-arylalkanones fmm arylalkenes, and the synthesis of a-arylalkanoic acids from aryl ketones. Two others are potentially useful methods, but are not as yet widely used the preparation of a-branched carboxylic acids from a ynes, and the ring expansion and ring contraction of cyclic alkenes and ketones. 

Other oxygen nucleophiles are also effective, from alcohols to carboxylic acids. The conversion of ethylene to vinyl acetate and vinyl ethers is well documented, but applications in synthesis with more complex alkenes are few. 

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