Ester group, directing effect

Hagemann s ester, synthesis of, 912 Halo group, directing effect of, 567-568... 

Similarly, carboxylic acid and ester groups tend to direct chlorination to the / and v positions, because attack at the a position is electronically disfavored. The polar effect is attributed to the fact that the chlorine atom is an electrophilic species, and the relatively electron-poor carbon atom adjacent to an electron-withdrawing group is avoided. The effect of an electron-withdrawing substituent is to decrease the electron density at the potential radical site. Because the chlorine atom is highly reactive, the reaction would be expected to have a very early transition state, and this electrostatic effect predominates over the stabilizing substituent effect on the intermediate. The substituent effect dominates the kinetic selectivity of the reaction, and the relative stability of the radical intermediate has relatively little influence. 

In the weakly acidic preservatives, activity resides primarily in the unionized molecules and they only have significant efficacy at pHs where ionization is low. Thus, benzoic and sorbic acids (pKa = 4.2 and 4.75, respectively) have limited preservative usefulness above pH 5, while the 4(p)-hydroxybenzoate esters with their non-ionizable ester group and poorly ionizable hydroxyl substituent (pKa ca. 8.5) have moderate protective effect even at neutral pH levels. The activity of quaternary ammonium preservatives and chlorhexidine probably resides with their cations and are effective in products of neutral pH. Formulation pH can also directly influence the sensitivity of microorganisms to preservatives (see Chapter 11). 

The directive effect of allylic hydroxy groups can be used in conjunction with chiral catalysts to achieve enantioselective cyclopropanation. The chiral ligand used is a boronate ester derived from the (VjA jA N -tetramethyl amide of tartaric acid.186 Similar results are obtained using the potassium alkoxide, again indicating the Lewis base character of the directive effect. 

Also as noted above any substituents present have little effect upon such oxidations. In 2,2 -methylenedifuran (118) the rings are attacked simultaneously giving a tetramethoxy derivative.297 Even the bulk of the fert-butyl group has little effect.298 The only marked substituent effect is that exerted by an aromatic (benzene, thiophene, furan) residue which, if directly attached at the 2-position, promotes elimination instead of the addition of another methoxy group. The net process then becomes one of arylation, as when 2-(2-thienyl)furan (119) is oxidized to 120.298 There are reports that acetyl and carboxy groups can be ejected during oxidation, but that ester groups are usually retained.287... 

In the hydrogenation of 3-substituted itaconate ester derivatives by rhodium-dipamp, the alkoxycarbonyl group at the stereogenic center also exerts a powerful directing effect, comparable to that induced by OH in the kinetic resolution of (a-hydroxyethyl)acrylate, leading to a high enantiomer-discriminating ability up to feR fes = 16 1 (Table 21.18, entry 5) [64]. 

List and coworkers reasoned that BINOL phosphates (specific Brpnsted acid catalysis) could be suitable catalysts for an asymmetric direct Pictet-Spengler reaction [26], Preliminary experiments revealed that unsubstituted tryptamines do not undergo the desired cyclization. Introduction of two geminal ester groups rendered the substrates more reactive which might be explained by electronic reasons and a Thorpe-Ingold effect. Tryptamines 39 reacted with aldehydes 40 in the presence of phosphoric acid (5)-3o (20 moI%, R = bearing 2,4,6-triisopropyI-... 

The teichoic acid shows an infrared absorption band at 1751 cm.-1, characteristic of carboxylic ester groups, which is not observed in samples from which the D-alanine residues have been removed. Removal of the u-alanine was readily effected with ammonia or hydroxylamine, when D-alaninamide or D-alanine hydroxamate were formed. The kinetics of the reaction with hydroxylamine reveal the high reactivity of its D-alanine ester linkages, which, like those in most other teichoic acids, are activated by the presence of a neighboring phosphate group. That the D-alanine residue is attached directly to the ribitol residues, instead of to the d-glucosyl substituents, was also shown by oxidation with periodate under controlled conditions of pH, when it was found that the D-alanine residues protect the ribitol residues from oxidation. Under the same conditions, all of the ribitol residues were oxidized in a sample of teichoic acid from which the D-alanine had been removed, and it is concluded that the ester groups are attached to C-2 or C-3 of the ribitol residues. 

Cyclodextrins and their derivatives are already known to catalyse an enormous variety of biochemical and non-biochemical transformations. The basis of the catalysis by native (unmodified) cyciodextrins is the positioning of the reactive secondary hydroxyl groups directly at the entrance to the molecular cavity. One of the most effective reactions catalysed by cyclodextrins is the hydrolysis of aryl and phosphate esters (esterase activity). For example, the rate of hydrolysis of p-nitrophenol esters is increased by factors of up to 750 000 by /TCD. The mechanism of action of the cyclodextrin is shown in Scheme 12.2.1... 

Third, acyl-CoA cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) [EC 2.3.1.26], an enzyme that works after the formation of cholesterol, was considered a unique target of inhibition [32], ACAT catalyzes the synthesis of cholesteiyl esters from cholesterol and long-chain fatty acyl-CoA. ACAT plays important roles in the body, for example, in the absorption of dietary cholesterol from the intestines, production of lipoprotein in liver and formation of foam cells from macrophages in arterial walls. Therefore, ACAT inhibition is expected not only to lower plasma cholesterol levels but also to have a direct effect at the arterial wall. A number of synthetic ACAT inhibitors such as ureas, imidazoles, and acyl amides have been developed [33], Several groups have searched for novel ACAT inhibitors... 

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