Esterification of carboxylic acids

The direct biocatalytic esterification of a chiral acid with a simple achiral alcohol in organic media is a reversible process and, in order to bias the equilibrium to the 

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The most apparent chemical property of carboxylic acids their acidity has already been examined m earlier sections of this chapter Three reactions of carboxylic acids—con version to acyl chlorides reduction and esterification—have been encountered m pre vious chapters and are reviewed m Table 19 5 Acid catalyzed esterification of carboxylic acids IS one of the fundamental reactions of organic chemistry and this portion of the chapter begins with an examination of the mechanism by which it occurs Later m Sec tions 19 16 and 19 17 two new reactions of carboxylic acids that are of synthetic value will be described... 

Esterification of carboxylic acids involves nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group as a key step In this respect the carbonyl group of a carboxylic acid resembles that of an aldehyde or a ketone Do carboxylic acids resemble aldehydes and ketones m other ways Do they for example form enols and can they be halogenated at their a carbon atom via an enol m the way that aldehydes and ketones can ... 

One of the most sensitive tests of the dependence of chemical reactivity on the size of the reacting molecules is the comparison of the rates of reaction for compounds which are members of a homologous series with different chain lengths. Studies by Flory and others on the rates of esterification and saponification of esters were the first investigations conducted to clarify the dependence of reactivity on molecular size. The rate constants for these reactions are observed to converge quite rapidly to a constant value which is independent of molecular size, after an initial dependence on molecular size for small molecules. The effect is reminiscent of the discussion on the uniqueness of end groups in connection with Example 1.1. In the esterification of carboxylic acids, for example, the rate constants are different for acetic, propionic, and butyric acids, but constant for carboxyUc acids with 4-18 carbon atoms. This observation on nonpolymeric compounds has been generalized to apply to polymerization reactions as well. The latter are subject to several complications which are not involved in the study of simple model compounds, but when these complications are properly considered, the independence of reactivity on molecular size has been repeatedly verified. 

In this definition ko is the rate constant for CH3COOR and k is the constant for RCOOR thus = 0 for R = CH3. Table 7-11 lists some values. Taft s Es steric constants are in some instances based on averages of several different reactions, so MacPhee et al. have defined a steric constant Es by Eq. (7-52) for a single reaction, namely, the acid-catalyzed esterification of carboxylic acids in methanol at 40°C. Es values are also given in Table 7-11. Additional Es and Es values are available. 

A similar mechanism has been proposed for the esterification of carboxylic acids ... 

ESTERIFICATION OF CARBOXYLIC ACIDS WITH TRIALKYLOXONIUM SALTS ... 

Esterification of Carboxylic Acids with Trialkyloxoninm Fluoborates... 

Two methods for converting carboxylic acids to esters fall into the mechanistic group under discussion the reaction of carboxylic acids with diazo compounds, especially diazomethane and alkylation of carboxylate anions by halides or sulfonates. The esterification of carboxylic acids with diazomethane is a very fast and clean reaction.41 The alkylating agent is the extremely reactive methyldiazonium ion, which is generated by proton transfer from the carboxylic acid to diazomethane. The collapse of the resulting ion pair with loss of nitrogen is extremely rapid. 

Alternatively, esterification of carboxylic acid can be carried out in aqueous media by reacting carboxylic acid salts with alkyl halides through nucleophilic substitutions (Eq. 9.10).20 The reaction rate of alkyl halides with alkali metal salts of carboxylic acids to give esters increases with the increasing concentration of catalyst, halide, and solvent polarity and is reduced by water. Various thymyl ethers and esters can be synthesized by the reactions of thymol with alkyl halides and acid chlorides, respectively, in aqueous medium under microwave irradiation (Eq. 9.11).21 Such an esterification reaction of poly(methacrylic acid) can be performed readily with alkyl halides using DBU in aqueous solutions, although the rate of the reaction decreases with increasing water content.22... 

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. 

Because amorphous carbon as graphite heats up strongly under MW irradiation [4], its use as a sensitizer has been widely reported [5-10] (Sect. 7.1). Recently, MW-as-sisted esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols was performed on activated carbon in good yields (71-96%) [98]. For our part, when charcoal powder was used as a support, we had difficulty in desorbing the reaction products [15]. Even with a continuous extractor, the desorption was never quantitative. The desorption of reaction products from graphite powder is much easier than from amorphous carbon powder. 

Carboxylic Esters and of Esterification of Carboxylic Acids. Acid Hydrolysis of an Ester with Heavy Oxygen as Isotopic Indicator. J. chem. Soc. [London] 1939, 838. 

Neises, B. and W. Steglich, Simple method for the esterification of carboxylic acids. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English, 1978.17(7) p. 522-524. 

Mechanism of esterification of carboxylic acids The esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols is a kind of nncleophilic acyl snbstitntion. Protonation of the carbonyl ojq gen activates the carbonyl gronp towards nncleophilic addition of the alcohol. Proton transfer in the tetrahedral intermediate converts the hydrojq l group into - 0H2 group, which, being a better leaving group, is eliminated as neutml water molecule. The protonated ester so formed finally loses a proton to give the ester. 

Shieh, W. and Dell, S. and Repic, 0. (2002). Large scale microwave-accelerated esterification of carboxylic acids with dimethyl carbonate. Tetrahedron Letters, 43, 5607-5609. 

Esters are usually prepared by esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols. Industrial procedures depend on the physical properties of the esters concerned. Biosynthetic methods may be applied to produce natural esters for flavor purposes [24]. 

Taft based his steric effect constants on the assumption that rates of esterification of carboxylic acids with alcohols and of acid catalyzed hydrolysis of carboxylate... 

Alcoholysis of trihalides 0-6 Hydrolysis of ortho esters 0-20 Alcoholysis of acyl halides 0-21 Alcoholysis of anhydrides 0-22 Esterification of carboxylic acids 0-23 Transesterification 0-24 Alkylation of carboxylic acid salts 0-25 Cleavage of ethers with anhydrides 0-26 Alkylation of carboxylic acids with diazo compounds... 

Fig. 15. Taft correlation with steric substituent constants (Es) in the vapour phase esterification of carboxylic acids with ethanol over Na-poisoned silica—alumina at 250°C ( ) [126] and in homogeneous acid-catalysed esterification at 40°C (°) [419], Acids 1, acetic, 2, propionic, 3, butyric, 4, isobutyric, 5, isovaleric, 6, pivalic, 7, 2-ethylbutyric.

This is formally the reverse of the BA1,1 cleavage of an ester, and is the only one-stage mechanism for ester formation available for the ionized carboxyl group. Numerous methods are, of course, available which involve initial electrophilic attack on the carboxylate group, followed by a displacement at the carbonyl carbon atom of the intermediate formed, which is often an anhydride. An example134 is the esterification of carboxylic acids in the presence ofp-toluenesulphonyl chloride in pyridine, viz-... 

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